Widening Our Circle of Concern: Vegetarianism

"Pigs by nature are every bit as loving, sensitive, and full of personality as the animals we call "family."

"Pigs dream, recognize their names, and are gregarious and affectionate being who form loyal bonds with each other and other species including humans."
--

If so, why do millions of American citizens sit down to fancy feasts of ham, pork, sausage, and bacon, especially at Thanksgiving and other holy days?

Sometimes these pork-barrel* times include their deeply loved pet dogs in attendance, waiting impatiently for any pig scraps to gobble up.
("Chester Collins Maxey in the National Municipal Review...
claimed that the phrase originated in a pre-Civil War practice of giving slaves a barrel of salt pork as a reward and requiring them to compete among themselves to get their share of the handout.")
from wikepedia

YET, "the curious and insightful pig is the smartest domestic animal in the world, with intelligence beyond that of a 3-year-old human child."

"In their natural setting, pigs spend hours playing, mother pigs sing to their piglets while nursing, and groups of pigs enjoy lying close together in the sun."
--from vegetarian poster

Consider these startling facts from scientists:
from "Pigheaded: How Smart are Swine?"
By Andy Wright
"Candace Croney is an Associate Professor of Animal Sciences at Purdue University and once taught pigs to play video games...
she participated in a study that set pigs to a task that previously only Rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees had been asked to perform."

"The pigs were provided with specially made joysticks that they could control with their mouths or snouts and then tasked with the job of moving a cursor around on the screen to make contact with different target walls that would shrink and move away."

"Croney did not think the pigs would be able to do it. But they could..."they’re really very fast learners... learn novel things quite quickly and quite well.”

"She soon set her pigs to other tasks...They were given odor quizzes, correctly picking out, say, spearmint, from an array of other smells that included mint and peppermint."

"Some studies have shown that scent is so important to a pig that if you cover up a part of a pigs’ cheek, they have trouble recognizing each other because that is where they emit a certain pheromone."

"Croney says the pigs were extremely clean, that they housebroke themselves and that at the end of a play session they put their own toys away in a big tub."

"Pigs are social, they remember locations well, they remember negative and positive experiences, can tell the difference between individual pigs and humans, recognize themselves in mirrors and learn from other pigs," says Dunipace.

"Kristina Horback, an ethologist (a person who observes animals in their natural habitat): “The social structure of pigs is just like elephants, they have the increased prefrontal cortex like primates and humans because they eat meat and they have the need to hunt and forage."
from "Pigheaded: How Smart are Swine?"
By Andy Wright
READ the whole insightful article at Modern Farmer:
https://modernfarmer.com/2014/03/pigheaded-smart-swine/
--

Of course, for those of us who are moving toward vegetarianism, who have long ago quit pork and beef, but who still eat salmon, cod, and shrimp-- and sometimes fowl food at family meals to be courteous--for us in transition toward non-face food, there is this problem:
"Seth Dunipace, a veterinarian and post-doctoral fellow at University of Pennslyvania...thinks we should be asking ourselves why we care how smart a pig is. “I don’t think that’s necessarily fair because they’re using intelligence as a stand-in for suffering."

“And its this kind of thought that allows us to eat fish, and fish suffocate to death or bleed out over a course of thirty minutes, but a cow or pig must be rendered instantaneously insensible at slaughter. It’s a double standard."

"And fish do feel pain, fish do have memory. But we just don’t think of them as intelligent. And intelligence, I don’t think, should factor in to how greatly an animal can suffer.”

Hmm...we need to work toward a world of a widening circle of deep ethical concern, but keep in mind that we are all on this life voyage at different places.

Hopefully, we will live deeper and deeper into ethical truths,

Daniel Wilcox

Eat Food Without a Face

Moving Toward No Harm Eating*

Or VegaAgain...

"Eat food without a face."

What a marvelous aphorism with a powerful ethical kick.

This is an update on my own move down the food chain, transitioning toward vegetarianism gradually. Second time around.

The first time I tried to de-meat was in 1968 near Philadelphia, PA, while working as a mental health care giver in a mental hospital for emotionally disturbed teens and children.

(That came about because I was a conscientious objector; when drafted for opposing the Vietnam War, I served my country and all others by helping at-risk kids.)

I tried to go strictly vegan, but lost 50 pounds, became malnourished, dropped down to 113 pounds, damaging my brain and body and my relationships with others!

Such a good worthy ideal, but for me it was the wrong way to get there. Despite my modeling my diet on a 6-Gold-Medalist Olympian’s, my own particular body constitution couldn't take the drastic switch, even with the help of a health food doctor. Strict veganism worked for Murray Rose and the doctor, but not me.

Fast forward to the 1990’s; I started my new attempt by stopping the eating of all beef. At first, I missed hamburger and beef bologna. And sometimes declining all beef at family meals was relatively difficult. At first, my relatives and friends offered to get me salmon for their meal. I accepted or only ate potatoes and veggies. However, later, for who knows why, they stopped offering the alternative.

