{"id":7904,"date":"2012-04-22T21:30:55","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T04:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=7904"},"modified":"2012-04-22T21:30:55","modified_gmt":"2012-04-23T04:30:55","slug":"meat-eating-loser-i-didnt-win-the-ny-times-ethicist-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/meat-eating-loser-i-didnt-win-the-ny-times-ethicist-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m a Meat-Eating Loser \u2013 I Didn\u2019t Win the New York Times Ethicist Contest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Artichokes<\/a>
Of all the things to eat in the world, I'm particularly grateful for artichokes. Photo by BF Newhall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not bitter. I didn\u2019t win the \u201cWhy It\u2019s OK to Eat Meat\u201dessay contest the New York Times put on a few weeks ago. I didn\u2019t even make the final six, which were published today on the Times website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m OK with that. Five of the six finalists for the contest by the NY Times Ethicist column presented deeply thoughtful, caring essays addressing the question — How can it possibly be OK to eat meat these days when so many folks are choosing vegetarian diets and making a powerful moral case for their decision?<\/p>\n

\"Chicken<\/a>
Chicken wings, legs and breasts for sale at my local Whole Foods. Photo by BF Newhall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Times lined up a tough panel to judge the contest, \u201ca veritable murderer\u2019s row of judges \u2014 some of the most influential thinkers to question or condemn the eating of meat: Peter Singer, Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman, Jonathan Safran Foer and Andrew Light.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The panel\u2019s final decision will be announced on May 6. Meanwhile, the public gets to go online and vote on the six finalists through April 24.<\/p>\n

To my dismay the vegetarian author of \u201cI\u2019m About to Eat Meat for the First Time in 40 Years\u201d is pulling in 41 percent of the online votes right now.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a cop-out of an essay. The still-anonymous author says she\/he is going to be eating meat \u2013 but only in vitro meat, \u201cgrown from real cow, chicken, pig and fish cells, all grown in culture without the mess and misery.\u201d<\/p>\n

To my mind, this essay doesn\u2019t follow the rules of the contest, which asked for a defense of eating \u2013 real \u2013 meat. So if Mr\/Ms I\u2019m-About-to-Eat-Meat wins the contest, yes, I will be bitter.<\/p>\n

\"Cattle<\/a>
Cattle feed lot extending acres into the distance at Harris Ranch, CA. Photo by BF Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My favorite essay, on the other hand, is the one entitled \u201cSometimes It\u2019s More Ethical to Eat Meat Than Vegetables.\u201d For one thing, I like that the author suggests we remember to be grateful to the living things that die so we can eat.<\/p>\n

But if worse comes to worst, and Ms\/Mr I\u2019m-About-to-Eat-Meat wins the contest, I won\u2019t take my pique out on the animal kingdom. Most likely, I\u2019ll forget my troubles with my usual comfort foods \u2013 a bowl of vegetarian popcorn and a glass of vegan beer.<\/p>\n

Tuesday: My losing essay<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Artichokes<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m a meat-eating loser. I didn\u2019t win the \u201cWhy It\u2019s OK to Eat Meat\u201d essay contest the New York Times Magazine put on a few weeks ago. But I’m OK with that. Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[34,720,721,722,723,724],"class_list":["post-7904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-case-of-the-human-condition","tag-dont-miss","tag-eating-meat","tag-ethics","tag-new-york-times-ethicist-carnivore-contest","tag-vegans","tag-vegetarianism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}