When did we forget that plant's too are living? I wouldn't feel ashamed about eating meat, simply because you have to take a life to live, whether it be animal or plant. If you wish to be a vegetarian, then so be it, but if you like meat and you don't want to eat it because you might take life... Well then consider this, it has been proven that plants feel pain.
Should you feel guilty for eating meat?
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I'm going to have to bite my tongue a bit on this because I really don't have any desire to get dragged into a nutrition debate at the moment, but the evidence is not as clearly against eating meat as you seem to believe unless you only form your conclusions from some fairly questionable studies and ignore some pretty gaping holes in methodology and logic with many of them.Korolev said:
Frankly, the state of nutritional science, particularly what gets the most coverage in the media, is absolutely pathetic for the most part. It's even worse when you consider many of the studies which take place are funded by companies like Kellog's.
If one has a moral objection to eating meat on the basis that it is killing, then one cannot eat.
Anything.
Ever.
Unless plants suddenly started not being living things.
Here's a bit of philosophy to plug into your morality. It may help. "All life subsists on death, and everything must die." Your conscience may be somewhat less burdened by eating vegetarian since the bean-sprouts don't yelp when you pluck them, but most "fresh" produce is still alive when it's eaten. If you're eating bean-curd, tofu, or something of the sort you are, quite literally, eating babies or the product of mashed babies.
Think on that.
Also consider that we don't know for sure if plants can feel pain (at least not that I've heard from any credible sources), and if they could, they may express it in ways we cannot understand.
We feed ourselves with death in more ways than is symbolic or literal. Some people can't figure that out. And that's too bad, as it would save a lot of guilt, indecision, and wasted breath.
Anything.
Ever.
Unless plants suddenly started not being living things.
Here's a bit of philosophy to plug into your morality. It may help. "All life subsists on death, and everything must die." Your conscience may be somewhat less burdened by eating vegetarian since the bean-sprouts don't yelp when you pluck them, but most "fresh" produce is still alive when it's eaten. If you're eating bean-curd, tofu, or something of the sort you are, quite literally, eating babies or the product of mashed babies.
Think on that.
Also consider that we don't know for sure if plants can feel pain (at least not that I've heard from any credible sources), and if they could, they may express it in ways we cannot understand.
We feed ourselves with death in more ways than is symbolic or literal. Some people can't figure that out. And that's too bad, as it would save a lot of guilt, indecision, and wasted breath.
Unless I've missed something pretty big in biology, I doubt that's true. Evidence?Andrew Bascom said:
I like a lot of vegetarian food, but I think meat is proper and good food.s28 said:
To really know and appreciate proper meat, I think hunting (or at the very least fishing) is part of the deal. Not everyone can or wants to own livestock, but fishing and hunting trips are feasible, and be it just for taking part in to know what it's all about.
Also, I prefer vegetables that are as ecologically sound and pure as can be, you wouldn't believe how much chemicals go into those hothouse veggies or how much kerosene goes into those bananas, mango or avocados hailing from around the world. We can't all hunt to feed families, and we can't all grow our own produce, but I think trying to keep an eye on reality is much, much better and healthier than going ideological apeshit. Yeah, I despise vegans. Can't help it.
Unlike real carnivores, we can't eat raw meat.
Unlike real herbivores, we can't eat cellulose.
Think about it, compared to other animals, we humans have a very poor digestive system, including teeth.
Also, the nutrients that created the modern brain of homo sapiens, came from shrimps and other sea insects, which could be eaten raw.
Just some fun facts to throw into this argument.
Unlike real herbivores, we can't eat cellulose.
Think about it, compared to other animals, we humans have a very poor digestive system, including teeth.
Also, the nutrients that created the modern brain of homo sapiens, came from shrimps and other sea insects, which could be eaten raw.
Just some fun facts to throw into this argument.
Zhukov said:
I will, thanks. My family is farmer stock, and my dad killed hogs and cows and chickens when he was a kid, without a second thought. The boys went and shot game or slaughtered an animal when the family wanted meat. Didn't care at all. They hand-raised animals just to kill them. I've shot and butchered a squirrel. I didn't care. I ate it that night. It died quickly and cleanly, one shot to the heart, dropped straight out of the tree onto the ground. That's the circle of life.
Agriculture, in its basic form, is what humans have been doing for *thousands of years.* Nothing wrong with it. I don't know why people seem to think humans are so horrible just because we were smart enough to not give animals a fair fight.
We are apex predators. It's no different than other animals. Wolves got by on pack behavior. Tigers have huge size and strength. Most predators have big teeth and claws. Well, we have packs, but our claws and teeth are spears and bows, or more modernly, bullets. Just because we were smart enough to realize that if you put a big blockade around an animal, it can't escape, so you can eat it when you like, we're evil? Or just because we realized that hurling a piece of lead through something's head will kill it, rather than risking our lives grappling a beast, we're bad somehow? We're too smart to get gored by horns when we could stand fifty feet away and still get our meat.
Really, all of this just seems to say that it's only okay if you fight fair. And humans have survived history by not fighting fair.
Battery farming is pretty sketchy, because I don't advocate the extreme cases where animals are tortured. Most animals kill for food, and in doing so, kill the prey as quickly as they can. But simply the idea of raising animals for meat, is not wrong at all.
Well, buying meat (unless it's game meat, which is expensive) can provide money to farms that neglect their animals, which is something to feel bad about even if you don't feel bad about the whole food chain thing.
