Chapter 2: Eating Animals

After completing chapter two, all or nothing or something else, I am leaning more towards considering being a vegetarian. Foer describes his struggles with his affection for animals. He had always hated dogs. He never wanted one and was not amused by anyone’s. Then Foer fell in love with a dog, and it became his pet. He could not explain how the switch was flicked from hate to love. I connected with this immediately because it was similar to me experience with my first dog. After my family decided to get a dog we spent around two years researching dogs. We went to dog shows and read books. We had finally settled on an English bulldog. I was far less than pleased. I thought they were ugly, mean, and downright unappealing. I could not understand why anyone would want one at all. But after we adopted Buddy, and I took a few days to get over my fear, I was head over hills in love. I know how Foer felt; there is no explanation for the change of heart. It just happens. After examining his relationship to dogs, he started to reflect on other animals. Foer started to talk about pigs and cows. Both of these animals have the same exact intelligence capacity that dogs have. They are capable of having individual personality’s, which is usually what separates dogs from other animals in our minds. We picture dogs as more advanced, or more compatible with us, but other animals have these exact same qualities. I, like Foer was horrified by the thought of eating a dog. I eat bacon and hot dogs on a regular basis. I started to feel so guilty. My dog, pearl, and English bulldog looks like a pig. She is short, fat, and snorts. She is basically no different than a pig. So why aren’t I horrified by eating a pig? When did I make the distinction between what animals I eat and what I don’t? How were these distinctions formed? The questions I am asking myself are nearly verbatim the questions that Foer was asking himself. I wont eat pearl, will I eat babe?