A question of “smartness?”

Ten minutes ago, I went to Weshop to buy some groceries. When I entered, I was feeling happy, enthusiastic and emotionally content. When I left, I was feeling upset, insulted and unspeakably offended.

The source of my outrage lay on the top shelf of the left-hand aisle. As I passed by I saw, next to the blocks of tofu, a package of soy-based meat alternative bearing the label “Smart Bacon.”

The use of the adjective “smart” in this product’s title implies that any advocate of normal bacon is “non-smart” and is therefore “stupid.” The fact that Weshop unashamedly stocks and displays such a product absolutely disgusts me. As an avid meat-eater, I am already made to feel uncomfortable on a daily basis by the considerably vocal and influential vegan population of Wesleyan University.

I am very much aware that my lifestyle is not understood or tolerated by many members of this campus. The last thing I need is for my intelligence to be called into question just because I refuse to conform to the bigoted culture of soy-based meat alternatives. I ended up leaving empty-handed, too ashamed of my “stupidness” to buy the beefsteaks for which I had come there.

I may be a hated meat-eater, but I am just as deserving of my academic position at this institution as anyone else is. I came to this school because it has a reputation for diversity and tolerance. And now I find myself being excluded from the category of “smartness,” merely for my choice of lifestyle. My mental capability has nothing to do with my gustatory orientation.

This discrimination is unthinkably offensive, and the fact that it is sanctioned by the administration makes me feel even more frustrated and powerless. I never thought I would be made to feel so inadequate and humiliated, particularly not at a place like this.

I’m not mad, Wesleyan. I’m just very, very disappointed.