Myth # 31 : " But the Eskimos need to eat meat to survive ." ( also heard as " But what about the poor people in the 3 rd World ?")
Myth # 31 : " But the Eskimos need to eat meat to survive ." ( also heard as " But what about the poor people in the 3 rd World ?")
Actually , it might be prudent to reevaluate this myth by considering the following facts :
* Fact : Members of the Maasai tribe in Kenya , one of the few cultures that sustains itself on a diet that is primarily animal-based , currently have the worst life expectancy in the world .
* Fact : Inuit Greenlanders , who historically have had very limited access to fruits & vegetables , have the worst longevity statistics in North America .
* Fact : In Ethiopia , over 40 percent of the population is either hungry or starving – and this , even though that country has one of the largest populations of cattle in the world ; a massive herd that happens to be unnecessarily consuming huge quantities of direly needed food , priceless fresh water and unused farmable land . Indeed , instead of inefficiently focusing their resources on livestock , Ethiopians could easily meet all their own sustenance needs by using the land and energy and topsoil and water they currently give to their livestock to instead sow and harvest Teff – an ancient , highly-nutritious , protein-laden & calcium-rich grain that has been grown in that region of the world for the past 25,000 years .
* Fact : Most importantly of all , you are almost certainly not living under even remotely similar circumstances to these people . Basically , you are not a 3 rd World citizen , and as such , you cannot use this excuse to justify your own fully unnecessary consumption of animals &/ or their secretions .
My dear Friends , one person ’ s need cannot ever justify another person ' s greed . If a battered woman shoots her husband to defend her children , are we all allowed to go forth and gun down whomever we please ? If an impoverished father steals medication for his sick child , is it then also acceptable for us all to forcibly take whatever catches our fancy ? And if it is OK for a child to tell a lie in order to keep a friend safe from harm , does that make it morally permissible for the rest of us to speak falsehoods whenever it benefits us ? … Of course not !
Similarly , extremely rare instances of 3rd World communities that truly need to eat animals to survive in no way justify the vast majority of us who live in far more food-rich environments doing so .
Current status of this Myth : Unmasked Justification it provides for eating animals : NONE
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