Choosing to be vegetarian for the morality?!
Sure animals are alive, but that doesn't qualify them for equal treatment. Should we treat plants and fleas and cockroaches just as we treat humans? Or vice-versa? No.
Why not? Because unlike animals, humans are constantly affecting the environment, in both good and bad ways. Humans are finding ways to help BETTER the environment, animals, on the other hand, simply eat up our resources (land, food, water) and burn huge holes in the ozone due to their flatulence. If we all leave the animals alone and become vegetarians/fruitarians, we'll end up with no natural resources for ourselves, an overpopulation of animals, and no ozone. And these are MORAL, BENEFICIAL things?
Would someone mind telling me exactly HOW vegetarianism/fruitarianism is MORAL?
Answers: I understand choosing to be vegetarian to be healthy, since we are naturally herbivores, or to help slow down greenhouse gases produced from livestock. But choosing to be a vegetarian since its moral is just plain ol' silly.
Sure animals are alive, but that doesn't qualify them for equal treatment. Should we treat plants and fleas and cockroaches just as we treat humans? Or vice-versa? No.
Why not? Because unlike animals, humans are constantly affecting the environment, in both good and bad ways. Humans are finding ways to help BETTER the environment, animals, on the other hand, simply eat up our resources (land, food, water) and burn huge holes in the ozone due to their flatulence. If we all leave the animals alone and become vegetarians/fruitarians, we'll end up with no natural resources for ourselves, an overpopulation of animals, and no ozone. And these are MORAL, BENEFICIAL things?
Would someone mind telling me exactly HOW vegetarianism/fruitarianism is MORAL?
There are a lot of reasons people choose to be vegetarian/vegan and yes moral reasons are a part of that. Some people believe that animals have a soul and as an intelligent species, human beings should honor, respect and protect animals. To some, killing an animal is on the same level as killing a human being. So yea, it's a moral issue.
If you didn't eat them, they wouldn't be bred. Take an economics class and get educated on supply and demand.
Just because you don't care about cruelty doesn't mean we should all be heartless morons. People do more damage to the earth than animals ever will.
eta: That's YOUR opinion on what their "purpose" is. I'd love to know what you think people are here for. You, especially.
All I know is it sure isn't moral to eat animals the way the industrial world eats them. Cows, pigs, and chickens live in disgusting conditions. They are given so many growth hormones they can't hold themselves up on their legs, and when they collapse or die the rest of the animals must continue their lives above them. They are packed, still alive, into tiny crates and driven to a slaughterhouse where their throats are slit or they are dumped into boiling water or they are just dumped into a grinding machine, all while they are still alive. First of all, if we're going to kill them, there are far nicer ways to do it. They might not get equal treatment (they're not going to our schools, holding jobs, etc) but they can conceivably get humane treatment.
Second, animals' farts are not responsible for the huge hole in the ozone layer. Humans are, with their use of CO2 and pollution. If we get to the point you refer to, humans can kill a couple animals to keep them from overrunning the earth. But its not necessary to do what we do now.
Third, if we let animals be, their populations don't infinitely grow, they have a natural population check. Naturally, they get much smaller once they start to outgrow their resources.
If we dont eat animals they dont just reproduce and consume resources. they exist in large numbers because of commercial ranching, if left to their own, their populations have a natural eb and flow based on the relative food and predators in their environment. And humans finding ways to better the environment? we are the ones who just multiply and eat up resources, and the small segment of the population that is trying to better the environment is more acurately trying to slow down the destruction the rest of us are doing.
For me the environmental reasons are primarily the moral reasons, you mention greenhouse gases and you are spot on with that, another thing that might surprise you is that chicken crap has to be treated like toxic waste because of all the drugs ect that we feed them we cant just let it decompose naturally because it will ruin the water supply and the soil.
Animals have FEELINGS. They can FEEL pain. They can feel it if somebody were to slit their throats, just like you would be able to. It simply isn't right to torture and kill and eat them just because we can.
Humans, by the way, are RUINING the environment. Who do you think is RAISING the millions of cattle that are depleting the ozone? Humans. Whenever you eat a steak or a hamburger, you're supporting the meat industry which raises the cattle who deplete the ozone. Its not the animal's fault. They didn't choose to increase their numbers to the point where its ruining the environment.
"animals don't have much of a purpose besides food" That is completely untrue. Imagine the world without animals. How would the world function? There would be less vegetation, less oxygen... it would be less beautiful, as there would be no birds singing. Besides that, pets offer companionship to many people...
You need to educate yourself on this matter a bit more.
I understand where your coming from.
The best answer I can give to you is that every individual has the right to make their own choices and to be accountable for them - even if you don't agree with them.
That is what makes the world an interesting place - so many different views and thoughts. If everyone thought the same - would be a very boring world.....
Just my view.
we are at the top of the food chain, we are suppose to eat animals,that is why they are here, for our nutrition. :D
Morals are as diverse as fingerprints. While a particular group will adhere to a common set for a variety of reasons (religious being the most common and prevalent reason), another group may have a totally differrent set. It is still up to an individual what set (if any) he or she will believe in and decide how to approach life based on these. As the saying goes; "one man's sin, is another man's virtue" (or something like that)
"To Neen 91: Recent studies show that the flatulence produced from raising cows has depleted more ozone than all the vehicles in the world combined"
Raising cows? Ah yes, RAISING.
Please think before you type. If farmers stopped BREEDING cattle so that they can be raised for slaughter, we wouldn't have this huge chunk of problem, would we?
"animals don't have much of a purpose besides food, so utilizing them to fulfill their purposes is not "cruelty"
_______don't have much of a purpose besides _______, so utilizing them to fulfill their purpose is not "cruelty".
This sort of thinking was great for getting free labor from slaves back in the day. Don't you agree? It's too bad that such disgusting and selfish mentalities are less common now.
Purpose? In relation to what? Oh, silly me. I forgot that you are the center of the universe and if something isn't doing any good for you, what's the point of it? Animals exist for their own purposes. Maybe animals are here to reproduce and raise their young as best they can while facing predators and harsh weather. What purpose are you serving if it's not doing me any good? Golly, if you're not here to serve me, why are you on this Earth? Maybe you should sleep on that idea.
Do enjoy the idea of not being someone else's property? If so, maybe you could show a little consideration and maybe even a bit of maturity and think of the less fortunate for a change.