Vegetarians - you will ove this child

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by Miss Chicken, Sep 14, 2013.

  1. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Oh, gods, I love John Pinette. Is he not the most adorable person ever? :lol:

    I've watched both of his specials on Netflix, and he never fails to crack me up.
     
  2. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    YOU BEEN HERE FOUR HOUR!!!! :guffaw:
     
  3. Locutus of Bored

    Locutus of Bored Yo, Dawg! I Heard You Like Avatars... In Memoriam

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    I always love when people get so defensive about vegetarians and vegans as if there's any possibility of them forcing you not to eat meat any time in the near future. MLB has to relentlessly beat their philosophy into the ground in every second post like he thinks the "meat is murder" stormtroopers could come kicking down his door at any moment, even though no one is pushing anything on him. I feel like asking him to point to the spot on the cucumber where the vegetarian touched him.

    Yeah, some of the more fanatical ones who criticize or attack people who eat meat can be obnoxious, just as zealots of any type can be, but the people who go over the top deriding vegetarians and vegans in general are just as irritating. They're not a threat to your way of life. They're a mild nuisance, at worst, and have no chance of denying you your right to eat bacon anytime soon. Relax.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2013
  4. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I swear, I could listen to him talk about food all day. The man loves his food.

    "They have a show called 'Cake Boss'. This man is the BOSS of cake! You are the boss of cake?! I did not know you could arbitrarily make yourself the boss of a food!" :lol:

    True. I have the opposite problem, myself. When I tell people I'm vegetarian (as in, we're having a cookout, do you want cheese on your burger?), they act like I'm the survivor of a terrible train wreck or something, followed up by the inevitable, "can you have chicken?" :D

    Still, most people don't seem to have a problem with it (though it makes a few self-conscious, and I have to tell them I'm not some kind of judgmental person. Eat meat if you like it!), but there are always the ones who, upon hearing I'm a vegetarian, will say "Yeah? Well I love meat," in such a way as to dare me to challenge them on their bacon supremacy.

    My response is just, "Well... okay." :lol:
     
  5. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    If you're going to blame someone, blame our hominid ancestors who began hunting animals and eating meat four million years ago.

    Besides, you know who was a vegetarian? HITLER! :p
     
  6. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    You are in effect paying someone to do it for you - you still have responsibility.

    Nothing has been put here 'for our pleasure'. There is no divine right - we just evolved to be more intelligent.

    We have also evolved empathy and compassion - why kill something when you don't need to ?

    If we are to feed the coming generations we must move away from meat as a foodstuff as it wastes 90% of the crop - you only get around 10% of what you put in as animal feed out as meat.

    I have no doubts that you do not wish to inflict suffering on animals, nor do I think you are some sort of monster. Most of my friends and family eat meat and they certainly aren't bad people. I do, however, think that they are so conditioned by the 'normality' of meat-eating that they don't really question it though.

    I certainly didn't for many years, and as I said, I liked my meat...
     
  7. Kemaiku

    Kemaiku Admiral Admiral

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    The deliciously, sauce covered, tasty kind of wrong. Man that pork burger I had for dinner might send me to hell, but what a fantastic way to get there.
     
  8. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    To be fair, relayer1, we are omnivores. Our digestive system handles both plant and animal matter. It's not like most people are just killing animals out of spite. The fact that we can choose to abstain from eating animals and still function properly is a nice side effect of that, but eating meat isn't "wrong."

    There are no moral quandaries to eating meat, only ethical ones, and the ethics I do see as part of the problem pertain more to waste and abuse than the act of consuming animal flesh.
     
  9. Timelord Victorious

    Timelord Victorious Vice Admiral Admiral

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    These are essentially the best arguments for not eating meat anymore.

    Also, the only reason the meat industry is doing those horrid animal abuse and inhumane killing is because they want to produce meat for the high demand as cheaply as possible.
    If the demand were less they wouldn't do it. So eating the animal is causing them indirectly to suffer and die.

    As with all things, more education and awareness is needed to change peoples minds, not judgemental fanatism.
     
  10. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    As my Mother says, just because you can doesn't mean you should !

    The fact that we can digest meat doesn't make it right. To be fair, in a survival situation I would eat meat without any hesitation. I just can't see the justification for killing when there is no need to.
     
  11. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Meat is a part of the overall human diet. Again, that we can go without eating meat is a nice side effect of our omnivorous nature, but not everyone can do it, and neither should they necessarily do so. "Right" and "wrong" doesn't even play into it, only degrees of ethicality.

