But we don’t have to eat meat, any more than we do human flesh.
The moral issues surrounding diet have been around for many thousands of years, which argues they are not easily resolved.
But we do have to eat living things, as far as I know. Also, we have a reason NOT to eat human flesh and that’s disease transferability is much greater.
I am so happy to see a respectful discussion on this subject! 
When confronted with the "well, animals eat animals"argument, I point out that many animals (felines, for one) are carnivores-and thus must eat meat to live. Also, humans are able to reason and see the consequences of our actions and whether alternatives exist.
I don’t wear leather or pearls, but I have no problem with wool (the sheep must be sheared, after all, for it’s own comfort).
Damn missing the edit window.
We do have to eat living things, but we have the choice of whether or not to cause suffering to those things. As a plant does not feel pain as we understand it, I feel that it is the more acceptable food choice.
Agreed (indeed, I look in vain for evidence that anyone in this discussion feels otherwise).
My point was that it’s never been easy to make choices about food without some moral component intruding. Nearly everyone can offer up something that it’s “wrong” to eat.
I can see both perspectives on the issue. As a humanist I don’t want to see anything suffer. But I also accept the animal I happen to be. Because I have a conscience, I can decide not to do things I feel are inhumaine. If I lived in a hunter/gatherer society, I’d most certainly go about killing my food in the most humaine way possible. But we don’t. So I can’t.
Damn… it’s a brutal world out there, and if becoming a vegan would actually change anything, or make me feel better about all the suffering creatures (including humans) have to endure, then I can see why someone would choose this route. But, for me, it seems futile and too small a protest for such a large issue. I mean, we’re talking about food here, one of the very few needs of humanity (besides water & shelter). Whether you decide to eat it or not, that animal is going to suffer and die and be eaten by someone else… becuase it’s no longer a wild, free, lifeform. Our commercialism has turned these animals into a product… and that’s a whole new ball of wax. The real enemy here isn’t inhumanity… that’s only a symptom of a much bigger and indelible foe: Consumerism. There’s much more finer detail I can argue my side on, but this isn’t the forum, and that’s the main gist on my stance.
I do salute your free will on the issue though. I’d be interested to hear from vegans (and even vegetarians) how hard it is to maintain your stance. Is meat something you’re disgusted by to begin with, or something you had to really feel the “pain” of giving up?
Which might not be very humane - when the issue is whether you kill something to eat, being fussy about how tends not to be among the traits of the survivors.
Think of killing wolves with a sharpened piece of whalebone folded and frozen into a glob of fat, or stampeding bison off a cliff - these cruel techniques were born not of cruelty, but of hunger & ingenuity.
Just FYI regarding wool- Peta and a lot of vegans do not use merino wool or any animal products. It’s a frequent discussion among online knitting groups.
http://www.savethesheep.com/faq.asp
I’m not arguing that hunting can’t be inhumaine. And that’s just it, I have to argue that our brains evolved to the size and scope they are today, because we needed to survive in harsh conditions, ergo (yeh! I just said “ergo”) our brain made up for what we lack physically. We can use tools. We can (and have) design tools for killing that can be quick and painless. The unfortunate side effect of having such a brain, is it comes with a conscience. Now we get to toss and turn about wether we deny that which makes us human, or accept it and find ways of mitigating it’s consequences on the rest of the life on this planet (and beyond! cue eerie music)
Agreed. But you find limited attention to this in hunter-gatherer societies, which can rarely afford to forego meat simply because obtaining it involves the infliction of pain.
IOW, I see the conscience you describe as one of the luxuries of a prosperous agricultural society.
I know of vegans who do not eat yeast products. I have heard that each morning they gargle in order to rinse the natural yeast in their own mouths into their system so not to suffer a B12* defficiency.
*I think that is the vitamin that they mentioned, I’m not 100% sure.