Monday, July 14, 2008

Why do we eat chickens?

This has been a question that has been bothering me for a long time. Why do people eat chicken or for that matter beef, pork, egg, fish… since the list is endless, let’s just say any living matter and I am including plant life in this.

I confess that I am a “Non-Vegetarian”, basically a person who eats meat. But since plants are also life forms, shouldn’t we call the cells of the plants as meat too??

Now, coming to those self-righteous “Vegetarians” (Not all Vegetarians are like these, but some are. I am only referring to them and not all Vegetarians.) who go around saying that eating meat is a bad thing and that all “Non-Vegetarians” are “Killers”, let me tell you something. Plants i.e. vegetables are also life forms. Get your science right, before opening your traps.

So, coming back to the topic, we kill and eat (most of the time) life forms and no one says anything (most of the time) about this. But kill a human and the whole crowd descends on you with a ruckus about, how is wrong to hurt any life form and the whole thing.

Now, (I am borrowing heavily from the book “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins.) what is the difference between a human life form and say that of a Chicken? Leaving out the biological differences, you will see that there is no difference at all. Both are lives. Both have flesh and bones. And, please don’t give me the argument about humans being more evolved than other species because it still does not make a difference in the sense that a life is still a life no matter how complex the life form maybe.

I always found it disgusting that we accept the use of guinea pigs, monkey, mice and any other species to test medicines, vaccines… but raise a hue when humans are used in trials. In fact, the laws are such that as long as no humans are harmed during the testing phase of any drug, you can kill as many guinea pigs, mice and monkeys as you want with impunity.

What about single cells organisms like bacteria, virus, amoeba, plankton…these too are life forms. But do we ever consider them in our normal day to day lives as life forms? No, I didn’t for a very long time.

We have all squashed/killed mosquitoes, insects, cockroaches… I have, I accept with all my heart. But do we ever pause and think that these too are life forms? No, we mostly don’t. My question is why? Is that we think that we are somehow superior to all other life forms on Earth?

The answer is surprisingly simple. As Richard Dawkins in the “The Selfish Gene” says, we accept these things as part of life because they (all life forms except humans) are all a different species from us.

The following link gives the various taxonomic ranks in biology.

As you will realize, all species come under the same category sooner or later. My point is “In which category do you draw the line and say, those not in the same category as humans are different? Because, all you have to do is move one category up and viola, some species not previously in the same category as humans will be present in the same category.

The question that immediately pops up is: Then what about the whole survival of the fittest thing? What about the laws of nature, where some species are the hunted and others are the hunters. Am I speaking against nature? No, I am not. Nature is best left un-tampered, a fact that we have yet to understand and accept.

Then, what you may ask is the entire purpose of this post? To stop eating vegetables or meat? Is to say stop killing insects, cockroaches, let them multiply in numbers and take over your houses? Stop using animals in laboratories? Stop using medicines to cure our diseases because they kill bacteria and viruses?

The answer is a definite No. What am I them proposing? It is simple. Give consideration to other life forms. Don’t apply double standards to other species.

Oppose the indiscriminate use of animals in laboratories. Animals, Plants of a species other than Homo sapiens sapien are also life forms.

Stop saying you are killers to “Non-Vegetarians”, because even “Vegetarians” too are killers.

Try avoiding medicines if you can. I know. I know, the body’s defense mechanism will anyways kill the foreign element, but at least it will be a natural death. (Funny isn’t it? To think about the death of bacteria, viruses as due to natural and unnatural causes. I am too good, am I not?)

If you can’t avoid taking medicines, then what happens? Well, that too bad for the bacteria or virus or whatever. It’s the survival of the fittest.

And oh, does it mean that I am proposing that people stop eating chickens, fish…etc. No, that’s a personal choice for each individual to take. Even though I have given an impassioned plea for the acceptance of all animals and plants as equals to humans, I continue to eat them.

What about the legal angle of my argument? I guess, it will take a long time to make a shift in the minds of the people to make them respect other life forms. This cannot be done through any law and must be from within the individual.

I end by saying, treat animals and plants kindly/humanely or who know maybe the incidents depicted in the film “The Happening” could happen one day.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Drifters

This is my first post after joining the B-school and most of you were expecting a post on a very different topic I know, some were even predicting a change in the mood of the blog. Yeah! Yeah! I can hear you guys saying, it’s just been two weeks, let’s wait and watch, but you people should know better than that.

Now, you might wonder, why is the topic titled as drifters and the why in the hell are you talking about something else. The point is “Precisely that!!”

See, I am aimlessly drifting; I am going everywhere but no where. Of course, as you all know I am slightly insane and prone to ramble and rant.

The definition of drifter as given in dictionary.com is that of a person who moves from place to place or job to job without any aim.

But what about the people who are “highly successful” individuals but do not have a aim in their life. People who stay in one place are successful in their personal and professional life but do not have a purpose to their life.

Most people, I at least according tome fall into this second category of successful but purposeless people. I accept that I too belong to this category (Of course I am not as highly successful as some of the people in this category.)

The reasons may be various, one of this maybe because there is simple no time to think of these things. As the saying goes “In today’s world, we have run fast just to stay in the same place”.

Another reason could be that people don’t want to answer that question because they are afraid of the answer. After all aren’t most of us thought from our childhood that success is about getting high marks in the examinations and that sports, arts come secondary? These are so ingrained into us, that by the time we grow up and realize what we have missed it is too late and we have been conditioned in the “conventional” way that to think otherwise becomes a pain to us. And so, most people choose the easy way out.

So, what am I trying to convey through this post? The answer is that is most of us drifters in one way or the other. Just that we don’t realize it.

By the way, no one here suspects me yet to be the lunatic that I am. I have been keeping my insane side in control. But I am staring to lose it.