| < We Are Not A Vegetarian Species | A Fishy Problem > |
| FatalError |
| A question frequently posed by vegetarians is: how can you justify killing an innocent animal for food? This question may seem difficult to answer at first but really it is not. Would it be reasonable to ask a lion to justify his killing of an innocent gazelle? Of course not: it is natural for the lion to kill the gazelle and that is justification enough. And what of a gazelle's right not to be eaten? Put this way, you can see that such questions are really meaningless. The same is true for us, for we are not a vegetarian species. |
Vegan Forums |
| Sergio |
You can't take examples from animal, otherwise rape, theft and murder can be justified. (Those monkeys steal from each other, why can't we do the same?) |
| Bative |
| as well.. If we had large sharp teeth and claws, and could run 50 miles an hour, sure I'd eat meat too. Were at the technology age where we don't actually have to hunt down and capture our foods. We just drive to the store and buy it. (btw: it has been proven that humans digestive systems are in fact meant to be vegetarian..) |
| notalice |
I've read this many places, but I've yet to see how something like that can be proven... any help? |
| bojster |
| Actually, human digestive systems are not entirely herbivorous, more like omnivorous, just in case of some drought or other disaster which would make vegetable food hard available (they would then eat carcass until it's all back to normal). But since we live in quite comfortable world now, it's no use in eating anything besides plants. The reasons to do that are many, and on the digestion grouds I can say that the intestines are too long for meat and it begins to rot in the mid-way, which, as you can imagine, is a bit unhealthy. Also, human has not meat-digesting enzymes and proper bacterias are not originally settled inside (that's why a baby cannot eat meat or he/she will be poisoned to death), they're introduced into the body by means of eating some weird Gerber pulps etc. Well... I'm too lazy to write more, but all I can say is that human is definitely herbivorous, but is also flexible to eat other things. Even if they make him live twice shorter and in worse conditions. I wish you all good health. |
| adam |
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| adam |
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| adam |
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| loveatomato |
| I have been here for like 5 minutes and can already see that fatal error just likes to start crap. |
| adam |
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| Bybo |
| Ive got some intresting reading on what humans are "made" to eat. Unfortunally they are on swedish. Lucy ower ancester, how lives for 3´000´000 to 3´900´000 years ago, lived on mostly vegetabils like flowers nuts fruits some fiber but also a great lot of insect like ant beetles worm like bugs, and some small animals. Guess something like rabbits rats doglike creatures, and sometimes bigger animals when found dead. Those apes that are alike us in food digestion, eats some meat. and so on. Is clear that we are meat eaters however today we eat more meat than we suppose to. We should eat more vegetabilies, but we shouldnt forget the meat either.
So everything that is natural for a animal is also evil. Like kissing, love, giving birth, eating ?
And your posting is more creative because ? |
| Sergio |
Actually those questions should be answered because we meet them often and we should know right answers, not only feel that we are right, it's why I left those questions and haven't delete them. |
| Sergio |
Yes, we shouldn't forget it, there are a lot of soy analogues ;)
Why would you say so? |
| Bybo |
| I dont know what you mean with soy analogues. Please inform me with a private message. Thank you. I said so because Sergio mentioned some bad things that animals do. To compare it with meat eating. Animals does things that are what we humans consider as good ethics and also bad. Like killing you own offspring, eating manure etc. But also animals do good things. However a omnivor should eat some meat, and the only thing the lion needs to justifie its behavior is that the lion should eat. Thats justification enough for the lion. |
| Sergio |
We have some good textured vegetable protein here, which even some meat eaters prefer when we prepare it for barbeque.
Lion doesn't justify anything when he wants to eat - he hunts and eat. People when hungry can do the following things: Work and buy vegan food Kill an animal and eat it Steal some food Kill some person and take his food (or his money and buy food) You can see that he has some options which already are unethical, vegans just rise ethical standard higher. |
| Bybo |
| So its just some vegan food that tastes good ? So what, i like alot of vegan food that is very good to eat. However that is not what we were talking about.
This is a very narrow way to put things. |
| Sergio |
I think it's very logical. |
Vegetarian Forums |
| Bybo |
| No its narrow. Were is the alternative work and buy food why just vegan food ? Your options are narrow and filled with YOUR opinion. I´d like to talk ethics but with a starting like that.. No thank you. |
| Sergio |
Because when you work and buy meat you're supporting killing of animals, it's equivalent with killing of those animals.
