I was with friends the other day and they started
wondering why I wouldn’t eat eggs; they couldn’t understand why Vegans choose
not to eat them as the animal doesn’t get killed and the eggs would be there
anyway so no harm is made in the process, right? Well I guess their response is what I call misconception
and lack of knowledge.
In a brief try to educate them I realized that
actually none understood what veganism is about. Hiding behind the argument
that the hen doesn’t get killed in the egg industry they though Vegans should
eat eggs too. This brought up some concern on me as I realized that people is
waaaay more uneducated than I thought.
I am going to try to explain to those of you
who share opinion with my friends why Vegans choose NOT to eat eggs.
First of all, it’s true that the hen does not
get killed –at least during their productive lifespan- in order to get the eggs
BUT those animals spend their lives confined in tiny cages not even having a
chance to breathe fresh air. So between this and death I couldn’t actually
decide which one is worse.
If you
say this ain’t evil explain me what is?
Now let me clarify some points to make this explanation
a bit easier:
1. Only female chickens (i.e. hens) lay eggs.
2. EGGS ARE HENS’ MENSTRUATION: when a hen hasn’t
been fertilized they lay the eggs most people consider
food; if they happen to be fertilized chicks are born.
Moving on, hens naturally
lay about 18 eggs per year but due to decades of genetic manipulation and
selective breeding, egg industy’s hens produce 250 to 300 eggs per year. In other words, we have modified
their bodies up to such unnatural state that it results in high rates of disease
and mortality. Forget to mention that it all has been done without any
consent/right to do so, of course!
Now let’s think for a moment that
hypothetically were woman instead of hens in those cages; doing the math, we
all know that women only ovulate 12 times per year so as the greedy hypothetic
industry of woman periods doesn’t have enough, they genetically and hormonally
modify women’s bodies so that they ovulate every day of their lives!! If you
reading this happen to be a woman this might resonate with you as you can easily
emphasize with the beings that ARE in this situation; that is because evil is
evil no matter who the victim is; there is no difference in the atrocity no
matter who it applies on: a hen or a woman.
Not to talk about the 6,000,000,000 newborn male chicks
killed
every year as byproduct of the egg industry.
So, we have now seen that Vegans do not consume
eggs because even though the animal does not get killed their bodies do get
modified without any consent and do not enjoy the freedom they naturally
deserve; and as I have explained, we CHOOSE to see evil as evil without distinction
of who the victim is.
Let’s move on to a much twisted excuse. When
saying: well but my grandparents happen to have some hens in their backyard so
they take care of the animals by giving them a big natural place to run and be free,
those animals have the perfect lives so why not take THEIR eggs in return?
Here is where commodification steps in. “Commodification
is the crime as much as killing is.” Veganism is much more than keeping the
animal alive; it is much more that giving the animal the happiest of lives. Veganism
is about equality, about seeing the animals as if they were humans. In spite of
what they have made us believe their bodies are not machines; a hen’s body is
not an egg-producing-machine. A computer is a machine, hens are sentiment
beings.
The reason your grandparents have hens in their
backyard is not unconditional love, it isn’t because they love them and want to
selflessly take care of the animals (like domestic animals such as
dogs or cats). No, they OWN hens because they WANT SOMETHING FROM them. This is
called commodification. Their bodies do not belong to us and neither does what
comes out of them. I’m sure people wouldn’t agree to have old hens in their
backyards –who don’t lay eggs anymore. This is because they take care of the
animals in order to get eggs IN RETURN; which means that they are USING those
animals –who, by the way, can be as happy as you want– to get something from
them.
So, vegans –or at least ethnical vegans– see
animals as sentiment companions who have the same rights and desires as one
would and, for so, don’t want to be killed, tortured, caged NOR USED AS AN
OBJECT. That is why we not only advocate that the animals don’t suffer or get murdered
in behalf of another specie (humankind) but also that they are not seen as
commodities or objects.
EATING OR CONSUMING eggs does not apply to those conditions
therefore it is unethical, evil and cruel to participate in that no matter how
good the hen has been treated in the process.
None of that changes when buying
from cage free, range free, organic or
however-you-want-to-name-it
NOTE: Also let
me mention that the egg industry –along with the dairy industry- is the highest
form of ANTIFEMINISM as it is literally the commodification of the female
reproductive process.
I hope this post enlightened you about what you
are really collaborating with/paying for when you choose to consume eggs.
Thank you for your time,
