IAT

I found the IAT test to interesting but ultimately inaccurate and irrelevant. The test was designed to see if you have a preference to white or black people. After taking the test my result was that I showed no preference to either race. I find this result to be inaccurate in not only myself but also anyone who would receive it. I am not a racist, but I am not capable or viewing everyone the same, no one is. Whether conscious or not we all use biases, stereotypes, experiences, and prejudice. Saying that you have no preference cannot be possible because we use our observation, experiences, and subconscious to view every person in our lives. Depending on you race, religion, sex, location, and social status you will always have preferences and biases. You may not know it or realize it but you do. It is not wrong to be this way; it is how our brain works. We take in great amounts of information everyday; it would be absurd to say that one abandons all of their previous presumptions when confronted with preference to race.  I also found the test to be irrelevant because your result is either wrong or right, but either way it does not affect your life. If it is right you probably know that and will continue on with your life. If it is wrong, like mine, I will recognize the error and continue on with my life. This test does not have the ability to change ones preference if there is one. It can make one  conscious of their preference, but consciously changing your behavior to make yourself feel better does not change the preference that you had in the first place.

Conclusion on Eating animals

After finishing the book Eating Animals I have made changes in my awareness and eating habits.  So much of the information I learned is very important to me, but at the same time makes me outraged. There was a ton of graphic upsetting information but nothing sticks out in my mind more than the free-range information. “To be considered free-range, chickens raised for meat must have “access to the outdoors,” which, if you take those words literally, means nothing. (imagine a shed containing thirty thousand chickens, with a small door at the end that opens to a five-by-five dirt patch- and the door is closed all but occasionally.)” (61) There are so many people who would rather remain clueless on where their meat comes from, because they will feel guilty. Then there are those who do care and want to be conscious of where their meat comes from. My family does their best to make conscious choices. We buy cage free eggs and free range meats. It made me so angry to find out that we are ultimately being deceived. It is so irritating to find out that myself and others who are trying to make good choices are given false promises. I never imagined free-range in the way that the author described it. So I went on the Internet and searched it and the description in the book was accurate. I feel puzzled because I am trying to do the right thing, but I’m still supporting cruel, unsanitary living conditions for animals. What is the best way to eat meat ?

Chapter 5: Influence/speechlessness

When the swine flu epidemic was raging I was absolutely terrified. I stayed in a lot, over used antibacterial soaps, and overall acted like a germaphobe. Although this epidemic was dramatically over hyped it was still something to fear. When this was all going on my freshmen year I thought about the illness. I thought about being home sick, missing finals, getting others sick, and what the worst circumstance for me would be. I was not thinking about food. I associated contracting the illness from other people and animals (mainly pig), not from food. While reading Eating Animals I came across information that I never knew, and that makes me sick…literally. “The same conditions that lead 76million Americans to become ill from their food annually and that produce antimicrobial resistance also contribute to the risk of a pandemic.”(141) At first I did not understand this information, but it sounded bad. Then I thought about biology and what I knew. I remember learning that antibacterial soaps are not helpful but harmful to us. They do kill all of the bacteria on our hands, but that includes the good bacteria that we need. It makes us more susceptible to disease. Antibacterial soaps are human made witch chemicals. It freaked me out to think that the food I eat is making me more susceptible to dangerous diseases, and its natural. The example used in the book was H5N1, the bird flu, this disease is fatal in 60% of human cases. The food that I eat to stay healthy could contribute to my death?! Why isn’t this well known knowledge? I know plenty of people who would be terrified by this information and switch to vegetarianism or be more careful with the meats that they do choose to eat. While reading the book a common theme has been lack of public knowledge. There is so much that outrages me that would outrage many others. There is a mask on the face of the meat industry and below it lays a hideous face. If information about meat was regularly on the news I believe a huge movement would start to better the conditions of the meat industry and of vegetarianism. For anyone reading this….how do you feel about eating meat after hearing that it produces antimicrobial resistance?

Chapter 3: Words/ Meaning

    What do I consider myself? I am a person, a daughter, a friend, a sister, a cousin, and a human. Am I an animal? While reading chapter three words/meaning, of Eating Animals I came across a thought provoking conundrum. “In the first sense, humans are members of the animal kingdom. But more often, we casually use the word animal to signify all creatures-from orangutan to dog to shrimp- except humans. Within a culture, even within a family, people have their own understandings of what an animal is. Within each of us there are probably several different understandings.” (45) I believe in evolution. I believe that we evolved from primates. When I think of primates I imagine gorillas, chimps, and orangutans. I would consider all of those primates animals. If we evolved from them and they are animals, why don’t I think I am one? When I think of animals I think of the zoo, the aquarium, pets, and creatures I see on a daily basis. I would say that I consider an animal as a creature without speech. But then I realize that plenty of the creatures that I consider animals have means of speech. Dolphins, whales, and many other animals have distinguished ways of communication. So then I thought that animals are creatures that are “wild”. But I could not find justification in that. Animals have specific characteristics because natural selection selected those traits for survival. They are not acting wild. They are acting in a way that ensures survival. Isn’t that what humans do? Humans give money great importance. Having money insures that one can provide shelter, food and water. That is all we need to survive. Our obsession with money has extended past basic necessity to a craving for luxury items. Maybe this is why we consider ourselves different from animals. Animals do what they need to survive. We do what we need to survive and what makes us happy. Do we think that going above and beyond what we need makes us more civilized? I would argue it makes us more primitive because we are forgetting our basic instincts of survival for instincts of greed and envy. For anyone who reads this…do you consider yourself an animal or something else?