Vancouver Forum: Vancouver Forum -> A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

A short time ago, I was given a very personal taste of having to deal with a person, who, best intentions notwithstanding, was a walking talking example of why schools should teach critical thinking starting in about Grade 3.

I was enjoying a steak dinner, something to which I treat myself on occasion. I am omnivorous by nature, and inclined to ignore such distractions as vegans, or at least allow for 'live and let live'. I do not subscribe to their tenets, but do not go out of my way to try and show them the error of their ways.

The person who sat down at the table next to mine however, proceeded to lambaste me verbally as a base carnivore, an enslaver of animals and a contributor to the demise of animals everywhere, apparently utilizing extreme violence to fill my maw. I made every effort to ignore this person, however her persistance was a red flag in front of a bull (presumably an attempt to resurrect the contents of my plate).

Goaded to reply I asked my tormentor just what her thesis was. She replied that if people would only adopt a vegetarian existence, and cease the slaughter of defenseless animals, the world would be a better place, because as everyone knows, carnivory leads to violence.

I then asked if she really thought that World War II was really caused by the over consumption of bratwurst as opposed to a punishing post-Great War treaty and Racial idealism. She had no answer.
I then asked her what the buffalo population was. She did not know. I then told her that by the turn of the century a little over one hundred years ago, the population was perhaps 200 individuals. The population today number in the thousands. However prior to their near extermination, bison formed herds numbered in the millions, migrating through the great plains from northern Alberta almostto the Gulf Coast on a yearly basis. I then said to her that the bison, though no longer in danger of immediate extinction, would never be allowed to reach their former numbers. This because most grain farmers would find a herd of 2 million grazing animals passing throught their farms counter-productive.

I then bombed here with numbers. Cattle 15,000,000 only 1,000,000 of which are dairy cattle. Pigs, 13,000,000. Sheep, 600,000, not all of which are good for wool. Poultry, alas I'm running out of zeroes. These numbers are for Canada only.

So, I asked, did she really wish to be responsible for the attendant slaughter which would very quickly follow the cessation of meat-eating. Or was it possible that she expected cattle ranchers to maintain several thousand now unsaleable cattle as pets. Or was it more possible that he would eliminate them and probably put his land up for sale to the developers?

Livestock were bred for one purpose, and one purpose only. To be consumed by human beings in one way or another. They are kept by humans, maintained by humans, and modified by humans. Some, for instance sheep, cannot even survive without shepherds. Chickens and turkeys released into the wild make for very happy, fat predators, and feral pigs are a dangerous disaster.

Don't shoot from the lip, THINK, and leave me alone to enjoy my meal.