Eat Like You Care: An Examination of the Morality of Eating Animals

After reading all magnificent books written by Professor Gary L. Francione, I was thrilled to read this new book written by him and by Professor Anna Charlton, which proved to be one more priceless asset that will certainly make more and more people connect the dots about the importance of being vegan.Its clear approach leads us to the point of reconnecting with the conviction we already have that being wrong to inflict unnecessary suffering and death on animals, we should act to meet our convictions by stopping eating animals and their products.The concepts in the book are so powerful and truthful that we do not want to eat less animal products, or just eat animals sometimes, or consume "cage-free", "free-range", or "happy" meat and animal products. We come to the point of finally understanding our moral obligation towards animals and the need to no longer harm them.Word after word, "Eat Like You Care" painlessly dispels all our doubts that the suffering and killing of billions and billions of animals can be in any sense something necessary.-----------------------------------------------------Depois de ler todos os livros brilhantes do Professor Gary L. Francione, fiquei entusiasmada em ler esse novo livro escrito por ele e pela Professora Anna Charlton, que provou ser mais uma contribuição inestimável, que certamente fará com que mais e mais pessoas compreendam a importância de ser vegano.A sua abordagem clara nos reconnecta com a convicção que já possuimos de que como é errado causar sofrimento e morte desnecessários aos animais, nós deveríamos agir para que essa convicção faça sentido ao parar de consumir animais e seus produtos.Os conceitos expostos no livro são tão incisivos e verdadeiros que nós não queremos comer menos animais e seus produtos, ou apenas consumir animais às vezes, ou consumir ovos de aves livres de gaiola, ou carne "feliz". De fato, nós chegamos ao ponto de entender finalmente nossas obrigações morais para com os animais e a necessidade de não prejudicá-los mais.Palavra após palavra, "Eat Like You Care" desfaz facilmente todas as nossas dúvidas de que o sofrimento e a morte de bilhões e bilhões de animais podem ser, de alguma forma, necessários.

As a vegan of 27 years for ethical reasons, i.e., because of the wish not to harm animals for trivial reasons, such as taste preferences, I believed I had heard all the arguments well-meaning meat eaters bring forth. I say "well-meaning" meat eaters because if somebody does not care about animals, there is no argument that would convince that person to stop eating animals.This book starts from the same premise: do you care about animals? If yes, then you should try to become vegan. If not, skip it. Not all well-meaning meat eaters use all of the reasons rebutted in this book, but a plethora of anti-animal trolls has provided us with lots of "buts". You have heard some: but what about plants, but what about predators, but what about evolution, but what about this holy book, but what about protein, but what about cheese, but, but, but. If you cling to one of those buts against your love or pity or concern for animals, this book will help you make the transition to a vegan diet and bring peace to your conscience.If you are already vegan, with non vegan friends and relatives, this book will answer all their "buts", so at least you will not have to keep repeating yourself! Just find their favorite "but" reason in this book and pull the answer out, a couple of pages long or less. Those who are able to abandon irrational or conflicting beliefs and choices (love animals but eat them), will be able to make the transition to a vegan diet. The others will know that their "but" is rebutted and may be they will stop bring it out every time they see you!

Eat Like You Care is a very fast read. Francione argued that if animals have even a little bit of value, their value must be considered. If humans are considered to be more valuable, we are still not justified to hurt them for our pleasure. I was at first taken aback by the assumption that humans have more value than animals. I like to think that animals are much more similar to us than they have been given credit for. I do recognize that the great majority of people do believe people to have more value than animals. I think his point is that even if we do not consider animals to be our equal, it is still not justified to hurt them without necessity. In a world where eating animals is a choice and not a necessity for a healthy life there is no justification for eating meat. Eating meat is unnecessary cruelty in a similar way that dog fighting is unnecessary cruelty. The format of the book is set up as a great reference for questions anyone may ask about veganism. Francione has a convincing argument for each of the excuses that keep people from taking the conscious step to live vegan. I liked the fresh angle Francione used to come around to his argument. The frequently asked question section is a great reference to anyone. Vegans and nonvegans alike have asked these questions and Francione has answers. I'd recommend it to anyone.

