# Why we love dogs, eat pigs, and wear cows > Names the belief system that enables people to love some animals while eating others carnism, and explains how invisibility, justification, and objectification obstruct empathy and choice. Names the belief system that enables people to love some animals while eating others [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt), and explains how invisibility, justification, and objectification obstruct empathy and choice. ## Foreword *(A foreword by , writer and environmental/animal rights activist, son of , one of 's cofounders. --ak)* Most people love pets such as dogs and cats as family, yet treat other animals as dinner and abuse them. Every state has [animal laws](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Animal%20law.txt), but livestock receive markedly different treatment. Deceptive advertising for [factory farming](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Factory%20farming.txt) abounds. This book clearly explains that contradiction and the system rationalizing it. We must restore our relationships with all animals. This concerns human responsibility as well as animal rights. said a nation's greatness can be judged by its treatment of animals. He would have liked this book. ## Chapter 1. To love or to eat? Chapter 1 opens with an imagined dinner. A friend invites you over and serves delicious stew. Asked for the secret, your friend says it contains , not . Your appetite vanishes and disgust sets in. Your friend quickly says it was a joke: it really is beef. But the disgust does not completely disappear. Only the meat's identity changed from beef to dog—what happened? We react differently to dog meat and beef not because of physical differences in the meat but because of differences in our of it. ### The problem with eating dogs A shift in perception is so powerful because perception substantially defines our reality. How we perceive something determines our thoughts and feelings, which in turn determine behavior. Many people react differently to dog meat and beef because they perceive and differently. We encounter cows almost only when eating or wearing them. Our relationships with dogs are entirely different: we name them, play and sleep with them, buy gifts, take them to hospital when sick, and bury them when they die. We love dogs and eat cows because of differences in perception, not fundamental differences between them. also shapes perception. , for example, would probably react to beef as Americans react to dog meat. This difference comes from our : mental 'frameworks' formed through interactions with , ideas, perceptions, and experiences. Schemas automatically interpret and organize incoming information. Hearing ',' most people imagine a woman, because their schema contains a generalized image of nurses. Schemas are mental classification systems, and we have them for every topic. We classify animals as predators, prey, pests, pets, food, and so on, determining our relationships with them. Other classifications sometimes overlap, but with 'meat,' most animals are either food or not food. Encountering meat from a nonfood animal evokes the living animal and disgust at eating them. Schematically, perception proceeds like this: 1. (stimulus) 2. Inedible animal (belief/perception) 3. Mental image of a living dog (thought) 4. Disgust (emotion) 5. Rejection (behavior). This is cyclical. Beliefs guide behavior, which reinforces beliefs. Not eating dogs while eating cows strengthens the belief that dogs are inedible and cows edible. > **Acquired taste (sidebar)** > > Taste has innate elements but is largely [learned](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Learning.txt). Nevertheless, people rationalize their tastes and find departures disgusting. Some cultures find disgusting as ' . We find eating fried in disgusting. ### The missing link Why do we classify only some animals as edible? The criterion is , which research suggests is largely learned. A highly organized belief system teaches us "not to feel," resulting in lost empathy. ### From empathy to apathy Why block empathy? Most people do not want to cause animals pain, yet eat them. This inconsistency between values and behavior creates moral discomfort. Three choices can avoid it: 1. Change values 2. Change behavior 3. Change perception Meat schemas concern the third choice. Distorting perception through reduces discomfort enough to permit eating meat. The first tool is , which is not inherently bad: it helps us endure a violent world. But numbing that enables violence is problematic. Various enable psychic numbing: - - - Routinization - - [Objectification](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Objectification.txt) - - - - Later chapters explore examples and unpack how this belief system operates. Its first defense is invisibility. Hidden abuse lets us eat meat without imagining living animals, safely insulated from the disturbing process of raising and killing them. The first step in dismantling meat-eating is dismantling the system's invisibility and exposing it. *( argues in [The sexual politics of meat](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/The%20sexual%20politics%20of%20meat.txt) that meat-eating contains a attitude: ends justify means, objectifying others is essential to life, and violence can and should be hidden. This connects well with this book's "system." --ak)* ## Chapter 2. Carnism: "It's just the way things are" Dogs evoke words like loving, intelligent, cute, and loyal. Pigs evoke wet, dirty, stupid, lazy, fat, and