But I stuck to my fork, not my gun.

Keep in mind my family grew up in Nebraska, the "Beef State."* Every year when I was a kid, my parents bought half a cow from our grandparents and we ate everything from steak to heart, liver, tongue and ox tail! My favorite meat was fried liver and onions, and second, large beef bologna.

As for pig, I’ve never been a hog for pork, so didn’t have to stop chewing on such oinking dishes,
since, basically, I've eaten very few pork products since childhood.

When the family reunion of Thanksgiving
came up, I simply passed on the ham, and ate a little fowl food instead.

But even if I had loved ham and pork loins, I would have, definitely, stopped because pigs are one of the smartest sentient animals. Not a creature to eat.

See this:
'We have shown that pigs share a number of cognitive capacities with other highly intelligent species such as dogs, chimpanzees, elephants, dolphins, and even humans..."

"The point is not to rank these animals but to re-educate people about who they are.
They are very sophisticated animals," said neuroscientist Lori Marino of Emory University.

"Science leaders have reached a critical consensus:
Humans are not the only conscious beings;
other animals, specifically mammals and birds, are indeed conscious, too."

And octopuses.

"The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness in Non-Human Animals was publicly proclaimed in Cambridge, UK, on July 7, 2012, at the conclusion of the Conference, at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, by Philip Low, David Edelman and Christof Koch...
The Declaration was signed by the conference participants that very evening, in the presence of Stephen Hawking, in the Balfour Room at the Hotel du Vin in Cambridge, UK. The signing ceremony was memorialized by CBS 60 Minutes.”
--Marc Bekoff, PhD and other writers
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201208/scientists-conclude-nonhuman-animals-are-conscious-beings


However, despite my jettisoning of beef and pork years ago, I am moving slowly into vegetarianism this time around (compared to 1968), and don't plan on trying to achieve a vegan diet in my life time.

For the past decade or so, I have been a fishetarian, and I hope to become a lacto-vegetarian with in several years.

I am opposed to animal suffering. But I do need to emphasize, again, I am not fundamentalistic or rigid about this ethical choice/moral outlook toward food and human beings.

I certainly don't think that some animals are more important than some humans like plant biologist Peter Singer's incredible claim.

Also, while I personally oppose the eating of intelligent sentient "face" creatures as food, especially cattle and pigs, I don’t protest, like PETA leaders do, nor do I lecture others about their own eating habits and choices.

If someone asks, I share my own journey.

While I don't eat ham or beef, when I am with relatives and they only serve fowl food, so as not to offend, I either pile my plate high with potatoes and veggies or I take a small portion of fowl food.

I do this rather rather than play huge "Waldo" at the dining table and hurt my host's feelings.

But on my own, I drink non-fat milk for protein, and eat cheese vegetarian dishes, and various types of seafood, including clam chowder, crab, and fish, especially Alaskan salmon.

Currently, I am working on eliminating bird fetus (eggs) from my diet.

My personal goal is to finally reach the ethical life where I eat only non-face food, where I don’t eat any conscious sentient creature, not even fowl or gill meals, none at all.

So far moving toward the ideal, is going well.

Considering my age (almost 70), and despite my ill health, I'm doing pretty good. I’ve not lost 50 pounds this time.

And I am probably much healthier than I would be if I still ate beef and pork.

At least my doctor always smiles and congratulates me for not eating red meat. (She says, ‘Now, Daniel, if I could just get you to stop eating those little white doughnuts in the middle of the night because of your insomnia.’)




My general hope is that eventually all humans will move to a harmless/no-harm/no-face food life.

Another point for moving toward non-meat products is that generally non-meat sustenance is better for all humanity and for the environment. Check out some of the various sources on the Internet or the library on that.

What is your view of eating?

What is your favorite food?

Why?

Do you think all humans ought to move toward face-less, no-harm food?

If not, why not?

If so, which do you support vegetarianism or veganism?


In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox


For readers interested in my many-post book I am writing, here's the low-up;-):

*The Nature of Reality

Part #1: Monads, Quarks..."I," and God

Part #2: Ultimate Becoming, Divine Process

Point #1: Bottom Up
Subpoint A: Choices
Subpoint B: Ethics and Human Rights
Subpoint C: Creativity and the Openness of the Future
Subpoint D: Inherent Worth of Every Human Being
Subpoint E. Altruism and Non-violence (Attacked…)
Subpoint F: Worth of All Other Sentient Creatures
Fa: Eat Food Without a Face

Point #2: Live Authentically and Creatively
--

*"From 1956 through 1965, the license plate carried the motto, "The Beef State," but it was never an official state name..."

