Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Natalie Portman Thinks Eating Animals is Just as Bad as Rape

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Natalie Portman wrote a piece for the Huffington Post about her devout vegetarianism and credited “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer as a major part of her inspiration to go vege. Well, Miss Thang is raising a lot of eyebrows with her controversial and PETA-like approach to her defense of the lifestyle, most specifically when she compared eating meat to rape. Two choice quotes from the piece are right here:

“I’m often interrogated about being vegetarian (e.g., ‘What if you find out that carrots feel pain, too? Then what’ll you eat?’ ).  I’ve also been afraid to feel as if I know better than someone else—a historically dangerous stance (I’m often reminded that ‘Hitler was a vegetarian, too, you know.’ ) But this book reminded me that some things are just wrong.”

And of course, the doozy:

“He posits that consideration…which has more to do with being polite to your tablemates than sticking to your own ideals, would be absurd if applied to any other belief (e.g., I don’t believe in rape, but if that’s what it takes to please my dinner hosts, then so be it).”

I really despise when vegetarians take this approach to explaining their lifestyle. Shaming people in to converting to an animal-free diet is no way to go about it, and comparing the consumption of animals bred for eating purposes to rape? Well, that’s pretty low, not to mention extremely unfair. While it’s one thing to want to drive your point home, this approach seems immature and quite simply designed to trigger disgust and guilt in the reader. It could be an effective approach, but is it honest or fair? Not really.

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    • Kinda killed her credibility, didn’t it? But I could care less about the vegan comments, but her support of Roman Polanski has made me lose all respect for her. HE RAPED A CHILD. Nothing else matters. He admitted it and should be in jail.

  • I abhor the fact that we live in a world that gives a fuck about what a “celebrity” eats.

    And its even worse when the “celebrity” feels we are entitled to her opinion.

    Moving on…

  • I didn’t see a problem with that first paragraph at all (it seems pretty legit to me) but the second one was a bit on the extreme side. I think she uses rape or an extreme circumstance because her vegetarianism is apparently a very big deal in her life, and the severity of the problem (in her eyes) can maybe only compare to rape in the eyes of others. She’s not necessarily saying that eating meat is “just as bad as rape”, but just that it’s still a big deal to her. That’s all just what I take from it, though.

    I like you, molls, and I read your blog all of the time, but I really didn’t like the tone in your second paragraph. I’m vegetarian, but I don’t feel the need to explain my lifestyle and I don’t give a shit about what other people eat or that they know what I eat. I know the way you worded it only points out those vegetarians that do this kind of shit, but I’m tired of people lumping all of us into that nutbag category.

    • Uh, yeah, she is comparing it to rape. It’s not like she said “I don’t believe in playing Yahtzee, but if that’s what it takes to please my dinner hosts, then so be it.” If she didn’t want to invoke the idea of rape, she shouldn’t have used the word. And she had time to think this through since this wasn’t a spontaneous statement, it was an editorial at HuffPo.

      I’m f’ing sick and tired of so many lesser things being compared to rape. It cheapens the trauma that rape victims experience.

  • So how should I relate to my vegetarian dinner guests this Friday, as I planned on raping a chicken and then roasting it and serving it with some mashed potatoes and a nice salad?

  • it is honest and fair

    … you just don’t like to hear it because it’s easier just convincing yourself that it’s not wrong to eat meat

      • I don’t hate you as much now that you’ve changed your avatar image. You should try a wedding photo next time.

      • No biggie, really. It totally relates to the Suri post a few pages ago. Really dude, I like your new G.I. Joe doll avatar and I’m sure all the chicks love it too.