In some ways, I feel a little duped by the title, an examination of the morality of animals because I thought it would be an open question of the pros and cons of eating meat. Actually, the author was clearly a hardcore vegan before he did the first bit of research for page 1, so the book is extremely one sided. In other words, it doesn't address with an open mind the questions of whether or not one should be vegan, but the author starts in his mind with the position that one should be, and then sets out to defends his beliefs.Much of the book focuses on how to fight off objections. Therefore, the book is very suitable for someone who is already a vegan but wants to improve their ability to defend and justify their position. It's relatively less suitable (but still suitable) for someone who is unclear whether or not eating meat is morally correct and wants to decide.The author is clearly smart, logical and rational but also arrogant, preachy, possibly a little angry and lacking in emotional intelligence. I also get the impression he largely doesn't fully realize this about his own personality. He talks about preachy vegans without realising that he himself is one, constantly peppering the book with comments like "no-one" could disagree with my position or "nothing" can be argued against it. I would love to know how many times he said "no-one", "nothing" or "so what" during the course of the book. 50?But, give him his due. He does present a strong argument in favour of veganism and although I have other books to read before making my final decisions about my future diet and dinners he is probably correct in his central arguments and most of this arguments in fact. One or two things seemed off to me, but minor points which I've forgotten. A book with a superior "I am right, you are wrong, now change your life you lesser mortals" tone like this will make more sense perhaps a few generations from now if veganism becomes more mainstream and if one day eating meat becomes considered immoral by the wider society in the same way that say sexism and racism is today. However, for the time being, it's a bit much.His coverage of the issues are quite comprehensive and although his arrogance was galling I have decided to give the book four stars anyway because ultimately he is presenting a positive idea to change the world, and that has to have more value that just writing some adventure spy story or something.EDIT May 2016: Adding a title today as well as want to add that after a second reading of the book this month I think my comments on his "galling arrogance" were a bit over the top and slightly harsh. Maybe I was reacting emotionally to the book to an extent. Ultimately after reading this and other books I decided to change to a vegetarian diet because he's right.To also add, this is a discussion about philosophy and morals of eating animals, not full of detail about what goes on the industry.

Great book. Gives all abolitionist vegans the logical ‘ins’ to dismantle the nonsense regularly trotted out by nonvegans and speciesist (welfarist) vegans.To all the people leaving negative reviews of this book - check your cognitive dissonance. If you think veganism is a journey you’re being speciesist - I bet you’d never refer to not being racist or sexist as a “journey”, would you? If you think this book is an “angry rant” I’d challenge you to identify the exact phrases you consider “angry rants”. There aren’t any.If you’re a vegetarian, nonvegan, or welfarist vegan (ie someone actively involved in abusing animals) this book will challenge your perceived entitlement to continue this behaviour (hence all the irrational negative reviews). I would just encourage you to follow the logic and remember - you’re not the victim in all of this, the animals you kill are.

Great little book covering all the dumb retorts that vegans get including the old classic plants feel pain too. If you're considering no longer paying for the torture and slaughter of sentient animals just like yourself, and want to be on the right side of history, then this book will point you in the right direction. At the end of the day, there is no argument against veganism, you owe it to your health, the planet, and of course, the (other) animals.

In this book Gary Francione destroys all the excuses and justifications we have for killing the billions of animals that we do, in order to eat them. He proves with clarity, that there is no good reason to do this, and if we have any regard for animals, the environment, or just morality in general, we should try to reexamine the conditioning most of us have undergone that persuaded us that this is acceptable. The other beings on this planet do not deserve the hell we have created for them. Finding out how unnecessary it all is has been nothing short of a revelation to me.

This book is thought-provoking, compelling and extremely accessible. Whilst one doesn't necessarily need to agree with some the theoretical foundations proposed, or with some of the views expressed, e.g. that we’re all Michael Vick, this book is enormously beneficial.An argument for veganism is elegantly presented as being based on two intuitive principles: the first principle is that we have a moral obligation not to impose unnecessary suffering on animals. It follows from this principle that if animals matter morally at all, we cannot consume them or products made from them and we are committed to a vegan diet. The second principle is that although animals matter morally, humans matter more.Regardless of whether you agree with the theoretical foundation proposed for veganism, Eat Like You Care is excellent at responding to the most common questions and objections to veganism, such as “where do you get your protein from?” and “What would happen to all those animals if we did not eat them?” and a long list of similar “buts” that vegans are often confronted with.The book ends with a defence of veganism against the charge of extremism and concludes as follows: “What is extreme is that we say we care about animals but we continue to eat animals and animal products.”If you’re a relatively new vegan, you’ll feel more empowered to answer awkward questions with conviction, and you’ll be even more determined to educate yourself further on the subject by further reading and reflecting. If you're not a vegan but care at all about animals, I hope that this book will seriously challenge your convictions.