RE: Slavery and eating animals
February 5, 2015 at 9:29 pm
(This post was last modified: February 5, 2015 at 9:59 pm by Regina.)
To be honest, I think the idea of creating a world where nobody eats meat to be over idealistic and actually ignorant. I'll explain why...
Animals are affected by everything we do. If in fact you are living in a house (supplied by gas and electricity), driving a car (again supplied by gas), purchasing material good made in a factory, you're part of the problem too. How much land was taken away to build your house? How much resources do you use everyday that we have to destroy the environment and animal habitats for? But somehow you're better? There's no way the animals are going to escape totally unscathed unless we all went to live naked out in the forest.
I agree that meat should be regulated certainly, the western diet is causing a whole plethora of environmental and ecological issues do to our over-eating of meat. But really it's not realistic (or even good) to completely for-go meat. It's not stopping animals from losing their habitats, natural ways of life or their lives if we stop eating them. In fact it could actually be argued eating them at least gives them a relatively quick death, if killed humanely.
If, in a hypothetical situation, we were to convince everyone to become vegans, that would also create more problems - because we have to grow more fruits, veggies, grain. That takes land, resources, we'd still be pumping those crops full of hormones so we have enough. It doesn't solve the problem.
There's also a difference between slaves and animals. I certainly think animals should have rights and, if we're going to kill them, it should be as swift and painless death as possible. However, slaves are not animals, they're humans. Animals don't possess the intelligence humans have.
I don't have a problem with individuals taking the vegetarian/vegan diet at all, for health reasons or even religious reasons. However this holier-than-thou attitude of "I'm morally superior because you're a meat eater" is tried. You're not suddenly out the picture just because you don't eat meat. If you want to do 100% your part, ditch your house, car, tools, the lot, go live out in the wilderness. While you're out there, just remember you'll be very close to predators who would eat you, but they don't hesitate.
Long post but that's my two cents.
Animals are affected by everything we do. If in fact you are living in a house (supplied by gas and electricity), driving a car (again supplied by gas), purchasing material good made in a factory, you're part of the problem too. How much land was taken away to build your house? How much resources do you use everyday that we have to destroy the environment and animal habitats for? But somehow you're better? There's no way the animals are going to escape totally unscathed unless we all went to live naked out in the forest.
I agree that meat should be regulated certainly, the western diet is causing a whole plethora of environmental and ecological issues do to our over-eating of meat. But really it's not realistic (or even good) to completely for-go meat. It's not stopping animals from losing their habitats, natural ways of life or their lives if we stop eating them. In fact it could actually be argued eating them at least gives them a relatively quick death, if killed humanely.
If, in a hypothetical situation, we were to convince everyone to become vegans, that would also create more problems - because we have to grow more fruits, veggies, grain. That takes land, resources, we'd still be pumping those crops full of hormones so we have enough. It doesn't solve the problem.
There's also a difference between slaves and animals. I certainly think animals should have rights and, if we're going to kill them, it should be as swift and painless death as possible. However, slaves are not animals, they're humans. Animals don't possess the intelligence humans have.
I don't have a problem with individuals taking the vegetarian/vegan diet at all, for health reasons or even religious reasons. However this holier-than-thou attitude of "I'm morally superior because you're a meat eater" is tried. You're not suddenly out the picture just because you don't eat meat. If you want to do 100% your part, ditch your house, car, tools, the lot, go live out in the wilderness. While you're out there, just remember you'll be very close to predators who would eat you, but they don't hesitate.
Long post but that's my two cents.
"Adulthood is like looking both ways before you cross the road, and then getting hit by an airplane" - sarcasm_only
"Ironically like the nativist far-Right, which despises multiculturalism, but benefits from its ideas of difference to scapegoat the other and to promote its own white identity politics; these postmodernists, leftists, feminists and liberals also use multiculturalism, to side with the oppressor, by demanding respect and tolerance for oppression characterised as 'difference', no matter how intolerable." - Maryam Namazie
"Ironically like the nativist far-Right, which despises multiculturalism, but benefits from its ideas of difference to scapegoat the other and to promote its own white identity politics; these postmodernists, leftists, feminists and liberals also use multiculturalism, to side with the oppressor, by demanding respect and tolerance for oppression characterised as 'difference', no matter how intolerable." - Maryam Namazie