    • It isn’t “wrong” to eat meat, that’s how energy exchange works on this planet. Is it wrong for the lion to eat gazelle or a housecat to eat mouse or song bird? Michael Pollan makes a more convincing argument than the right/wrong stance on eating meat. We have an obligation as the only creatures on the planet who have a sense of morality to raise, kill and eat animals ethically. Factory farming is wrong, it treats animals terribly and pumps them full of antibiotics and hormones to keep them alive long enough to kill and process. 75% of antibiotic consumption in the US is for factory farming. This kind of meat is not good for human consumption either. However, ethically and sustainably raised meat is a good thing. Domesticated animals would no longer survive in the wild, it’s fine to raise them to eat, I think, as long as they enjoy a good quality of life doing what they are supposed to be doing (grazing, foraging for bugs, moving around) before they are humanely slaughtered and eaten. Meat raised in this way is also much healthier for the animals and humans who eat them. As a vegetarian, I see no problem with cooking and serving those I love sustainably raised meat though I chose not to eat it myself. Small children should NOT be raised vegan, their brains need cholesterol to properly develop. This can be added ethically to their diet by providing eggs and/or dairy from dairies which provide open grazing, organic food and are free from pesticides/hormones if the child is not lactose intolerant. Eggs from free range chickens contain 60-70% less cholesterol thank factory farmed eggs, and the amount is does contain is the “good” cholesterol.

      • Just wanted to say you make some great points, here and below. I agree that the real problem is how we raise and slaughter animals–it’s really sickening, and the only way most people can eat factory farmed meat is to ignore what happened to the animal before it wound up in the supermarket. If you can, buy locally raised meat from smaller farms. If you buy organic take a few minutes to find out about the company.

      • I really appreciate your well-thought-out and appropriate response to this. I’ve considered going veggie for some time, but it doesn’t completely relate to eating animals, but animal treatment in factory farms (as well as antibiotics, growth hormones, animal bioproduct diets, etc) and personal health. I think if more vegetarians had an approach similiar to yours, more people would opt for the lifestyle. It seems like many don’t even consider it, simply out of spite.

      • Thank you, CJ and Karen. I live in a mixed household split 50/50 meat eater and strict vegetarian. I’m a life-long vegetarian with no ill health effects and the meat eaters eat less meat (which I prepare graciously and well) and we ensure it is sustainably and locally raised so it meets our ethical standards and reduces our carbon footprint. This results in less meat eaten and a higher veggie intake so it’s a win win on multiple fronts. Many chain grocery stores are willing to stock this sort of product, write a letter (or more!) or talk to a manager; you might be surprised how one voice can increase purchasing choice. You might also look into a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for locally, organically grown vegetables which are much healthier. We love ours and it challenges us to come up with new seasonal recipes to use what’s in the basket this week. If you are seriously thinking about changing your diet, check out interesting and accessible books by Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver or her website for Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which shows people all over the world adapting what she’s talking about to their own urban and rural lifestyles.

      • if all vegetarians/vegans were as logical and sensible as you, this issue would never come up again. non-vegans don’t try to force vegans to eat cows, and your post shows you don’t try to force cow eaters to be vegans.

        Almost every post I see by a vegan tries to shame me, make me feel guilty, make me hate myself, etc., for eating meat. Yours does not. While your post won’t make me change my mind about eating meat, it raises awareness about the process in a logical, sensible, non -threatening way and I appreciate it.

        Just like I support Michigan farmers all summer by buying nothing but MI fruits and veggies, I will now be much more aware of this issue and will be more choosy about the meats I do buy.

    • You’ve got it backwards. Human beings as natural creatures of the planet are omnivorous. That means we eat plants and animals. This is our nature. If you look at our teeth, it even indicates this as we have teeth for biting flesh/meat and teet for chewing plant matter. Either way, being vegetarian is actually completely unnatural for the human body. It obviously can be done with no side effects, but its not what our bidies were intended for. If you have a problem with the way chickens are raised in tiny cages and other inhumane treatment of livestock…I completely agree.

      • I agree with much of what you said other than being a vegetarian is “completely unnatural” which isn’t true. Humanity evolved eating a largely plant based diet from gathering and eating meat was an occasional luxury when it was available from carrion and hunting which was risky. The steady incorporation of protein into the diet was a boon to human evolution as was the domestication of livestock, bipedalism and tool making which made protein a steadier part of the human diet. Over 1/3 of the planet is vegetarian for cultural, religious or economic reasons (meat is often expensive) which goes against your argument that it is unnatural. Our bodies are marvelously adaptive and those who chose not to eat meat, particularly red meat, have digestive tracts which stop producing the enzyme to break it down. However, when it is gradually reintroduced to the body in small quantities, the body will naturally start producing it again. Our bodies learned to do this to accommodate fluctuating availability of diverse food sources.

