I would not be a huge fan of Kevin the Carrot in the latest Aldi Christmas ad. But I am concerned for his welfare and that of so many millions of his kind at this time of year as they face into an annual massacre that would make even Binyamin Netanyahu blush.
It is hardly accidental that so many children refuse to eat carrots. Some think it’s because they don’t like them. Not so. It is an innate sensitivity that lives on in children until knocked out of them by the world.
Nor is it accidental that diced carrot is a commonly found in what most of us throw up after an excessive night out. At a deeper level this is another illustration of the close link between refined sensibility and the physical body, which rejects all that is morally indigestible.
What prompts these thoughts, apart from an obvious compassion for this inoffensive vegetable, is a recognition that we are now in the season when turkeys – like Trump supporters – vote for Christmas, whether they like it or not.
Matt Cooper: I’m an only child. I’ve always been conscious of not having brothers or sisters
A Dublin scam: After more than 10 years in New York, nothing like this had ever happened to me
Patrick Freyne: I am becoming a demotivational speaker – let’s all have an averagely productive December
From Baby Reindeer and The Traitors to Bodkin and The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In: The best and worst television of 2024
I think of how our vegan friends react to this and yet have such little regard for Kevin and his fellow carrots. Do carrots not have feelings too? Is it adequate to cry “fowl” at those eating turkey, duck or goose this Christmas while remaining silent as tonnes of cooked carrots go the way of such flesh?
Is there not an inconsistency there? Don’t carrots have feelings too?
Science indicates that they do. Kevin reacts to sensation, whether pleasant or unpleasant, as with immersion in boiling water. Kevin can identify threat and remember it for up to 40 days. He responds to sound. All too late now with Christmas just nine days away.
It is puzzling how our vegan friends can ignore all of this. Instead of which they tell us that “Dairy is not necessary for human health” and that we should “Get calcium from plants not cows”. Or that “Dairy takes babies from their mothers” and that “Eggs are unnecessary for human health. Eat plants instead”.
This, in my view, is a direct exhortation to murder: plant murder.
It is remarkable how everyone can be so blasé about it all too. Not least in this so-called season of goodwill. More humbug!
Plant, from Latin planta for “sprout, shoot, cutting”.
