Two attacks on meat–one outrageous, one subtle, both wrong

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is back on the anti-meat warpath–this time using a provocative video to shock meat-eaters.

In the brief video, a woman is weeping over the corpse of a man holding a half-eaten hamburger. The camera pans to his feet where the familiar golden arches appear, and then the words: “I was lovin’ it.” This dissolves to a black screen and the words: “Tonight, make it vegetarian.”

See what they did? With the subtlety of a gut-punch, the PCRM ad groups meat with McDonald’s, as if they’re one and the same.

On Huffington Post, nutritionist and author John Robbins asks if the video is “too emotionally manipulative.”

Then he goes on to do some subtle manipulating of his own– basically doing the very same thing the PCRM video does.

He notes that what’s important is to eat a “plant-strong diet,” with a low percentage of calories “coming from processed foods, sugars, unhealthy fats and animal products.”

Well he doesn’t sound like a vegetarian zealot at all. Eat a plant-strong diet? That sounds reasonable and healthy. All for it.

But then–see what he did? He casually grouped animal products (which include high-quality beef and fish, which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and other valuable nutrients) with three types of junk: processed foods, sugar, and unhealthy fats.

It doesn’t matter if it’s as subtle as Robbins or as in- your-face as the PCRM–it all adds up to one thing: willfully ignoring the value of a nutritious food that humans have eaten for thousands of years.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson

Sources:
“How Bad is McDonald’s Food?” John Robbins, Huffington Post, 10/8/10, huffingtonpost.com