
Lisa is daughter to Homer and Marge Simpson, and sister to Bart and Maggie Simpson. The Simpson family takes a family visit to a petting zoo, where Lisa falls in love with animals; particularly a lamb. Later that night at the dinner table, Homer cooked meat for dinner and all Lisa can think of is the poor, innocent animal that it came from. She quickly realized she did not want to be a part of eating defenseless animals and decided to become a vegetarian. Needless to say, her family was shocked and did not see eye to eye or care about her newfound passion for veganism. 

Walking to the left through an enormous mob that is walking right is not an easy task; you must shove your way through masses of ridiculing faces, feel the burning judgment and questioning from others, and ultimately keep reminding yourself why you are walking left in the first place. In The Simpsons’ “Lisa the Vegetarian”, we get a glimpse of what it is like to have a minority opinion or stance on a popular subject. While most viewers of this episode have said it is about Lisa becoming vegetarian and getting into a feud with her father, when we take a closer look we realize that it is actually about the challenges society presses amongst minority beliefs. This is important because as a society, we are condoning minority discrimination and exclusion solely based on the majority’s opinion; the only way to close the gap of differing individuals is to think open-mindedly and accept opinions that differ from your own. 

 Once Lisa decides to quit eating meat, she begins seeing signs of it everywhere. From having absolutely no meat-free lunch options at school, to passing a dozen fast food meat advertisements on billboards throughout the roads, she quickly began to feel outnumbered and alone. Apart from feeling alone on her beliefs, it seems that we do not realize how often we see advertisements everywhere every day. They are sort of forced down our throat; no matter what direction you turn, what website you are on, what radio channel you are listening to. Advertisements are everywhere, and we typically do not realize this until we are purposefully avoiding a certain product, mostly majority opinion beliefs and items. It is then that we see just how often that the majority’s sneak their way into your everyday viewing. 

Homer has a huge barbecue cookout, which of course, involved lots of meat. Lisa is disgusted by the greed that people show and the inconsideration displayed when it comes to animals. Ignorance seems to be bliss to people who do not know where this meat comes from. A lot of people do not want to know the ugly and disturbing process it takes to get meat like that, so they believe whatever large meat industry companies tell them about how its ‘safe’ and ‘humane’. In reality, they are huge slaughter factories and there is nothing humane about that. In fact, during school one day, Lisa and her classmates are shown a video on how meat is obtained from animals. The children are told that the cows graduate from their ‘university’ and are sent to the killing floor where they are slaughtered for their meat. When the student in the video questioned the cow farm’s moral correctness, he was shut down by being told “If a cow ever got the chance, he’d eat you and everyone you care about” (). In addition, the kids are told that this process of killing animals for their meat is just ‘part of the food chain’ and that anyone who thinks it’s wrong is ignorant. This all ties back to the advertisements and being force-fed an opinion subconsciously rather than determining it on your own. The government and many large corporations are guilty of this sort of propaganda. 

This episode shed light on multiple current issues. First, that no one should ever be made fun of just because of differing opinions on things. There is a way for both sides to stand for what they believe in without infringing on the other person’s right to do the same. Having respect and tolerance for others will never be a bad thing. Second, the presence that media and advertisements have on us is extremely prominent and near impossible to escape. Advertisements’ popularity is only growing, and they seem to be everywhere. In fact, there are hardly any places you won’t see them. I believe it is important to be aware of your surroundings and try your best not to subconsciously succumb to society’s standard of advertisement persuasion. And last, to know that you are never alone. No one should ever have to feel like their only option is to conform to society; especially when what you are standing for is a great cause. Just because it is not the most popular opinion does not mean it is wrong. Find people with the same passions as you, and stick together and you will never be alone. Overall, I believe this episode did an amazing job shedding light on multiple issues we face as a country today.

 Having respect for one another is a simple key principle yet is so easily challenged. In our world today, it is so easy to get caught up in staying ‘in’ with trends and fads that it sometimes becomes difficult to stand up for your own personal beliefs and opinions. Advertisements and media bias do not help these issues one bit- instead, they fuel them. In addition, it is very easy to judge others from their beliefs if they are not similar or the same as yours. Lisa showed us that if everyone stands up for what they think is right, do not let the media and advertisements sway your beliefs, and always stay true yourselves, we can make this world a happier and more peaceful place.
