Why are more people becoming Vegetarian?

A society which rejected 'specieisism' would be so full of contradictions it's hard to know where to begin. I guess the obvious place to start is that human society is a human construct, and a preference towards humans is absolutely inherent.

Secondly, where do you draw the line? So slaughtering a cow is bad, but what about the mice who are killed by combine harvesters? Or the insects killed by pesticides? Or the animals whose habitat is lost when grassy fields for raising sheep or cows are turned over to high-density crop production? Or how about when I kill a wasp which is trying to steal my lunch and/or sting me? Or if I tread on an ant without noticing when I walk down the street? Or when we destroy habitat, again, to build houses or roads or harvest natural resources?

Let's face it, of all the animal suffering caused by humankind, meat production of the tip of the iceberg.

I'm not sure I accept the premise that animal suffering is unnecessary.

At best, this is an argument against certain methods of rearing animals. Rearing sheep on the North York Moors has negligible environmental impact compared to intensive beef production in the Americas. Actually, in the UK, most of the beef and lamb which we eat is grown in the UK and uses radically different methods to those exposed in Cowspiracy.

What, so you are suggesting we all just eat grain? One of the main reasons in favour of rearing animals it that it turns a pretty boring, starchy, not particularly nutritious food source (grain) into a much more appetising and nutrient rich one (meat). In any case, one could switch to eating grass-fed animals for whom this is much less of a thing.

It's currently the cultural norm to eat the flesh of other animals. Cultural norms often change, particularly as morality progresses due to the triumph of reason over dogmatism, emotion and greed. As the moral philosopher Peter Singer put it, we've witnessed an expanding circle of moral concern: from giving weight solely to the interests of people close to us and similar to us to taking into account the interests of people of different races, sexes and sexual orientations, as well as people far away from us in different countries.

Now, the next step is to equally consider the interests of nonhuman animals and all sentient beings. We already consider the interests of some nonhuman animals at certain points in time: people are outraged when dogs and cats have cruelty inflicted upon them, for instance. Yet, as a society, we have not fully rejected speciesism: the irrational discrimination against members of other species solely because they are not a member of the species Homo sapiens. We continue to slaughter 58 billion animals each year, most of whom are kept in appalling conditions, transported under great deals of stress on long journeys and then slaughtered, slaugher which, even in countries with the strictest welfare regulations, goes wrong, and therefore inflicts suffering, in a significant proportion of cases.

What you have witnessed is most likely the acknowledgement that unnecessary suffering is wrong, regardless of the species of the victim. Jeremy Bentham, the founder of modern utilitarianism, lived in the 1700s, but was far ahead of his time. He was an advocate for, abolishing slavery, abolishing the death penalty, women's rights, and abolishing physical punishment inflicted on children. The two examples that best demonstrate his insightfulness, however, was his advocacy for gay rights and animal rights. As he wrote:



The shift to vegetarianism may also be the result of acknowledging that the huge environmental damage caused by the meat industry cannot be justified (see the documentary, Cowspiracy, on Netflix for an excellent illustration of this). According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the meat industry is responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and this is a conservative estimate. For reference, the entire transportation sector is responsible for 15% of emissions - that's all the cars, planes, buses, trains and boats. This has led the UN Environment Program to state:

"Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth increasing consumption of animal products. Unlike fossil fuels, it is difficult to look for alternatives: people have to eat. A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products."

The people you know may also be aware that 40% of the world's grain is fed to nonhuman animals reared for meat, and that if it were kept for humans instead, we'd have enough to feed around 1 billion people. Furthermore, the meat industry is one of the main sources of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

So, given all of this, and combined with the fact that vegetarian and vegan diets are just as healthy, if not more so, than diets containing animal products in them, it's unsurprising that the moral arc bends towards vegetarianism. As the American Dietetic Association have stated:





Interesting assertion, but studies have found that, the higher the IQ, the more likely it is the person will be a vegetarian.



Making a logically fallacious appeal to nature makes no sense, actually. Just because something is natural, doesn't mean it's right.

But we don't like it when they go all full-out Birmingham Islamic hate-preacher/Floridian Islamaphobic pastor when they try to make you change your diet choices. Why can't these vegans be more like the Mormons?

Must be the lack of meat.

Which explains why it's mainly middle-class hipsters.

I have to ask: would you try and convince a cannibal to change their ways? Or would you simply sit back and declare that it's their diet.

I started to read a lot about the meat industry until I came to the point where I could not enjoy meat anymore. At first my parents convinced me to at least eat fish, but that wasn't really an option, having feelings of guilt every time you eat something.
I have had that feeling come and go with regards to egg and dairy products, but for some reason I still haven't been able to switch to a completely vegan diet

Would I try convincing a cannibal to stop eating humans through force and coercion?

To be frank I'll just eat him so that he ceases to exist.

Feeling of guilt? You didn't kill those animals, you just ate them. Even if you would go vegetarian, animals would still be killed for food. #Bacon4Life

That's kind of the point then. So why is it strange that vegetarians try to make you change your diet choices.

I find it strange that they try to change your diet choices by attempting to shame you to death with their supposed logic, morals and facts (which are not one least bit convincing), and then proceed to fly into a frothing rage when you disagree with them, using logic, morals and facts.

Even worse, when vegans do exactly that, but to vegetarians. Because vegetarian isn't good enough for some vegans. There are some vegans who ruthlessly criticise vegetarians because they still drink milk and/or eat eggs, even though vegetarians and vegans are usually on the same side of the argument.

It's one thing when it's vegetarians and vegans against meat eaters, but vegans criticisng vegetarians for not doing enough for animal welfare is just madness. I've seen it happen at least once on this forum, and I've seen it in the media sometimes as well.

Humans are naturally omnivorous, choosing to be anything else makes no sense.