My dear Friends , there has been a dramatic disconnect that has infected humanity over the past several centuries – a disconnect that has most of humanity still living in a state of complete denial – a disconnect that has most of us at least partially ignoring the undeniable fact that billions of gentle , sentient , nonhuman animals are being immorally enslaved , brutally tortured and unnecessarily murdered every year , all at the direct request of normally kind & caring people who are simply looking the other way … Indeed , the chances are good that you are one of these disconnected many , with studies and polls consistently showing that around 97 % of the world ’ s 7 + billion human inhabitants are still non-vegans … with the large majority of them being regular ( if not frequent ) meat-eaters .
“ Regardless of what people say to defend themselves when they eat meat , it is inescapably lodged in the back of their minds that they are actively supporting cruelty and death .”
~ inspired by Benjamin Zephaniah
And yet this need not be cause for shame . Indeed , quite frequently we humans hold on to core beliefs that are quite strong , and quite often we cling to those beliefs so tightly that we cannot let them go – even when presented with solid evidence that clearly shows them to be incorrect &/ or immoral . Indeed , even to causally ponder abandoning our long-standing values in favor of fresh & more-moral ones creates such strong feelings of angst – such a highly distressing mix of uncertainty , embarrassment & shame ( a state of mental dis-ease called “ cognitive dissonance ” by social psychologists ) – that we often choose to remain champions of our older & less admirable ways , even after learning about newer & more noble ones . And because it is so important for us to protect these comfortable-yet-outdated beliefs – and thereby avoid experiencing the acute discomfort aforementioned , many of us tend to adopt & express any number of hollow arguments in order to rationalize , ignore or even fully deny the information that doesn ’ t support our more comfortable ways of thinking and our more pleasurable ways of behaving .
Indeed , this is precisely what is happening within the hearts & minds of the majority of meat-eaters & dairy consumers today . They know deep down that farmed animals are self-aware ( at the very least just as aware as their beloved cats & dogs & horses ); they know deep down that farmed animals suffer immensely when confined , abused & slaughtered ; and they know deep down that it is completely unnecessary for humans to do so … and yet they keep eating animals anyway .
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