I consider myself an equal-opportunity eater. When I was younger I went vegetarian for a time and made a big deal about it because it was so new to me. Looking back, I just cringe. Since I started eating meat, to me, Western vegetarianism looks a lot like a religion - no one is more annoying than the recently converted.
One good thing about having gone vegetarian for a while was that it really expanded my cooking repertoire and the way I look at a meal. I was raised in the Midwest by a mother who can’t conceive of a meatless meal - she’s admitted explicitly that she really can’t wrap her head around making a dish without meat and allowing that to be the entree.
However, I missed meat when I was vegetarian and felt somewhat limited when I no longer ate it. So I started eating it again. And it was good.
Huh–it strikes me that there is more profoundly mystical, self-righteous thought in this thread than I’ve seen in a PETA magazine.
Evolution isn’t a god to be worshipped: it’s a series of mistakes, some of them happy. What we evolved to do carries zero moral or practical weight.
While it’s anthropomorphic to suggest that animals feel emotions about their existence in some ontological sense, it’s irrational to suggest that animals don’t feel emotions. They’ve got much of the same neurological circuitry as humans, they exhibit behaviors similar to those humans exhibit when feeling emotions, and feeling certain emotions has adaptive benefit. On what basis would anyone reasonably deny that a cow feels fear as it approaches violent slaughter? Indeed, Temple Grandin has made quite a good living reducing these emotions among animals.
And a respect for the life of an adult healthy mammal in no way requires a person to similarly respect the life of a potato. An adult healthy mammal is much more similar to us in its cognitive makeup than a potato, and if you respect critters based on certain capacities present among humans, it makes sense to include certain nonhumans, but not all nonhumans.
That said, I eat meat for three reasons:
It’s delicious;
I’m a bad person;
I see no evidence that a cow, presented a choice between a decent life followed by predation or no life at all, would choose the latter. It is anthropomorphizing to project our strong values of life onto other animals.
I think some meat, esp if it’s low in fat, can be a healthy part of one’s diet - a great way to get complete protein source. That and it is mighty tasty.
Andy Rooney once said "Vegetarian is an old Native American word that means “lousy hunter”.
(Also, am having a difficult time understanding the attack of the funny poll answers, never thought that they were anything but a joke…and to see argument about this going on is a bit boggling. :dubious: )
I still find it incredibly hard to believe that you really think the poll was meant to be serious. If you want to claim to be that stupid, that’s OK, but ISTM that you have the ability to type and attempt to make an argument, so maybe you’re just spoiling for a fight. This seems likely, since you also claim that four of the poll options imply that you are a freak. It’s like you actively want to be the target of name-calling.
Name-calling is not permitted in this forum, so feel free to report my posts.
I don’t think we need to continue this “discussion” any further.
I’ve made several points which you have not bothered to respond to. Instead we have the level of debate of “Only STUPID people believe X. You’re not stupid are you?” :dubious:
I agree - let’s not bother responding to each other any more - I’m sure we both have better things to do. I have responded to to your points, so we clearly have a problem communicating.
Interesting thought. Are parasites really considered to be part of the food chain?
I think I’ve actually consumed most of the rhinoviri(?) which were produced in my body (disgusting but true). That fact would put me above viruses in the food chain, would it not?
The whole “food chain” thing went out of style in third grade–this was just my flippant if oblique reference to the idea that there’s really no such thing. Your example of your consumption of the rhinovirus shows why it’s silly to talk about anyone’s being on top of the food chain.
But if you accept the food chain model, wouldn’t it be pretty arbitrary to exclude parasites?
I can’t stand Zippy, frankly, but fair enough re: the superiority thing–I can’t really argue with that. I just get irritated when people try to use ecology or evolution to justify their belief in their own superiority.
