I recently read about the concept of carnism. Veganism or vegetarianism are often thought of as a choice, while eating meat is seen as the norm. Carnism is applying the same logic to the idea of eating meat. It describes eating meat as an active choice and tries to understand the underlying moral ideas that may lead to this choice.
from https://www.theglowingfridge.com/carnism-psychology-behind-food-choices/
In fact I have never thought about it this way and found reading about carnism very interesting. I may not be totally convinced by the different ideas, but eating meat is a choice and a vegan can ask exactly the same questions back to the omnivore.
Carnism states that eating meat is related to a cognitive dissonance, where we distance the meat from the animal. We also categorise animals into various categories and apply different moral standards to them. Some animals are edible, some are pets, some are vermin and some are "wild". Many meat eaters will be outraged at the bad treatment of a cat, while they chew on their factory farmed chicken sandwich. Edible animals are viewed as inferior, less intelligent and less social. Often there can also be cultural differences in which animlas are labelled as edible and there is a certain disgust for foreign people that violate these rules (for example eating dogs in Korea).
When asked on why people eat meat the most common reply is that it is normal, natural and necessary. A closer look reveals that these are not good arguments. Something being normal has no moral significance. Slavery was once normal, but never moral. Eating meat may be evolutionary natural, but we deviate from the natural lifestyle so much that this is not a very convincing argument. The necessary may be the best of all the arguments, but our extreme meat consumption certainly is not necessary and may actually be more hurtful than anything else.
Overall I think that carnism raises a few interesting points. The foundation on which meat eating is build is not that strong and rarely questioned. For something that is such an integral part of our lives this is a strange showing. Some carnivores even seem to have an almost religious drive to harass vegans for not eating meat and get upset when they are not served meat. But meat is just one type of food, or is it? I for one have never found the person that gets upset when they are not served potato, or question you when they are at your house why you prepared a meal without potatoes and just give them rice.