November 24th, 2013

Thought Food

by Wayno & Piraro

(For a largerized view, click the 46th turkey from the left.)

Bizarro is brought to you today by Discriminatory Food.

I’m fairly well known for being a vegan buzzkill on Thanksgiving but I can’t help it. I’ve long thought the arrogance of we humans believing that everything is here for us to use as haphazardly as our whims dictate, is embarrassing to our species. Biologically, humans don’t “need” to eat meat (unless we are starving in a place without plants, like the Arctic) we eat it because it tastes good. On top of that, our bodies aren’t constructed to process meat very well, which is why it gives us heart attacks, strokes, obesity, etc. You don’t see “true” meat eaters in the wild with these problems. So when you weigh tastes good against the suffering and misery of creatures that are more like us than not, it seems to me a glaring inequity.

If a person wishes to celebrate the good things in their life, as we traditionally do on Thanksgiving, it seems to me a more honest effort if that celebration is not derived from the suffering of others. I’m only explaining my own thought process and ethics here, I’m not judging the vast majority of Jazz Pickles who will eat turkey on Thanksgiving. If my words offend you, you may want to looker deeper into your own feelings about cruelty to animals. You may be surprised to find out how much cognitive dissonance is necessary to maintain your current lifestyle. Again, just my own thoughts.

The cartoon above in which turkeys attempt to avoid slaughter by disguising themselves as American Bald Eagles is specifically about how we revere certain species and abuse others as if they were inanimate objects. Eating a Bald Eagle is a crime in the U.S. but abuse of chickens and turkeys is protected by anti-terrorism laws by making it a felony to take pictures or videos inside factory farms. Yes, that’s true. Yes, it’s absurd. Dogs and cats are protected by law but virtually no other species. The lack of logic here confounds me.

PREBIZTORICALS: I’ve done a lot of turkey cartoons around this time of year but this cartoon from 2006 is my favorite. Not because it is the funniest––it certainly is not––but because it best expresses my feelings on the subject.