I understand that you don't have other arguments on ethics. |
| Bybo |
| I got plenty to say about ethics but not with a starter like that. I will reply to other threads, and id like to discuss ethics. But i will not waste my time in this thread. Please reply to the other many thread under questions and answers wich is unreplied by vegans. Do you lack argumentation there just because you dont answer ? |
| Sergio |
Actually I consider ethical reason most important of all, It's like you will not stop Holocaust because of ecological reasons, it must been stopped for ethical reasons, so people will not suffer. I use same consideration with animals. |
| AndyBa |
You are right, what Sergio wrote isn't a list of all possibilities. :) But it wasn't his goal to list all of them. He just wanted to point out that we people have more choices, a part of which are unethical from the start if measured by usual standards. Like killing a guy and taking his money to buy food. This was just an example to show a concept.. Now regarding the topic there is a very subtle difference between humans eating meat and carnivores eating meat. And the difference is in how we get the meat and how we eat it. When a wild animal hunts it creates harmony in nature. It's like a game and everybody has it's role in it. It makes the game more interesting, by being balanced. The "pray" if it's strong enough has a very good chance of escaping. While a farm animal is not given even a small chance, it is not given even the chance to develop necessary skills to survive alone.. Now you will say... what about hunting animals.. is it ethical? Hm.. lets think, how would you feel if a guy with a sniper gun would start killing everybody in your district for his own motives? Can you imagine? A usual morning.. You are taking your son to school, thinking how quickly is he growing, which makes you very proud because he is very smart entirely like you and at one moment you hear a quiet flap and you see your only child lying in blood. Now think well about this and then tell me: Do you think that hunting the way it happens in present is moral? I'm a bit skeptical.. The conclusion I would like to write: Is it moral or is it not moral to kill for food is for us to decide. Morality is invented by us and it is for us people. Now when we are the most powerful of the species on earth i.e. we can destroy all life by pushing a couple of buttons we should be more careful with our morality.. in the end what goes around - comes around. |
| rujoon |
http://www.vegetarian-society.org/downloads/Anatomy.pdf |
| Anonymous |
| Good news |
| MomoPeach |
| A lot of you vegetarians and vegans need to accept other people and realise that you can care about the environment and animals and not be a vegetarian. I hate it when vegetarians won't quit pushing their ideas on others after they have made up their mind. It's not fair to make people feel bad, people who donate money to causes that help the environment and animals. It's not fair to make them feel like they aren't doing a thing to help and that they are just going around killing anything natural in their path. They are doing what they have made up their mind to do to help. They don't feel the need to switch to vegetarianism and they don't have to. It's really starting to make me feel bad, with you going on and on about how horrible it is to eat meat when I'm really trying my best to help the environment. I should just stop hanging around vegetarians and vegans completely! You aren't helping the environment by pushing your morals on others. You are making people feel bad, and if they believe you when you say they are making the world a worse place by eating meat, they'll give up. That will be one less person doing their part, because you won't shut up and let them make their OWN FREAKING DECISIONS! And it wasn't made to be vegetarian, it was probably made to survive when there was no meat. A closed-minded vegetarian wrote whatever stupid article you got that from. |
| MomoPeach |
| You guys are starting to make me predjudiced on all vegheads because you are SO rude to the people who care, but still eat meat! EATING ONLY VEGHEAD FOOD WON'T save the giant panda. It won't stop people from building houses on rainforests. THE CHICKEN AND COW aren't endangered, not even near threatened. People have been eating these animals for years and they are still a thriving species! What does that tell you? We don't need to worry about them dying off or anything! So why complain about them? Oh, yeah. The "Animal Rights" thing. Riiight.... Like that video that forces people to not eat meat. I haven't watched it. Because I already know its effects. |
| AndyBa |
| MomoPeach, why are you feeling bad? try reading this, here are some good answers to some good questions: http://ar.vegnews.org/ ;) Cheers! |
| frondescence |
| So if eating Vegan is supposed to be how humans are meant to eat, why do you need artificial vitamins in foods or pills in order to be healthy? |
| BigBecka |
