But sometimes, I just have to shake my head and go, you cultural illiterate. The most recent example was Pollan's response to Singer-and-company (the animal rights crowd who feed their companion animals a vegetarian or near vegetarian diet).
(1) There _is_ a bunch of stuff in the Bible (and I don't care if Pollan's personal cultural and ethnic background is Xtian or Jewish -- this is Jewish Bible/OT stuff), specifically in Isaiah, about the lion lying down with the lamb. So for Pollan to treat this is as some or weird/new ethical/whatever idea is just loopy. People have been presenting predators (human and otherwise) as an example of the Fall from Grace and/or post Flood reality for thousands of years.
(2) A properly literal translation of OT passages, but especially in Genesis, makes it quite clear: humans and animals alike _are_ souls. Not _have_ souls. Are souls: living, breathing creatures. No difference. (Nephesh, if you want to dig on this. I'm not going to get into the whole immortal soul thing, because, well, good luck finding much basis for that in the OT anyway.)
For Pollan to somehow be surprised at both people who treat animals as people AND then assert that those people are denying the animal-ness of humans is intellectually bankrupt. What -- because herbivores somehow aren't animals? Please.
Also, morally pretty shady.
