The perks of an inclusionary lifestyle - Stupid Article

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This should wind you all up, if you are anything like me.............. Published on: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 Article by: Jenna AndrianoFlavor Columnist • jandrian As Americans, we are born into a world of plenty. In this great nation, there is an endless flow of both necessities and excesses. It defines us as a society. So it's no surprise that, deep down in each citizen's heart of hearts, the people we truly despise are the ones who shun the American way and live exclusionary lifestyles. Namely, vegans and straight-edge kids. There is absolutely no reason for not consuming every bag of herb, chunk of flesh and bottle of hops in sight � well, not if you ignore for a moment that most of the meat and dairy making it to our supermarkets and

restaurants is chock-full of unhealthy hormones, that drug and alcohol use are cornerstones of abusive relationships and overall life failure, that the meat and dairy industry is inhumane to the nth degree, and that drug abuse can only lead to death or to detox, which can lead to death. In reality, vegans and non-drug-users are the most wasteful of Americans. Just recall the words of your parents while you sat stubbornly at the dinner table, unwilling to eat your brussels sprouts: "Children are going sober in China." Or... something to that effect. Same goes for animal products. Those bludgeoned, electrocuted abused carcasses crammed into tiny cages aren't going to eat themselves now are they? The answer, dear readers, is no. I became a vegetarian two and a half years ago and a vegan much more recently, but I never bothered to seek out my herbivore brethren. Mostly, because they scare me. For everything I don't eat, there are several who claim

they can not eat it better than I can. I don't know how, but it makes me sad. Besides, why would anyone be vegan in college? We're going to a school that makes as much an effort to cater to vegans as the average baseball stadium. It's completely impractical. Personally, I like impractical activities, (I still prefer hand-written letters over all other forms of correspondence) but what's everyone else's excuse? One could argue that schools should make more of an effort to cater to different eating habits or allow for exemptions from a meal plan that is essentially useless to anyone who doesn't sustain life on batter and haunches. But, being different is wrong. It's been proven time and time again, and it's a little farfetched to think that a campus covered in "Unity in Diversity" fliers would make much of an effort to appease anything other than the standard appetite. The major personal benefit I pull out of being a vegan on a college campus is the confidence

boost it gives me whenever I feel mildly stupid. Anytime I do badly on a test or can't seem to decode Kant's Metaphysics, I just head over to a dining hall claiming to serve vegan meals. All I have to do to feel better is approach a server and ask which option is vegan. After they kindly offer macaroni and cheese, I take a moment to smile sympathetically before walking away with a song in my head and a spring in my step. Also, an apple in my pocket, because there's nothing like an apple to compliment that intellectual high you get from knowing there is dairy in macaroni and cheese. As for the straight-edge crowd, let's hear it for the uncool. Really. If we weren't intended to use drugs and alcohol, God wouldn't have made cocaine trees and naturally fermented beer springs. Those exist right? Anyway, there are plenty of examples of artists, great thinkers, composers and authors who developed a close relationship with the bottle or any number of other drugs. And,

since frat parties and crack houses are veritable artistic and intellectual havens, people against substance abuse must just hate progress. Living an exclusionary lifestyle in an excessive society is an act of insanity. Or at the very least, an inconvenience. There is really no moral, health or economic reason to maintain one. If you still need more proof, try this on for size: you know who else didn't eat meat? Hitler.* Yeah, it really makes you rethink stuff doesn't it? *From "The Hitler No One Knows" by Heinrich Hoffman Jenna Andriano is a flavor columnist for the Northern Star. Printer-friendly Comments: Jim I've read a lot of your work and a lot of it comes off opinionated and outside the realms of entertainment. From what I understand, Flavor is a section focusing on the world of television, movies, music, and popular culture, but I could be sorely mistaken. Far be it for me to judge, but when I pick up a copy of the Star, I flip to the Flavor to read CD and movie reviews, gain insight on local music, and be entertained. There's nothing wrong with your writing, but as a reader of the paper, I go to the Perspective section for student opinions. That's just my take, my opinion.As for the article, I think the headline is wrong - shouldn't it be "The perks of an *exclusionary* lifestyle"? Could be a simple error, I don't know. I don't know if you're writing this to piss people off or to come across as decidedly narrow-minded, but a lot of what you said holds little

merit. You paint the picture that people who eat meat are murderers and awful, barbaric citizens. Well, I guess that is true, because I go seal clubbing on my lunch breaks every now and then. God forgive me. I eat meat because I have my entire life and I enjoy it. Some people handing out flyers showing a mutilated pig or calf are not going to sway my decisions on what I eat, nor is a revolutionist like yourself.Jenna, you drink water, right? You're going to hell; that's where fishies live! Every glass of water you drink is stealing a breath from a fish's lungs. Lest we forget the sea turtles and dolphins and eels who also make their living under the big blue abyss.Onto the straight-edge thing, well, that'd downright laughable. It's rather convenient that you leave off smoking on your no-no list for straight-edgers, and why? Well, unless I've developed a cataract in both of my eyes, I saw a girl who looked just like you puffing away, strolling down the

street. But hey, I could be wrong, I have been before.The point I am trying to make is that there are two kinds of opinion articles: opinion to inform and opinion to inflame. The former is more or less stating a problem that one sees in everyday life and offering a solution for it. For example, Dan Stone wrote a good Perspective piece about NIU's lack of vegetarian meals here. He stated what was wrong and spared no dialogue on the extents of the university's errors. The difference between his article and yours is that Mr. Stone does not damn the university for their nonchalance toward student concerns - if you wrote the same article, you would've pinpointed Peters and company with hate letters handwritten in blood. I enjoy reading opinionary work, but not stuff that is only there to intentionally piss me off. You gave me no reason to stop eating meat, and have convinced me that because I drink maybe once every two months, I am going straight to hell with no

bathroom breaks along the way. God, what a terrible American I am!Inform me, don't berate me. And while some sarcasm is good in writing (because, y'know, the funny bone and the sarcasm bone are apparently one and the same) but it's rather difficult to stomach an article so putridly dripping with sarcasm it makes me feel like a trip to the bathroom is in order. And I know I come across a little harsh, but my criticisms are in good intention and for the most part, constructive. And, hey hey, my opinion! Ahh, the freedom of speech, God bless America. Laura Aaron Read the book, Eternal Treblinka, Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust, by Dr. Charles Patterson www.powerfulbook.com It

gives pause to the reason our world is so filled with violence and it also examines Hitlers meat eating. Seems he had severe, embarrassing flatulence that was relieved by abstaining from animal parts and dairy. His mother died of cancer and he was afraid it was from eating meat. Gee, he was right about one thing. He DID certainly eat birds, and many other animal parts though. He was NOT in any sense of the word, vegetarian. Medesha Hilarious and thought-provoking! Well done; I thoroughly enjoyed this article.

Eric Jim, Hilariously, you prove Jenna right. Much like the server who told her mac-n-cheese was vegan, you seem to be under the impression that we drink ocean water. You should probably look into that. Believe it or not, we cannot survive on ocean water. "Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink..."And, if you're worried about fish, you might consider not eating them. They are also shockingly high in mercury, and commercial fishing will be responsible for depleting "fisheries" by 2048 at the rate we're going.Not to mention all the trash you produce that ends up in the oceans, along with the poisonous runoff from animal agriculture...Whup, you got me on a roll. I suggest you read up on this. You don't have to be concerned about animals, or even your health to care about going vegan. One of the greatest things you can do for our environment, which

ultimately affects every one of us, is to stop eating animals and their eggs and milk. Peter H

 

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