'Going Rogue' irks vegetarians
By Greg Henderson
| Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The media spotlight has been shining white-hot on former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin all week as her new book, "Going Rogue: An American Life," was released by HarperCollins, the publisher owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
Palin’s memoir is of significant national interest, of course, because she was last year’s vice presidential candidate, and she’s considered to be a potential candidate for president in the 2012 election.
Most national news organizations published or broadcast a review of her book this week, and Palin appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on Monday. Significant controversy swirled around some of Palin’s comments in the book that criticized McCain campaign staff members. But it wasn’t just political handlers and staffers who were taking issue with the contents of the book — vegetarians and vegans were also miffed.
Palin has never been shy about telling the world what she likes to eat. In Going Rogue, she says, “If any vegans came over for dinner, I could whip them up a salad, then explain my philosophy on being a carnivore. If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come he made them out of meat?”
Describing her favorites, she wrote, “I love meat. I eat pork chops, thick bacon burgers, and the seared fatty edges of a medium-well-done steak. But I especially love moose and caribou. I always remind people from outside our state that there’s plenty of room for all
Polls of American voters show that the former
Palin’s comments about meat eating were also noticed by…yep…PETA. In an open letter to Palin , PETA president Ingrid Newkirk called the former governor’s comments about meat both glib and outdated. “Ms. Palin reportedly finds evolution a bit hard to swallow,” Newkirk wrote. “Judging from her book, that applies to the evolution of ideas and attitudes as well.”
Much of Going Rogue covers Palin’s life before politics, and that includes hunting and fishing in Alaska, and the book even contains a photograph of her father teaching her to skin a harbor seal, an activity the caption notes is now forbidden for all but native peoples under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Love her or hate her, livestock producers probably can chuckle at Palin’s ability to rile the animal-rights radicals. But I’m inclined to believe the conversation based on the context of Going Rogue does not provide a favorable image for animal agriculture. — Greg Henderson, Drovers editor.
