Does this mean the President won't be eating meat on Thanksgiving?
No offense to the office of the President, as pardoning a turkey has been a tradition since Truman's time. Nonetheless, what does it mean to pardon one turkey and eat another?
I'll be eating a turkey on Thanksgiving as well.
However, I won't be claiming to pardon the animal for my meat eating.
This year's turkeys will go for a plane ride, head a parade at Disney, and spend their lives in a petting zoo. And somehow we think this is kind?
What an odd, throughly speciesist, and--dare I say, American--tradition. Think about it. This is an event on some coordinator's calendar. Find the turkey. Arrange the event. Arrange the flight. Send out the press releases. Someone, somewhere, throws a file in a drawer when it's all over, and marks their 2009 calendar for when it's time to work on the same project next year.
If you are going to pardon a turkey, eat vegetarian lasagna instead.
Otherwise, thank the memory of the animal for its sacrifice, and accept you are a meat-eater. We are the ones needing the pardon...not the animal we are ingesting.
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