When Does Vegetarianism Become Morally Obligatory?

Vegetarianism would be morally obligatory to the majority of Americans when there is widespread knowledge of the agribusiness agenda and a fair amount of access to organic fruits and vegetables across the country. Currently there is a enormous blackout on the true conditions in these factory farms, which makes the vast majority totally ignorant to what they are contributing to. It would be difficult to say that the majority are moral agents when it comes to meat consumption because they know almost nothing about the true nature of the business. All people see, is a neatly vacuum packed package at the supermarket, which is (deliberately) far removed from the image of a living breathing animal. One could argue that we are even indoctrinated from a young age to buy into this system. Children’s books are filled with cartoonish depictions of Old Macdonald’s farm and his happy animals. Pickup truck commercials show us the hardworking American farmer, the supposed backbone of our food industry and an inspiration to us all. In reality, the American farmer is no longer really relevant to the food industry other than in local settings.

Since the Agent Orange revolution, large corporations have controlled our food supply, and they even control most small farmers through legal roughhousing (using patented seed as intellectual property). As it stands now, the status-quo is designed to make meat and GMO crops the only available sustenance for the majority of people. So-called “Food deserts” are popping up in low income areas, where meat (as a federally subsidized industry) is usually the only option; aside from a slew of corn concoctions. In such areas, for example downtown North Adams, you would be hard pressed to find a store with a vegetarian section. Furthermore, the produce section is bound to be rife with genetically mutated plants which will continue to support the status quo, and poison you since the pesticides are within the plant itself.

So although it is morally maligned to consume the flesh of non-human animals, as long as there is widespread ignorance on the issue due to massive deception and indoctrination, and our food supply is controlled by only a small group of corporations who poison us with their pesticide food, the majority of Americans can’t be responsible for their actions because they lack the knowledge or in many cases the means to make an informed rational decision on the issue, even if it’s in their best interest.