ugly. Asked why they think this way, most cannot explain. Asked why they eat pigs, they often say, "That's just how things are." Our meat-eating leads to ten billion land animals slaughtered annually in the US alone. If our best reason is "that's just how things are," something is seriously wrong. The author attributes countless people's thoughtless meat-eating to [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt). ### Carnism Many [vegetarians](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Vegetarianism.txt) eat vegetarian for ethical reasons, and most people have feelings about vegetarians. Occasional vegetarian film or TV characters reflect these stereotypes. We call people eating vegetarian for ethical reasons vegetarians or [vegans](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Vegan.txt). What do we call people who consider eating meat ethically justified? We call them meat eaters, but is that right? We do not call vegetarians "plant eaters," because vegetarianism is a belief system. "Meat eater" suggests meat-eating is unrelated to beliefs, obscuring its underlying belief system. The author names this hidden system [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt): believing eating animals is ethically justified. Carnivorous animals must eat meat to survive biologically; human carnists need not. Unlike "meat eater" or "carnivore," carnism conveys a philosophical choice, not merely a biological characteristic. Vegetarianism is visible, but carnism is invisible, hard even to recognize as a belief or philosophical position. Why is it invisible? Why did it lack a name? It is not merely a belief system but an , specifically an unusual kind resistant to scrutiny. ### Carnism, ideology, and the status quo An is shared beliefs and the practices based on them. [Feminism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Feminism.txt), for example, shares the belief that women and men ought to be equal. It is easy to understand feminism or [vegetarianism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Vegetarianism.txt) as ideologies. But where do the beliefs of "everyone else," 'normal' people, come from? Believing [sexism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Sexism.txt) or meat-eating is justified? "Normal" simply means beliefs and behavior followed by the majority. Before the , was "normal," and challenging it could cost your life. Mainstream thinking is simply ideology so pervasive it seems common sense or fact. This explains [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s lack of a name. Entrenched ideologies become invisible. is a prime example: masculinity is worth more than femininity, so men have greater social power. It existed for millennia before feminists named it. [Vegetarian](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Vegetarianism.txt) ideology has long been visible and named: Pythagoreanism 2,500 years ago, vegetarianism since the . Departures from the mainstream stand out. [Carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt) was named only recently for several reasons. The best way to keep an ideology entrenched is invisibility, best maintained through namelessness. Without a name, we cannot discuss it; without discussing it, we cannot question it. It remained unnamed because invisibility prevented recognition, while actively pursuing namelessness to remain invisible. ### Carnism, ideology, and violence Invisible ideologies are hard to question, especially those actively hiding themselves like [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt). The author calls these [violent ideologies](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Violent%20ideology.txt) because they depend on actual physical violence. Remove that violence—stop killing animals—and the system cannot exist. There is no meat without slaughter. *(Carnism depends on killing animals, yet actively conceals both animals and slaughter, showing only 'meat.' Animals must exist for meat to exist, but for meat to exist, animals must die, be dismembered, and cease to exist: a contradictory relationship. uses the [absent referent](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Absent%20referent.txt) in [The sexual politics of meat](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/The%20sexual%20politics%20of%20meat.txt) to describe it. --ak)* Modern [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt) rests on enormous violence sustaining meat-industry profits, so violent most people do not want to witness it. People connect with other [sentient beings](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Sentient%20being.txt). Even without being animal lovers, most do not want animals to suffer. Carnism therefore has defenses to make these people support meat-eating. > **Unnatural born killers (sidebar)** > > Records of the , , , and show soldiers taking various measures to avoid killing enemies, such as firing into the air. Research suggests training is needed to sufficiently desensitize soldiers to killing. ## Chapter 3. The way things really are If you are an average American, you eat meat daily. Ten billion land animals are slaughtered annually in the alone: 307 per second. Annual US livestock-industry revenue is about \$125 billion. *(130 trillion won, about 30% of Korea's <2019> national budget. --ak)* Where are all these animals? ### Where are the animals? Nearly all livestock are born in [factory farms](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Factory%20farming.txt) and remain confined until just before death. The sole