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Millions of people see themselves as “conflicted omnivores.” They care about animals and the planet, yet still eat them—justifying it with stories about sustainability, free-range farming, or humane meat.

Professor of Philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, John Sanbonmatsu calls this out for what it is: Deception. In his book The Omnivore’s Deception, he argues that killing animals for food is never ethical—not in factory farms, not on so-called humane farms—and that it’s not just an environmental issue, it’s a moral and existential one.

In our conversation, John dismantles the three modes of deception that keep this system alive—corporate concealment, intellectual spin, and self-deception. We cover how animal exploitation is marketed and normalized, how speciesism and capitalism drive it, and why, ultimately, we can’t have both our meat and our conscience.

• What is, The Omnivore’s Deception?
• How and when did John come to understand that, “humane meat” is always a contradiction in terms?
• The three Modes of Deception:
  1. Corporate deception via concealment of cruelty;
  2. Intellectual deception by “ethical meat” evangelists like Pollan and Grandin;
  3. Self-deception—our own moral denial and “bad faith.”
• The myth of ethical meat and marketing / misinformation that keeps animal exploitation hidden in plain sight.
• We don’t eat animals to survive, animals are sold as products for profit.
• The two systems at the heart of the crisis: 1. Human supremacy (or speciesism) and, 2. Capitalism.
• How our aggression to other animals spills over into aggression to other humans.
• Lies of Dominion and, Romancing the Farm.
• Dangers of Michael Pollen’s: The Omnivore’s Dilemma.
• What surprised John good or bad, in researching and writing the book?
• The “Naturalistic fallacy” = to argue that something is good or right on grounds that it is natural.
• Sci-fi film, Interstellar and John’s chilling observation: “It has become disconcertingly easy for us to imagine such futures, “ethnically cleansed” of animal life, yet crowded with companionate machines that supposedly behave and think “like us.”

This is a conversation to share with the individuals you know who still believe the myths we’ve been sold about meat, animals, and ourselves. John’s book, The Omnivore’s Deception, is both a challenge and an invitation—to see through the lies, to step out of denial, and to live in alignment with compassion and truth.

Self-deception allows compassionate, decent people to perpetuate the cycle of cruelty that is animal agriculture. Yet, as John makes clear, the idea that we can go on raising and killing animals for food without harming them, wrecking the planet’s ecology, or ruining our souls is nothing more than a deception.
A convenient one, yes—yet also a colossally destructive one.

We can’t have our meat and our conscience. Healthification E920 w/ Prof. John Sanbonmatsu. Share on X

John’s Website: www.JohnSanbonmatsu.com
Purchase, The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves.

Connect with John across the socials: Facebook | Twitter

John mention’s Peter Singer’s book: Animal Liberation
Also, the films: PETA’s Meet Your Meat + Earthlings:
Finally, Vine Animal Sanctuary:

That’s it for this week in Healthification.

Prioritise Your Health, the Animals, and the Planet—One Empowering Habit at a Time with the Plant Positive Journal Version 2 (printed and fillable PDF)
This journal and daily planner follows a twelve month format however is not dated so it is perfect to use at ANY time of the year.

Connect with Kate across the socials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube and her FREE Skool Community, Plant Positive.

With love and gratitude plant friends.

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