Highest Rated Comments


thesean3332301 karma

What the hell are you talking about?

thesean33382 karma

Marrowage. Marrowage is what brings us together today.

thesean33326 karma

What were the most and least awesome parts about your remarkable journey?

thesean33319 karma

Hello Mr. Safran Foer, I'm a big fan. You made me a vegetarian, as well as several of my students (when I taught ethics, we had a unit on "what is human?" that inspired several students to read Eating Animals.)

My question is not about Eating Animals, though. One of the major criticisms of EL&IC is that there is not enough distance or perspective on 9/11 yet to write about it in a way that is... balanced. Obviously, you disagree, which you must have known would be controversial. As far as I have ever read, you have not responded to this type of negative critical review. I want to know to what degree you think these critics are justified. And do you think your book will be better reviewed as time passes?

thesean33312 karma

People tend to only "wake up" when something becomes personal. If you read the book and changed your life, then you are a reader who connects to material. People aren't always that open. If you want people to wake up, have them work a week in a slaughterhouse or factory, or actually see how animals are treated (of course, super illegal these days.)

What is funny is that this only works when it imposes no penalties; people have to come to it themselves. For instance, like it says in the book, it would be fair to have the meat industry internalize their costs, and pass the (fair) cost onto the consumer. This would be perceived as a penalty by meat eaters, who will resent the penalty instead of understanding the lesson. There's something on the front page right now about blaming Obama for $4 gas... same sort of situation.