      • Actually, rihanna, i feel YOU have it backwards. human bodies were never intended to digest meat. every omnivore on the planet digests meat in their mouth, when digestion begins. humans however do not begin to break down meat (aside from chewing) until our intestines…and only then because our bodies have evolved to do so.

      • You “feel” wrong. Meat is mostly digested in the stomach by pepsin (a digestive protease), assisted by the acidic environment. The pH of the intestines is slightly alkaline which would actually be somewhat inhibitory for protein digestion.

        Where are you getting these ideas from anyway?

      • “being vegetarian is actually completely unnatural for the human body.” – No! “It obviously can be done with no side effects” – therefore its NOT completely unnatural for the human body! Douche.

      • That’s not logic. If it were true that all things which CAN have no side effects were totally natural, then we’d have to rethink a lot of stuff, right? Implants, both boob and face,

    • you know what’s more annoying than natalie portman, other vegetarians that sound just as obnoxious as she does. if you want to gain support for your beliefs, obnoxiously comparing things to rape is not the way to do it. ESPECIALLY when your spokeswoman, natalie portman, throws her support behind releasing a child rapist.

      • You know what’s EVEN MORE ANNOYING than vegetarians who sound obnoxious?– MEAT EATERS who are obnoxious. Stop asking your dumb and ignorant questions about our vegetarianism and we’ll stop giving “obnoxious” answers.

    • OMG eating meat is wrong? Somebody better start arresting the Lions and Tigers and Bears!!!

      Email the master of the universe and tell him the food chain is immoral, quick, before another furry creature dies :)

      • Lions and Tigers and Bears don’t keep their prey locked up in tiny cramped cages all their lives and feed them antibiotics. Lions and Tigers and Bears kill their food themselves and don’t buy packaged factory shit in cling film.

      • Orly I’ll bet you eat meat all day, every day that is wrapped in “cling film”.

        Come on …..admit it.

        You love to eat meat. Don’t you?

        Your uncle turned you onto it, didn’t he?

        It’s okay. No need to be ashamed.

      • Sara:

        “OMG rape is wrong? Somebody better start arresting the Lions and Tigers and Bears!!!

        Email the master of the universe and tell him the animal kingdom is immoral, quick, before another furry creature suffers:)”

        We should base our morals on animal behaviour?!

        I don’t think so.

  • Sorry, but it’s kind of a stretch to say she’s comparing eating meat to rape except in the broadest terms. She’s passionate about it and doesn’t want to have to hide the fact in front of meat-eaters.

    I’m a vegetarian and I almost feel I have to apologize for it sometimes when I’m eating with non-vegetarianism. It’s like people think you are accusing them of something.

    I’ve never, ever told anyone they should be vegetarian, but I’ve had loads of people tell me I shouldn’t be.

    • i have had almost the reverse experience. i’m a meat eater and when i eat with my vegetarian or vegan friends they give me very judgmental looks, which is so annoying especially since i dont’ judge them on what they eat.

      • It is frustrating. I support my vegetarian and vegan friends and when I host them, I always make something yummy that fits into their diets but when they host my husband and I, do they offer a meat dish? No. Sometimes they even joke about how we need a good veggie meal. As though they know what we eat every day. We don’t eat meat three times a day seven days a week for God’s sake, we just like meat a few times a week.

        And while it’s not a big deal because vegetarian fare is just as good as meat fare, to me it’s a sign of them not showing the same regard to their meat eating friends as meat eaters have shown them.

      • i would assume the reason they don’t serve you meat as a meal is because it’s against their morals to cook/serve meat. if they think that eating meat is slaughter, then they wouldn’t want to purchase it. It would be like asking my Jewish friends why they won’t serve pork to me when I visit. It may not be a religious reason thyey’re vegeterain (though it might be) but it’s their same belief system that’s keeping them from purchasing/supporting the “slaughter” of animals

      • Jen is right. We don’t buy or serve meat in our house. It goes against our beliefs. It has nothing to do with being in considerate.

