The Discerning Brute: fashion, food & etiquette for the ethically handsome man » masculine

'Carnivore' Pride

TheDiscerningBrute — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:15:54 +0000

Popping up all over the web are 'carnivore pride' sites whose messages range from unapologetic, caveman cravings, to defensive and arrogant rationalizers' manifestos. Some even refer to a "call to arms", as if every aspect of consumer culture isn't already unrelenting in pushing meat and other animal products onto a terrified and protein-obsessed, infantile and hedonistic consumer culture.

“The average American consumes 218.3 pounds of meat every year. But in the face of concerns about Mad Cow disease, dubious industrial feedlot practices, and self-righteous vegetarians, the carnivorous lifestyle has become somewhat déclassé. Now, Scott Gold issues a red-blooded call to arms for the meat-adoring masses to rise up, speak out, and reclaim their pride.

"So this...is my rallying cry. A call to arms. I’m certain that there’s a veritable army of carnivores out there just like me, ready and waiting for someone to come forth waving that blood-red banner high, unabashed, in true carnivorous splendor." - ShamelessCarnivore.com

Do you know why these meat-pride sites have emerged? Not because meat-eating has any intrinsic legitimacy, but because perceived change and a loss of identity on the part of those who consider themselves "carnivorous" is scary and polarizing. What exactly are they rallying against? Simply put, they are resisting the emergence of truth, and like every other social justice movement, once the economics and the very identity of those who will go to the ends of the earth to maintain the status-quo are challenged, an instinct to defend their comfortable positions arise. Something in the tone of these sites tells me that they're designed specifically with pissing off vegetarians in mind.

One of the most common accusations made by meat-eaters to vegetarians is that we think we're 'morally superior'. We are referred to as 'self-righteous'. This would mean we have an unfounded certainty that we are right. I can't tell you how many times I have to point out to people who accuse me being self-righteous that it actually has almost nothing to do with me, per se. Instead, it has everything to do with respecting other individuals, whose will to live, attempts at escape, and inarguable signs of suffering have put me in a position to respect their validity as individuals with intelligence, interests, and complex emotions and social behaviors in consistency with a larger system of ethics. Inconsistency (and a defiant defense of those moral inconsistencies within a larger ethical context) is the hallmark of carnivore-pride positions. We say "If you wouldn't eat the family dog, then why eat a pig?" They say "It's perfectly fine for me to be morally inconsistent because it's about me and my desires - not about the pigs' (or even the dogs') interests," or "because it tastes good".

The term 'carnivore' is reserved for those organisms who consume nothing but raw flesh and organs. Humans are opportunistic scavengers - physiologically designed as omnivores who can typically survive and even be healthy eating whatever is available. For a human to call him or herself a carnivore is to say that they eat almost no vegetation, and that they share the characteristics of other carnivores (short intestinal tract, biological hardware to take down and consume animals' organs raw). And if there are those out there subsisting almost entirely on flesh and organs and secretions - bless the heart of anyone who has to tolerate the smell of the festering, curdling, rotten mass traveling through an intestinal tract that's far too long to get rid of the mess before it becomes toxic, and sends a putridness out of every pore, in every drop of sweat (never mind the toll on general health) . The fact is that as omnivores, we can choose what to eat - and that's where the controversy resides.

This raises the question: why aspire to the title of 'carnivore'? It is, in itself, a rejection of the vegetarian identity - and a response to what they perceive as moral superiority and self-righteousness. The pride emerges in meat-eating as if most of these people were part of the hunt, and many of them do hunt, but the majority of meat-eaters in the US do not hunt. Instead they purchase meat from masters of illusions - the supermarkets that hide the killing process within perfect, clean packages, and behind images of animals that want us to eat them. The closer they get to the carcass, the more they feel they've somehow participated in some proud act or tradition. With the context missing, it is of course pornographic - like being stimulated by an image. Devouring the body of a chicken doesn't make you a hunter any more than devouring porn makes you experienced in sexual intercourse. It certainly is more about the identity of being a man than anything else. As I pointed out in my recent letter to the New York Times, the limited, suffocating identity of manhood in this culture is inseparably tied to attaining and consuming meat. Thus abandoning meat-eating is abandoning manhood and pride itself. For more on this, read Total recall, and Men Like Sports & Men Like Sports II. What's happening today is that the process and effects of factory farming and other cruel methods of viewing and treating non-human animals as 'production units' and the rest of the non-human world as a stockpile of resources to be exploited and drained, are being exposed and scrutinized. From environmental concerns, to ethical concerns - there are signs of human beings emerging from the state of infantile self-gratification that is causing us to destroy our only home and torture our only known companions in the entire universe.

