The animal rights movement comes to Birmingham

Two new businesses have recently located in Birmingham, Whole Foods Market and Chipotle Mexican Grill. These businesses are unique in B'ham in that they have both pledged to sell only "humanely raised" meat and animal products. Also, Burger King recently announced that it will adopt some meager measures to reduce its buying of inhumanely raised meat products. Among the three, Burger King is the only one that admits the decision had anything to do with public pressure. Chipotle and Whole Foods both insist that their policies are based purely on ideology and ethics. Fair enough.

But what is fueling the explosive growth of companies like Chipotle? According to Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold, they sold twice as many pork burritos after announcing they would only use humanely raised pork. Twice as many! While the animal rights movement in America is still rather marginal, there are some interesting statistics that reflect a growing concern among consumers.

According to a Gallup poll, seventy-one percent of respondents said that [meat] animals deserve some [legal] protection, while only 3 percent said that animals don't need protection. A whopping 25 percent of respondents said that animals deserve the same rights as people. Curiously, only 5-10 percent of Americans call themselves vegetarian. That, of course, would imply that around 15 percent of Americans both think animals deserve rights equal to humans, and eat animals raised in inhumane conditions.

That actually doesn't surprise me very much. Most people I know who eat meat are compassionate individuals who abhor cruelty and would probably describe themselves as concerned about animal welfare in general. They vigorously denounced the "unspeakable" evil of Michael Vick. They might even help a turtle to cross the road.

Yet they won't pay 50 cents more for "cage free" eggs? They won't go a step out of their way to patronize businesses that sell "humanely raised" meat? Abstaining from financially supporting inhumane meat production would be unthinkable, of course.

There is some serious cognitive dissonance afoot here. And it is poisonous. The dissonance arises from the following conflicting beliefs: 1) I don't want to cause pain and suffering to animals. 2) Meat production causes pain and suffering to animals, and 3) I eat meat. The theory of cognitive dissonance holds that when a person experiences dissonance, he will continue to commit the dissonant act to prove to himself that it is justifiable. In other words, if he stops, he'll in effect prove to himself that he should not have committed the act in the first place.

Yet Whole Foods and Chipotle thrive. I think that once someone purchases meat that is humanely produced, some of the dissonance is relieved, and they realize that it feels pretty good. And a habit is born. This is the same thing that happens when one stops eating meat altogether. Vegetarians rarely return to meat-eating.

I'm not especially impressed by supposed "humane" meat production, but no doubt its a big improvement. Both Whole Foods and Chipotle voice a vigorous commitment to improving their standards. From Chipotle's website, "Most pigs do not spend their lives on open pastures, but live in Concentrated Animal Feed Operations, or CAFOs. The conditions in a CAFO are bad, even horrendous." Whole Foods recently donated $550,000 to start an Animal Compassion Foundation. I'm sure that Chipotle and Whole foods realize the impact of these positions on their bottom lines.

If you must eat meat, please consider patronizing companies like Chipotle and Whole Foods. Or consider eating a meatless meal occasionally. You'll feel better.

And maybe, during this seasonal celebration of love and compassion, you could consider extending some of that love to animals who have kept your fat ass happy and fed thus far, by refraining from eating them. Celebrate love and compassion by exercising love and compassion. Does that not seem fitting?