      • gwenhara – the reason vegetarians do not offer you meat at their house is because they are against eating it. if they serve it it would be hypocritical. would you be offended if a jewish or muslim friend didn’t offer you pork? it is a belief, not a social offering. i can’t believe i actually have to point that out.

      • I guess I just have some judgmental in-laws. I think what we choose to eat is such a personal thing. I would love it it more people chose not to eat meat, but it’s not my place to tell them so, especially during dinner.

        Sorry about the typo in my OP; it should have been “vegetarian”.

      • Anonymous….
        Her husband is bed ridden and in a coma though. Does that qualify as a vegetable?

        Also jk, I’m sure you eat your husbands meat.

        You are such a hypocrite!

  • Well apparently she has no problem with rape considering she signed the petition to let Roman Polanski out of prison. Does this give me license to eat chicken?

    I used to really like her, but over the past few months I’ve found her snobbish, rude and intolerable. She’s got that “I went to Harvard” air about her.

  • Sigh. I have a lot of respect for vegetarians and vegans, but this approach is unhelpful to their cause.

    Any change you make to your life and habits is for yourself, you shouldn’t have to defend it. How can you expect people to respect your vegetarianism when you don’t respect their decision to eat meat?

    I’ve been dairy free for five years and people are constantly giving me stick about it. Especially when it comes to the soy milk, which seems to terrify people for some reason.

    All I do is tell people that I prefer the soy milk and I that I feel fantastic now that I’m dairy free. No need to beat them over the head with it.

  • Agreed that recent vegetarian converts can risk being zealots and proselytizing is annoying for any deeply held belief. However, I think there is a misreading happening here; she is not directly comparing eating animals to rape. That would be “eating animals is like (or as bad as) rape”. What she is critiquing is the logic of compromising your beliefs in the name of etiquette. She’s explaining Foer’s point anyway, that it as rude to ask your vegetarian guests to compromise their beliefs about food as it would be to ask them to change their stance on some other moral conviction just for the sake of being good company. It would be absurd to ask your dinner companions to think rape was okay just because you did. This is the point she is making, she is equating vegetarianism to a moral conviction and that it should be, for those who claim it to be such, respected as such. She’s also getting at how much is sucks to constantly be defending that position.

    Hitler was NOT a vegetarian, one of his favorite recipes was for lamb. Limiting meat intake as he sometimes did does not necessarily make one a vegetarian.

    • You are correct in stating the analogy is being misread. I think her point is a valid one, and I don’t care that her analogy is extreme However, it is a difficult one for people to understand, because I doubt any of us know anyone who considers agreeing to be raped as proper etiquette.

  • Oh, and let me add, it’s great that she’s a vegetarian, but Ms. Portman should be ashamed of herself for signing that petition (speaking of rape…). I didn’t think she was a sycophant.

  • I believe the human body was designed to eat meat. All vegetarians take the approach that you can get protein from other sources like certain veggies, nuts, and tofu… all well and good except for that is a modern convenience. 300 years ago, if you lived in a place where you couldn’t get your hands on nuts and certain veggies, how else were you supposed to get protein… meat. We are designed with canine teeth to eat meat. I’m all for the humane raising and killing of animals for consumption… but vegetarians act like it’s monstrous to consume animals in general. I think it is nature’s intention that we eat meat… just like many other animals do.

    • You’re an idiot. Of course people ate raw “vegetables” 300 hundred years ago. Also, other animals eat raw meat, so I guess if all you people are going to say that eating meat is natural… eat it raw.

      • It is generally safe to eat meat raw if it is consumed immediately after killing, which a wild animal would do. The raw meat risk only increases due to the amount of handling that occurs post-slaughter.

    • We’ve evolved since then! Like everything has! We dont live in caves anymore either, but because they did back then should we go back to it because thats how it was then?! No, we’ve evolved. And living a cruelty-free way is Easier now – not that it was Impossible then! Tool.

