4:43 PM
Vegetarian
Most of us, including myself, grew up with families and in a society in which the eating of certain animals was completely normal, it was just “the way things are”, it was “natural” and “necessary”. These beliefs are backed by constant advertising assuring us that foods like hamburgers, bacon and chicken “nuggets” are copacetic, and that we need to eat the flesh of cows, pigs, fish and chickens in order to get the protein we need, along with drink the milk of cows to get calcium for strong bones.
Most of us are also not violent creatures, never intentionally hurting or oppressing other people, and we actually have a tendency to show compassion for others, despite the lack of encouragement for such behavior by this current socioeconomic system, that corrupts human nature to fit a for-profit, money-dependent “dog-eat-dog” worldview.
Speaking of dog-eat-dog, or cannibalism, most humans would find the idea of eating another human extremely grotesque, and why is that? Common answers would probably include: “It’s not natural”, “It’s unethical” and “It’s completely unnecessary.” Interestingly, these are the same answers given by many people, now including myself, as to why they have stopped eating animal products. “But that’s totally different”, you may immediately object. And in the past, I would have agreed with you. Yet now I know that the daily massive violence towards other animals that are sentient, have emotions, suffer and feel pain, is really no different from eating another human, from an ethical perspective. If you don’t need to kill another sentient creature for your survival, does how many legs it has, or how smart it is have any ethical relevance? No. If it did, then we would find no objection to enslaving and murdering the mentally handicapped. All that is relevant is that they can suffer, feel pain and they want to live. The ethical imperative is to respect the right to life and freedom from violence, of other sentient creatures. To love your dog or cat but pay for people to enslave and murder pigs, chickens and cows so you can eat them is a moral contradiction. In most people’s minds this contradiction is “resolved” by the belief, which again has been force-fed to humanity, like a force-fed goose that will become foie-gras, that eating animal products is needed for optimum health. Now how can that be if there are vegan Olympic athlete champions, vegan body builder champions and Ultimate Fighting champions? How can someone (Dave Scott) become an Ironman competition world-champion 6 years in a row on a vegan diet if it is somehow deficient in nutrients? Certainly these individuals have bodies in optimum health don’t they?
Humans don’t need to eat animal products for optimum health. Therefore the enslavement and murder of feeling/conscious beings for food is unethical, unjustifiable and uncaring.
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