Kung Fu Veganism

One of the things I hear sometimes regarding animals is that they're stupid, and we're smart. We're the superior species, so we should eat them if we want to.

Now, setting aside the people who honestly believe that meat consumption is needed for health, most people view it as a personal preference issue. As humans, we have superior intelligence, so we should do as we see fit with the animals of the earth. We're at the top of the food chain, therefore, we are perfectly entitled to kill and eat other creatures.

Similarly, a shark or tiger is entitled to his prey. They must kill, and it's part of the natural order.

The key for me are the dual issues of choice and nutritional requirements. A tiger or shark is required to eat meat. They can't eat veggie dogs and bean burritos, even if they wanted to. They do not choose their diet. We do. Humans can live a long and healthy life on a vegan or vegetarian diet.

Most people are capable of killing an animal, but would never do to animals what we do to them on factory farms. But most people only think about the first part - I'd kill a chicken, therefore I should eat as much chicken as I want.

The question they should ask is, would you raise a chicken in a dark shed where she cannot ever see sunlight or dust bathe, debeak her when she's a chick, watch her grow so fast that her legs cannot hold up and she ends up scooting around on her stomach on the filthy floor (you can't clean it), and then throw dice to see if you will scald her alive or if she's lucky enough to have her throat slit first.

No one I know would ever ever do any of that, dominant species or no. It's all about Kung Fu.

You know how in the movies there's the old Kung Fu master? He can kill everyone around him with one finger, but he chooses not to. Why? Because he's weak? He's squemish? It's because he is compassionate and chooses not to kill. He only kills when forced to.

We see forms of this throughout literature and film. The theme is clear - when the superior person shows kindness to those below him/her, it demonstrates that they are worthy of the power they possess.

It's like Anakin Skywalker and Yoda. Both were very powerful, but while Yoda only used his power to end life when he had to, Anakin did it because he could. His ability to kill using the Force, in his opinion, gave him inherent superiority and the right to use his power however he wished. Yoda, on the other hand, did not feel entitled to end life, only to defend his own (or the lives of innocent others).

"Ohhh. Great warrior. Wars not make one great." ~ Yoda

We can also look at Dumbledore from the Harry Potter books. He's the most powerful wizard the world has ever known, next to Voldemort, but he never uses his powers to dominate. He could rule the world in a way similar to the way Voldemort attempted, but he does not. Like Yoda, he only uses violence in defense of himself or the innocent.

"It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
~ Albus Dumbledore

And then there's Professor Xavier of the X-Men. Professor Xavier wants mutants and humans to live together in peace. He's the most powerful mutant in the world, but he will not use his powers to dominate those weaker than himself. Magneto, on the other hand, wants mutants to rule the world because they have superior abilities to normal humans. In his mind, might makes right.

I think Professor Xavier is the most poignant example because he is physically disabled, but mentally far superior to humans. Humans are slower and weaker than many animals, but it is our intelligence that sets us apart. Intelligence is often our criteria for what creatures are more valuable than others. Chimpanzees and dolphins hold a special place in our hearts because they are so intelligent and therefore so much like us.

In that sense, Professor Xavier is the most like us - intellectually superior, but physically less able than those he might control.

Professor Xavier of the X-Men

In some ways, the seeds of compassion for those weaker than ourselves are all around us. Over and over we see and admire the choice of the strong to act with mercy instead of brutality.

It's just like Ben Parker says to Peter Parker in Spider Man: With great power comes great responsibility.

And just to bring in a little bit of the real-world. This is by Edgar Kupfer-Koberwitz, written in the Concentration Camp Dachau.

"You asked me why I do not eat meat.... I refuse to eat animals because I cannot nourish myself by the sufferings and by the death of other creatures. I refuse to do so, because I suffered so painfully myself that I can feel the pains of others by recalling my own sufferings. ... These creatures are smaller and more helpless than I am, but can you imagine a reasonable man of noble feelings who would like to base on such a difference a claim or right to abuse the weakness and the smallness of others? Don't you think that it is just the bigger, the stronger, the superior's duty to protect the weaker creatures instead of persecuting them, instead of killing them? 'Noblesse oblige.' I want to act in a noble way."