meet your meat

I think at one point or another nearly everyone has at least debated becoming vegetarian. At least a lot of girls I know have -cutting back at first, but ultimately striving to completely give up that juicy hamburger forever. What amazes me are the reasons people come up with to give up ham, chicken, steak, fish, dairy, etc... Don't get me wrong I understand and completely side with those who have a legitimate stance on an issue, but when I sit down with someone for lunch, hungry for food with some substance, and he/she orders a side salad with no dressing and tells me that they're a vegetarian, I find myself questioning his/her motives. Honest people aside, many people convincingly fake sympathy for the animals, blindly following a trend but doing nothing except not eating to show for their condolences. If you really care DO something. Others claim environmental issues are the reason for this abstinence. I mean, I know the status of our environment could be better, and we could all be a little more environmentally friendly, but come on. Not eating meat doesn't make anyone think of you differently. It doesn't DO anything for the good anything else. No one is going to take anyone more seriously for asking to hold the chicken on a Caesar salad. If you want to help our environment, or any cause for that matter start doing something to help it, instead of just avoiding the problem all together.Your probably wondering why I am so heated on the subject. Well I was on the computer last night reading headlines on cnn.com when I came across the story of the meat recall: 143 million lbs. of beef was recalled because the health of the cows being slaughtered was in question. I scanned this not thinking too much of it, until I read past the first two paragraphs. They were unable to walk.
I read on. Apparently cows, daily fed antibiotics to spurt growth, can not support their upper bodies because their legs don't grow in tandem with their ballooning stomachs. These antibiotics are used to "fatten up" pigs and chickens as well, and shockingly, the same thing happens to them. Hesitantly clicking on the video featured below the article, I watched. Brutally, workers poked, prodded, shocked and beat these poor animals into submission and if they physically couldn't move, forklifts were used to transport these helpless beings to their inevitable death. And to think that this process is part of the more pleasant, humane times of these animals lives. The slaughter I learned is inhumane to say the least.
This is why I get frustrated when people tell me of their submissive vegetarianism. If you are going to be a vegetarian, care enough about it to take it at least one step further. Look at the bigger picture instead of just not eating your share. Your not proving anything.
If you want to see the video I watched on CNN, its called Meet Your Meat. You can probably find it on you tube. I was about to put it up, but i just couldn't.