design criterion is minimum investment, maximum profit. From a business perspective, is an obstacle. Factory farming is the most inhumane system in human history. ### See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil is the most effective way to distort reality; invisibility is the most effective denial. Chapter 2 examined symbolic invisibility, enabled by , a form of denial. Chapter 3 examines practical invisibility. Without knowing reality, we cannot penetrate [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s defenses. Farms are remote, entry prohibited, buildings nearly windowless, trucks often unmarked. We cannot actually see the system, because it actively prevents us. *(The book describes the abuse and deaths of , , , , and others; I omit those passages. For details, I recommend the free film . --ak)* - : More intelligent than , highly social and friendly. Describes their 'processing' from birth through slaughter into market 'products,' and the suffering involved. - (for meat): Describes their suffering through 's account of 'steer 534,' whose life he followed while writing . - and (for meat): We consider birds stupid, but research shows intelligence and sociability. *(The author keeps emphasizing intelligence because our prejudices reinforce carnism's justification. --ak)* - (for eggs): Male chicks are ground to death; females spend their lives laying in cramped cages. Genetically modified to lay ten times as many eggs, they suffer various health problems and die. - (for ): Injected with genetically engineered growth hormones and forcibly impregnated to 'produce' milk. Male calves become veal; females become dairy cows. - (for meat): Males are slaughtered after only 16–18 weeks. Raised with for desirable 'meat quality,' they suffer greatly because 'humane' electric stunning fails frequently. - Fish and other marine animals (for meat): Carnists often consider [fish](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Fish.txt) not animals. Say you eat vegetarian and people ask, "So you only eat fish?" Yet marine animals feel pain and possess . > **The genetics of trauma: Pigs and humans (sidebar)** > > Human and ' appear to share , and both are partly [heritable](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Heritability.txt). Genetic predisposition and exposure to traumatic experiences matter in pigs as in humans. > **They die piece by piece (sidebar)** > > The author introduces 's <2001> article. should be killed before 'processing,' but production speeds often mean killing is incomplete. They scream, blink, and look around alive as their tails are severed and bellies split. > **Can they suffer? (sidebar)** > > , an [utilitarian](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Utilitarianism.txt) who advocated , acceptance of , and , argued that moral consideration of a should depend solely on "Can they suffer?", rather than arbitrary criteria like "Can they speak?" Historically, however, prejudice has held that oppressed groups such as animals and slaves suffer less. Because suffering is subjective, others' pain has been easily dismissed. Scientific advances now allow objective studies, such as the development of in . > > *(For utilitarianism, see [Utilitarianism: A very short introduction](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Utilitarianism%20-%20A%20very%20short%20introduction.txt). For utilitarian animal liberation, see [Animal liberation](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Animal%20liberation.txt). For animal consciousness, see [Sentience table](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Sentience%20table.txt). --ak)* ### At death's door: Nonambulatory animals *(The Korean term for "downer cow" is "anjeunbaengi so," which seems inappropriate; I substitute a translation of "nonambulatory livestock." --ak)* are animals too sick or injured to stand or walk. They are dragged into [slaughterhouses](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Slaughterhouse.txt) using hooks, chains, and bulldozers. (After the <2004> outbreak, the prohibited some from human consumption, extending this to all in <2009>.) > **This unconscionable … torture must stop. Only we can help (sidebar)** ### If slaughterhouses had glass walls Sir said everyone would be vegetarian if [slaughterhouses](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Slaughterhouse.txt) had glass walls, believing truth would stop meat-eating. But we already know meat is animals' corpses. We simply choose not to know more. All [violent ideologies](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Violent%20ideology.txt) are similar: "knowing without knowing." An implicit "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" contract exists between producers and consumers. They tell us not to look; we turn away. We simultaneously want freedom to make as free thinkers and active consumers. This is impossible if we do not even realize we are making a choice. True freedom of choice requires knowing reality. ## Chapter 4. Collateral damage: The other casualties of carnism Collateral victims are livestock-industry workers, residents near polluted sites, meat consumers, and taxpayers: [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s other victims are humans. Its harms return as health problems, environmental destruction, and . Workers spend most of their working hours without respite in toxic environments, suffering physical injuries, , , and , without adequate welfare benefits. Nearby residents encounter toxic waste, suffering miscarriages, infections, and other illnesses. Meat consumers unknowingly ingest pollutants. Meat retains , , toxic herbicides, and potentially dangerous and . *(For whistleblowing on government collusion with medicine, pharmaceuticals, dairy, and livestock industries, see Part IV of [The China Study](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/The%20China%20study%20(book.txt)). --ak)* ### How safe are we? In 1906, 's exposed sanitation and safety problems in meat distribution. Public outrage prompted legislation. Few know it is not properly enforced. Faster production lines and insufficient federal inspectors have instead worsened conditions. ### Infection, inspection, and the USDA The 1906 legislation required inspectors to examine animals' sanitary condition. But <1980s> 'revisions' transferred this task to livestock producers. Quality-control standards are excessively lax too: entrusting your wallet to a thief. ### Human animals in slaughterhouses Many [slaughterhouse](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Slaughterhouse.txt) workers are undocumented Latin American and Asian , working with little training in poor conditions. Slaughterhouse work ranks among the 's most dangerous jobs. Workers wear hockey masks, for example, because kicks from animals slaughtered while still alive frequently break teeth. ### Learned slaughterers Workers do not enter [slaughterhouses](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Slaughterhouse.txt) because they are evil; working there desensitizes them to violence. Violent acts exposed by [animal rights](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Animal%20rights.txt) activists show serious trauma, rather than that workers are demons. ### Our planet, ourselves Even outside the industry, no one escapes [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s harms. Livestock farming is a major cause of every serious form of environmental destruction: - Air and water pollution - destruction - Soil pollution - Deforestation - emissions - Depletion of drinking water ### Democracy or meatocracy? [Violent ideologies](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Violent%20ideology.txt), sustained through deception, secrecy, concentrated power, and coercion, are inherently incompatible with a free society. Even if a larger system such as a state appears democratic, it cannot be so while harboring violent ideologies. In a , makes and enforces policies for citizens' interests. Excessively concentrated power corrupts democracy. A few companies dominate America's $125 billion livestock industry, and their owners' power is closely intertwined with government. ### How government and business intertwine and business intertwine in various ways. 1. Revolving doors: Officials and corporate executives exchange positions. 2. Corporate political funding and lobbying. They are not just above the law; they shape it to their liking. ### Warning: Meat-eating may harm your health Cigarette packaging carries health warnings, yet meat packaging has none, although meat-eating is far more harmful than . Imagine buying hot dogs with this warning: > Warning: Eating meat increases your risk of death from by 50%, and your risk of by 300% (passage omitted). ## Chapter 5. The mythology of meat: Justifying carnism Invisibility is a major feature of [violent ideology](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Violent%20ideology.txt). Chapters 3 and 4 exposed symbolic and tangible aspects; Chapter 5 examines , replacing meat's reality with mythology. At petting zoos, children and adults want to connect with animals, and animals approach and connect with humans. This desire seems almost instinctive. Yet people see no problem with eating meat. Where has empathy gone? ### The three Ns of justification Eating meat against our instincts requires thorough . The interconnected myths enabling it are what calls the . - Eating meat is normal. - Eating meat is natural. - Eating meat is necessary. These justifications have supported every exploitative system, including and . *(Chapter 1 of [How to create a vegan world](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/How%20to%20create%20a%20vegan%20world.txt) adds "nice," calling them the . --ak)* While an works, the three Ns go unquestioned; looking back after its collapse, they seem ridiculous. Early debates on illustrate this. Male legislators said restricting votes to men fulfilled the founders' intentions, and women's voting would irreparably damage the nation … bringing catastrophe. *(See [Minnesota House of Representatives on equal suffrage](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Minnesota%20House%20of%20Representatives%20on%20equal%20suffrage.txt). --ak)* The three Ns penetrate social consciousness so deeply they guide behavior before thought. As mental/emotional blinders, they conceal the gap between beliefs and actions; if we notice it, they explain it away. ### Introducing the mythmakers Although falsehoods form our psychological/emotional safety net, concealing truth requires continual energy. 'Mythmakers' throughout society continually feed us information reinforcing the three Ns. Mythmakers are society's foundational systems and their representatives: associations and experts in medicine, health, education, and more. Some pose as reasonable moderates, making our reasonable claims look "extreme and irrational," such as veterinarians criticizing [factory farming](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Factory%20farming.txt) while continuing to eat meat. Experts also sustain [violent ideologies](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Violent%20ideology.txt) by pathologizing opposition: defining rejection of meat as an symptom or warning of meatless diets' dangers against established evidence. In a sense, they too may be victims raised within and shaped by [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt). Others, including industry representatives, actively and deliberately make myths. One example is the alliance between the and . The ADA accredits universities awarding degrees; the NDC is its leading corporate sponsor. Mythmakers mainly maintain inherited myths rather than create them: many meat myths have existed for ages. The system resembles a bee colony, persisting even as individual bees die. > **Questioning authority (sidebar)** > > Introduces 's . Forty male participants act as "teachers," administering shocks to actors playing "students" under an "expert's" instructions. Teachers believe the shocks are real. Despite distress, most administer extreme (fake) shocks as instructed. Two exceptions mattered: 1) obedience fell when the "expert" was not seen as expert; 2) without the expert in the room, participants deceived them to avoid administering shocks. Put differently, an "expert" appearing on the TV in our "living room" saying "milk is good" may be difficult to resist. > > *(Unfortunately, Milgram's experiment faces reproducibility concerns, and even [argues he may have manipulated data](https://www.npr.org/2013/08/28/209559002/taking-a-closer-look-at-milgrams-shocking-obedience-study). --ak)* ### The stamp of approval: Legitimation All myths ultimately aim to legitimate the system. Once an is legitimated, the are protected by every social institution and take root through every channel. Behavior conforming to it seems legal, rational, and ethical; departures seem illegitimate. The two most important agents of legitimation are the and . 1. **Legislation**: Attempts have been made to legislate ideology and enforce compliance. US law classifies beings as persons or property; persons have rights, property does not. Animals lack . *(Legislative campaigns seek legal rights for animals. See . --ak)* 2. **News media**: Used to maintain [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s invisibility and reinforce meat-eating's justification. One method is omission: not discussing slaughter. Another is prohibition: in <2004>, CBS refused a advertisement as violating internal rules. Occasional media exposures treat reality as isolated exceptions, but abuse in [factory farming](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Factory%20farming.txt) is routine, not exceptional. News media deliver into our living rooms. ### Eating meat is normal Treating an 's tenets as normal normalizes the ideology; tenets become everyday social norms. Norms prescribe, rather than merely describe, exerting power over how we should behave. Norms keep us on prescribed paths because conformity offers least resistance. They reward compliance and punish deviation. Eating meat is easier than abstaining, both practically and socially. ### Eating meat is natural We consider meat natural because humans have and eaten animals for millions of years. Although hunter-gatherers mainly ate plants, occasional meat-eating is real. But , , , and cannibalism are also "natural." Naturalness and justification are different. Turning "natural" into "justified" is naturalization. Naturalized tenets seem to follow nature's (or God's) laws. *(See [the naturalistic fallacy](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Naturalistic%20fallacy.txt). --ak)* , , and support naturalization. - **History** supplies selective "facts" demonstrating the ideology existed in the past. - **Religion** makes the ideology sacred. - **Science** supplies a biological foundation. ### Eating meat is necessary This connects with the belief that eating meat is natural. If natural, meat-eating seems a biological imperative without which we cannot survive. This is every [violent ideology](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Violent%20ideology.txt)'s paradox: "Killing is necessary for the greater good. One group must die for another to live." ### The myth of free will Most Americans reject harming animals, so eating them requires coercion. Effective coercion must appear otherwise, ideally making people believe they act through . We begin eating meat through parents and surroundings long before independent thought, continuing uninterrupted. This is how [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt) takes away free will. Inside the system, we see only through carnistic eyes. Understanding reality requires viewing the system from outside. ## Chapter 6. Through the carnistic looking glass: Internalized carnism Our world resembles . Our minds are trapped in [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s matrix: living under its coercion rather than as we want, as passive consumers rather than active citizens. We have internalized carnism. ### The cognitive trio Carnism distorts reality so we see pigs as things rather than living , abstract groups rather than individuals, and food. The carnistically distorted cognitive trio works in harmony: [objectification](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Objectification.txt), , and dichotomization. ### Objectification: Animals as things Language enables [objectification](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Objectification.txt): "it" rather than "he/she," rather than , "something" rather than "someone." Institutions, legislation, and