Let’s say that you’re South Korean. Let’s also say that you’re vegetarian. Now, what do you do if you basically sympathize with the sentiments of the tens of thousands of South Koreans who have taken to the streets in recent months to protest the importation of American beef, but you know that concerns over mad cow don’t quite capture the whole story? Well, if your name is Kyung-Dam Park, you slip into a fuzzy cow costume, stand outside the South Korean embassy in Manila, and hold a sign that reads, “It’s Mad to Eat Meat. Go Vegetarian.”
This is what Kyung-Dam Park had to say: “With all the disease directly linked to eating animals, you really have to be mad to eat any meat these days. Going vegetarian is the best thing you can do for your health and animals.”
Park’s point? While South Koreans’ fears about mad cow (the disease that ravages the brain and turns it into Swiss cheese) are well founded, there are lots of other reasons for South Koreans (and everyone else) to keep all meat (from the U.S. or anywhere else) off their plates.
Posted by Grace Friedan