| MomoPeach, I'm getting worried about you. I don't think anyone here is trying to force their beliefs on you: this is a vegan website, you don't have to read it. I kind of resent all these flames about Jesus and how we're supposed to eat meat - it looks to me like it's you imposing your beliefs on us. You've made several references across different threads to vegans starving themselves, or depriving themselves of "real" food. It's true that many people lose some weight when they first become vegan, because meat and dairy are so high calorie compared to vegetables. But most people adjust to this. In fact, a lot of medical groups are starting to see merit in high fruit and veg intake, hence the "five a day" campaign in the UK. If "God" wants me to eat meat, does that mean he wants me to have a heart attack or catch bowel cancer too?! :bom: There are stories about vegans starving or developing malnutrition through poor diet. Has something like this happened to you? Some vegans struggle to maintain their weight (some are built like gorillas!). Sites like this help to educate vegans, so that this happens less. I've also heard of annorexics incoporating veganism as part of their condition - but this doesn't mean vegans are annorexic. Sadly, plenty of meat eaters starve themselves to death too. |
| AndyBa |
Who said that you need it? |
| BigBecka |
:lol: :lol: :lol: So you'ld rather believe in a book that was compiled to control society by enforcing heirarchical beliefs and dictating what is acceptable? You are aware that God didn't write the bible? It has been edited and rewritten hundreds of times over, often by people with a vested interest in controlling the population. As shown by the Dead Sea Scrolls and Gospel of St Thomas, edited out of the bible because of the teachings preaching equality for women and gentiles. You are being manipulated.
There are plenty of communities around the world (in southern Mexico, northern India and Asia off the top of my head) where meat and dairy are traditionally not, or are rarely, eaten. Vegetarianism is not a new idea. Until the early part of the 20th century most people couldn't afford to eat meat regularly, and many people my parent's generation will make a big deal about "being able to put meat on the table." And nobody's saying it's 'wrong' - because it's nobody's place to dictate right and wrong - I for one am just promoting a way of life that's healthy, can sustain society in the long term, minimises animal cruelty and maintains the planet. Your implications that vegans are just interested in animal welfare is incredibly mis-informed; of course nobody wants to see a chicken sh*t all over the conveyor belt as it tries to escape the factory, or a calf bleat for its mother as it's taken away in a veal cart, but there are wider issues. Meat and dairy were heavily promoted during the post-war rationing period as a way of preventing the population from starving. So were a lot of other things, like using powdered breast-milk, and drinking Guiness whilst pregnant! The legacy of this is that meat and dairy are still perceived to be healthy, and there are still government guidelines to promote meat and dairy, especially to poorer families who do not eat well. The tide is now turning, and eating meat and dairy for every meal is fast becoming as socially unacceptable as drinking whilst pregnant. Whether you like it or not, humans are not designed to eat the volumes of meat and dairy that a modern western diet contains. I have no idea how to reason with someone who doesn't like scientific proof, and I can't help wondering what has happened to you to make you so vehemently anti-vegetarian and determined not to listen to reason! |
| BigBecka |
| OK, the above post came off a bit anti-Christian - apologies to anyone who found it offensive :( My point is that religious teachings - of any religion - are taken with a pinch of salt and it is usually considered bad practise to use them as historic or scientific sources. Rest assured that my religious friends have waggled their fingers at me! |
| MomoPeach |
| Your "historical evidence" doesn't matter. The Bible is the Bible. |
Veggie Forums |
| WarChild |
any proofs? |
| MomoPeach |
| "It has been proven that human digestive systems are meant to be vegetarian".... I hate how atheists rely on stupid "scientific evidence" and place all their trust in it. Your stupid "scientifically proven" junk doesn't matter. Humans eat meat. Humans have eaten meat forever and we're not going to stop because someone made up the stupid idea that it is wrong. |
| BigBecka |
Noah was allowed to start eating meat after the Great Flood, as a concession to man's weakness and/or because vegetation had been destroyed:
God has since attempted to encourage man back towards vegetarianism (e.g. the provision of manna to the israelites) There, it took me a while to find a non-scientific or historical reply! :D Found the following whilst surfing for Hannukah recipes (the joys of a multi-cultural society...) [http://kosherfood.about.com/od/judaismsdietarylaws/Kosher_for_Jews_Kashrut.htm]
The laws of kashrut go on to describe
