Why I am a vegetarian....
Why I am a vegetarian....
We weren't always vegetarians. I was eating meat till my mid thirties and I have to admit, I was a real ‘carnivore’. I just loved meat, in any form, shape -- I loved the taste, the texture.
Then I learned about the unspeakable cruelty to animals in the chicken factories, factory farms, abattoirs, food processing plants, fishing industry, etc.
That was just before we moved to our 50 acres in the country, so I suggested to my wife that we raise our own animals for food, in decent, free-ranging environment, without the cruelty associated with commercial meat products.
I asked: "Where do I build the chicken coup?"
She said: "No chicken coup -- I won't eat any living thing I know personally".
I said: "This is hypocrisy -- you let others do your dirty work for you?"
She said: "You are right"
I said: "Then we should not eat meat".
She said: "Fine".
I said: "Fine".
That day we stopped eating meat.
We are not Vegans, we eat milk products and eggs. Our rule is simple: we don't eat anything that visibly objects to being eaten.
This is not a religious (god forbid!) attitude -- it is only an ethical decision, combined with our soft-hearted love of animals, coupled with some logic for the sake of consistency and integrity.
After that day we discovered vegetarian cook books and the countless recipes that are enjoyable, nutritious, even exciting and adventurous. We eat a lot more interestingly than we used to when we were carnivores.
I know that we evolved as omnivores.
Being omnivores implies a choice -- a choice that true carnivores like lions and wolves don't have.
We do.
One of the most frequently heard arguments against vegetarianism is "It is the natural thing to eat meat!".
We find that argument funny: Our entire history, as a human species, was spent fighting against natural things. Like dying of an infection, living in caves, freezing on cold nights, having to roam with the prey animals, hunting and gathering as we used to before agriculture was invented.
We evolved, with our science and technology, creating as unnatural an environment in our big cities as it gets.
There is room for further evolution.
Our science and technology makes it possible today to synthesize meat, in taste almost indistinguishable from what is gained from torturing and killing animals. It could be done on an industrial scale a lot cheaper than what producing meat costs today, if all the costs are considered.
And it would end the unspeakable cruelty we all participate in, as long as we eat meat produced by the meat industry.
Even now you can buy meat-tasting products (bacon, salami, chicken, etc) made from soy beans and I eat a lot of those because I like the taste.
So, there is room for evolving to our full potential as a scientific, technological civilization that does not need the barbaric, inefficient, wasteful survival skills of our primitive past.
Then I learned about the unspeakable cruelty to animals in the chicken factories, factory farms, abattoirs, food processing plants, fishing industry, etc.
That was just before we moved to our 50 acres in the country, so I suggested to my wife that we raise our own animals for food, in decent, free-ranging environment, without the cruelty associated with commercial meat products.
I asked: "Where do I build the chicken coup?"
She said: "No chicken coup -- I won't eat any living thing I know personally".
I said: "This is hypocrisy -- you let others do your dirty work for you?"
She said: "You are right"
I said: "Then we should not eat meat".
She said: "Fine".
I said: "Fine".
That day we stopped eating meat.
We are not Vegans, we eat milk products and eggs. Our rule is simple: we don't eat anything that visibly objects to being eaten.
This is not a religious (god forbid!) attitude -- it is only an ethical decision, combined with our soft-hearted love of animals, coupled with some logic for the sake of consistency and integrity.
After that day we discovered vegetarian cook books and the countless recipes that are enjoyable, nutritious, even exciting and adventurous. We eat a lot more interestingly than we used to when we were carnivores.
I know that we evolved as omnivores.
Being omnivores implies a choice -- a choice that true carnivores like lions and wolves don't have.
We do.
One of the most frequently heard arguments against vegetarianism is "It is the natural thing to eat meat!".
We find that argument funny: Our entire history, as a human species, was spent fighting against natural things. Like dying of an infection, living in caves, freezing on cold nights, having to roam with the prey animals, hunting and gathering as we used to before agriculture was invented.
We evolved, with our science and technology, creating as unnatural an environment in our big cities as it gets.
