“It is striking how an entire society of rational people can
maintain such irrational patterns of thought without catching
on to the gaping holes in the logic,” (Joy, 2010: 129).

Why we Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows is only for the bravest of meat eaters. The book acts as a mirror, held up to our beliefs about why we eat and enjoy meat – Is it Normal? Is it Natural? Is it Necessary? (Joy, 2010). Joy eloquently, and without sentimental cliché, informs her audience about an invisible belief system, which she calls Carnism. At the heart of this belief system is what she calls a Matrix, where meat eaters are “passive consumers, not active citizens,” (Joy, 2010: 116) but they are not innately passive, it is learned behaviour through the System.

In order to make decisions about meat of your own free will it is first important to step outside the Matrix to be able to see Carnism and, as Joy calls it, ‘bear witness’ to its existence. Reading this book is a first step to understanding the System, but Joy acknowledges it will probably only be read by those who are troubled by the pieces of information they already have. Finding the courage to face up to an all-encompassing belief system and potentially challenge it calls for the “highest qualities of our species, qualities such as conviction, integrity, empathy and compassion. It is easier by far to retain the attributes of carnistic culture: apathy, complacency, self-interest and “blissful” ignorance” (Joy, 2010: 149).

Witnessing

Uncovering the truth about a belief system that you have been influenced to behold – truths that have previously been invisible to you, can invoke powerful feelings: “anger at the injustice and deception of the system; despair at the enormity of the problem; fear that trusted authorities and institutions are, in fact, untrustworthy; and guilt for having contributed to the problem,” (Joy, 2010: 142). In light of this, the author goes to great lengths to help her reader process such comprehensive information in the hope that they can begin to act freely within their own moral framework and not Carnism. A brief look here at two of the key theories within the Matrix: The Cognitive Trio and The Three Ns, gives us some insight into her methods.

The Cognitive Trio: Objectification, Deindividualization and Dichotomization
In order that we can continue to eat some animals, but never others we must objectify the ones we slaughter. For example, in America and the UK, pigs are bacon and cows are beef, so it is the meat – the object, that we think of and not the animal. Dogs, on the other hand, are beloved pets and they are given names. We do not name our farmed animals and so they are not individuals; they are not offered an identity. This allows us to distance ourselves from their suffering, since this suffering, as a mass, is too great for us to either comprehend or act upon. By treating this enormous mass of farmed animals as objects to be bought and sold, not allowing them an identity beyond this, we can easily dichotomize edible and inedible animals: Rover, Buddy and Sadie never end up on a plate, yet Beef does. As Joy calmly states, our codes of ethics are absurd and inconsistent (Joy, 2010: 133).

The Three Ns: Normal, Natural, and Necessary
From childhood, for most people, “meat eating is considered a given, not a choice,” (Joy, 2010: 106). When breaking away from this tradition, vegetarians can experience hostility because of their choice, since their alternative belief system challenges what is considered Normal and therefore justified. This tendency to stick to what we have been taught, without question, sits firmly within other belief systems too: eating meat, we are told, is ‘part of the food chain’ and therefore biologically correct and Natural; it is claimed to align with the ‘laws of nature’, which are ruled by God; and since we can remember nothing outside of this belief system, historically it is also considered to be ‘true’ and therefore Natural. Despite the fact that countless vegetarians live without meat protein, eating meat is also considered to be Necessary to our wellbeing.

However, if meat eating – and selective meat eating at that – is so Normal, Natural, and Necessary why do we feel the need to distance ourselves from our own behaviour? Joy documents her interviews with those who refuse to eat the heart of an animal because it reminds them too much of human heart; she talks to those who regularly eat meat, yet can’t face the sight of pig trotters hanging up in a butcher’s shop because it disgusts them. Similarly, the idea of eating a Labrador or a Cocker Spaniel fills us with this same disgust. All of these things remind us that we care about animal suffering (no matter how discriminatory) – a mantra that Joy repeats throughout the book – not to beat you over the head, but to open your eyes:

“It is absurd that we eat pigs and love dogs
and don’t even know why,” (Joy, 2010: 28).

The idea of distancing ourselves from the animals we do eat is not a new one, but the System has remained robust in its long-standing anonymity. Dr Adrian Franklin, more than one decade ago, included the theory in his history of ‘Animals in the Human Diet’ – one of the chapters in his acclaimed sociology book, Animals and Modern Culture. He notes how meat became less about animal bodies and much more about becoming like any other food stuff, neatly packaged and clean – free from all suggestion of slaughter: “in butcher’s shops, carcasses are less frequently hung on view and neat trays of smaller, leaner cuts dominate,” (Franklin, 1999: 155). Like Joy, he talks about language and the disappearing use of words like ‘butcher’ and ‘slaughter’, he talks about concealment of the abattoir – the then, newly favoured word for killing – obscuring and sanitizing processes to make the animal edible (Franklin, 1999):

Invisibility

It’s overwhelming to have the System revealed in full, but Joy is adept at explaining incredibly complex theories in a language that anyone can understand – without sanctimony. Not only this, but she teaches us that we can already learn from past events that operated within such Systems, like the Holocaust or the slave trade.

