A.W.A.D. - Vegertarianism/Animal Treatment

Guest wordsmith Matt Ball (veganpa at comcast.net) writes: Growing up, I was a big fan of Carl Sagan, and I dreamed of exploring the universe, expanding the frontier of human knowledge and vision. I started my college to become a rocket scientist, with the plan of working for NASA.

But fate intervened on the first day of college when I met my roommate, a big, strong guy, who was not shy about explaining his vegetarianism or what hidden realities my eating meat supported. After a false start, I went vegetarian - I simply found the cruelties of meat production too severe to continue to rationalize away.

Shortly thereafter, I met Jack Norris and started learning more about animal exploitation in this world. I decided I needed to do more than be a vegetarian. With ten other activists, Jack and I held a three-day Fast for Farm Animals in front of a Cincinnati slaughterhouse (three days being the amount of time farmed animals often go without food before slaughter).

(This week's guest wordsmith Matt Ball is co-founder and executive director of the non-profit organization Vegan Outreach.)

vegan
(VEE-guhn) noun
One who does not consume animal products.

adjective
Made with no animal ingredients.

[Coined in 1944 by Donald Watson (1910-2005) to describe a "non-dairy vegetarian"; formed from the first three and last two letters of the word vegetarian.]

speciesism
(SPEE-shee-ziz-uhm, -see-ziz-uhm) noun

The assumption of superiority of humans over other animal species, especially to justify their exploitation.

[Coined by psychologist Richard D. Ryder (born 1940) in 1973. From Latin species (appearance, kind, form), from specere (to look). Ultimately from the Indo-European root spek- (to observe) which is also the ancestor of such words as suspect, spectrum, bishop (literally, overseer), espionage, despise, telescope, spectator, and spectacles.]

factory farming
(FAK-tuh-ree FAHR-ming) noun

An industrialized system of producing meat, eggs, and milk in large-scale facilities where the animal is treated as a machine.

[From the idea of operating a large-scale farm as an efficient factory.]

Cartesian
(kar-TEE-zhuhn) adjective

Of or relating to Descartes, his theories, methods, or philosophy, especially its emphasis on mechanistic interpretation.

[From Cartesius, Latin form of Descartes, after philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650).]

karuna
(KUH-roo-na) noun
Loving compassion.

[From Sanskrit karuna (compassion).]