Regarding "Why We Don't Eat Animals"

This book has been stalking me at the library. The cover makes it look like it's one of those learning-how-to-not-be-judgmental-of-others kind of books. There are a lot of those in the kid section of the library. But I kept getting this ominous impression from it. Like it was watching me and just waiting to bash my meat-love.

So I checked it out. And, sure enough, it was exactly what I thought. Now, I have nothing against vegetarians or vegans. I have nothing against all the different reasons to be that way. But what I do oppose is taking facts and exaggerating them or twisting them to try to convince someone else to be guilty. Manipulation is dirty.

Sorry this pic is so big. It was the only way to make it readable. Some of these pictures you can click on, and some you can't. I don't know why.

This is the first page. There's not anything outrageously bad with it, but I find it really ironic and slightly hypocritical that the very first thing it says is that a flower is an earthling too, and has the need to grow, and yet it's still okay to eat veggies but not animals.

Animals are 'earthlings'. "People throughout history have chosen not to eat this fellow earthlings." But they also say that plants are earthlings. "Every earthling has the right to live and grow". But it's okay to eat plant earthlings and not animal earthlings? *shrug*

I didn't put every page on here. Copyright stuff. But I put a couple on just to illustrate my point. This one is about pigs. It shows the free and happy pigs in a lovely pile of mud and the pigs that are raised for eating locked up in a pen where its face is smushed out the side. I know that there are probably some farms where pigs aren't as well treated as others, but really people? I have never, ever seen a pig pen that was so small that the pig's head was sticking out between the wire. Example one of exaggerating the facts for their own agenda.

Basically the same example as the pigs. The free cows (see pic below) are happy and roaming free, but the farm cows are stuck in these stalls that are only just big enough to shut the door on the animal. Now I may not know much about farming, but I've driven past literally countless cattle farms and they all look a lot like the second picture, not the first. Wide open fields with baby cows walking next to mamma cows with lovely green grass and sunshine. Also, I don't understand how cattle farms "waste valuable water".

Funny how their happy cow picture still has a fence around it. Go figure. Besides, can cows live wild? I'm not actually sure if they can. I don't know.

Example 3: Chickens. It is completely true that some chickens live in a cage that's small. Sometimes it's not nearly as good as free range or whatever. But six in the same 1 chicken cage? Bull. Crap. I feel like my intelligence is being insulted by that.

Like I said before, sometimes there are facts that would prove a point. And I have no problem with people avoiding chickens as a form of protest against conditions. But printing a book for children who don't know better and telling them that there are chickens all crammed into the same cage like that => is not okay.

I just thought this picture was funny. Partly because they were talking about destroying the Amazon, and neither elephants or gorillas live in south america. And also just because it was so very dramatic and kind of cute.

Also, this mouse was cute. That was something I did like about the book. I liked the art. Or the way the art looked, anyway, as opposed to the misleading information from said art.

Anyway, I know I didn't talk about a lot from the book. But I think I got my point across. The reason I really didn't like it is because instead of just being informative, it is an opinion book that is trying to make us feel guilty for not believing the same thing.

I'm not saying that there aren't people who do bad stuff to animals, or whatever. Take a look at that dog fighter guy from a while ago. But people like this try to make it look like the rule, not the exception, and that's what I don't like.

Oddly enough, I've noticed that it is usually the extreme environmentalists, far liberal politicians, and other such super extreme far out people that do this exaggeration and guiltifying. Moderation in all things, people.

**Update

Dear everyone. I'm sorry that my response to Mr. Jed was so long. It's basically another post. I could have typed and published it separately and just included a link, but I know how people are. They never click on stuff like that. And I wanted people to know my reply.

I hope it's clear and not more wordy than was absolutely necessary. Thanks for reading.