Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Enter the Meatrix

Today my little sister showed me the Meatrix. In addition to making exactly the right points about the awfulness of factory farming, it has a lot of Matrix parody value. Watch it and you'll see why I changed my diet a year ago.

I divide meats into 3 categories: the Normal, the Weird, and the Fallen. Unethically farmed meats that someone else would eat if I didn't eat them are Normal (Normal here isn't a normative term that attributes any positive value, it's a descriptive term that is appropriate because these meats are the most common). Weird meats are those where the animals live under non-cruel conditions. This gets its name because it includes many of the unusual things that I'm happy to still be able to eat, like squid, shrimp, and alligator, as well as most fish. Fallen meat is any kind of meat, Normal or Weird, that would go to waste if I didn't eat it. When my roommate left for two weeks and a sausage was in the fridge, it became Fallen meat. By eating only Weird and Fallen meat, I generate no economic demand pressures on factory farming. So that's what I do.

6 comments:

Brandon said...

I love the Meatrix. Easily the best vegetarian propaganda I've ever seen.

Big Gray said...

I like your categories of meat. One time, I lived in a place that was soooo nasty (partially my fault, but mostly my roommates), that meat left unattended for, oh, two minutes would become instantly "fallen." I once got a Big Mac, set it on the kitchen counter in the box, went to take a piss, came back, and opened the Big Mac container to find it covered by fruit flies (I think that's what they were). I was horrified by it, but my roommate just blew them off with a box fan and ate it.

QuickSauce said...

Such an excellent way to categorize meat. I'm a carnivore, but I think you're "system" would be pretty close to how I would change my diet when/if I decide to.

Tedj said...

I thought it was pretty funny, when I saw it a while back. Still I consume meat, my addiction...

Anonymous said...

I think that your categories apply just as well to
the meat-eaters as to the meat:

The Normal: Those who have a very vague idea of how awful factory farm conditions are and therefore feel no guilt at buying and eating factory farmed meat.

The Weird: Those who know how the meat is produced, and have no moral qualms about it.

The Fallen: Those who know, have moral worries, and keep eating.

Anonymous said...

i agree!
the Meatrix is an excellent cartoon that targets all audiences and simply demonstrates the facts and truths about "Farming." After watching them for the first time, I was in complete shock! It really made me support organic farming and the traditional methods of farmaing...