I like meat.

I didn't become a vegetarian because I think it's wrong to eat meat. I love meat. Especially red meat. I look at a cow and think, "Oh, how cute;" I also think, "Man, that would be fucking great on a plate with some mashed potatoes." I also don't like PETA. I respect what they believe, obviously, but a lot of what they do is just as propagandist as who they're trying to fight. I also don't think that some of their methods are effective; I've said it before and I'll say it again--throwing maggots at fashion models, jumping onstage naked at runway shows, and throwing paint on people's expensive fur coats are more likely to do harm than good. Wouldn't you be more likely to be pissed off than enlightened if that happened to you? I know that I would, and most people would be, as well. Way to go on the KFC front as well, PETA--that's obviously the best way to make your point, writing letters to people outlining how evil they are for not following your advice. That'll win them over to your side.

I wrote PETA about this, and received two e-mails back about how they need to be shocking (read: assholes) to get media coverage. Yes, because you're a small, unknown organization with no support. Face it, PETA: you don't get all the results you want because you're more concerned about being right than getting results. And you are right, but some of your methods are wrong.

In short, I'm the last person you'd ever, ever expect to be a vegetarian. Everyone I know is bum-fucked shocked. So why am I a vegetarian?

Because PETA is right. Because animals feel pain and suffer when they're raised in less than satisfactory conditions. Can you imagine what your life would be like if you had no room to move and had to live in your own shit all day? It's also affecting the environment, our food supply, and inhibiting our ability to move ahead with greener fuel sources. Just recently, the food industry complained that, if we upped the production of ethanol, the meat industry would suffer from loss of feed for livestock. (This is referenced in my other blog.) This would affect the meat industry because the meat industry doesn't use sustainable farming methods; doing so would eliminate the need to ship feed in from the highly subsidized corn farms across America. We could then use that corn for ethanol. (We could also use the corn that goes into high fructose corn syrup--I'm sure nobody would miss that. Or diabetes.) Not to mention the fact that, if we moved to sustainable farming, there would be fewer incidents of pig shit geysers. (Read Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. The pig shit geyser story is great.) Also, healthy livestock makes healthy meat makes healthy omnivorous humans. It all works in our favor; unfortunately, it doesn't work very well for big business profit margins. These people that supply our food care more about their bankrolls than their customers. The only way to make them understand is to hit 'em where it hurts--their wallets.

Which is why I stopped eating meat. I could buy organic or free-range meat; I choose not to do so because--well, frankly, the demand for it isn't high enough to create a greater supply, and it is too damn expensive. It is an alternative to going all veggie if you're concerned about animals but don't want to stop eating them.

Regular, tortured meat isn't cheap, either; when I was living in Columbus, Ohio, and working at Sbux, I discovered that meat is a luxury that I couldn't afford more than a couple of times a week. I began to grow accustomed to doing without. Perhaps it is this viewpoint that led me to make the vegetarian leap (except that I do still eat canned tuna, mercury be damned). I view meat as a luxury, not a necessity--why should an animal, therefore, go through life under some of the worst conditions just so that I can consume it? It's not right. I made excuses to myself for years, but the bottom line is that it's not right for me to support that.

If you don't think that animals deserve the right to be treated with dignity, consider any pets you may have had throughout your life--you can forget the one time you dressed it up in a Halloween costume, that wasn't particularly harmful to it. You nurtured your pet; you stroked it, loved it, fed it, made sure it stayed healthy, played with it; your pet was part of the family. And if someone had mistreated it, there would have been hell to pay! Am I right? And didn't your pets also know when you were happy and when you were sad; didn't they get excited when you came home, and scared if they heard a loud noise (or maybe threatening, if you had one of those protector dogs)? Animals have feelings. They feel pain and suffer, but they can also feel contentment if conditions are favorable (see cats purring and dogs wagging their tails). Even if you don't think, say, chickens are smart enough to have feelings, they can definitely register pain and fear; that's basic survival instinct.

I love meat. My very favorite food in the whole world is rare steak. But I stopped eating meat because it is wrong to support an industry that is cruel to animals. It was a sacrifice, damn right it was, but we can't get results without sacrifice. It's time for Americans to stand up and do what is right, not what is convenient.

Now, onto what the blog is really about. I promise this blog isn't going to be all preachy, but I had to speak my mind, yeah?

I am new to vegetarianism, as you can probably tell. I'm just now discovering what's good and what's not; I also have the unique advantage of still being a meat-lover. I want to chronicle my journey through vegetarianism for all vegetarians, vegans, and reluctant vegetarians alike. I want to help meat eaters who want to do the right thing make a smooth transition into vegetarianism without eating fake meat that tastes like crap (some of it is great, some of it's gross), without going on a diet of entirely french fries and soda (you know who you are), without being terrified of tofu (it's great if you prepare it right, it really is--I thought so even when I was eating meat) and without missing your meat too much. You'll miss it, but you can respect yourself in the morning.

If any vegetarians are reading this and would like to join the blog, please email me at ophelianouveau @ yahoo.