In Chapter One, Joy sets out her proposal: “It is the process of learning to not feel that is the focus of this book,” (Joy, 2010: 19; my emphasis added). What Joy explicitly writes about is the absence of disgust at the fact that we eat some animals. Disgust only forms when we think about eating what we class as an inedible animal like a dog, for example, but this dichotomy that Joy speaks of: edible and inedible animals, is learned and not innate. It is this kind of behaviour that forms the invisible belief system. The first chapter is hard-hitting and direct, but not in an aggressive manner – it stands face to face with you, challenging you – can you read on? Many, I’m sure, would choose not to and continue to take what Joy would call ‘the path of least resistance’.

The idea of Carnism is introduced in Chapter Two. The idea houses many complex theories, but Joy manages to compartmentalize each section and explain it with understanding and grace, not to mention absolute determinism. Slowly, she begins to unveil the invisibility of the System. If billions of farmed animals are consumed as food every year, why do we never see these animals being farmed? As Joy so rightly asks, where are they all? We might believe we’ve seen them, through the very occasional news report or from charity videos or imagery, but we certainly don’t see this as part of our everyday lives.

Joy begins to answer her own questions in Chapters Three and Four, starting with a chilling quote from Adolf Hitler: “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it,” (Joy, 2010: 37). The lies at the heart of Carnism are profound for it is not only the slaughter that is invisible, and this is the part that can be hard to concede: It is our lie to ourselves that is the biggest lie of all. It results in us, “the human animals,” (Joy, 2010: 73) becoming the victims of our own complacency:

It is made clear; it is not only animals that suffer, it is also the slaughter house workers, and the residents who live near these enclosures who have suffered spontaneous abortion, birth defects, respiratory problems and headaches. The environment suffers, since air and water pollution is rife around slaughter houses. Joy, in her astounding fortitude, relentlessly takes us through every pig’s trotter and every beating heart of animal slaughter with dignity, in the hope that we can understand “why the system works so diligently to remain unseen,” (Joy, 2010: 93). The book is not a gruesome read – far from it. In fact, once you’re informed, Joy insists it is not necessary to then repeatedly upset ourselves with traumatizing imagery or literature – it is enough to know, and to remain informed in to the future.

Chapters Five and Six are the aides to coming clean – it’s time to question your behaviour. Have you ever been to a petting farm and then gone home to a Sunday Roast? Did your parents, teachers, doctors or politicians ever question your choice to eat meat? Did you know that animal byproducts are found in wallpaper, tennis balls and adhesive bandages? Do you know more about celebrities in the news than you do about the animals you eat? These are some of the questions tackled by Joy, but not in attack. The question is not how can you do this; the question is why do you? And the answer is Carnism.

The Human Condition

Hal Herzog, one of the world’s leading authorities in human-animal relations recently published a book called Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why it's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals, which also tackles issues around eating animals and what could easily be called our hypocrisy. However, the Professor gave an interview to NPR (National Public Radio) in America not long after the publication and said “I stopped using the word hypocrisy while I was writing this book. I think of it now as the human condition and I think these issues really transcend our relations with animals, they apply to so much of human, moral life," (Author Interviews, 2010).

Joy’s book is labeled an introduction to Carnism – the first naming of the invisible belief system. This alone is a huge step forward to understanding how our behaviour and our values became so out of sync. Joy talks about important choices – ones we should at least consider. The most difficult is to adapt your behaviour (meat eating) to bring it in line with your values (caring about animal suffering), which means you stop eating meat altogether. The second is easy: continue to sit complacently within the Matrix so that your own behaviour becomes invisible within the System. Or the third, most positive step for most people is to look outside the Matrix and find a solution to suit you, not the System. Herzog, as a fine example, says: “I've made my peace with meat. I try to eat responsibly, I'm willing to pay more for meat that I feel is humanely raised, I eat less meat than I used to ... people are going to make their peace with these issues in different ways,” (Author Interviews, 2010).

This is a book to encourage vegetarianism, but in her discerning attitude and imperturbable demeanor through the written word, there is a wider appeal to Joy’s book for every meat eater – their informed response is their own decision. Joy helps us untangle ourselves from a web of distortion, dissociation and distancing from a Matrix that is very much of our own making. She states that “mass witnessing is the single greatest threat to carnism,” (Joy, 2010: 139) and she is right. As long as Carnism is invisible, the longer we all suffer.

References

Joy, M (2010). Why we Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism, the Belief System that Enables us to Eat Some Animals and Not Others. San Francisco: Conari Press, an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.

Franklin, A (1999). Animals & Modern Cultures: A Sociology of Human-Animal Relations in Modernity. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Author Interviews. Dog Food, Or Dogs as Food? Depends Where You Are. NPR.org. 31 October 2010.