But remains a complete wanker:
So I started eating meat again… Yes, this from the guy who once said that meat eaters are bad people. I guess that must make me a bad person. Well, unlike many other carnivores, I’m at least cognizant of the fact that I’m exploiting animals for my own well-being. While I have made the move to a diet that contains meat, I am not completely at peace with it. I am fully aware and respectful of the fact that the meat on my plate comes at at price, that being the life of another animal.
But I have my reasons. My decision to eat meat again was driven by health concerns. I was a vegetarian for over ten years and I did so primarily for ethical reasons. It was in the last several years of being a vegetarian, however, that I grew increasingly concerned about my health. An increasing number of studies started to point at the importance of meat protein and animal fat—not to mention the perils of soy (which was a staple for me). Moreover, my performance at the gym was stalling. My energy levels were consistently low and I was making very little gains. This was an indication to me that something wasn’t right….
Now just because I’m eating meat again doesn’t mean I have to be an asshole about it. Like I said earlier, I am still concerned about the well-being of animals. It’s for this reason that I’m striving to be the conscious carnivore. I only eat meat from grass-fed animals that have been allowed to graze in pasture and the eggs I eat come from free-range chickens. Yes, my grocery bills are two to three times as much as they used to be, but it’s a price I’m happy to pay. I feel better knowing that the meat on my plate came from an animal that actually lived a reasonably good life.
Mr. Dvorsky doesn’t have to be an asshole about eating meat because he is already an asshole. The only thing that has really changed besides his dietary decisions is that he has now become a hypocritical and self-serving one. The fact that he is hyperconscious of what he believes to be the ethical costs of his meat diet does not make him less culpable than those who eat meat without thinking twice about it, it makes him more culpable and therefore an objectively worse person than those he formerly described as “bad people”.
The moral: never trust anyone who calls himself “an ethicist”. There is a high probability you are dealing with an amoral sociopath who is only simulating normal humanity and can rationalize any behavior on his own part.