"Nebraskans have been blessed (or cursed) with various nicknames including "Bug Eaters," "Tree Planters," and "Cornhuskers." Nebraska has had two official state names: "The Tree Planter State" (1895), and "The Cornhusker State" (1945-present).

Apparently the earliest nickname applied to Nebraska residents was "Squatters," according to a July 21, 1860, article in the Omaha Weekly Nebraskian. ...many early Nebraska settlers moved onto their claims before the land had been surveyed..other state nicknames of that era were arguably worse...South Carolina Weasels, the Illinois Suckers, the Alabama Lizards, the Georgia Buzzards, the Missouri Pukes, or the Mississippi Tadpoles...'

By the later years of the nineteenth century, "Bug Eaters" had replaced "Squatters" as the Nebraska nickname...probably originated during the grasshopper invasions of the 1870s."
http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/timeline/nicknames_nebraska_2.htm

Corny Quaker Humor: Part #4

"Are you a member of that new high-falutin religion?"

"Huh?"

You know, Hyphen-ate, the newest religion?"

"What in heaven's name is a Hyphenate?"

"You know, I keep hearing about them. They all emphasize hyphens like no get out. You know ---Buddhist-Friends, Jewish-Friends, Episcopal-Friends, Mormon-Friends, JW-Friends, Wall-Street-Friends...

So I just wondered."

"Oh, yeah; just remember a little dash never hurt anybody."

--

Two Quaker honeymooners on Tybee Island stood watching two terns pacing the beach.

The young woman asked, “Why are there two birds on the beach?”

Her finance said, “Because one good turn deserves another.”

--

Heard about the Friends meeting which had plenty of committees but no members or attenders?

--

Your Friendly Nebraska Cornhusker:
Glancing out the window at their ripening fields, May whispered, “Look at those vibrant rows of corn you’re growing. You’re an amazing farmer, George!”

“Ah shucks, thanks honey. You’re rather foxy, too.”

“And, do you know what else?”

He turned toward her, “I’m all ears.”

“George,” she whispered in her husky voice.

And he planted a kiss on Maize’ luscious lips.

--

As for meticulous honesty:
A Friend was taking a daily stroll along a Pennsylvania fence row with his best friend when he saw a large cow with an unusually vivid brown hide. “Look at the brown Moo’er, such rich texture!”

The less artistic Friend said, “I don’t know if we can call it a brown cow; I’ve not seen its other side.”

--

“So you see, darlins’,” the Quaker grandfather said to his grandchildren ensconced next to him on their porch swing, “my great-grandfather was a Quaker ship captain. He even once encountered a pirate ship west of Hispaniola in the Caribbean.”

“What happened?!” asked the oldest as he squirmed closer on the swing next to his sleeping little brother.

“Let me tell you that tale or the one about the whale…But first do you know how to tell a genuine pirate from a fake?

“No.”

The real pirate had real gold, but the fake pirate…pyrite, only had fool's gold.”

--

“Heard about the pirate who liked pumpkin pie?”

“Nope, but how does the pie rate?”

--

"Why do Quakers spend so much time with cereals?"

"I didn't know they watched TV."

--

“Did you know that the Friend John Woolman was not only a vibrant abolitionist, but that he earned his living as a tailor?”

“You usually give me too many such yarns. But seams to me, I do recall that historical tact.”

“And you could say, he spoke so much against slavery that he was stitching together
words in voice patterns,
needled points jabbing his listeners.”

“Sew right! He really was concerned with every peace of fabric.”

“Just a darning minute! You’re getting corny, too. Better quilt while you’re ahead.”

--

“A young adult Friend over at Foothill Yearly Meeting went to see his podiatrist to get his feet heeled. That was his sole concern,” said the Virginian waiting for his herb tea.

The older Quaker next to him asked, “Are you toe-tally sure? Seems like he was faithfully at worship every First day since he was a kid—I’ve known him that long--always wearing those blue Keds."

A waitress brought the first Friend his tea and the man sipped his hot brew. “No, but that young Friend had been standing a lot, working too much at the Fallen Arches, yah know. Quite a feet actually, besides attending Florida State. Do you know he had a chance to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?”

“You’re flat wrong,” responded the middle-aged talker. “It was because of going to that new-'fungled' gym. Those workouts gave him athlete’s foot.”

“Well, I think you are being rather callus about the whole blistered thing! Would you want to foot the bill?”

“Oh, walk the talk or forget about it."

--

The young person in First Day class asked his Quaker teacher, “Why didn’t early Quakers
listen to music and play instruments?”

The teacher thought for a a moment, then said, “Because they were against “saks and violins” which usually go with music.”
--

"Why don't Quakers allow shakers into their houses?"

"You're confused about religious history. Shakers were different."

"Weren't they both against assault and pepper-spray?"

--

A marriage license is just a learning permit.

If that is so what is parking?

Oh, that's neck-and-neck, not the fast lane.

--

Seven days without compassion makes one weak.

--

In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox