livescrammedintocages,orvealfromcalveswhohavebeen
deprivedoftheirmothers,theirproperdiet,andthefreedom
to lie down with their legs extended, is like denouncing
apartheidinSouthAfricawhileaskingyourneighborsnotto
sell their houses to blacks.
Tomaketheboycottaspectofvegetarianismmoreeffective,
wemustnotbeshyaboutourrefusaltoeatflesh.Vegetarians
in omnivorous societies are always being asked about the
reasonsfortheirstrangediets.Thiscanbeirritating,oreven
embarrassing,butitalsoprovidesopportunitiestotellpeople
aboutcrueltiesofwhichtheymaybeunaware.(Ifirstlearned
ofthe existenceoffactoryfarming from avegetarian who
tookthetimetoexplaintomewhyhewasn’teatingthesame
foodIwas.)Ifaboycottistheonlywaytostopcruelty,then
we must encourage
as many as possible to join the boycott. Wecan only be
effective in this if we ourselves set the example.
Peoplesometimes attemptto justifyeating flesh bysaying
thattheanimalwasalreadydeadwhentheyboughtit.The
weaknessof thisrationalization—whichI haveheardused,
quiteseriously,manytimes—shouldbe obviousassoonas
we consider vegetarianism as a form of boycott. The
nonuniongrapesavailableinstoresduringthegrapeboycott
inspiredbyCesarChavez’seffortstoimprovethewagesand
conditionsofthegrape-pickershadalreadybeenproducedby
underpaidlaborers,andwecouldnomoreraisethepaythose
laborershadreceivedforpickingthosegrapesthanwecould
bring our steakback to life.In both cases theaim of the
boycottisnottoalterthepastbuttopreventthecontinuation
of the conditions to which we object.