While it would be great to have someone else do all of our hard labor for no pay, the process and effects of slavery in America have been exposed and mostly rejected. Don't be fooled in thinking that the path to equality over the last few hundred years wasn't met by resistance. There wasn't some sudden, mass enlightenment. People died fighting for and against it. Similar cases existed for Women's Equality, Anti-Semitism, and Child Labor. These social norms weren't participated in because individuals had less moral character in the past than they do now - they were participated in because they reinforced and maintained a certain status, hierarchy, and economic benefit to those doing the exploiting.

The emergence of this über meat-pride within the wider context of a dominant meat-pride culture is evidence that the truth and the reality of what happens to many animals exploited for their flesh and functions is being adressed. They are on the defensive, and for good reason: truth is difficult to evade.

Total Recall

TheDiscerningBrute — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 04:00:27 +0000

An historical event has transpired - for the first time ever, undercover footage recorded by a Humane Society investigator has grabbed headlines nationwide. This has resulted in the largest recall of beef in US history - 143 million pounds, and has exposed horrible cruelties that, while commonplace, were shocking and new to anyone who has never seen the underbelly of factory farming. Trying to make sense of them is another story.The coverage that this undercover video-clip received nationwide, and the beef recall itself, were both watersheds. If you haven't seen the clip, please watch below: For more of the footage click HERE Meat-eating has always been associated with manliness in our culture. Traditionally, the predatory nature of hunting required physical strength, stamina, tool-making, and often hours to days of tracking herds. Then there was the kill; the bloody and exhausting act of taking down large animals, cutting them up and bringing them home. Many anthropologists and primatologists argue that meat was a pivotal way to exert social control in the form of currency due to its desirability. While women may have collected most gatherer-hunter protein sources, we should not ignore the fact that men were able to use meat for their own selfish and manipulative political ends. It's no surprise then, that thousands of years later, most men still identify with this nearly-universal symbol of masculine social and political power, though they rarely grasp why. What does this beef recall and the surrounding events say about us if real men eat meat? Vegetarianism is often portrayed as weak, emasculating, and undesirable, although more and more men are realizing that a vegetable-based diet is healthier and better for the earth, and that the reality of their bond with meat is now relatively invalid. While meat is rarely necessary for survival in modern times, most advertising geared toward mainstream men still appeals to his hunter roots - to his very primal, instinctual brain. If the disconnect here is not apparent with the merciless cruelty shown in the video above, it might bring clarity to know that this is by no means an isolated incident. This is something that is commonplace from chicken farms to circuses to laboratories. These sweeping abuses of animals showcases a crippling and epidemic -sized inability to empathize, and a desire to play out those primal tendencies to control something so politically defining and powerful. On farms worldwide, untold cruelties are trespassed. The video shows Hallmark Meat Packing Co. workers administering repeated electric shocks to downed cows -- animals that are too sick, weak or otherwise unable to stand on their own. Workers are seen kicking cows, jabbing them near their eyes, ramming them with a forklift and shooting high-intensity water up their noses in an effort to force them to their feet for slaughter.Typically, the media shies away from showing footage of animal cruelty, despite the frequency of incidents like these in many industries, because it is believed that viewers will change the channel. However, if you tuned into your local news almost anywhere in the country in the last few days, it was impossible to miss it as news stations everywhere spent several minutes on this headlining story, shocking viewers - and raising many questions. The president of HMP published this statement on the meat company's website.

"...Words cannot accurately express how shocked and horrified I was at the depictions contained on the video that was taken by an individual who worked at our facility from October 3 thru November 14, 2007. We have taken swift action regarding the two employees identified on the video and have already implemented aggressive measures to ensure all employees follow our humane handling policies and procedures. We are also cooperating with the USDA investigators on the allegations of inhumane handling treatment which is a serious breech of our company’s policies and training... " - Steve Mendell, President Westland Meat Co. Hallmark Meat Packing

This statement is an expected cliché and completely fails to elucidate the incident. In an industry where living, feeling, animals are reduced to mere economic units, it is no surprise that profit-seeking businesses end up treating animals in this way. The huge demand for meat results in an immense pressure to raise, exploit, and kill animals in such massive quantities that no dream of the resources required to produce "humane meat" could ever exist to satisfy the grotesque amount of meat consumption that occurs in the US. In addition, this immense demand requires assembly line killing, and any extra care taken or 'downer' incidentals means profit-loss. It's an out-and-out contradiction to claim that any meat-production facility could sustain 'humane' policies. Less torturous, maybe, but never humane. Expect to see many, many more videos like this reaching the mainstream media, now that the barrier has been broken. Organizations like HSUS, PETA, and Farm Sanctuary continually send undercover investigators to work at these facilities and expose horrible cruelties. Now it seems many more investigations, like the Butterball Turkey Investigation showcased in the HBO documentary "I Am An Animal" will reach more viewers. The Humane Society says the video was shot last year by an undercover investigator . Investigators like these, who wear a hidden camera under their clothes and work at the facilities, risk their safety and deserve our praise. If you want to get involved, but need some motivation, visit GoVeg.com, and watch 'Earthlings' starring the Discerning Brute, Joaquin Phoenix: