We are the only species who drinks the milk of another species. Pigs drink pig’s milk. Raccoon drink raccoon’s milk. Calves drink cow’s milk. Human babies drink human milk…until they reach a certain age (anywhere from 2-4 yrs old) when they switch over to cow’s milk. Why? Whoever thought that was a good idea? Would it ever sound like a good idea to drink milk from a possum? I didn’t think so. Then why cow’s milk? Many people get sick from cow’s milk, so why are we insistent on the cow when it appears so unnatural?
Besides, we exploit the hell out of those cows so that we can have their milk. We lock them in factory pens, pump them full of hormones, and milk them like that is the single value they have in life. Our obsession with cow’s milk borders on animal cruelty.
My idea then is to go back to nature. Let’s go back to drinking our own milk. Good ole fashioned human breast milk. It’s better for humans since it was designed for humans and it would lessen our exploitation of cows. It’s a pretty simple argument. And no, just saying that it is gross is not an acceptable criticism. If you think about it, it is more gross to be drinking the milk of another species.
How would this actually work? I don’t really know. We would have to get a whole bunch of women to agree to produce the milk for certain fair wages, or sell their extra milk for fair prices. We could even begin to find ways to get men to produce milk – I mean let’s put those male nipples to work!! They must be there for a reason. We could get everyone pitching in to contribute to the nation’s milk supply. Hell, if this really caught on, we might actually start becoming a healthy country since people might have to eat better to produce better quality milk. Save the cows. Save ourselves! Win-Win.
Think about it this way: if it is more natural to drink our own milk, why don’t we?
Are you actually mad about us drinking another species milk? For example, would you still be upset about the matter if we let cows roam free and found them in the wild for milk on demand? Or is this more directed at animal cruelty?
ReplyDelete"Think about it this way: if it is more natural to drink our own milk, why don’t we?"
ReplyDeletebecause what is "natural" is not what is "better."
your "we should stop exploiting other animals" point is fine though.
I know that natural does not mean better. The question at heart was really why we think cow's milk is better when it seems more reasonable to think that human milk is better. I'm genuinely perplexed. We could chalk it up to accepted custom, but why did it ever become an accepted custom in the first place?
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should stop eating other animals too and just start eating ourselves. yum yum
ReplyDeleteRight there with you on the treatment of cows. The only plausible solution would be giving up cows milk completely, because — let's be honest — we can't have our milk and not terribly exploit these livings beings at the same time.
ReplyDeleteYou're also right, that it isn't actually good for most people. It took humans over a thousand years to develop the ability to fully digest it and yet something like 50% of people are still lactose intolerant. Why we make ourselves sick is beyond me.
There are also plenty of alternatives that don't have to make everyone squeamish: soy milk, almond milk, hemp milk, coconut milk, cashew milk, really any sort of 'nut milk'. All of these are actually really good. We have all these milks, why not use it for some good?
8:36 I suppose you find that to be a terribly clever analogy... because eating each other is the same thing as drinking our own milk, right? Nice one.
ReplyDeleteHowever, you are right about one thing: we should stop eating other animals.
This talk that we treat animals cruelty is so ridiculous. We as in "the human race" can not all survive without the mass production of meat. So if you really want to get rid of the demand for so much food, the first logical step would be killing a lot of people. We as a race could probably survive without meat. But definitely not at the number were at or the number we are going to be at. I won't deny that we over eat meat especially in America. Just think how much meat is consumed yearly. If you removed that staple it would have to be replaced. There isn't enough other stuff to replace it. There is just not enough other food. I put human first then animals. As food the milk thing, I'm not sure how it got started, probably had to do something with calcium, protein, and mainly taste. Why do people drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, drink soda, eat deep fried food, or any number of things that are bad for us? Probably has something to do with taste or just that we like those things for one reason or another. We as people do things that we like, the "why" is very rarely a factor. Back to the meat there are other things to eat but not at the same scale, I really hope people get that point. There will probably be someone whos going to ramble peanut butter, soy beans, and
ReplyDeletewhat not.
9:57, thank you so much for bringing up peanut butter and soy beans. You're right, there are a whole bunch of other sources of protein out there that we can eat instead of slaughtering countless animals to feed our obsession with taste.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Yes we were not meant to be milk drinkers (past a certain age - and what milk we do drink comes from our own species). The hormones they add to cow's milk are really fucking young people's bodies up. Not good. Milk can easily be replaced (I would see no point in replacing it with human milk however...especially thinking about how strange and cruel it would be to have women work in "milking factories" or something selling their milk... eek). Protein and calcium come from so many other sources, milk certainly isn't a necessity. But no one can direct anyone else to not drink milk if it's out there on the shelves of every grocery store (especially when it goes deliciously well with other American favorites - cookies, cake, etc.). All one can do is control the actions of oneself, and no others. So, if you don't like the animal cruelty or whatever, just stop buying cow's milk. And in the process, maybe you'll convert one or two people?
ReplyDeleteThe cool thing about living in America is that everyone can do whatever they want within the law.
ReplyDeleteI like to eat meat and well I disagree with factory farms it's not going to stop me from eating meat. I don't stop a vegan from being a vegan so I think I am fine as I am.
I am all not drinking milk, if one doesn't want to. I only really put milk in cereal anyways and I can replace that with beerflakes right?
One of my best friends is vegan and we have had food debates several times and eventually just learned to agree to disagree. I never cook anything with meat in it or other animal products when he comes to visit me and when I go to visit him we eat vegan foods. ( I really like vegan banana pancakes). However, he doesn't flip out whenever we go out somewhere and I get a burger. Basically, he respects differences and tolerates me for who I am.
Prof. Chaos
9:57 That is such non-sense. Do you not realize how much more resources it takes to produce meat than it does to produce, let's say, potatoes? ONE acre of land can grow 40,000 pounds of potatoes. On the other hand, one acre of land can produce 250 pounds of beef. 56% of the farmland is the US is used for raising livestock. Quite the waste!
ReplyDeleteYou can't also ignore all the food the livestock eats. People conveniently forget they're living beings too, and thus, need to eat. Oh, and they're cows, which means they eat a lot more than humans. 80% of the corn and 95% of the oats grown in the US is eaten by livestock. To produce just one pound of edible beef it would require approximately 16 pounds of grain. I'm sorry, but your argument is a huge lie from the meat industry. Want to feed the world? Grow vegetables.
11:41 The uncool thing about living in America is that we can pretty much do whatever we want to non-human beings, especially with the excuse that it's for food. Torture and death being pretty common actions against them. Just because you CAN and LIKE to eat sentient beings doesn't make it right.
Got milk,
ReplyDelete