      • Calling someone a Tool because of what they eat makes you the Tool. This is another example of someone trying to guilt their beliefs on another. Eating animals is natural… plus they are very tasty :) Tool!

  • People please, on behalf of quiet vegetarians, don’t lump all of us in with the vocal judgmental ones “vegetarians act like it’s monstrous to consumer animals in general” and we won’t lump all Christians in with tax-evading evangelists, the people who stand up and shout at people on college campuses or right wing nut jobs who use the Bible to justify bigotry. Deal?

  • She must not watch Animal Channel. That channel is full of rape.

    Aaaanyways!!!

    Seriously, this is why people hate us vegetarians! For me it’s a choice. I don’t shove it down other people’s throats. You want to eat meat? Fine.

    This almost (for me) is up there with people who say that gay marriage would lead to marrying your dog and other inane stupidity like that.

    For someone so “educated” she sure has a lot to learn.

  • She was simply using rape as an example of a moral wrong, as she sees eating meat as a moral wrong.
    The argument could insert any form of moral wrong and still argue the same point.
    “(e.g., I don’t believe in deficating in public, but if that’s what it takes to please my dinner hosts, then so be it).”

    “(e.g., I don’t believe in using the Lord’s name in vain, but if that’s what it takes to please my dinner hosts, then so be it).”

    It’s pretty ridiculous that people are ignoring the argument for the use of the word rape.

  • Seriously, I can’t find anything bad in her text, she is not comparing eating meat to rape, she just wants to make a clear point with an example.

    Seeing how vegetarians are often treated and being made fun, it seems to me that a lot of people do have a bad feeling about eating meat when there are a lot of other healthy options. But in order to stop feeling bad, they attack the vegetarians and make it look like vegetarians are trying to force people to become vegetarian, so vegetarians are so extreme and bad.

    If you were feeling totally fine about your choice molls, you wouldn’t have to write such an angry last paragraph. It really makes you look like you have a moral problem you’re trying to avoid by hating on a vegetarian whos simply expressing her opinion.

    • She is using an extreme example to make a point. This is a practice used by people when they can’t come up with more plausible arguments.

      • It is a common rhetorical element to strongly point something out, if you’d get a little bit informed you’d see that there a bunch of good arguments for going veggie.

      • One good argument is that it’s cheaper to support your “foreign object up the ass” fetish when you use a 20 cent cucumber as opposed to a $3.50 (with coupon) length of Wisconsin Pride Polska Kielbasa!

        Am I right Lila? If you don’t know the answer I’m sure your little brother knows.

  • If anyone on here can watch the videos of animals living in industrial housing, standing in their own excrement, being forced to eat other animals, being inhumanely slaughtered and still want to eat industrialized meat…..well.

    And if you knew how they “clean” the meat of ecol i (which animals do not naturally have when they eat what they are meant to eat = grass) I suggest you would boycott the industrialized meat produce in this country too.

    You might even end up a vegetarian. And. Let’s not forget, the FDA revised the amount of meat we can eat each week in a healthy diet……make a fist….that is how much meat you can eat IN ONE WHOLE WEEK and be healthy. That’s the FDA.

    I read the whole article on Huffington Post. It was well written and thoughtful. Which is more than I can say for this tirade against vegetarians and vegans by molls.

    • Actually, E. Coli is natural fauna in the digestive tract of most mammals. Make sure you know what you’re talking about before you post.

      And post a link to the “1 fist worth per week” recommendation by the FDA. I doubt this is the case. Health Canada recommends recommends 2-3 servings of meat or meat alternatives per day (14-21 per week). These recommendations are probably similar to the US guidelines, and it’s really unlikely that only 1 out of 14-21 can be meat. So post a link to this from the FDA site.

    • “If anyone on here can watch the videos of animals living in industrial housing, standing in their own excrement, being forced to eat other animals, being inhumanely slaughtered”

      Kind of sounds like New York City!

  • Isn’t she that nut who kept thinking people were stalking her when they were really just waiting for the bus? or something?

