Comments on: No-one can be told what the Meatrix is

By: oompah

oompah — Fri, 05 Dec 2003 02:13:34 +0000

actually, this movie was made, not for PETA, but for this organization (GRACE) that is not necessarily promoting vegetarianism but just trying to get rid of factory farms. (the original version of the movie is at http://www.themeatrix.com) Through encouraging people to buy sustainable meat or what have you. I think it’s good that it’s not being self-righteous and claiming that going veg is the ONLY way and instead reaching those people who wouldn’t even consider going hard-core veg but may be interested in knowing how evil agribusiness is, and might start thinking more critically about how what they eat.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Mon, 10 Nov 2003 23:09:12 +0000

After 14 years of being vegetarian I gave up on Saturday. I suppose I'm like the guy in the first film who wanted to be plugged in again.

Cypher: You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? [Takes a bite of steak] Cypher: Ignorance is bliss.

Except unlike Cypher, I do think people should be more aware of what they are eating and where it came from.

By: anthony

anthony — Mon, 10 Nov 2003 04:43:27 +0000

I’m inclined to agree with sidereal’s first reaction to msw’s comment. The way that reads to me is, “After reading a book which lead me to regard eating meat with revulsion, I now avoid any media which would elicit that same revulsion.” This confuses me, because if you feel a profound enough ethical reaction upon confronting these ideas that it would make you abandon eating meat, then you are merely denying this intuition to continue the practice. To give this comment some context, I myself am a semi-vegetarian (in that I eat fish and eggs) mostly out of habit. If I muse over it for awhile, I can arrive at a number of reasons which make it at the very least reasonable to abstain from eating meat, but I don’t regard my practices as objectively more correct than those of any one else. If arguments such as those presented in “The Meatrix” leave you unphased, that’s fine, but if facing the truth of what you eat does affect you, I find that to be a worthwhile consideration.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 09 Nov 2003 00:58:03 +0000

Yes, what was with the leap at the end there? Instead of allowing small family farms to be destroyed by large conglomerates, we should, um, destroy them ourselves? Still: Awfully well done. Just wish that “ethical treatment of animals” in their view included butchering them on those Meatrix-like small farms…

By: p mac

p mac — Sat, 08 Nov 2003 05:50:28 +0000

Peta could get some traction if they included links to slow-food meat as well. It’s hard to find, even in Seattle.

By: sidereal

sidereal — Fri, 07 Nov 2003 21:07:31 +0000

Unwilling vegetarian? Forced by your own revulsion! Actually, there is something to that. I’m currently about 98% vegetarian (still the occasional fish) but I’m not as self-righteous about it as I used to be. The unconsicous assumption behind the righteousness is that people accept eating meat only because they don’t know what goes into sausage making (which is true) and that the revulsion that they would feel is a more appropriate determiner of their morals (which is not). Revulsion is a specific biological response to specific conditions, and should not necessarily be considered any more moral than rage or lust or any other biological response. Expanding the circle of ethical association to include animals does line up with my morality, though. Thus my continued vegetarianism despite my epiphany about revulsion.

By: msw

msw — Fri, 07 Nov 2003 16:47:08 +0000

I stopped watching once they got to the sickly pigs – I spent 2 years as an unwilling vegetarian after reading Fast Food Nation and I am now very careful about what I read/watch/discuss. msw

By: john c. halasz

john c. halasz — Fri, 07 Nov 2003 07:00:23 +0000

PETA meets “Animal Farm” via post-modern Hollywood. From the socialist International to vegetarianism in one fell swoop! At least, there are no sandal wearers. Leather. Back in the U.S.A. the meat-packing industry now owns about a third of the total national cattle herd. That way, if cattle prices rise, they can cull from their own herds to drive prices down. But if prices are low, the ranchers can do their bidding.

By: PinkDreamPoppies

PinkDreamPoppies — Fri, 07 Nov 2003 04:51:35 +0000

I’m sympathetic to their cause, but found their logical leap a bit much (as I find all of PETA to be, actually). But hey, that was funny. “Moopheus.” Yay.

By: Kenneth G. Cavness

Kenneth G. Cavness — Fri, 07 Nov 2003 01:06:42 +0000

I did notice that logical leap, Peter—but I also have to admit that while I’m no fan of PETA, that was groaningly well-done.

By: peter

peter — Fri, 07 Nov 2003 00:58:19 +0000

I really enjoyed that the solution is to go vegetarian, not to eat pork only from family-owned small farms. Also enjoyed the flailing agri-business bot…