Can You Hear the Baby Chickens Chirpin'?

Why do people find it necessary to give vegetarians a hard time? I don’t eat meat, but I don’t give people a hard time about it. I am about to give meat-eaters a hard time in this article, but I consider this website different. I’m allowed to express my opinions here as much as I want because this is our website and we can put whatever the hell we want on here. When we’re out in the real world, we leave people alone unless they ask. Which they do. ALL the time. “Why don’t you eat meat? Can you eat fish? What about chicken--chicken’s not meat! Blah blah blah! Stupid words!” Lets get one thing straight- we CAN eat anything we want. We are physically capable of consuming anything. We choose not to because we believe it’s wrong. At least Siren and I feel this way, I couldnt tell you why others do it.

I was over at my grandparents’ house and my grandfather was giving me a hard time about it. He was saying a load of ignorant crap, but I’m pretty sure he was just joking. He knew he was wrong, yet he continued to make a big deal out of it just to piss me off. Well, it worked. Let me first state that I love the hell out of my grandparents and they really are great people. They’ve always been there for me when I needed them and all around, I couldn’t have been dealt a hand much better than I was. With that said, I was SO pissed at my gramps for saying all the things he was saying. He asked me, “Do you eat eggs? They’re just BABY chickens.” I explained to him then, and I’ll explain to those of you reading this who don’t already know, that the eggs you buy from the store are not baby chickens. The eggs are unfertilized and would never have grown up to be a chicken no matter how long the hen sits on it. Chickens laying the eggs we eat is the equivalent to human females having their monthly period: they lay eggs whether they get screwed or not. I think he already knew this, in fact, I’m SURE he did. He’s a smart guy. Yet he continued to badger me to the point I actually wanted to cry. “When you eat ‘em you can hear ‘em chirp if you listen real hard! Hear that!? Ha ha ha ha! *chirpchirpchirp* You’re killing birds when you eat them!” I fail to see how people find so much pleasure in mocking the death of another life form.

Which brings me to the cruelty issue, which is one reason for my vegetarianism but not the only one. Every single animal on this earth has feelings-which I know sounds really cheesy, but bear with me. Every time you eat meat, you are putting into your mouth something that was once a living, walking, breathing life form. It had a brain with which to think and nerves with which to feel, and when you eat it, you are responsible for its death. A death that was not as quick and painless as many of you would like to think it was.

Siren and I were in a public speaking class in which a dirty Mexican gentleman told us a gruesomely explicit and true story of when he worked at a pork factory back in Mexico. He recalled every gory detail of the process they used to kill these animals. Their throats were slit in an attempt to get them to bleed to death more quickly. They were hung by their backs on hooks while still alive and dipped into boiling water until they were dead. EVERY SINGLE ONE of these animals died an excruciatingly painful death, so horrible most of you couldnt even imagine that kind of pain and suffering. And for what?! So some bastard could have a ham sandwich? If you think this isn’t par for the course, you are wrong. If you think this is an isolated case and most slaughter houses aren’t like that, you are wrong. Think about it next time you eat something that used to be alive. Think about how it felt when it was dying. I hope it makes you want to puke. It should.

*but* ... that’s just my opinion....