[spastichero]

I'm having an inner struggle over whether or not meat is murder. Sometimes it goes deeper than that, and I have an inner struggle over whether or not I care about whether meat is murder. I have turned down steak for the past few days, and it has brought me no joy at being a moral child of morals at all! Does this mean I should not stop eating it because I have no reasons that are not moral?

[Bananer]

If we did not eat meat, we would have oh so many cows and pigs wandering the earth. I've never seen an animal be killed, and I am sure it is very gruesome. However, life without meat would be like...well...vegetarian....

Meat is good, don't knock the meat.

Meat contains protein which you need in your diet. Sure there are alternatives, but who wants those?

Not me, that's for sure.

[Ninja Duck]

Look at it this way: pigs (for example) are raised in farms, and there are hundreds upon hundreds pigs, because they are so useful to humans. If nobody ate pigs, nobody would farm them. If nobody farmed pigs, they would go off into the wild, where they would either live in very small populations or be killed by pollution and poaching. Because that what happens to animals that aren't cute or edible. They get killed by humans.

I guess it would be possible for pigs to become a pandemic like squirrels, but do we really need another species growing unchecked?

[Chefelf]

Vegetarians are often much more prone to sickness and that's no good!

Paul once brought something up while we were having a barbecue in my back yard during high school. It's kinda a slap in the face to cows that we kill them to eat them but we feel that they are not delicious enough so we cook their flesh, put it between some bread, season it, smother it with ketchup and mustard and pile on tomatoes and lettuce.

Cows would be pissed if they knew what was going down.

[WalrusOfPlastic]

Oh poop. That was me. Sorry.

[Chefelf]

I have no problem with locking up wild dogs. I have no problem locking up domesticated dogs.

And Walrus, you probably eat well. A lot of vegetarians are just bad at getting the right nutrients because it is kinda hard.

[civilian_number_two]

Hey,

A great many who eat meat do not eat enough fibre, do not get the right vitamins, have thick arteries and weak hearts. Many meat eaters are obese and the meat they eat is low-grade, usually factory chicken or processed hamburger, with the odd monoculture farmed tuna or salmon (from a can) thrown in for variety. Typically the only vegetable they eat is the lettuce on their burgers, and the only fruit the odd slice of tomato. these people are sick a lot of the time, and prone to diseases of the colon and the heart.

Both omnivores and vegetarians can lead healthy lives. Entire societies on this planet (Buddhists, Hindus) are founded on vegetarianism and the food they eat is varied and healthy and quite tasty (especially the Hindu diet, yumm). You can get your protein, by the way, without ever having to resort to supplements or tofu.

However, Chefelf, you are right that a great many North American vegetarians are more prone to sickness than the meat-eaters. I think this is because a good many North Americans use vegetarianism as a cover for annorexia and bulimia. They supplement their diet with cigarettes and candy, and so fail to get the necessary calories they need to survive, let alone the vitamins. A secondary theory is that many people drop meat from their diets without replacing the protein intelligently. I think to become vegetarian one should read about vegetarian dietics, though I don't think this is because it is "hard" to get the right nutrients from a vegetarian diet. It's just because a balanced omnivorous diet is known to all; it's in the pop culture. very little is known publicly about vegetarianism, so a little reading would help.

As for Ninja Duck's comment about how food animals would likely be endangered were it not that we eat them: I suspect this would be a good thing. The populations of those species are artificially high (like the human population), and the land cleared to raise animals has cost us large areas of wilderness and trees and has contributed to global warming. It is more efficient, space-wise, to raise crops than animals, and of course, the crops recycle the air, whereas the animals produce carbon dioxide and methane.

For the record, I like steak and am a total hypocrite on the issue of vegetarianism.

Mike.

[looktothesky]

Meat is technically murder, but everything has to die eventually. Being omnivores we would've killed any animal anyways. I just don't understand why animals are killed so gruesomely (ie. throat slitting, hanging, etc.)

[Heccubus]

As someone who was a vegetarian once, I can honestly say that meat is not murder. Murder is usually killing with malicious intent, and since we kill animals for the eating, I don't think it's murder. I started eating meat again because it's bloody (no pun intended) good. 'Nuff said.

[rogue_scholar]

I'm having an inner struggle over whether or not meat is murder. Sometimes it goes deeper than that, and I have an inner struggle over whether or not I care about whether meat is murder. I have turned down steak for the past few days, and it has brought me no joy at being a moral child of morals at all! Does this mean I should not stop eating it because I have no reasons that are not moral?

I'm actually not sure if I should call myself a vegetarian or not, because I have gone back to eating fish and don't believe in the idea that fish is not meat. It is.

I was an ovo-lacto vegetarian for a few years before I started eating fish again, and, no, I did not suffer from any health problems or experience weakness. I didn't believe that eating meat was murder when I stopped eating it (I just decided to stop for my own reasons), and I don't believe it's murder now.

The reasons I stopped had much to do with what you describe as an "inner struggle," which is kind of what I experienced when I stopped eating beef, poultry and pork, and still experience now whenever I even think of eating certain types of sea life. My advice to you, don't ignore this feeling you're having. I don't want to get too metaphysical about this because I don't want to seem like I'm imposing my spiritual beliefs on you, but if you're experiencing an inner struggle over something you are doing, perhaps you should stop whatever it is.

[WalrusOfPlastic]

Now see, I just don't get that. How is you eating something over letting it go to waste going to benifit starving Africans?

When confronted with the question, "How can you let that go to waste when people in Africa are starving to death?" I believe the only possible answer is, "You're right. Just a second and I'll FedEx it."

[barend]

a former flatmate of mine once said to me:
"If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have packed them full of meat."

i am an omnivor. i think to be healthy you should have a meat:vegetable ration of 1:2 and futher more meat should only be in one meal a day. you don't need that much.

i think it's a bit harsh on an individual to try and fit into a role. either you eat alot of meat or you eat hardly any. why does there have to be a lifestyle choice about it. especially one you can't truly maintain. vegitarian dishes are often cooked in animal fat, animal bi-products are in EVERYTHING (and traces of nut).

i say eat what ever and don't make a religion out of it. you didn't kill it. so don't feel so bad. those shoes you are wearing were made by some kid who gets paid $0.03 a week and will probable be shot dead for asking to use the bathroom.

so the meat issues not a real big deal.

[WalrusOfPlastic]

You have some good points in there though I wouldn't say I agree entirely. It's not all that harsh on all of us not to eat meat. I din't even like it in the first place and was delighted when I realized that if I became a vegetarian my parents couldn't make me eat chicken anymore. (I became a vegetarian quite a few years ago.)

I also don't really think that there are any shoulds about it. I don't think humans follow a formula life, with 1 part meat two parts vegetables. I don't know why we aren't all formulated like that but form observation, I really don't think we are.

I don't make a religion about it, like you said. I'm not alergic to animals and am perfectly willing to pick the pepperonis off my pizza. In that I pretty much agree.