Let me start by stating that I have the deepest respect for Morrissey’s contribution to animal welfare. He has converted countless of fans, among which my humble self, to eat less or no meat and has contributed enormously to growth of awareness in many societies.
Now, there have been a lot of discussions on the Norway massacre statement. For me the whole thing boils down to the following question:
Does Morrissey believe his Norway-statement will lead to people eating less meat?
I believe that at some level every human knows that eating animals is wrong. No child will ever look a pig or a rabbit and grab a knife with a watery mouth and a murderous lust in his eyes. A child is much more likely to cuddle with the beast. Killing for food (with enough alternatives on hand) is not a human instinct. In order for a child to become a carnivore, it must be fooled into eating meat, lied to about its intolerable origins and conditioned on the taste. “It’s normal, that is what everybody does, right?”
Based on the above assumption I would argue that everybody who is eating meat is at some level aware of it being wrong. Therefore meat-eaters are constantly applying some kind of technique of justification and/or self-deception.
Now, I wonder if such extreme and alienating statements, as those of Morrissey will not actually allow people to more easily dismiss their doubts on eating meat, arguing that vegetarianism is for crazy extremist who think that them having a “normal” dinner is worse that a human mass murder.
Does Morrissey believe he is changing things for the better with a statement like that or is he committing “unlimited self-sabotage”? See related thread
What do you think?
Now, there have been a lot of discussions on the Norway massacre statement. For me the whole thing boils down to the following question:
Does Morrissey believe his Norway-statement will lead to people eating less meat?
I believe that at some level every human knows that eating animals is wrong. No child will ever look a pig or a rabbit and grab a knife with a watery mouth and a murderous lust in his eyes. A child is much more likely to cuddle with the beast. Killing for food (with enough alternatives on hand) is not a human instinct. In order for a child to become a carnivore, it must be fooled into eating meat, lied to about its intolerable origins and conditioned on the taste. “It’s normal, that is what everybody does, right?”
Based on the above assumption I would argue that everybody who is eating meat is at some level aware of it being wrong. Therefore meat-eaters are constantly applying some kind of technique of justification and/or self-deception.
Now, I wonder if such extreme and alienating statements, as those of Morrissey will not actually allow people to more easily dismiss their doubts on eating meat, arguing that vegetarianism is for crazy extremist who think that them having a “normal” dinner is worse that a human mass murder.
Does Morrissey believe he is changing things for the better with a statement like that or is he committing “unlimited self-sabotage”? See related thread
What do you think?