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Meat eaters, defend your position

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miser
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I think most people don't particularly care about animal rights.

They entertain the notion if it's convenient but when it's not, it's disregarded. It's the reason why a person would be enraged by a video of cat cruelty but then say "meh" after watching a video of battery farming.
People call me a hypocrite because I love animals but eat meat.
I don't see it that way.

I keep a cat, a dog and a snake. I don't eat cat or dog or snake. My animals eat turkey, lamb, fish, chicken, beef, mice, rats and many other farmed meats.

The way I see it it's part of the food chain. We're not eating endangered animals (And I do hate those that do), pigs, cows and sheep are everywhere and will be for a long time now.

I agree with the people that are against mistreatment of farm animals during their life, I think they should be treated well. But when the axe falls, you won't see me running in to stop them.
Reply 182
I don't believe that the subject is so black and white but it is more on a personal basis. Eating or not eating meat is a personal choice and isn't right or wrong. I disagree with the type of vegetarian which doesn't eat meat because the animals are treated badly as wont make a difference to their welfare (people will always want to eat meat.) Buying products with higher standards of welfare for the animals will inform the producers that people want the chance.

At the same time I am disgusted by meat eaters who see animals just as a food sources and have the "we're just going to kill them anyway" view. Living things should be treated with respect and cared for, not kept inside for 18 months with very little space to move and on hard cold floors before being slaughtered.
"if you really want to save the animals, then stop eating all their food." Will ferrel :wink:
Original post by Lewk
Quorn is horrible. Eggs are nice. I could live on eggs for my protein, but meat..... I can't give up meat..... It's so.... meaty.... :drool:


Do you really can't give up meat, even when it is just a day?
The amount of naturalistic fallacies in this thread is making my eyes bleed.
The "ethical" reasons for not eating meat are seriously flawed.

Your still killing and eating a living organism and denying them life. Whether you eat meat or not.

Everything else is just peoples personal opinion on "rights" etc, which in nature do not exist. I'm not for cruelty towards animals but at the same time you can't deny we are the "only" animal with ethical consideration.

The only way we could actual get round that ethical dilemma is if we started eating minerals from rocks.... and as far as I'm aware that's not possible and we would lack many organic materials needed for our survival.

A friend of mine once joke something along the lines that Veggie's are just lazy, they like to eat lifeforms that are defenseless and totally incapable of fighting back but then have the cheek to claim that they have the moral highground over those who eat meat.
Original post by DanB1991
The "ethical" reasons for not eating meat are seriously flawed.

Your still killing and eating a living organism and denying them life. Whether you eat meat or not.

Everything else is just peoples personal opinion on "rights" etc, which in nature do not exist. I'm not for cruelty towards animals but at the same time you can't deny we are the "only" animal with ethical consideration.

The only way we could actual get round that ethical dilemma is if we started eating minerals from rocks.... and as far as I'm aware that's not possible and we would lack many organic materials needed for our survival.

A friend of mine once joke something along the lines that Veggie's are just lazy, they like to eat lifeforms that are defenseless and totally incapable of fighting back but then have the cheek to claim that they have the moral highground over those who eat meat.

As far as I'm aware plants feel no pain. We don't have plant rights but we do have animal rights. The idea is that it's hypocritical for ppl to eat meat and then be horrified when someone kills their cat for fun.

You save a lot of plants by being vegetarian. GCSE science will you that a lot of energy is lost between producer and primary consumer trophic levels. Thus, when you eat meat, you not only consume that but you've indirectly caused a lot of plants to be eaten.
The mass meat-farming industry is also terrible for the environment. I mean, really, really terrible. So the ethical concerns aren't just about animal welfare.
Ex-vegetarian here

I eat what I want, when I want, instead of blindly doing what someone tells me I should or shouldn't do because they feel morally superior to meat-eaters. I go by my own diet. It's unfortunate it took me a while to see from this perspective.
Reply 190
Original post by OMG TOOTHBRUSH
I was a vegan until I read this comment. By far the best reason I've ever heard to eat meat. Repped.


Exactly! Plant murderers got stumped on that one.
Original post by keromedic
As far as I'm aware plants feel no pain. We don't have plant rights but we do have animal rights. The idea is that it's hypocritical for ppl to eat meat and then be horrified when someone kills their cat for fun.