While I appreciate modern Christians don't eat kosher, Christianity is derived from Judaism: Jesus was a Jew (King of the Jews, I believe!) after all. And, I remind you, the bible here is the 'Old Testament' of the Christian Bible, to which you refer in your previous post. I'm sticking some more info on the 'Veggies & Religion' thread 8) There appears to be numerous references in the Bible to God intending man to be vegetarian :bom: And numerous clergy and biblical commentors who support vegetarianism. |
| lunarflowermaiden |
I find the "animals eat other animals, so it is ok" argument quite tiring. If that is your philosophy, then I am assuming you also support cannibalism? I do not know how many times this will need to be said, but humans are animals . The difference between humans and other animals: we have the ability to differentiate right from wrong. Our intelligence is obviously superior. I also know that there is a very big difference between the teeth of a human and the teeth of a lion. I do not believe that we were meant to chase and devour zebras, nor will I ever believe this. |
| AndyBa |
It is reasonable if we could only understand the lion's answer... But I can try to justify the lion myself: 1. The lion can't eat anything else but meat, he would die of hunger. 2. He is hunting the weakest and the less fit gazelle which makes the entire herd stronger and healthier. 3. The process of hunting is a FAIR GAME it spices the life of both gazelles and lions. Now in the case of humans. 1. We can safely eat something else and it is considered healthier by many Medical Doctors. 2. We are not hunting the weakest, actually human grown animals don't even have the luxury of FREEDOM. 3. There is no fair game, there is no spice, it's a despicable cruelty that goes on in the modern farms. |
| AndyBa |
Hm.. there are animals that also seem to know the difference. Like some dolphins saving people that drawn. Chimpanzee aunties that adopt their orphaned kin. Etc.. And there are also humans that don't seem to know the difference, and for some reason our society wants to get rid of such people. By putting them to jail or even terminating them. No animals have ever killed their kin as we humans did, i mean the scale of the process. And in some cases the way. |
| lunarflowermaiden |
Well, yes, I see your point. There are many animals that are very intelligent and make moral choices. Animals also do not hunt for strictly pleasure, that I know of. I just meant that lions are not thinking about moral and immoral when they are ripping a gazelle to shreads, but I cannot imagine a human doing such an act without at least a little bit of guilt, even if that person hides the guilt. I can't say this for sure, obviously, because I have never been in the life of a lion, but I would imagine that they are less developed in their understanding than humans would be. Some humans just don't care, though, even knowing the difference between right and wrong. People are selfish. That is why I have always felt more respect for most animals than humans. |
| crashcrew1974 |
Do you believe that humans are superior to other animals? I suspect that you do, and so do I, although, I am vegan. I believe that we are superior enough not to act like them. Just because other animals do it doesn't mean that we have to. We have superior reasoning and life skills, we should use them. It seems to come back around to the old saying, "If your friend jumped off a bridge, would you?" And that's another human, but you still wouldn't follow because you know that it's unreasonable. The same applies to the vegan lifestyle way of thinking when it comes to animal vs. animal food consumption. :D |
| crashcrew1974 |
Hi MomoPeach! I'm sorry to see that you are so upset by vegetarians/vegans. I would like to help in anyway that I can, but first I'd like you to take one HUGE step. Please visit the web page that I'm going to post at the end of this. I'm concerned that you are using your Christianity as a weapon, Jesus is a SOFT place to fall. I am Christian and vegan. Please let me guide you to a place that may be able to help you see both sides of this situation, the vegan side, and the Christian side. I will pray that you will be able to choose to be or not to be offended by others. Meat-eaters, vegetarians, or vegans, God loves us all. http://www.all-creatures.org/cva/ |
| Anonymous |
| actually, I think that it is o.k. to eat meat , BUT! not too much of course :wink: if everybody were to go vegan, the food chain would become unbalanced , :o more predators = less prey so we have to "balance" the food chain by eating meat but again, everything in moderation :albino: I am not trying to say that we have to eat meat but more like saying that there is nothing wrong with eating a bit of meat. :D |
| BigBecka |
I used to believe this also :D but then I went to live in a farming area, and worked in a food factory :( My main objection to eating meat is farming methods: the inhumanity, the lack of regard for health, and the waste (how many people eat tongue or liver or trotters nowadays?) The food chain has become very unbalanced. A friend of mine has a test for carnivores: you are not allowed to eat meat unless you have killed it yourself! And you have to be pretty darn tough to slaughter a pig :P |