When I began telling my mom about my upcoming plans to see Jonathan Safran Foer speak this upcoming Tuesday at the Sixth and I Synagogue (come with!) regarding his new work on vegetarianism, she reached into her bag of Christmas presents and pulled out an early gift. I've been reading the book in between extended spurts of Slavoj Zizek (for the paper I still haven't finished), and I'm thoroughly enjoying his refreshing arguments about ideals I've already committed myself to. Below, a passage I found particularly insightful:
“Humans are the only animals that have children on purpose, keep in touch (or don't), care about birthdays, waste and lose time, brush their teeth, feel nostalgia, scrub stains, have religions and political parties and laws, wear keepsakes, apologize years after an offense, whisper, fear themselves, interpret dreams, hide their genitalia, shave, bury time capsules, and can choose not to eat something for reasons of conscience. The justifications for eating animals and for not eating them are often identical: we are not them.” (page 63)
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