In the second part of Pollan's argument he switches sides to contradict his original claim. Such as, instead of stating that he is completely against animals being "eaten", he adds on in the next part that it is okay to eat animals, as long as you are not "demoralizing" it when it is killed for food or other purposes. I usually become very confused when it comes to this step in an argument piece, but Pollan actually accentuates his essay very well with this other part. At first I wanted to go completely vegan, then Pollan switched his tone from the bias one, and made my stand on animal rights do a one-eighty, but with a more sentimental idea about it.
One example that really deferred my opinion was Joel Salatin's farm, Polyface Farm. In Latin, 'poly' means many, so basically this farm produces many different meats from various animals; from cattle to chicken to sheep to hogs and back to cattle again, all existing in one symbiotic relationship. The way that Pollan described what he had seen and experienced at this farm really connected me emotionally; with respect towards the animals, and logically; with support for his claim.
He also brought across a very valid point about how some animals are actually domesticated for their own good, because without humans they would in fact be extinct! This really quirked my interest further in this essay because I wanted him to answer why? Then he did by including outrageous examples such as how there are 50 million dogs and only 10 thousand wolves in North America. But although that ancestor of the canine family has suffered in population it may be due to the fact that people hunted them to near extinction; which made me question his logic a little.
Afterwards he ties it up with how it is better for an animal if you actually do eat them, as long as they are given respect, and I agreed with that ending; because although it did not change the ways of my lifestyle, it changed my awareness dramatically.
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4 comments:
I pretty much noticed the same things you did. I really want to turn vegan too. I felt really bad for the animals as I was reading. He definitely pulled a one eighty I can agree with you there. He did state that how the animals were being treated was cruel and then to be eaten. Then he turns around and says that we should eat the animals. I get confused too but I know that when you make a strong argument you have to have both sides of the story. It seems weird to me. I also liked how you noticed the whole respect too. Treating animals with respect makes it a little better to eat animals. But it is sad that animals are taken away from their mothers, put in cages that they cant even move in, or cutting off their tales. They go trough all this suffering just to be killed and eaten. Then there is the whole respect thing. Why not give the animals a life worth living before they die. I liked the points you picked out.
In your response i can relate to many of the things you said and kind of felt the same way you did while reading Pollans essay. Usually in these kind of essay's when the writer gets to that part i feel like he has changed his mind but instead whenreading Pollans essay i feel like he is on the same side but just showing he understands the other sideof the issue. Further more, this essay also opened my eye's to realize how animals where treated before they make it to our dinner tables. I felt like you had a kind of new understanding to this also when you are talking about the Polyface Farm.
Yes he swtiched in the middle of his writting but i believe its because his opinion changed. Is that so wrong? Through certain experiances peoples outlook on things change. I agree when it was said that not everyone could become vegetarian because the world simply does not have enough resources and that if we were to stop eatting meat then there would be even more murder than there was before when we were eatting meat. In this case he still believes that being a vegetarian is very good but not for everyone. Also to me he was just clarifiying that if you were to eat animals then give the animals respect and kill them for food and not purses, clothing, shoes, etc. So really to me he had the same belief he was just helping out us meat eatters.
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