are vegetarians more ethical by not eating meat?

[littleendian]

One claim made by vegetarians is that it is people should not kill and eat animals because it is unethical. I believe it is just as ethical to be a meat eater if not more ethical.

It is ethical if it is necessary. A wolf could never be unethical for eating his prey because otherwise it means death for him. However if it is not necessary for humans to eat meat then it enters a moral arena, and that I (and many other vegans) are still alive and healthier than ever is proof that it is not necessary.

1- animals are consumers which feed on plants. They have adapted by consuming plants that make sugars and feeding themselves (most of them). Therefore under deontological theory they have broken a duty which is when we define it as unethical. This action was taken on a free agents choice to kill and consume the life of the plants which have not broken the ethical theory.

Others breaking ethical laws does not releave us from adhering to ethics. Also, plants do not have a central nervous system, therefore have no capacity to feel pain. Plus it is necessary for the animals to eat these plants to survive, anything that one does if the alternative is death can never be unethical.

Therefore would it not be ethical to consume the consumers do to the fact that willingly feed on other life (other meat eaters apply). Meaning we would no longer have decide whether to break the ethical code to kill and consume the consumer.

Just because there were human genocides in the past does not make it ethical to kill humans today, similar for rape or slavery or any other unethical behaviour for which you could name historical examples. "They did it first" is not a worthy response for a thinking person.

While this has be chosen to do so by us or else it would according to the 2nd dimension of categorical imperative be unethical because if not
freely acted then the alternative would be by force.

The animals we breed for slaughter were brought into life by our will and action, not their own, therefore from beginning to end we bear the moral responsibility for these bred animals and the consequences of their existance.

2-if you were making a choice to deprive yourself from meat you would still be taking innocent life.

Very true, but there is a strong ethical difference between self-defense or the necessity for suvival and killing simply because one enjoys eating meat, which is exactly what is happening. Also, as plants have no central nervous system killing them is not unethical. Have you ever heard a pig scream for its life?

A life that has adapted to being reliant upon it's self. You also are in a sense approving of self-destruction by neglect to necessary nutrition.

You can actually be healthier on a vegan diet. Try eating only meat for a week and you will get terribly sick, I bet you will be dead by the end of the year. There are vegan triathletes which completely disproves that there is anything lacking in a vegan diet. We have only been brainwashed by industry to believe we need animal protein, perversely it seems likely that it even makes us sick. I won't go into the details about B12, which has nothing in-and-of-itself to do with animal or plant foods.

So what do you think?

A genuine thanks for making me reflect about this again, but I've only become more convinced about the rationality of veganism. Anything else is just residue from the Christian dogma and the dark ages.