piecesof slaughterednonhumans everyday findit hardto
believethattheyaredoingwrong;andtheyalsofindithardto
imaginewhatelsetheycouldeat.Onthisissue,anyonewho
eatsmeatisaninterestedparty.Theybenefit—oratleastthey
thinktheybenefit—fromthepresentdisregardoftheinterests
ofnonhumananimals.Thismakespersuasionmoredifficult.
How many Southern slaveholders were persuaded by the
argumentsusedbytheNorthernabolitionists,andacceptedby
nearlyallofustoday?Some,butnotmany.Icananddoask
youtoputasideyourinterestineatingmeatwhenconsidering
the arguments of this book; but I know from my own
experiencethatwiththebestwillintheworldthisisnotan
easythingtodo.Forbehindthemeremomentarydesiretoeat
meatonaparticularoccasionliemanyyearsofhabitualmeat-
eating which have conditioned our attitudes to animals.
Habit. Thatis the final barrierthat the Animal Liberation
movementfaces.Habitsnotonlyofdietbutalsoofthought
and language must be challenged and altered. Habits of
thought lead us to brush aside descriptions of cruelty to
animalsasemotional,for“animal-loversonly”;orifnotthat,
thenanywaytheproblemissotrivialincomparison tothe
problemsofhumanbeingsthatnosensiblepersoncouldgive
ittimeandattention.Thistooisaprejudice—forhowcanone
knowthataproblemistrivialuntilonehastakenthetimeto
examine its extent? Although in order to allow a more
thoroughtreatmentthisbookdealswithonlytwoofthemany
areasinwhichhumanscauseotheranimalstosuffer,Idonot
thinkanyonewhoreadsittotheendwilleveragainthinkthat
theonlyproblemsthatmerittimeand energyareproblems
concerning humans.