I Think Therefore I Am Vegetarian
An interesting debate to get into is one over the link between social status/income and health/nutritional choices. I’ve been led to this discussion in many different situations - sociology classes, in reference to food bank inventory and surplus, obesity rates … and vegetarianism?
Studies are being released that are in support of the statement that children with higher IQs are more likely to become vegetarians by the age of 30 then their counterparts with lower IQs.
I’m not sure what I think about this link being made. People with higher academic standing certainly seem to be in better health and shape. Money cannot be argued as a factor as this the studies also state that vegetarians do not make any more money on average than their so-called less intelligent, meat-eating, unhealthy friends (I can vouch for this!). But am I really vegetarian because I was a smart kid? Is the reason I constantly thought about and questioned what’s on my plate because I had the intellectual capacity to do so. Plenty of highly-intellegent people are over-weight, dying-of-heart-disease flesh consumers.
Perhaps, then, I would argue that higher intellectual capacity leads to vegetarianism when combined with a large heart, filled with compassion for living creatures. Additionally, the type of food that you grew up with plays a part. For instance, I never once saw Wonder Bread, Cheese Whiz, Spam, or bologna growing up.
So while I see the potential for a connection between IQ and shunning animal products, I also think it important to highlight these other key factors that play a role. And just for fun, a little proof to the side of the debate that low IQ and eating meat are correlated: 50 Cent spoofed his mentor Eminem’s song “Without Me” with the insanely uncreative “Without Meat,” check out some of his lyrics…
“I’ve created a new meat, cuz nobody wants to
See turkey no more they want Ham
I’m chopped liver
Well if you want Ham, then this is what I’ll give ya…”
“Now this looks like a Lunch for me
So everybody just let me
Cuz we need a little pork & beef,
Cuz it feels so empty without meat”
You be the judge.
50 cent, without meat, vegetarian IQ, High IQ linked to vegetarianism, 50 cent without meat, intelligent vegetarians, smart healthy children
June 19th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
[...] are going vegetarian. Sally at Living Without Meat posted something a while ago that stuck with me. I Think Therefore I Am Vegetarian. Where she shared studies showing a correlation of children with higher IQs are more likely to [...]