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Originally Posted by Stephen  I think you will probably find that the book was sponsored by some Meat Industry money, they usually are. if not, no matter. The idea is flawed. |
I wish I rememberd the name of the book -- it was a guy who was against the meat industry and against the organic food industry, for what I could tell!
And as far as "kindergarten thinking," I found the argument interesting because it illustrates severeal human tendencies: one, to ignore things we don't want to think about; and two, to create elaborate justifications.
I maintain that, while it's an interesting philosophical exercise to argue all the surface discrepencies in various beliefs, there's a point where you need to throw out the microscope and take a balanced, and wholistic view. Or else it will be impossible to maintain a sense of compassion -- towards yourself for not being able to follow all of these rules, towards others for for not being willing to consider the same view, to the world that you're ignoring because your too busy worrying about whether your every action is right or wrong.
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Originally Posted by Mneumosyn If you're going to be vegan, it only makes sense to me if you're doing it for health reasons.
If you're vegan because you're concerned about killing animals, then should you not also be concerned about the plant life you kill? And where do you draw the line? What about the animals that were inadvertantly killed because they don't have anywhere to live or anything to eat because their natural habitat has been paved over for that new shopping center? |
Has anybody talked about pain vs. death in this topic yet? What a lot of Americans vegetarians have against eating meat is that the animals are not only slaughtered inhumanely, but that they live lives of repression and pain. People don't want to contribute to that. Which, conversely, is why organic meats are becoming so popular.
On a complete side note, I saw the local taco place refilling their sour cream dispensers from this huge vat of sour cream the other day. Why does that sound so gross when a vat of applesauce or melon balls doesn't?