Click on the link below to help me get a stand going in the Farmer's Market! Kickstarter is an amazing site that helps folks get projects funded. Please support by pledging and forward to friends!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theethicalbutcher/the-ethical-butchers-custom-cured-bacon-heritag
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I wish you the best in your efforts, will place a pledge soon! Also, I sent you an e-mail, hoping to hear from you soon!
ReplyDeleteThe ethical butcher? How is killing any sentient being against its well, in any way, ethical?
ReplyDeleteHow can you claim to care about animals, and then justify their murders simply because your blade is the sharpest?
As you know, we do not need to eat animals to survive as a species. In fact, folks like Prof Campbell argue that we shouldn't for a myriad of health reasons, not to mention animal's outlandish contribution to climate change (see Safran Foer's new book "Eating Animals" for a great investigation of the issue).
Even locally produced cattle, for example, ruin our biodiversity and threaten endangered species like salmon. Just look at private and even BLM lands in eastern Oregon if you don't believe me, where cows shit in our rivers. These are not CAFOs by any means, but small farms that sell their "sustainable" meats at New Seasons and Whole Foods.
I think you'd be better off advising people to read a little Tom Regan, Peter Singer, or Campbell's "China Study".
In the end though, I guess you either think animals have rights, or you think you have the right to kill them against their will.
If you read more of my writing, you will see that I, too am against buying meat at stores like Whole Foods and New Seasons. The meat they sell is unsustainable by definition, due to the size of their corporations. I do not buy meat from there and I have never told anyone else to do so. I am well aware of the problems with beef, even from small producers and thus rarely eat it myself and I will only sell it as a very seasonal item in my shop. I do not believe meat is a necessity nor that it should be eaten to excess. Also, butchers do not slaughter, so your comment about my blade is simply incorrect. You would do well to do more research before launching your next diatribe.
ReplyDeleteLooks like someone else feels the way I do about your "ethical" nature:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/yfb3gbr
I did not state that you slaughtered the animals you cut up in your shop -- the sharp blade comment was a metaphor for your beliefs.
I also never stated that you told people to buy their meat at New Seasons or Whole Foods. I was simply pointing out that even local, small scale producers of cows, have huge impacts on the region's ecology. The same, of course, could be said of hog and poultry growers.
Cheers.
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ReplyDeleteI read this article first thing this morning, and despite my best efforts, was unable to find any cogent argument to respond to.
ReplyDeleteLook, I am not here to convert vegans nor do I regret the many years I abstained from meat. I am here for the converted. The purpose of my work is to help people understand how to eat meat responsibly, demonizing and alienating them will definitely not do that. This sort of elitist moral supremacy does nothing to affect real change. People have and will continue to eat meat, turning your backs on the animals left to feed them will not change the conditions these animals live in. Only changing the system, by participating in it and demanding higher standards, will.
Thanks for your comments and concerns, but I am not interested in having a comment war on my blog. This passive-aggressive style of debate so prevalent on the internet is not only a waste of time, but an affront to any ideals one supposes to stand for. If you'd like to ask me any actual questions about my stance or practices, please do not hesitate to email me.
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ReplyDeleteHi Ethical Butcher,
ReplyDeleteI think it's quite ignorant of you to write that "turning your backs on the animals left to feed them will not change the conditions these animals live in."
Your rationale that one can only change the system "by participating in it" is ass backwards. That's like saying a war can only end if everyone joins the military, or that corporate accountability can only become realized if we all become capitalists.
Social change is most effective when pressure is waged outside the system. The most articulate and ethical voices opposing animal cruelty are primarily vegetarians and vegans.
Good luck.