  • I understand where the ‘rape’ idea comes. It’s because all female cows are impregnated by force in order to produce milk. Pretty sad. If it happened to humans we would all be furious…*sigh*

    • God, I’m turned on and repulsed all at the same time. I think I’ll masturbate and then go lay down and hold my head for a minute while someone takes my picture.

    • They would have been impregnated by force in the wilderness too…
      Are you so fond of animals that you choose to ignore that most of them do lots and lots of raping on their own? Female animals don’t really get to ‘say no’ to male animals it’s not in their nature. I live on a farm. When the rooster wants to hump a hen, they jump on and do it. They pluck out the feathers on the hens back and the hens screech and struggle. Not exactly what I’d call consensual. Artificial insemination doesn’t cause the animals pain.

      • You’re right. Female animals don’t actually get to ‘say no’ to male animals. They also don’t get to say, ‘that was fucking great’ or ‘why don’t you go fuck natalie portman’.

    • Some cows from strong milk lines (most commonly in JERSEY and HOLSTEIN breeds) young cows can and do produce milk without being pregnant. This is called Spontaneous Lactation, Virgin Lactation or Maiden Milk. This also happens with Dairy Goats such as Nubian and LaMancha breeds.

  • I can’t just too harshly. Truly people, why are you getting excited….she’s a self-important actor, not anything that could be mistaken for intellectually contributing to society.

    • As opposed to you? Natalie Portman is an extremely talented, intelligent human being who has done many great things for the less fortunate in the world. What have you done? Think before you judge, my friend.

      • Lots of rich people sign checks on behalf of the less fortunate. Sometimes they do it to ease their conscious, sometimes they do it as a tax write off, sometimes they do it for publicity. And rarely they do it because they care.
        Signing a check when you’re rich is not that difficult.

        And before you start asking me what I’ve done to help poor unfortunate souls, I’ll tell you. I started volunteering in nursing homes when I was 14. I visit people who don’t get regular visitors so that people who’ve already contributed to society for their whole long lives have some companionship in their last years.

        How the hell do you know that the person you’re replying to isn’t consistently kind to everybody in their daily lives? I think spreading kindness and generally being helpful to everybody you encounter says way more about a person than signing a check, showing up to charity events or telling other people they need to live like you do. Just because the “great things” a person is doing doesn’t make it into the papers doesn’t mean it’s less worthwhile than a rich person giving away a fraction of their wealth.

  • I really don’t think she was saying eating meat is like rape. or compairing rape to animals or anything like that.
    I think this part is the focus of that paragraph’
    “He posits that consideration…which has more to do with being polite to your tablemates than sticking to your own ideals, would be absurd if applied to any other belief”

  • I agree with Itc. She was saying that if something is morally reprehensible to you, you don’t just continue doing it to be polite to your hosts (or, in a larger sense, because it is socially encouraged or acceptable). You take a stand for what you believe in. I’m a meateater, but I don’t take offense to that stance in any way.

  • These quotes are taken out of context, but I don’t think she’s trying to guilt anyone into being a vegetarian. I don’t get that from these statements at all! My interpretation is that someone who has already chosen to be a vegetarian may feel pressure to eat what the host has served. She simply saying that if you choose this lifestyle you should stick by this lifestyle even if people give you grief about it. Do it for you and don’t let peer pressure change your mind.

  • I think she’s just sort of attacking back at those who made her feel uncomfortable about her choice not to eat meat. It’s easy to reshape a vegetarian’s words as PETA-like. I’m a vegetarian myself and I’m constantly bombarded with questions AND criticism about my choice (what if you’re not getting your nutrients? etc etc). I’m slightly pissed off at the ignorance people have over MY choice.

    There are more meat eaters in America than vegetarians. Eating meat is the norm. Meat-eaters aren’t subject to the same questioning that vegetarians are (well, unless the meat-eater is morbidly overweight). Natalie was probably just defending her choice.. in a public way.

  • Just so I understand…

    Natalie Portman thinks eating meat is evil.

