Upon opening my copy of the New York Times today, I leisurely browsed through it before reaching the Opinion page. I took a bite of my toast and glanced down at the first paragraph. It started like this: "Lately more people have begun to express an interest in where the meat they eat comes from and how it was raised. Were the animals humanely treated? Did they have a good quality of life before the death that turned them into someone's dinner? Some of these questions, which reach a fever pitch in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, pertain to the ways in which animals are treated. (Did your turkey get to live outdoors?) Others focus on the question of how eating the animals in question will affect the consumer's health and well-being. (Was it given hormones and antibiotics?)" Oh great, I thought. Just what we need, another plug for happy meat. I read more: "None of these questions, however, make any consideration of whether it is wrong to kill animals for human consumption." TADA!! And with that he sets the tone for the rest of the article. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. FINALLY, the Times has the guts to print something in favor of Ethical Veganism; he was not a conscientious omnivore, or a flexitarian, or a flexi-vegan, but a flesh and blood vegan! If you haven't already, I highly recommend you go on the Time's website and read the entire article. It encompasses everything that ethical veganism stands for. And it's something I never thought I'd see in popular media for a long, long time. The author, Gary Steiner, philosophy teacher at Bucknell University, has written several books on the topics of animal rights, and is also my new hero. : )
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/opinion/22steiner.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=opinion&adxnnlx=1258913803-iaUyNWQ5fjNvnK8vhiAiVw