{"id":165,"date":"2009-09-08T11:12:40","date_gmt":"2009-09-08T11:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayethics\/2009\/09\/will-you-still-eat-eggs-a-vegetarian-responds.html"},"modified":"2009-09-08T11:12:40","modified_gmt":"2009-09-08T11:12:40","slug":"will-you-still-eat-eggs-a-vegetarian-responds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/2009\/09\/will-you-still-eat-eggs-a-vegetarian-responds.html","title":{"rendered":"Will You Still Eat Eggs? A Vegetarian Responds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

When I
\nposted “Grist For The
\nMill<\/span><\/a>” a few days ago, I expected it to be controversial. You can’t talk about the sad practice of grinding up male baby chicks in egg hatcheries and say you still plan to eat eggs afterward without stirring up some outrage. I
\nexpected – and got – a few nasty personal attacks. What I didn’t expect was the
\nwealth of wonderful commentary that helped expand my thinking on the issue and
\ndeepen my ethical pondering (to the point where I’m considering making some
\nreal lifestyle changes down the road). <\/span><\/p>\n

I originally
\nsaid, “this is one time when I see an ethical issue as a question of
\nabsolutes.” Now that I’ve read what y’all had to say? Not so much.  <\/span><\/p>\n

One
\ncommenter in particular – “YN” – made such thoughtful and passionate
\narguments (though ALL the comments were incredibly eye-opening, and provided,
\nif you’ll forgive the punny metaphor, great food for thought, so I want to
\nthank everyone who wrote in) that I contacted him and asked him if he’d
\nconsider writing up a counter-argument to my piece. I wanted a different
\nperspective – a vegetarian perspective – to have some ‘air-time’ on the blog.
\nHere’s what YN originally wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m currently pescetarian – meaning I do eat eggs.
\nBut this kind of brutality makes me want to stop eating eggs. I don’t even want
\nto watch the video; a description suffices.<\/span><\/p>\n

There’s no reason for cruelty in this process,
\nexcept for two factors. Industrial farming demands profit maximization, so the
\ncheapest method of disposing of profit-harming male chicks is chosen. They are
\nnot going to spend the money or effort to minimize pain there.<\/span><\/p>\n

More obviously problematic is how humans amplify
\ncruelty in settings of institutionalized wrongdoing. Since we don’t deal well
\nwith cognitive dissonance, we tend to “double down” on cruel
\npractices to tell ourselves that it really is okay to be cruel to group X. We
\nsay, “since we have already decided that it is fine to kill animals for
\nfood, there is nothing wrong with being sadistic about it – they have no rights
\nor feelings anyway.” It is part of an attempt to justify the initial
\nchoice by reinforcing the idea that the targets of our acts are just objects.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I disagree that there is a binary choice here.
\nWe may rationally decide that eggs do not suffer and therefore it is okay to
\neat them, while demanding from the industry that they do not consequently
\nmistreat chicks. For instance, a meat eater may very well choose to only
\npurchase eggs and poultry from sources that prove they behave more humanely.
\nMale chicks could be raised for meat and butchered as humanely as possible,
\neven if that is not the most profitable method. Consumers are willing to pay a
\npremium for an ethical supply chain, whether it be greener cars or recycled
\nproducts or organic food.<\/span><\/p>\n

And here is YN’s further
\nperspective on the issue of eating eggs.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\n<\/p>\n

YN<\/span><\/b>: <\/span>There are many possible ethical choices
\nbetween the extremes of being vegan and being willing to eat anything, no
\nmatter how cruel the practice. Our empathetic and moral instincts come in
\nmany flavors, but we did not really evolve to have consistently logical ethical
\nvalues. (For instance, most Americans are raised with cute depictions of cows,
\npigs, and chickens, and have no problem eating them, but most would feel
\ndisgusted at the idea of eating a family pet.) Personally, I don’t find that
\ntoo problematic. My goal is not necessarily to have the purest and most
\nconsistent set of internal values possible; rather it is to try to gradually
\ncultivate habits aimed at improving my practical impact on the world. So,
\nwhether or not anyone else makes the exact same choices as me isn’t important. I
\nwould be happy to see consumers continue to eat animals and animal products, as
\nlong as they become educated about industry practices and demand a reasonable
\nlevel of humane treatment of agricultural animals.<\/span>
 <\/span>
Since the
\ndawn of civilization, humans have lived by codes of ethics that demanded
\nrespectful and relatively painless butchering of food animals. It is only in
\nthe past century that highly industrialized capitalism has turned not only the
\nmoment of killing, but also the entire life-spans of these animals, into a
\nbrutally efficient machine for minimizing costs of production. But consumer
\ndemand drives our economy, and if people are educated and given a real choice
\nof humanely-raised meat, milk, and eggs, the businesses that deliver those will
\nflourish.  People want not only less cruel food, but also food that tastes
\nbetter, is healthier, and is better for the environment and for local
\nbusinesses. These improvements may increase the cost of food in some respects, but
\nthere are also a vast number of externalized costs of the current industrial
\nfood system that we can cut so we can all save money. (N.B. All the points in
\nthis paragraph are derived from Michael Pollan’s book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,”
\nwhich I recommend to anyone interested in more detail.)<\/span>
 <\/span>
So
\nwhere does this all leave us when it comes to eggs? Upon further research for
\nthis follow-up, I have found that even “cage-free” and “free
\nrange” eggs mostly come from huge industrial operations that cram hens together
\nalmost as tightly as caged egg producers. They still inflict painful de-beaking,
\ndisease, and the mass killing of male chicks. Egg-laying hens have been bred to
\nlay so many eggs in a year that their bodies are spent in a year, and they,
\ntoo, get killed and turned into low-quality meat products. Until we get
\neffective regulations that give consumers a way to know for sure that labels
\nlike “organic” or “free range” really guarantee to the
\nconsumer that humane treatment has occurred, I will cultivate a new habit of
\navoiding eggs in my diet. It will probably take me a year to wean myself off of
\neggs and to learn good substitutes, but unless reliable sources of humanely
\nraised eggs appears in my local markets, this is where I will draw the new line
\nfor myself.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

YN also asked me to
\ndraw attention to an article on HumaneMyth.org providing an interesting take on
\nthe “l<\/span>ogical inconsistencies and
\ndissociation in the words and deeds of “humane” meat advocates,”<\/span> so here is the link<\/a> for anyone interested in further reading. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Have more to add to the discussion? Suggestions on further reading or actions we consumers can take to improve the ethics we apply to our food supply system? We’d love to hear your thoughts.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n


<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Subscribe to receive updates from Everyday Ethics or follow us on Twitter<\/a>!<\/strong> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I posted “Grist For The Mill” a few days ago, I expected it to be controversial. You can’t talk about the sad practice of grinding up male baby chicks in egg hatcheries and say you still plan to eat eggs afterward without stirring up some outrage. I expected – and got – a few…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-hillary-fields","category-food-ethics"],"yoast_head":"\nWill You Still Eat Eggs? 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