Any Vegetarians/Vegans here?

[bennyboy]

if an animal doesn;t want to be killed then it shouldn't be killed

So... what? Lions and cheetahs and wolves and sharks and eagles and every other carnivore ever only gets to eat suicidal prey animals?

That's not how life works. Animals get killed and eaten regardless of whether they want to be killed and eaten.

That argument is weak. Humans are different, because we are sufficiently developed to comprehend and care about the suffering of others. We are also so advanced that we can grow and even synthesize alternatives to meat if we choose to do so. What if I kill another person and say, "Well, judge, apparently it's in my nature to kill others. That's just the way the world is." Would this work? Of course not! People are expected to recognize the value of others, and to avoid inflicting suffering on them. The question is whether that same umbrella of comprehension and respect should apply to other entities we know are capable of suffering. I don't see any particular reason why not; what makes the value of human suffering important, but that of other animals unimportant?

The reality is this. We know that eating meat involves horrible living conditions and an unwanted death of an organism (unwanted by it, that is). We make a choice between saving that suffering and having that Big Mac, and choose the Big Mac. But there's nothing natural about it.