policy also enable it: treating animals as property to buy and sell (Chapter 5). Objectification removes meat-eating's moral discomfort. ### Deindividualization: Animals as abstract groups abstracts individual animals, assuming every group member shares identical traits. Group identity is not inherently bad; seeing animals *only* as groups is the problem. *(When a politician does wrong, if she is a woman, people say, "I won't vote for women again," women. Haters react similarly when a criminal happens to be [transgender](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Transgender.txt), an , or Black. --ak)* ### Dichotomization: Animals as categories Dichotomization mentally divides beings into . Categorization is not itself problematic; dichotomies create black-and-white thinking. They rigidly divide the world on inaccurate grounds and assign different values to each side. *(Forcing nondichotomous things into two categories is a [false dichotomy](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/False%20dichotomy.txt); considering those categories opposed is . Categorizing humans into gender binaries, Black/white, disabled/"normal," and setting them against each other is common to the logic of all hatred. --ak)* Believing animal classifications are accurate matters more than their actual accuracy, because dichotomization aims to create enough distance to eat without discomfort. It supports meat-eating's justification. ### Technology, distortion, and distancing Technology's role in the cognitive trio is indispensable: making psychological distortion and distancing more effective, deepening the gap between beliefs and behavior as never before. ### Distortion and disgust The cognitive trio distorts animal perception, obstructing identification: finding something of ourselves in others or of them in ourselves. [Objectifying](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Objectification.txt) and others obstructs identification and therefore empathy. Finding commonalities through identification increases empathy, which increases disgust at eating animals. > **Disgust at injustice (sidebar)** > > Recent research (Tsouderos) suggests a relationship between disgust at food and moral disgust at injustice: movements of facial muscles (levator labii), for example, are identical. ### Psychological damage control: Disgust and rationalization Despite many defenses, disgust sometimes penetrates them all. People then attempt . Rationalization mentally supplies rational explanations for irrational situations. It works because [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt) distorts the world rather than reporting it as it is. The system's fundamental irrationality makes rationalization easy. ### Picking out the dog meat: Disgust and contamination has a distinctive psychological property: close association with . If a fly falls into soup, even immediately removing it and scooping out the surrounding soup can leave the whole bowl disgusting, perceived as contaminated. The stew in Chapter 1 may be similar. Briefly believing the meat is dog rather than makes the stew seem irreparably contaminated. Unlike a fly, this is 'imagined' rather than physical contamination. Disgust has this conceptual quality. ### A matrix within a matrix: The carnistic schema [Carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt) is psychological as well as social. Its psychological system is an inner matrix within the social carnistic matrix. The author calls it the carnistic schema, comprising the cognitive trio and other mechanisms discussed here. automatically classify incoming information, as explained earlier, but also filter which information enters at all. calls this : selectively accepting schema-congruent information and filtering out the rest. The carnistic schema lets us readily accept absurd situations and ideas: advertisements with dancing happily over coals saying "Eat me," or carnists detecting minute differences in vegan foods' flavors and textures and complaining they taste bad. ### The way out: Cracks in the carnistic matrix In , Morpheus tells Neo: > I am trying to free your mind. But I can only show you the door. Opening it and walking through is up to you. Our situation is similar, the author says. You read this because you sense something wrong. The book shows the door; opening it and stepping outside [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s matrix is our responsibility. ## Chapter 7. Bearing witness: From carnism to compassion Chapter 7 opens by quoting : > Our grandchildren will ask, "Where were you during the animal holocaust? What did you do to stop these terrible crimes? Don't tell us again that you didn't know." The author tells of Emily, a cow who dramatically escaped just before slaughter while queuing to enter a [slaughterhouse](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Slaughterhouse.txt) in November 1995. Workers searched for lost 'property,' but residents hid her and misled police to protect her. Moved by the story, the owner changed his mind and sold Emily for \$1. She lived in an until dying of aged ten. Before escaping, Emily was anonymous; now her story is known worldwide, still symbolizing truths hidden by [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt): needless violence and humans' ability to connect with animals. Her statue symbolizes the sacredness of bearing witness. ### Seeing with the heart: The power of witnessing The author imagined Emily's experience: the dark factory, other helpless, terrified cows. Witnessing means not merely