tl;dr because of toxic masculinity
It’s macho to eat lots of red meat, get high cholesterol, and die early from heart disease.
Nah, how about “fish is expensive and chicken is unethical”? Meanwhile, beef is subsidized all to hell, and NPR is focused on the wrong issue. We’re long past the point where it looks like they are just running interference for industries that don’t want to change.
Men who refuse to acknowlege there is a problem with beef aren’t the ones having a problem with attempting to eat less of it. Its market forces all the way down; Less available and/or more expensive beef is what it will take to wean the die-hards.
Not here in the midwestern US, nor when/where I was growing up on the Southern California coast. Where are you that fish is ever, let alone often cheaper than beef?