What did plants ever do to you?

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) announced that they have cancelled a shark-themed ad campaign in favor of vegetarianism. I guess the idea is to scare people into vegetarianism. People definitely share a huge amount of empathy with other people, and that is good for our societies and our way of life. Beyond empathy with other people, many people seem to value animal life above plant life…

Today, I read about PETA’s planned ad campaign asking for improved treatment of sharks. The billboard featured the slogan “Would You Give Your Right Arm to Know Why Sharks Attack, Could It Be Revenge? Go Vegetarian, PETA.” They cancelled plans for the ad campaign after this weekend’s shark attacks, fearing that “people would just shoot the messenger without hearing the message”. PETA says that humans kill billions of fish a year “in the most hideous ways”, whereas sharks don’t really have a choice about what they eat.

I understand the nutritional aspects of vegetarianism. I don’t fully understand the argument made by organizations such as PETA. What is it that makes members of the animal kingdom better than members of the plant kingdom? I agree that humans have evolved into the single species with the most control over the planet, and that humans outwardly appear to be the most intelligent creatures.

Beyond that though, it seems to me that plants and animals are all living creatures. We tend to empathize with animals more, because they look more like us and they tend to be more interactive. But, I don’t know if that’s enough to say that vegetarianism is morally superior to being a carnivore.

There are some pretty scary things written about how livestock is raised in meat production: cramped living quarters, antibiotics, unpleasant slaughter procedures. But is that so different from how most vegetables are grown today? The plants are planted as close together as they can be to maximize yield, pesticides and genetic modifications are used to improve the size of the plants and the yield and, when harvest time comes, a big machine comes through and chops the plants down and collects them. It sounds similar to me, except for the fact that animals act a bit more like people.

Unfortunately, we still have to eat. I don’t think we’ve yet created a manufactured pill that can meet all dietary needs without harming any living creature. Even if we did, I bet that many people would complain about such a pill being “artificial”.

I’m sure that plenty has been written about vegetarianism, and I’m sure there is plenty I can read online. This article is just a surface observation.

One last point, before people start flaming me: I am completely in favor of treating all creatures as well as possible. People do need to survive, and until the miracle pill comes along we need to eat.