One for the vegetarians and vegans, can you dig it?!

Your question assumes that ALL vegetarians and vegans believe that eating meat is "immoral". I'm vegan, however I disagree with this statement because I don't believe in the idea of a set universal standard of ethics. Personally, I don't want to eat meat, and I have an aversion to dead animal being around me as well as an aversion to the shaky integrity of the meat industry...but otherwise I wouldnt call someone morally incorrect for eating it. I was raised to eat meat and came to the conclusion of veganism on my own, I'd feel weird disliking people if they havent reached the same conclusion for themselves.

Anyway, there are many ethical reasons to be vegetarian or vegan. I agree with many of them, but I wouldnt consider a person immoral if they didnt (unless of course they only ate meat for the purpose of causing harm..if that makes sense?).

One major ethical reason for most vegetarians is the treatment of the animals. This is mainly because of the abilities of animals to feel pain, fear...and be generally conscious. One argument I've heard concerning this is "if you wouldn't hang a kitten upside-down and slit its throat to drain, why would that be the standard execution for chickens, cows, pigs and the like?" Essentially, the idea that one species of animal is more worthy of better treatment than another is speciesism; another reasons why people are "ethical vegetarians."

Another major ethical concern is the impact that factory farming has on our environment.

"Animals fed on grain and those which rely on grazing need more water than grain crops.[10] According to the USDA, growing crops for farm animals requires nearly half of the U.S. water supply and 80% of its agricultural land. Animals raised for food in the U.S. consume 90% of the soy crop, 80% of the corn crop, and 70% of its grain.[11] In tracking food animal production from the feed through to the dinner table, the inefficiencies of meat, milk and egg production range from a 4:1 energy input to protein output ratio up to 54:1.[12] The result is that producing animal-based food is typically much less efficient than the harvesting of grains, vegetables, legumes, seeds and fruits, though this might not be true to the same extent for animal husbandry in the developing world where factory farming is almost non existent, making animal-based food much more sustainable."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment…

For me personally, one of the many ethical reasons why I'm vegan is due to my disdain for the idea of Anthropocentrism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocen…

Any more Q's, feel free to ask.

Dear Hunter,
It would be worthy to note that 10 times the land is needed to support a omnivorous diet, meaning 10 times the crops needed to be grown harvested and shipped, and many more times the amount of oil and water required to do it all. This also means that 10 times the amount of insects, rodents and other creatures you seem so concerned about would need to die in order to provide for an omnivore. This is simply because the cows, chickens and pigs you eat must also be supplied with food and water before they are slaughtered. Which requires land and the other resources mentioned. Pot. Kettle. Black.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Aug…

For the same reason you likely feel it immoral to eat human meat or enslave humans for the purpose of industrializing products made of their bodily functions.

I feel that the treatment of sentient creatures as THINGS is ethically abominable,
which is the most simplified imperative I can state that informs my actions.

People are free to chose what they will eat and wont eat and I respect that fully. Its when the vegans and vegetarians start looking down their noses at meat eating types as if they are the scum of the earth that bugs me.

Power to ya i say, just don't wheeze on my gig and i wont wheeze on yours

its quite simple for me. the way the animals in the meat industry are treated is what i would consider hell, and i wouldnt wish that on anyone or anything so i refuse to support it. [i also went veggie for health and environmental reasons, but i think thats irrelevant to the question so i wont go into more detail.]

PS just to answer onthis side of your question as opposed to the philosophy one, Deer hunter for the most part spews out the same ill-thought arguements in an attempt to de-rail, he/she is essentially a troll (similarly some vegetarians do so here too & make sweeping statements). But at times he/she keeps us grounded & provides the other view

Here are some amazing reads in favor of veganism on a moral basis. Enjoy :)

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/the-moral-foundations-of-eating-animals/
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/the-ecological-case-for-social-equality/
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/veganism-a-path-not-a-destination/

http://www.onegreenplanet.org

I have never thought of it as of moral/immoral issue.. still.. I think it's cruel. At least, I've lived in a village for long and I've seen what they do to animals... it's cruel and disgusting. The animal FEARS and feels what's going to happen.. For as long as this isn't threatening my own life, I won't kill animals or eat killed animals..

Well first off it just grosses me out. Eating the reproductive waist of a chicken, or a cow's dead body. Secondly, I just don't believe animals are here for our use. There is no need to eat them or their byproducts when I can easily find my nutrients elsewhere.

The vegetarians I know are against the way the animals live before slaughter and the slaughter itself. They aren't actually against meat, just the way we go about getting it.

I have never once said eating meat is immoral.

Vegetarian since birth

Bcos animals go through a lot of pain when you slaughter them. They have a right to live and enjoy this world like we humans do. :)

I don't think it's immoral as whole. I think God told Adam and eve that they could eat of any plant in the Garden of Eden. I think, after the flood, God told Noah and his family that they could eat meat. Daniel spends a year not eating meat to better himself for the king. Paul talks of not eating something as it might harm another and to be respectful of others' dietary choices.

