This Letter to the Editor is in response to an Our View, titled “Peta2 exhibit doesn’t dictate our diet,” published on Feb. 4.
On behalf of Cease Animal Torture, we would like to thank you for taking the time to address PETA’s exhibit.
As an organization, we work diligently so groups like PETA can visit our campus.
Although your article was neutral and noncommittal in nature, there are a few issues with your comments that need correction or clarification. We are directly responding to a post, and as a result, general information about or arguments for veganism will be largely excluded.
The first notion we would like to dispel is that there aren’t affordable vegetarian menu options.
On the contrary, there are multiple vegetarian and vegan options at almost every place on campus. Cease Animal Torture ultimately advocates a vegan diet, but going vegetarian is a marvelous place to start; all of us (and most vegans) were vegetarian before they went vegan.
For clarity, we will resort to a laundry list of vegetarian and vegan food options available on campus.
The Beach Walk Café offers a number of vegetarian and vegan meals and snack options. The Beach Hut Convenience Store offers a number of pre-packaged vegan items.
El Pollo Loco offers veggie bowls with the option of eliminating cheese.
The Nugget Grill and Pub and The Outpost have a number of “meaty” meatless options, such as garden burgers.
Subway can also make vegan and vegetarian sandwiches.
Almost all Robeks smoothies can be made vegan. If you’re finding yourself missing the consistency that yogurt provides, peanut butter, acai or oatmeal typically work well as a thickening agent.
Personally, we usually get the grain bowl from the Beach Walk Café. At $3.60, it’s an affordable option that works well as a lunch.
Keep in mind that these options are all on campus. Less than a mile away, Veggie Grill boasts a completely vegan menu.
The idea that there are no vegetarian foods to eat on campus is a misconception, to say the least.
But enough about available choices. They’re ubiquitous. As for the notion from the Daily 49er Our View, “many students left the Peta2 exhibit feeling disturbed and maybe a little bit guilty,” we have little sympathy.
All of us possess moral agency; when we feel guilty about something we’re perpetually doing, then perhaps it is a sign that our actions need to change.
What happens to animals is absolutely disturbing; we couldn’t agree more. What is equally disturbing is how easily society pushes these problems to the periphery of our mental processes, how knowing what happens in factory farms but still eating animals requires a carefully cultivated ignorance.
Many of us can claim legitimate ignorance — some of us had no idea what went on in factory farms until we were teenagers.
When we find out, however, we as human beings are obligated to ensure that our actions coordinate with our feelings. Guilt can be defined as an emotion that occurs when an individual has violated a moral standard that they themselves believe in.
Almost all of us believe in kindness and compassion, but eating animals is incompatible with these ideals. That gnawing feeling, guilt, is the reminder that we’re human. If you’re feeling guilty, act upon it.
As for the graphic nature of the messages, we aren’t excited about them either, but is there a better alternative?
If animal rights media is not immediately inflammatory, it is ignored.
This is the decision that animal rights activists must make: If we pursue a culturally appropriate means of spreading a message, we’re completely ignored.
If we offend, shock and upset, we’re disdained, but at least we’re noticed.
In response to the Our View’s closing line, “leaving students feeling guilty […] isn’t going to stop carnivores from getting a burger at The Nugget”: If a person is able to walk through the Glass Walls exhibit and immediately get a burger right after, we cannot appeal to you.
We can only appeal to people who possess empathy and feel that torturing animals is wrong.
As for those of you who do feel guilty, ye’ possessors of humanity, we remind you that Veggie Burgers are available for $4.09.
Cease Animal Torture is a CSULB student organization that strives to end all animal suffering through educating the public on animal cruelty and promoting a vegan lifestyle.