But also, buying fruits, vegetables and grains can provide money to those who are cutting down rainforests for farmland, poisoning the ecosystem with pesticides and killing off the world's population of bees with monoculture farming.
Anything with rapeseed oil in it: encouraging the extinction of orangutans.
Buying a Coke or clothes from Primark, amongst many other companies; giving money to people with bad human rights records, or who use child labour.
Basically, the only way we can live life without feeling guilty is if we all go live in the woods and grow our own food and make hemp clothing. And while I think that would be awesome, I don't think anything's going to convince very many people to go that way.
However, if you have some land like a fair sized garden, you can grow crops and maybe keep a few chickens, treat 'em good, then there's a section of your life you don't have to feel guilty about.
But also, buying fruits, vegetables and grains can provide money to those who are cutting down rainforests for farmland, poisoning the ecosystem with pesticides and killing off the world's population of bees with monoculture farming.
Anything with rapeseed oil in it: encouraging the extinction of orangutans.
Buying a Coke or clothes from Primark, amongst many other companies; giving money to people with bad human rights records, or who use child labour.
Basically, the only way we can live life without feeling guilty is if we all go live in the woods and grow our own food and make hemp clothing. And while I think that would be awesome, I don't think anything's going to convince very many people to go that way.
However, if you have some land like a fair sized garden, you can grow crops and maybe keep a few chickens, treat 'em good, then there's a section of your life you don't have to feel guilty about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmK0bZl4ILM#t=50s
Coleslaw is a fascist regime.
You shouldn't feel bad for eating meat. Now, I would advocate that once in a while you stop and think exactly how "expensive" meat is to produce. And once in a while, try to replace a meal that you would have had meat in with something that was more eco friendly to produce. If you can grow your own stuff, try to.
That's good for everyone involved.
Coleslaw is a fascist regime.
You shouldn't feel bad for eating meat. Now, I would advocate that once in a while you stop and think exactly how "expensive" meat is to produce. And once in a while, try to replace a meal that you would have had meat in with something that was more eco friendly to produce. If you can grow your own stuff, try to.
That's good for everyone involved.
What? Wrong to eat meat? That's insane!
Plants were alive once, too, so OBVIOUSLY if eating something that was once alive is wrong, you can't eat no carrots, or lettuce. And dirt is partially once living organisms that decomposed, so eating THAT would be wrong. Can't exactly eat most rocks, either.
It's survival. It's perfectly fine. Chow down.
Besides, your not taking my beef, chicken, mussels, lobsters, shrimp, and bacon from me. EVER.
Plants were alive once, too, so OBVIOUSLY if eating something that was once alive is wrong, you can't eat no carrots, or lettuce. And dirt is partially once living organisms that decomposed, so eating THAT would be wrong. Can't exactly eat most rocks, either.
It's survival. It's perfectly fine. Chow down.
Besides, your not taking my beef, chicken, mussels, lobsters, shrimp, and bacon from me. EVER.
I worked in a beef slaughterhouse for 2 years. There's no pain on the cow's part, unless you miss its brain with the pneumatic rod. This has only happened to me 6 times that I can remember. Cows tend to struggle in the kill chute, so it can be difficult to deliver the bolt to the right spot sometimes. You do your best though.
While I don't feel bad for eating meat per se, the sorry state of factory farming and the rather cruel methods we use to raise and harvest animals are ones I feel are causing unnecessary suffering, now that, I feel guilty over. I mean we're gonna eat them, the least we can do is end them quickly and humanely and not be dicks about it, I think humanity is advanced enough to expect at least that much from ourselves.
First a disclaimer, I was told this in my landscaping course or Ag Tech, and without spending a couple hours on Google I don't think I can get very solid info either way, so my apologies if my info is incorrect.In Search of Username said:
Now here's what a brief look onto Google showed me, two websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_perception_(paranormal) and http://www.didyouwonder.com/do-plants-feel-pain/ both are probably not grand sources. other quick skimming leads me to believe that I'm probably wrong, however the fact that plants still are living things can't be denied. We still have to eat one life to continue our own.
Chicken fetuses taste delicious with lamb chops btw. I live out in the middle of nowhere, in a section of forest that has bobcats, bears, and most of all, wild pigs. If you know nothing about wild pigs, know this - they eat anything! If we own an animal that can't defend itself or climb a tree, in all likelihood, it will be a meal for something else. Do I feel guilty about eating bacon or pork chops? Heck no. I consider that my little vengeance against these pests that keep eating any small livestock I try to keep. Wild pig is delicious too, very lean since the animals are constantly moving.
Mass slaughter houses might not be the kind of thing you want to watch work but in our society, they have become necessary to feed the massive amounts of massive people that refuse to exercise or wear a condom. In an earlier time, say 200 years ago, I'd say we can't keep so many cattle on one farm, that they should be moved around more, but as our planet gets more and more crowded, that becomes close to impossible unless treadmills have been invented for livestock specifically to keep the meat lean and more healthy for human consumption.
In closing, I am a meat eater. I eat meat. If it's wrong I don't want to be right.
Mass slaughter houses might not be the kind of thing you want to watch work but in our society, they have become necessary to feed the massive amounts of massive people that refuse to exercise or wear a condom. In an earlier time, say 200 years ago, I'd say we can't keep so many cattle on one farm, that they should be moved around more, but as our planet gets more and more crowded, that becomes close to impossible unless treadmills have been invented for livestock specifically to keep the meat lean and more healthy for human consumption.
In closing, I am a meat eater. I eat meat. If it's wrong I don't want to be right.