viz.

Congratulations on trying vegetarianism. I'd like to hear what it's like for 30 days. It took me years to get over serious meat cravings, but I've been vegetarian for almost 10 years now. Anyway, on to the point about Lady Gaga's dinner-wear. Maybe this because I know very little about her other than that she's always in the news for being outrageous, but is it not likely that she just did it to shock people? I'm skeptical that she thought about the pro-/con- vegetarian and animal-rights arguments she might be sending with her dress.

Then again, I may be not giving her enough credit. While I personally find her dress both disgusting and wasteful, it does point up the hypocrisy of people being perfectly willing to eat factory-farmed meat in their hamburgers, but uncomfortable seeing raw meat displayed. I don't see it as much worse ethically than meat-eating generally*. The juxtaposition of raw meat against human skin also suggests a body turned inside out, doesn't it? In both cases, her dress is making visible the conventionally hidden, perhaps another reason for the multiple visceral reactions it evokes.

*That is, meat-eating in wealthy nations where there are multiple options. The entire moral calculus changes radically when there are few to no choices about diet because of poverty, scarcity, etc.