To Meat or Not to Meat? There is No Question.
Two strips of crispy hickory-smoked bacon and a thick, tender, juicy beef patty, topped with gooey cheddar cheese and served on warm grilled buns, with fresh crisp lettuce and cherry red sliced tomatoes, describes the perfect combination of ingredients for a delicious bacon cheeseburger. As a meat lover, it is hard to resist the delectable and intoxicating flavors that meat provides in a meal. If ever presented with the idea of whether or not I should consider an alternative diet to meat eating, it would definitely take a lot of convincing to even persuade me to consider doing such a change. In her essay, writer Marjorie Garretson presents an opinion piece illustrating her reasoning’s for adopting
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According to Garretson, vegetarians are healthier than meat eaters. She claims that they also have decreased diseases and longer lifespans. Garretson further argues that the choice of vegetarianism results in less water and energy use, and would also result in less fecal pollution to our water supply. Lastly, she suggests that the choice of vegetarianism would decrease the animal abuse currently practiced in factory farms. She describes factory farm conditions, laments that animals are brutally slaughtered when they are no longer productive, and details how chickens and cows receive hormones to increase their …show more content…
The types of evidence provided throughout the essay, primarily consists of facts, examples, and descriptions, with only one account of statistics provided. For the most part, the evidence given, is unreliable and does not prove to be credible or strong enough to be taken into consideration as sound proof to Garretson’s claims on vegetarianism. An example of an unreliable instance of evidence presented by Garretson, can be seen through her first fact. At the beginning of her essay, Garretson reasons that vegetarians are healthier than meat eaters and lists supposed benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle, which she says includes “a lower body mass index, significantly decreased cancer rates…longer life expectancies, and [avoidance] of Alzheimer’s disease and osteoporosis”. (162) Although these claims sound promising as supportive evidence for vegetarianism, there is one major problem regarding the reliability of the statement; there is no citation to verify the truth of it. The claim that she has made here, is not considered common knowledge, but is a broad and significant claim that challenge conventional thinking, therefore, there is no way for the reader to know if the statement is true or not. In order for her claim to be regarded with more credibility and strength,