There is room for further evolution.
Our science and technology makes it possible today to synthesize meat, in taste almost indistinguishable from what is gained from torturing and killing animals. It could be done on an industrial scale a lot cheaper than what producing meat costs today, if all the costs are considered.
And it would end the unspeakable cruelty we all participate in, as long as we eat meat produced by the meat industry.
Even now you can buy meat-tasting products (bacon, salami, chicken, etc) made from soy beans and I eat a lot of those because I like the taste.
So, there is room for evolving to our full potential as a scientific, technological civilization that does not need the barbaric, inefficient, wasteful survival skills of our primitive past.
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- Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:04 pm
Re: Why I am a vegetarian....
do you eat root vegetables? they are hiding underground to keep away from your murderous appetites (yes, plants are alive too...)Ned wrote:...We are not Vegans, we eat milk products and eggs. Our rule is simple: we don't eat anything that visibly objects to being eaten...
praise and glory to the leviathanNed wrote:...So, there is room for evolving to our full potential as a scientific, technological civilization that does not need the barbaric, inefficient, wasteful survival skills of our primitive past.
-Imp
Re: Why I am a vegetarian....
One of this days I will have a discussion on the topic when nobody brings up this lame witticism.Impenitent wrote:do you eat root vegetables? they are hiding underground to keep away from your murderous appetites (yes, plants are alive too...)-Imp
What you missed was the word I deliberately used (to prevent this exact same comment): 'visibly'.
I have a simple test.
Before I eat anything I stick a pin in it.
If it jumps -- I don't eat it.
Re: Why I am a vegetarian....
I would think that going around sticking pins in animals would be 'cruelty to dumb animals'. Do you test people that way too?Ned wrote: I have a simple test.
Before I eat anything I stick a pin in it.
If it jumps -- I don't eat it.
Apparently you only eat dead things.
I think I'll test my next steak that way.
Re: Why I am a vegetarian....
...and this is a philosophy forum? Applied Ethics?
Last words here:
Vegetarians
We are the pariahs of this flesh-eating world:
hated, resented, ridiculed, reviled,
our very existence a threat
of maybe losing a steak or a bacon…
…the non-negotiable staple
of unimaginative minds.
They all know where meat comes from:
the barbaric cruelty of factory farms,
abattoirs, chicken-horror-chambers,
processing plants,
industrial fishing,
special torture for baby animals:
goats, lambs, calves.
Oh, they love their science, technology:
computers and iPhones,
jet planes, boats, modern medicine,
but when it comes to their
most fundamental need: food
they insist on cruel, barbaric methods of the past.
The technology is there,
we can synthesize meat
in modern factories,
cheaper, cleaner,
without killing, cruelty, suffering
for living beings:
our animal friends,
we treat them as inanimate garbage
until we devour them
in fake-carnivore style.
Children love animals,
get misty eyed over kittens,
puppies, baby goats, little lambs,
not told what we do to them
where their burgers come from:
"Eat it dear, it comes from
your friendly neighborhood Mart"
They say:
it’s the natural way,
forgetting that we are unnatural
in every other way:
we fight nature
with our science and technology…
…not in nature but in cities
we stay.
We are the flesh-eating disease
of this animal world,
not clean, innocent
as true carnivores are
who don’t have a choice…
…we, who evolved
with science and technology
left our brains behind
when it comes to
humane philosophy.
Last words here:
Vegetarians
We are the pariahs of this flesh-eating world:
hated, resented, ridiculed, reviled,
our very existence a threat
of maybe losing a steak or a bacon…
…the non-negotiable staple
of unimaginative minds.
They all know where meat comes from:
the barbaric cruelty of factory farms,
abattoirs, chicken-horror-chambers,
processing plants,
industrial fishing,
special torture for baby animals:
goats, lambs, calves.
Oh, they love their science, technology:
computers and iPhones,
jet planes, boats, modern medicine,
but when it comes to their
most fundamental need: food
they insist on cruel, barbaric methods of the past.