objective observation but heartfelt connection and empathy. Witnessing closes [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s mental gap. This matters because that gap blocks empathy and disgust at meat-eating. Witnessing allows us to verify all the truths the system conceals. Individual witnessing closes personal cognitive gaps; collective witnessing changes social consciousness. All justice movements seek, through collective witnessing, to align social practices with social values. They succeed when witnesses reach critical mass. Mass witnessing is [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s greatest threat, so the whole system is organized against it. Witnessing takes various forms: - Demonstrations - Vigils - Banners - Lectures - Art > **Wired to care? (sidebar)** > > Recent research suggests empathy has biological foundations. respond to observing another's action similarly to performing it ourselves. Rather than merely trying to take another's position, we literally feel something similar to some degree. > > The author considers this hugely significant. If empathy is hardwired into the [brain](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Brain.txt), hence automatic, empathy is the default and its absence suppresses instinctive impulses. [Carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s defenses may oppose human nature. > > *(This argument needs refinement. Even before were discovered, no scholar doubted empathy's neurophysiological basis. Their existence and hardwiring are separate questions, as are hardwiring and automatic responses; automaticity does not imply human nature either. --ak)* ### From apathy to empathy All violent systems are threatened by public witnessing because survival depends on its precise opposite: mass dissociation. is psychological/emotional separation from genuine experience, lacking a sense of being fully present. Dissociation can be adaptive for victims, but maladaptive for perpetrators or those condoning violence. In [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt), it maladaptively helps the public accept slaughter. Humans as well as animals suffer from it: dissociation can obstruct personal psychological growth. ### Witnessing our resistance Despite witnessing's transformative power, many hesitate to witness and testify to [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s reality. Overcoming resistance requires understanding its origins by witnessing our own resistance. The author identifies several reasons: 1. Conforming is easiest (Chapter 5); witnessing departs from that path. 2. Witnessing hidden truth hurts. 3. Enormous suffering induces helplessness, though witnessing also empowers by producing immediate change. 4. Most importantly, it challenges belief in humanity's dominant position in nature. Ultimately, however, witnessing liberates by recognizing ourselves as interconnected parts of the world. (. --ak) Witnessing contains a paradox: the reason we hesitate is the very reason we yearn to witness—**because we care**. We care. This is the greatest truth. ### Witnessing the zeitgeist [Carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt) remains pervasive, but there are reasons to believe collapse is near. Now is the moment for the final blow. Evidence: 1. Growing awareness of the 2. Growing concern for 3. Growing trust in and popularity of [vegetarianism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Vegetarianism.txt) 4. Vast information on both [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt) and [vegetarianism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Vegetarianism.txt) Internet-driven information growth is especially devastating to carnism, which resembles [the Wizard of Oz](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/The%20wonderful%20wizard%20of%20Oz.txt). [Carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s power depends entirely on hiding behind a curtain; remove it and the power effectively disappears. ### Witnessing through action: What we can do Three important steps in beginning action: 1. Eliminate or reduce consumption. 2. Support relevant organizations. 3. Keep informing yourself and others: make witnessing your credo. ### Beyond carnism [Carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt)'s mechanisms are shared by all [violent ideologies](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Violent%20ideology.txt). Understanding it therefore helps us understand and resist other ideologies of domination. In every case, violence is denied, justified, or distorted. The same applies to witnessing. Rather than an isolated practice, it connects individuals to the world. Our capacity is unlimited: the more we witness, the better we become. Like compassion, witnessing improves with practice. ### The courage to witness Witnessing opens our hearts to others' suffering and requires courage. Following [carnism](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Carnism.txt) is in some ways like Emily queuing at the [slaughterhouse](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Slaughterhouse.txt) awaiting death. Stepping off that path to witness and testify resembles her escape to make her own life. Witnessing draws out our best qualities: conviction, integrity, empathy, compassion. The author wrote this book believing everyone desires to become the best person they can be. Ultimately witnessing and testifying require courage to take sides. Nobel Peace Prize winner and survivor reportedly said: > Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.