RE: Convince Me! Challenge: Why you still eat meat (extended deadline and update)
@evacab - Awesome we have a point of departure, so let me further elaborate on why I 'criticised' the presentation of the contest so aggressively...
Vegans and Meat eaters are not that different - I would like to eat a 'happy cow' without additives an unnatural processes involved. So, I agree mass production is the culprit.
Your stated outcome is:
I believe that as consumers, we vote and fight with our wallets, so if we stopped consuming meat for a while, things would have to change. So my little challenge here is not an attack on meat eaters at all, it's an attempt at making people care about, or at least be conscious of an issue.
Now let's review my main criticism:
...which makes this type of activism irresponsible and irrelevant. (to be read in context of my full response to the contest)
I think by targeting meat eaters, to achieve your objective is counter-productive. Let look at the results of this contest thus far - 80% of the participants were alienated to the cause and there your target market walks away. You should be focusing more on the issue and not on the people. People will come around, if there is no pressure to do so.
I think it's time for animal activist to develop an inclusive strategy that includes meat eaters so they can build a support base. By getting meat eaters and cruelty free to divide on the issue - mass producers of meat and fresh produce can merrily skip along unhindered!
so what would be your strategy in fighting the big food industry, if not by cutting off their source of income?
@evecab - this too is an extremely complex issue.
Consumers have been conditioned into current habits over decades if not centuries. The food industries are owned by the 1%-ers. These people own everything else. More importantly they manipulate supply and demand. So be careful - they're that powerful. They dump tons of good food each year so they, lose out at the markets.
The most viable alternative we have is producing our own food. When our great grand parents gave up their land (or when it was stolen from them) - that's what we lost this battle, because then we became dependent on the current system.