Why I Stopped being a Vegetarian
Americans are overly obsessed with meat. When people think of American foods the first thing they visualize is a hamburger. This is why most meat lovers find vegetarianism abnormal. Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes meat, fish, and poultry. Most people decide to become vegetarians because of health issues or because of their beliefs. In Laura Fraser’s essay “ Why I Stopped Being a Vegetarian,” she describes the experiences of her life as a vegetarian for 15 years. Fraser uses distinct fallacies, reasoning, and strategies to explain the life of a vegetarian to the common American meat lover.
Within Fraser’s evaluation she uses bifurcation to point out logical fallacies surrounding her thoughts on vegetarianism. She had developed a theory that she had to be either a lesbian or a vegetarian. Fraser states that, “there was a fair amount of political pressure to be something in those days.” Fraser concludes that she has to give up men or meat to “be something.” Laura had a view that lesbians were mostly carnivores. She states that one reason for becoming a vegetarian was, “[she] was not a lesbian.” This exemplifies bifurcation as a logical fallacy by narrowing her possibilities in life down to two. Instead of giving up men she chose to give up meat.
Fraser uses deductive, abductive, and narrative reasoning to explain her thought process while deciding to become a vegetarian. Deductive reasoning is an argument that uses given statements to arrive at new conclusions. Fraser deduces that vegetarianism is a healthier lifestyle. She states, “There is a lot of evidence that vegetarians live longer have lower cholesterol levels and are thinner than meat eaters.” Typically long life and cholesterol are associated with health. Abductive reasoning is reasoning that chooses a hypothesis that would best explain the relevant evidence. Fraser uses the hypothesis that “meat is good.” She presents the evidence that, “...