there is something Ive been thinking about a lot recently.
it seems to be that there are two conflicting trends in American society. the first of these is a preoccupation with life. This can be seen in the passage of the recent health care bill for example-- birth till death care. It can also be seen in the Pro-Life movement's rabid condemnation of all things pro-choice/abortion. it can be seen in PETA and other animal rights organizations-- I just read about a Great Dane rescue society the other day.
Americans care about crabs and birds in the Gulf spill and baby seals in Canada. They care about human rights in Darfur and in China. They dont seem to care as much about human rights in Gaza, but thats another topic. So, basically, Americans dont like death. They dont like the thought of it and they only like to see it on TV before PETA's "no animals were harmed in the making of this movie" disclaimer. There is an entire industry devoted to making the deceased lifelike.
I was talking with a buddy of mine a couple weeks ago and he mentioned how much meat Americans eat. I went to Cracker Barrel last month and I looked through three pages of the menu until i found a meatless dish. There must be some unwritten rule that a meal has to include a meat dish.
The fascination with life conflicts dramatically with Americans' eating habits. Ive had several people tell me that, if they had to butcher animals themselves, they'd be vegetarian; they couldnt bring themselves to kill a chicken, or a cow, or whatever.
People get around this problem, i think, because meat comes from the store, or mcdonalds, or wherever. There is a conceptual disconnect between meat as life and meat as food. Its entirely possible to eat thousands of steaks and not have to watch the cow from whence the steak came kick out its last few seconds of life. As someone who shares the American fixation on life, this bothers me.