On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 12:02 PM, Bob Sullivan <rf.sulli...@gmail.com> wrote: > Frank, > > I get pissed when the same group of pdml'ers start beating the drums > again about what a bad lot we are over here in N. America. I'm tired > of the "I'm right / We're superior" attitude that comes along with the > posts. You're not doing it, but I get it from others. > > As to proof of Graydon's comments, I drive across Illinois and Iowa > regularly. This is some of the richest farmland in the world and I > see it carefully manicured to produce corn or soybeans or other crops. > This isn't a patch here or there, it's 500 miles of re-purposed lands > standing shoulder to shoulder along the highway for a day's drive. > When the Graydon says look a bit further into the system and see what > the consequences have been, it's an arguement I have seen before and > something I've seen people overlook before. > > We're meat eaters Frank. If you don't want to, that's OK. But quit > denying your heitage and the system that got you here. > > As I sit typing this, the hawk is 10 feet out of my back window > chasing a squirrel he wants to eat. Is he wrong? >
I'm not denying my heritage at all! I recognize that my ancestors ate meat; hell, I recognize that I myself at meat until a couple of years ago. Choosing not to eat meat has nothing to do with my "heritage". The "system that got me here" would have worked just as well had we not decided to turn cattle into meat factories and economic units. By the way, that "system" has only been around for about 50 or so years. Yes, it is the current manifestation of a farming system that's been evolving for millenia, but that evolution is not "natural" and wasn't inevitable. Humans making conscious decisions (including those who consume that meat) are what brought us to our current system of agribusiness. Hell, all things evolve and change over time. While such animal husbandry practices may have been useful and even necessary at some point, is there anything wrong with saying that it's no longer sustainable and changes need to be made? Can't we do that without denying our history? Surely I'm allowed to look at how things are with a critical eye and act and react accordingly, Bob. As for the hawk eating the rodent, nature (without the hand of man involved) has evolved the hawk into a meat eater. (S)he has no choice but to eat meat. We're omnivores. We have a choice. I respect your choice to eat meat. You've said you respect my choice not to. I think that's a good place to end my involvement in what has become a very OT thread (while admitting that my involvement perpetuated it considerably). Are we all still friends? ;-) cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