The technology is there,
we can synthesize meat
in modern factories,
cheaper, cleaner,
without killing, cruelty, suffering
for living beings:
our animal friends,
we treat them as inanimate garbage
until we devour them
in fake-carnivore style.
Children love animals,
get misty eyed over kittens,
puppies, baby goats, little lambs,
not told what we do to them
where their burgers come from:
"Eat it dear, it comes from
your friendly neighborhood Mart"
They say:
it’s the natural way,
forgetting that we are unnatural
in every other way:
we fight nature
with our science and technology…
…not in nature but in cities
we stay.
We are the flesh-eating disease
of this animal world,
not clean, innocent
as true carnivores are
who don’t have a choice…
…we, who evolved
with science and technology
left our brains behind
when it comes to
humane philosophy.
Re: Why I am a vegetarian....
Ned wrote:...and this is a philosophy forum? Applied Ethics?
Last words here:
Vegetarians
Not quite, not everyone fits your narrow description of people. I'm just glad I'm not a part of your little fantasy, I don't live in a city, and I teach my children and grandchildren where food comes from and what it looked like before it comes to us.
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- Posts: 4332
- Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:04 pm
Re: Why I am a vegetarian....
thank you for the condescension... you missed the humor of the comment... root vegetables obviously "visibly object" because you have to unbury them to bring them into your sight ...Ned wrote:One of this days I will have a discussion on the topic when nobody brings up this lame witticism.Impenitent wrote:do you eat root vegetables? they are hiding underground to keep away from your murderous appetites (yes, plants are alive too...)-Imp
What you missed was the word I deliberately used (to prevent this exact same comment): 'visibly'.
I have a simple test.
Before I eat anything I stick a pin in it.
If it jumps -- I don't eat it.
just another "savior"...
-Imp
Re: Why I am a vegetarian....
There is humour and then there is humour.
Yours was obvious and juvenile.
Sigh.
Yours was obvious and juvenile.
Sigh.
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- Posts: 4332
- Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:04 pm
Re: Why I am a vegetarian....
you missed it and went straight into insults...Ned wrote:There is humour and then there is humour.
Yours was obvious and juvenile.
Sigh.
thank you for playing
finis.
-Imp
Re: Why I am a vegetarian....
I didn't mean it as an insult. It is really juvenile humour.
You know how many times I have heard it?
Last time from my 12 year old nephew?
A serious subject dismissed with a predictable and unimaginative joke does not make me happy.
However...I am done with this forum.
Greener pastures beckon...
Happy posting to you all!
You know how many times I have heard it?
Last time from my 12 year old nephew?
A serious subject dismissed with a predictable and unimaginative joke does not make me happy.
However...I am done with this forum.
Greener pastures beckon...
Happy posting to you all!
Re: Why I am a vegetarian....
Ned wrote: They say:
it’s the natural way,
forgetting that we are unnatural
in every other way:
we fight nature
with our science and technology…
…not in nature but in cities
we stay.
Natural and unnatural are relative terms, why should you say that what Humans do is unnatural for humans?
Re: Why I am a vegetarian....
Only lasted 1 week.However...I am done with this forum.
Greener pastures beckon...
Happy posting to you all!
Where are you off to?
Re: Why I am a vegetarian....
Vegs doesn't grow as high as carnivores humans.
The weird thing about humans, when they have the time to navel gaze they make up weird things, like religion, vegetarism, war, and other weird stuff.
Each day animals starve to death, either in the desert, in the cold tundra or other places, they get eaten alive on the savanah by hyenas, are you gonna arrest the hyenas and yell at them ..GET YOU ASS TO THE ZOO!!! ..?
Drop the weird behaviour and eat meat! Maybe not in high doses, but just some.
The weird thing about humans, when they have the time to navel gaze they make up weird things, like religion, vegetarism, war, and other weird stuff.
Each day animals starve to death, either in the desert, in the cold tundra or other places, they get eaten alive on the savanah by hyenas, are you gonna arrest the hyenas and yell at them ..GET YOU ASS TO THE ZOO!!! ..?
Drop the weird behaviour and eat meat! Maybe not in high doses, but just some.