I've noticed some Burger King commercials over the past couple of days that display so perfectly the social stupidity that seems to underly our strange conception of nonhuman animals.
How to frame something so ridiculous? Well, it goes like this:
A man sits comfortably eating a cheesy-bacon-chicken sandwich in either an isolated car or a hotel room off the beaten path - the type of place one visits when they are sleeping with someone who isn't their husband or wife. There he sits devouring decomposing chickens when a large bull forces himself into the room - or bashes himself into the parked car - with a rage in his eyes reminiscent of the stereotypical "scorned wife."
His anger is the result of jealousy of course: This man, how dare he, chose another nonhuman to kill because he/she tastes good, which seemingly doesn't allow the bull to fulfill his life's ambition to be that piece of rotting flesh in our bellies. And he's not happy about it. Breathing is overrated when compared to suffering and death for our gastronomical pleasure, right?
"Chicken so good it will make you cheat on beef," as the commercial says.
What's interesting is the display of gluttony animating these commercials. This man slinks away into dark corners not to fulfill a fundamental need of his - you know like "I need to eat chickens because it's not healthy to do otherwise" - but because he loves the taste of dead chickens. We must applaud the honesty, finally. No longer will Burger King attempt to deceive the public into believing that meat is necessary for our health: It tastes so good therefore all that pain and frustration that these nonhumans have to undergo can be swept under the rug along with the rest of our species' evil doings.
How can we dispute this given the underlying message of these commercials? This bull is so rational and self-aware that he experiences this man's deception as a moral harm - an insult to the very fabric of his being and life's work. Hell, he made the conscious decision, apparently, to live his life for our ends. Who are we to deny him the realization of his purpose?
It's not self-interested rationalization any more that justifies our torture of this bull and all his friends and family. No! We are simply acting as he would have us act. He says, "Please! Kill and eat me! I need it - I love it...I love you."
Indeed, it's as if we entered into a marital agreement with all the bulls in the world: "I do solemnly swear to kill and eat only you and yours for the rest of my days so long as you fulfill your end of the bargain and accept the suffering with a smile."
This isn't an isolated example of our collective idiocy. For hundreds of examples just like this visit Suicide Food. I'm sure I have unconsciously attempted to channel the brilliance of this excellent blog into my post here, but I could never do so with as much eloquence and insight. So go and read some of the posts and you will be astonished. I assure you of that.
Will be crossposted @ Vegan Soapbox
I am so glad that you wrote about this (and meant to say so when you first posted). I don't watch much TV, so I just saw this commercial a night or two before reading this post. And my jaw dropped. How absolutely, infuriatingly absurd.
Thanks for the comment Stephanie. As I said in the post, if you think these commercials are absurd, read "Suicide Food" and, if you are anything like me, your anger will be transformed into disbelief about how stupid we are as a species.