    Natalie Portman thinks that a man that is guilty of raping a 13 year old child should be free.

    Someone needs to work on her priorities.

    • Just eating meet is evil? I have never heard her preach about anything else.
      So you can be the General that launches the nuclear weapons which will immediately proceed the Apocalypse, only you had better not be doing it with a Philly Cheese Steak shoved in your pie hole. Hmmm….. Yes I could see how God could forgive a nuclear war, but your going to have a lot of explaining to do having done so eating meat.

      Thanks Nat for helping me get my priorities straight. What would the world do without its Harvard Grads?

  • Her words were taken out of context. She never said eating animals is the same as rape. She was merely using an example to illustrate the ridiculousness of the methods we use to justify actions that are the norm, without questioning them. As in, if rape were seen as socially acceptable, many people would accept it without question, merely because it is considered “normal.”

    The writer of this article is obviously uneducated, and is making false accusations to discredit a woman who has done many more great things for the people of this world than most – unlike you, who manages a gossip blog.

  • Ermm Molls….shut the hell up you narrowminded fool.
    She started with a valid point by saying she gets bombarded with idiotic comments like ‘what if you find out that carrots feel pain, too? Then what’ll you eat?’ – Iv been a vegetarian since i was 13 – im now 22 – and i still get bombarded with these mindless pathetic excuses for ‘a valid argument’! You arent seeing her point of view, because you’re too busy defending meat-eaters, instead of being an objective reporter! Evil Beet can get away with her opinions because its her website and hers come across in a lighthearted way, you and the others cant because you havent earned your right to yet. When all you do is attack, people aren’t gonna respect you. You’re painting vegetarians in a terrible way, and that title is shocking! You were pathetic for putting that title! For starters, she’s quoting someone else (quite clearly), and secondly its misleading, negative, defamation of character for Natalie, and just sick!

    In other words, you’re an idiot! And well done for pissing a lot of people off! Douche.

    • Hmm…

      “When all you do is attack, people aren’t gonna respect you.”

      …preceded by:

      “Molls….shut the hell up you narrowminded fool.”

      …and capped off with:

      “In other words, you’re an idiot!… Douche.”

      Yikes. Take a seat.

      PS: Molls is awesome.

  • A lot of confusion here! She actually juxtaposes her vegetaranism stance with the belief that rape is wrong. To expect a vegetarian to eat meat is just as bad as expecting someone to participate in rape! How can anyone be so fanatic about not eating meat? You wouldn’t likely come across a situation where you would have to choose between eating meat or condoning rape, but if she did, according to her logic, she wouldn’t know what to choose because both alternatives are equally bad.

  • Most vegans I know think they’re shit doesn’t stink, but it does. Like cooked spinach, actually. Just like cooked spinach.

  • I’m sorry but you lose the moral high ground when you use a sensationalist headline that’s even more over the top and disgusting than the quote you’re supposed to be getting upset about.

  • What a oxymoron as Animals eat and kill other animals.. and even batter, bully and rape each other..

  • I think you guys missed the point of that rape comment. She’s pointing how the acceptability of eating animals is a cultural norm, and how vegetarians are questioned for going against this norm and for believing it is wrong. Now, imagine you are suddenly placed in a society where extreme violence towards a living being is totally acceptable at the dinner table…oh wait, hm, sounds familiar? To say that KILLING an animal isn’t that far off from raping a woman isn’t that out there. In fact, it’s a very common association, when you consider that both are extremely violent acts forced upon a group of beings who have been robbed of their basic rights (See “The Sexual Politics of Meat”).

    It isn’t an oxymoron at all, when considering animals eat other animals etc. Examining the human biology, we are capable of eating meat, probably scavenging, but we do not have the physiology of predators. What we DO have, is a very very amazing brain, that has allowed us to develop weapons and technology, that has made it possible for us to farm animals for human consumption. It has served us in the past, but given the current state of factory farming, of environmental damage we are doing, and the simple waste of energy it takes to raise a cow/pig/chicken etc (when we could be growing similar crops to feed starving humans, it takes 1,000 lbs of grain to raise one lb of beef), it’s time we put our brains to use and find a better way to live our lives. If that means refusing to eat an animal, we should be all for it.

