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A Hard Choice 

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Clarissa

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If I had to choose whether to be confused for a Trump voter or an ideological* vegetarian, it would be a hard choice but I’d end up choosing a Trump supporter. 

Did you, folks, know that there are people who don’t eat honey because they don’t want to exploit bees? OK, I have no sense of humor and I recognize it’s possible they are taking the piss but they sounded very serious. And I’m very disturbed by things that I can’t possibly understand no matter how hard I try. 

* Meaning not health-related or religious vegetarianism.

15 responses to “A Hard Choice ”

  1. raddledoldtart Avatar
    raddledoldtart

    In the UK, someone who won’t eat meat or any dairy products and also won’t use honey (or leather) would usually call themselves vegan, is this term less common in the States?
    And given many recent instances of statistically unusual mass commercial hive deaths, couldn’t it be argued that their concern for bee welfare is looking increasingly valid?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Hey, anything can be argued but you’ve got to understand, I’m from a different world. I grew up amidst real food scarcity. Most of the things you and I eat today, I hadn’t even seen them, not even on TV until adulthood. I still have an irrational fears that good will run out.

      With this history, the likelihood of me understanding the worldview of people who worry about “animal rights”, let alone “insect rights” is non-existent. I’m glad they’ve had such fantastic, sheltered lives, I sincerely am. Just like I’m happy for children of billionaires who have never wanted for anything. But I’m from another planet.

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  2. n8chz Avatar
    n8chz

    Vegetarian is no meat; vegan is no animal products. An even tighter constraint is veganic. This means no animal products in the supply chain, no animal manure on the soil, etc.

    All that said, I’d still rather be confused for a veganic than a Trumpist.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      “An even tighter constraint is veganic. This means no animal products in the supply chain, no animal manure on the soil, etc.”

      • It’s unbelievable how far people take their worship of consumerism.

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  3. DWeird Avatar
    DWeird

    Vegetarianism makes sense to me on a mathematical/stewardship level. It takes somewhere between 2.5-5 times as much land and other resources to feed a person on cattle as opposed to grains or vegetables – we are all, in a sense, just feasting on the sun, and herbivores are just an extra, not terribly efficient step for converting sunlight into energy we can actually use.

    And yes, the natural development of this line of thought means that we should all, in the end, subsist entirely on forehead-mounted solar panels, and I, for one, relish this delicious solar cyborg future.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Wow, you made it sound rational and even beautiful.

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    2. cliff arroyo Avatar
      cliff arroyo

      “I, for one, relish this delicious solar cyborg future.”

      Not me! I’m an animal at a defined place in the food chain (not at the top) and I respect my animal nature (which includes eating animals lower in the food chain).

      I’m horrified by certain aspects of factory farming and commercial meat production but the idea of humans eating other animals is completely natural.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        \ Not me! I’m an animal at a defined place in the food chain (not at the top)

        Wait, who is at the top, God? Or grave worms?

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        1. cliff arroyo Avatar
          cliff arroyo

          sharks, tigers and crocodiles (grizzly) bears and some others eat humans without being eaten much in return…

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          1. el Avatar
            el

            \ sharks, tigers and crocodiles (grizzly) bears and some others eat humans without being eaten much in return…

            You are not up to date.

            “Overfishing has caused massive decline in shark numbers – a huge jolt to ocean ecosystems in little over 50 years. … WWF and TRAFFIC have created Sharks: Restoring the Balance an initiative to improve management of shark fisheries. … Where populations have dropped too low to be sustainably fished, complete protection may be the only answer.”
            “Like most of the 24 species of crocodiles, both dwarf crocodile subspecies are endangered due to overhunting, persecution and habitat alteration.”

            And so on.

            We do not have to eat them to kill them. 😦

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    3. m Avatar
      m

      This is basically why I’m a vegetarian. That and I grew up in a vegetarian household (but wasn’t raised vegetarian because my parents didn’t want to foist their beliefs on me – they are religious vegetarians) so the idea of eating meat regularly has always been weird to me. Also I genuinely don’t like the taste and texture of most meat. But I’m not partocularly ideological about it. My partner eats meat, which is fine and his business. I even cook it for him sometimes. I see it as a personal choice thay I have no interest in inflicting on other people, let alone droning on about constantly.

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  4. el Avatar
    el

    Can somebody explain the logic behind this latest Trump scandal? If he doesn’t want to visit the Western Wall with Netanyahu, why visit it at all? For whom is this performance (the visit itself), if not to show Trump’s friendliness and respect for us, Israeli Jews? Arabs don’t see the Wall as sacred, so it can’t be for them.

    THE NEWS:

    Members of the American delegation preparing for President Donald Trump’s arrival in Israel have reportedly asked the Israeli prep team to leave the Western Wall, telling them “this isn’t your territory; it’s the West Bank.”

    The American and Israeli teams were visiting the holy site on Sunday ahead of Trump’s visit next week.

    The Israeli team requested to have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accompany Trump during his visit to the Western Wall, but were turned down by the Americans. This led to a loud argument between representatives from the two teams.

    Two officials from the US Consulate in Jerusalem spoke curtly to the Israeli team, telling them among other things: “We’re asking you to leave, and we need to be left alone. Israeli officials cannot be here; this is not your territory, it’s the West Bank. This is a private visit by the President and has nothing to do with you. It’s none of your business.”

    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4962667,00.html

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      The point of every single one of these Trump scandals is the scandal itself. Don’t look for an ulterior motive beyond that. Trump won an election by creating these flareups tuat the media thrive on. The performance is for the benefit of Americans who swallow the bait every single time and go into fits over these ridiculous stories.

      It’s like trolling but with a huge gain in money and power.

      Don’t feed the troll.

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  5. el Avatar
    el

    Bugs could be answer to food crisis, Israeli start-up says

    Israeli firm aims to be the first to farm edible insects, using high-tech methods; protein source to be marketed in the West
    …
    In a world where protein is already lacking – and will become even harder to come by, as the world’s population grow to as many as 9 billion by 2050 – insects, and especially grasshoppers, are one under-untapped source. According to Tamir, grasshoppers are not only healthier than most sources of protein, but also cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

    http://www.timesofisrael.com/bugs-could-be-answer-to-food-crisis-israeli-start-up-says/

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  6. el Avatar
    el

    Missed the most important part 🙂 :

    \ “It’s hard to convince yourself to try eating bugs,” Tamir said, but swears that “they taste like red mullet, a very popular dish in Israel.”

    Will Israelis go for grasshoppers? He can’t predict that, but Tamir said that the company has solved one problem that will be an issue for some Israelis. “Our grasshopper varieties are kosher, based on the tradition of Jews from Yemen and elsewhere who have traditionally eaten them.”

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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