Atheism and vegetarianism

[The Omnissiunt One]

So you eat rice and broccoli? That stuff that just gets in the way of the meat? Insanity! I don't understand why a person wouldn't eat pigs , cows, deer etc., but would eat fish. I can't see the difference between killing a cow for the purpose of consuming it flesh, and killing a fish, crab or whatever for the same purpose.

As EvF says, fish have a less developed nervous system. Also, most fish are taken from their natural environment, unlike, say, battery farmed chickens. I don't pretend pesecetarianism is totally morally justifiable, but it is more justifiable than a totally omnivorous diet.

Fuck that, i like meat, we evolved to digest meat, therefore i eat meat.

I couldn't give a shit what happens to these 'bread-to-die' animals.

Charming. Of course, if you deny any moral values whatsoever, then it'd be very hard to persuade you that this is wrong. If, however, you'd be disgusted if we battery farmed babies or the mentally disabled, then you inevitably have to take the same attitude towards other animals of a similar mental capacity. Otherwise, the moral distinction is arbitrary.

As for killing per se, I don't have any particular problem with the killing of fish, chickens, ducks, and maybe cows. Some animals, like dolphins, chimps and maybe pigs, I would say have what the ethicist Peter Singer calls 'personhood'. They recognise themselves as existing over time and can to some extent plan for the future, so killing them violates their interests.