  • You read that totally wrong!
    She didnt say anything about people who eat meat being bad she was talking about how just being vegetarian is offensive to people. The second you turn down the meat people ASSUME you are judging them for eating it. When that is not the case at all its simply a personal choice.
    i know how she feels people often make comments about me not eating meat and I have to brush it off because defending yourself makes you a high and mighty prick.

    She didnt say meat eating was like rape she said why should she have to change her eating habits simple to appease the people you are dining with? She was comparing the person moral decsions we make as a whole we dont go around constantly changing the decisions we make because of who we are around.

    i swear everyone thinks its the vegetarians that are high and mighty but really we are constantly judged and honestly I dont care if someone else eats meat or how much of it they consume. I made the decision purely for me.

  • Also, I would like to propose to the vegetarians that choose to respect their meat eating friends – in some ways it’s not ok to just accept their lifestyle. It DOES effect you, me and the rest of us – in the runoff in our water, in the liquid feces that results from cows being fed food they aren’t meant to eat that is then sprayed on the land and gets in our water supply, in the methane gas (yes that’s real, funny as it is), in the hormones pumped into our friends’ and family’s dinner. Oh and perhaps you guys haven’t forgotten about the bacteria found on spinach recently?
    Meat eaters have often questioned my beliefs and I welcome it. I’m not advocating a full on idiotic attack on meat eaters. I have no problem explaining why I eat how I do, and they should have no problem explaining their side of things as well. In fact, my boyfriend of 2 years is an omnivore, and I respect that choice for 2 reasons: he is informed and he eats local, organic, hormone free meat. I honestly believe the best way to convince people to go vegetarian/vegan is to be a really really good cook. Last night was home made pumpkin raviolis with a sage olive oil sauce. Who’s coming over for dinner?? HA.

    • Finally someone makes sense! I’d like to buy you a coke as I’m buying one for the rest of the world.

      • I’m going to law school so I’m going to argue for a living so I figure why not argue about something that uh, you know, we can change and matters? I’d like that coke, as a matter of fact. (:

  • Has she ever BEEN raped? I have, and I’d much rather eat meat. What a horribly disgusting thing to say.

  • You are all morons. Dairy is rape in the same way as human rape is rape. A cow is artificially inseminated over an over again and on top of that her calf is taken away you absolute idiots! Natalie knows her shit. Meat is murder and dairy is rape.

    • If dairy is rape does that mean that yogurt is from a bad yeast infection the cow got during the experience?

  • She definitely is not saying that eating animals is like rape, there is biased and then there is searching for gossip. This is nothing. Maybe next time write about some actual news and don’t make things up.

  • She’s fair in what she said….sorry.

    She is using an example of rape as something else that we would all (pretty much) find morally reprehensible. We wouldn’t yield to other people’s expectations of us on that principle. Similarly she won’t yield on another principle – eating meat – based on others’ standards.

    By using that example, she doesn’t imply that she is saying that animal killing is the same as rape. It’s an example to illustrate a point. We can use examples, often of something more extreme, to show why a lesser principle is valid in its own right.

    If we understand that, most of the comments above are missing the point. Is she not entitled to find meat eating morally reprehensible? If she is, what’s wrong with the use of analogy to illustrate her sticking to moral principle?

    Am I missing something?

  • She’s an israeli raciest bitch , why would she care about 13 year old getting raped, while they kill palestinians infants and steal their homes? Wake up people

  • I now (after reading Foers book) understand how her comment inspired such a kneejerk validation of meat eating and worse a savage attack on her ethical philosophy espoused in print just like the millions of opinions (also needlessly made here) and continually produced by meat eaters daily in public and on a social platform. For an ametur activist (one who will likely see the death of the meat industry in our lifetime) your extremest reactions are golden to those who endure and observe it, for they truly enlighten us all of how uneducated, biased, vicious, guilty, shameful and responcive all meat eaters are to the truth or an opinion that does not condore the act.