I'm not against eating meat. As I'm the only vegan I know, that would be quite hypocritical. (My sister-in-law is a vegetarian, but she isn't discerning. She will go to McDonald's [a place that I don't consider worthy enough for my rare coffee-out money] and not care if the employee picked the chicken out of the salad [and probably dirty bare handed]. She'd probably eat the fries deep fried in beef fat. I'm much more discerning than hat.) My husband eats meat. I have (very reluctantly) agreed to let our three-year-old eat eggs, cheese and meat from the local meat market. It is owned by a family who raises their cows truly free range and truly organically. They buy their other products from other local farms with similar values as theirs. (They are one of four suppliers to the Ohio Whole Foods stores.) I have told him why I don't eat meat and his reasons for raising his cows the way he does is similar. (I have heard that factory farms have tried and come in, but the locals have successfully protested and prevented them.) In our church there is also a dairy farmer. She knows why I'm vegan as well. She understands it, too. We like and respect each other. (The dairy farmer has become my daughter's surrogate grandmother. Both families are members of the church of which my is a pastor.)

For me, I couldn't eat meat guilt free after learning about factory farms and not knowing from where my meat came. (I had told my friend that if Whole Foods was in Columbus [where I lived at the time I became vegan] when I became vegan, I would have gone there. However, at the time truly organic and truly free range meat was hard to come by.) Eventually, I became vegan for the same reasons.

It wasn't until I became a mother (and fully breastfed my baby) that I began to think how odd it is that humans drink the milk of other species. We are the only species that does it. Again, I will not say that it's wrong for all. I will just say that it is wrong for me. (My daughter drinks organic soy milk. She was fully weaned by two years, ten months.) I also got new respect for dairy cows when I pumped my milk. They have no choice to do that. I do and it's neither comfortable nor fun. (The few times I have done it was to have a reserve when I planned on drinking.)

My husband understands and respects my decisions. This is why I cannot say it is wrong for all.

I hope my thoughts have been coherent. Since I started typing this my son woke up, I changed a diaper and he started nursing, we delt with gas and he's eating again.

I personally object to consuming the dead flesh of other living creatures because of the way they were treated prior to slaughter, the way they were slaughtered, and the fact that consuming meat contributes to the abuse and exploitation of other sentient beings. I used to be able to push it away out of my conscience, but I had a revelation and mended my ways. People need to realize the double standard they apply to animals they find appealing, such as a pet dog or cat, and feeding into a business that makes money off of the suffering of other animals seen as food.

The more I thought about it, the more and more I was disgusted at the thought of eating the dead flesh of another, once living creature. Nothing about meat smells delectable to me anymore and I regret all the years I ate meat.

I also find it sad that users like Deer hunter like to try and divert attention from themselves in
order to protect their selfish desires.

Deer hunter:
I admit that animals, such as insects and sometimes rabbits, get killed in the process of harvesting, but your argument holds absolutely no substance. You admit to killing and consuming animals, that you think its perfectly natural, and you probably contribute to factory farms or wildlife terrorism knowingly and are fine about it. The fact that you're pointing fingers at us is ridiculous, we acknowledge that sometimes an animal is killed when grains are harvested but that doesn't hold a candle to the amount of animals tortured and slaughtered for omnivorous people. Its like Hitler lecturing Jeffrey Dahmer because he was a serial killer. The irony of each and every statement you post here makes me laugh.

Being a vegetarian or a vegan indisputably decreases cruelty and exploitation of livestock, or are you going to claim that because a grasshopper or a rabbit was killed every once in a while during a harvest that we are just as much as a cold blooded corpse munching killer as you are while you sit high and mighty with a gun or a hamburger in front of your face. You seem like the kind of person who thinks deep down that because meat tastes good it doesn't matter where it comes from. Now that, is a selfish desire and moral cowardice. You're a good one to talk about propoganda when all you do is sit here and spew the same unsupported trash as some of the militant vegan/vegetarian trolls here like to do. And by the way, everyone has selfish desires, people like you however are the ones who choose to act on them and disregard the impact they will have on the planet for the rest of time.

Many vegans say its immoral to eat meat (because animals die) and criticize and condemn those that do. But for a vegans diet Trillions of insects are killed each year from pesticides and countless other animals like moles, mice, rabbits, birds, turtles, snakes and others are killed every year from planting, harvesting, and shipping the very foods that vegans eat. Pot, Kettle, Black.

Don't spew your false vegan propaganda numbers at me DNA. Anything can be written down. The bottom line is I KNOW and accept that animals die for my food. Maybe vegans should do the same. They can't call omnivores corpse munchers, murderers, and heartless while their diet also kills. Regardless of the number ratio. A Death for a diet is a Death for a diet. Go find some vegan propaganda to dispute that young lady!!!!!!!

And Colleen, I don't divert attention from myself in order to protect my selfish desires. First I openly admit my diet kills animals. And while eating is a desire, it also needs to be done to stay alive. And I believe eating meat is healthy and natural. Nature agrees. And yes your diet also kills animals, by your logic you are also a person that has selfish desires.

i dont necseaarily think its 'immoral' to eat meat, its pretty natural
but i think its absolutely disgustingly immoral to torture animals or any living being for our own needs
and we do that for food, so my way of not beign part of that, is being veggie

we do not respect other living creatures as we should
and that is soemthing i think is pretty important enough to make my whole life different from learning about how we treat them






additional

i find it really a shame that every time i come here i get tds for being honest

im a veggie and cos i dont agree with all the veggies about everything, i and others, get constant tds,

what does that say about veggies?
its not a great reprasentation of us,

come on guys and gals why make peopel think we are fundies when we arent???

why not show them who we really are, caring, empathetic, nice peopel
;-)

read the definition of animal rights here---(it answers your question)
http://wayfaringvegans.weebly.com/