You save a lot of plants by being vegetarian. GCSE science will you that a lot of energy is lost between producer and primary consumer trophic levels. Thus, when you eat meat, you not only consume that but you've indirectly caused a lot of plants to be eaten.


All pain is electrical currents, plants themselves do have similar systems, albeit not anything we can understand on a conscious level. Plants actually can move and try and move away from fire etc.

They technically have no less right to life than animals other than rights made up by humans

Also animal rights are not in any sense natural, it's just something people do to make ourselves superior to animals themselves.

People get all shocked due to personal attachment and socialization. It's technically no more hypocritical for someone getting shocked when their child is killed but much less bothered when they hear about someone else's dying. You also see some nutters who get equally upset when tree's are cut down
Having not read all of the posts on the thread. A simple defense of eating meat is simply being selective in the meat you eat. All the arguments about the treatment of animals and the killing of animals is easily avoided by only eating animals whom were not factory farm raised, and eating animals which died of natural causes. There was no contribution to a factory farming culture, there was no contribution to the torture or pain of animals in such a case. The meat would be completely ethical. This is coming from a mostly non-meat eater btw if that matters to anyone.
Well, it tastes good.
My mum makes my food for me so I have to have whatever she makes :tongue:
My mum wouldn't let me turn vegetarian, then she'll have to make separate food for me and also religious reasons.

I've had times though, when I think about the animals and feel bad and then don't eat meat for a while but then I start eating it again :lol:
Original post by DanB1991
All pain is electrical currents, plants themselves do have similar systems, albeit not anything we can understand on a conscious level. Plants actually can move and try and move away from fire etc.

They technically have no less right to life than animals other than rights made up by humans

Also animal rights are not in any sense natural, it's just something people do to make ourselves superior to animals themselves.

People get all shocked due to personal attachment and socialization. It's technically no more hypocritical for someone getting shocked when their child is killed but much less bothered when they hear about someone else's dying.

Moving away from a stimulus does not mean that plants feel pain. I'm not convinced.

Don't you understand that your logic is flawed? If you're saying that plants and animals have an equal right to life then eating plants is then preferable as less life is lost in the process.

And natural=good now?

Well, that's understandable. Getting more upset over the loss of your own child's life doesn't mean that you think it's worth more than someone else's child. It's just that you feel more hurt due to the attachment you've made.

I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to say by the below
You also see some nutters who get equally upset when tree's are cut down
Reply 195
Original post by miser

It tastes nice.
This is the worst one in my opinion. Not only is it lazy, but it's effectively a statement to the effect that you don't care whom or what you injure so long as it feels good enough. If pleasure were an acceptable justification for overruling animal rights, we would not be so against dog fighting, bestiality and other condemned practices. This kind of reasoning would never factor into other crimes such as the murdering of a human.


This is because morality is subjective - and poor animal treatment, or consumption of animals for food, for many people is not rated as very immoral compared to the equivalent for humans.
Taste and more dense for protein.


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Original post by DAS4793
No it's not, many studies have been carried out on this.


Many studies have showed that vegetarians are often malnourished


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Original post by goape
Exactly! Plant murderers got stumped on that one.


Whether plants feel pain is debatable, but if plants do feel pain, that is not a reason to deny rights to animals. If plants are sentient, that would put humans in the same position as lions since we cannot live without consuming plants, so we would be morally justified in eating plants. Also, if plants feel pain, that does not mean that eating plants and eating animals are morally equivalent because it takes many more plants to feed an omnivore compared to a vegan. Feeding grains, hay and other plant foods to animals so that we can eat the animals is very inefficient, and kills far more plants than being vegan.
If you believe that plants have feelings, one of the best things you can do for them is to go vegan.
Original post by langlitz
Many studies have showed that vegetarians are often malnourished


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Source?

Even if this is true (unlikely since a properly followed vegetarian or vegan diet consists of much more nutrients and goodness than that of a meat-eaters), here are a few influential and prominent studies which prove the complete opposite. Plus, it's a well known fact that non meat eaters and vegans in particular have a substantially lower risk of cancer, heart disease and much lower cholesterol.

http:
//www.nih.gov/researchmatters/june2013/06102013vegetarian.htm

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/89/5/1627S.full

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/70/3/525s.full

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