    On the ethical side of things, we can treat our food supply with a little more respect. We do have the capacity for higher reasoning. Nature designed our bodies for the cutting and tearing of meat, along with the consumption of plants, yes, but, we don't have to be cruel. Humans can still eat meat without causing undue harm on the environment or the animal population. I'm fully behind food ethics, but saying that eating meat is wrong? No, that has no basis in fact. It is simply an opinion that you hold, and that's fine, but judging others for eating meat, something their bodies are designed to do, that is wrong.
     
  12. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    Seriously, this shit gets so annoying. My sisters are both vegans, and my older sister is raising my nephews vegan; the shit they get is unbelievable! Sure, extremists like PETA deserve most of the flak they get, but I find the hypocrisy of those who scoff at vegetarianism even more obnoxious. Why on earth do people become morally outraged over another's choice not to eat meat? In my experience living with vegans it is far more common for meat-eaters to harass and pressure vegans and vegetarians about their dietary choices than the other way around.

    Personally, I do eat meat, because it's fucking delicious. I love steak, I love lobster, I love a surf and turf dinner. But I eat it only very rarely, because it is not very healthy (and don't give me shit about how we need meat to be healthy: vegetarians have a longer life-expectancy and lower rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer than meat-eaters, and the rates are directly correlated to how much meat people eat) it's expensive, and there are legit environmental/economical reasons not to eat it -- though to be honest, I don't care about those as much as I probably should. I don't think it is wrong to eat meat, but that doesn't mean I can't understand why people like Relayer, and my sisters do. My younger sister takes veganism very seriously. She does not use any product that comes from an animal; this includes honey and wearing pearls. This may seem extreme to some, but it makes sense given her morals: she believes that exploiting animals for any purpose is wrong, whether or not the animal suffers for that exploitation.

    The way I see it, the moral line here is completely fucking arbitrary. Animals in the wild suffer horrible deaths to become food for other animals. Does this mean it is morally right for them to suffer to become our food? Or is it morally right for us to kill them with as little suffering as possible, because we can? Or is it morally right to refrain from killing them altogether, assuming we have the luxury of living without exploiting animals? Everyone draws their line where thy will, and I don't see why it's anyone else's business.

    I think it all comes back to the fucking Diet Police: everyone thinks they know best how other people should eat. Well, that's stupid as hell. Don't you have more important things to be angry about than Relayer choosing the seitan bacon over the dead pig?
     
  13. iguana_tonante

    iguana_tonante Admiral Admiral

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    I eat meat and I have no ethical concerns about it. I have concerns about the treatment of animals, and I have concerns about the environmental toll of the meat industry, but that's another story.

    Still, these

    have to be the most morally bankrupt arguments I ever saw regarding this topic.

    On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have this:

    Quoted because it is worth repeating.
     
  14. Venardhi

    Venardhi Vice Admiral Admiral

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    More animals were killed to put a loaf of bread on your table than for your last steak.

    The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Eat big delicious animals, save lives.
     
  15. Miss Chicken

    Miss Chicken Little three legged cat with attitude Admiral

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    I used to get the same sort of pressure because I don't drink alcohol. Except for declaring my own house 'alcohol-free' I have no problem with other people drinking alcohol sensibly so I can't understans why they get upset over me beinga teetotaller.

    I have, over the years, several friends who are vegetarians. I have no problems with the making that choice and I can understand how frustrating it must be for them when we eat out because often there aren't enough choices for vegetarians on menus though this has improved somewhat over the years. I don't think any of my friends have been vegans.
     
  16. Thestral

    Thestral Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Though within this thread we have an equal number of meat eaters and non-meat-eaters getting morally righteous about their dietary choice.

    Personally each to their own. The "sanctity of life" argument's never held for me, because plants are alive too. Though it's just that arbitrary line that you're talking about. ;) Unfortunately I do have a negative view of veganism because the extreme of it just seems over the top to me and the only vegans I've met are the arrogant condescending type... but of course not everybody's like that.
     
  17. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    ^Yeah, my sisters couldn't be further from that. My little sister will patiently explain her reasoning if anyone asks, but even though being vegan is a very important part of her life and identity, she never makes it the topic of conversation, never pushes it upon others, and I've never felt judged by her or any of her (massive group) of vegan friends. (She spends a lot of time socializing on vegan message boards and even met her boyfriend through one.)

    I don't really see veganism as being extreme, in fact, it's pretty reasonable and more consistent than vegetarianism, I think. You have one simple premise: don't exploit animals. Don't use any product made by or from animals. Easy peasy. The only time I ever got into any kind of debate with my sister over her veganism was when I argued that it is a privileged choice, that some people cannot live without using animals in some way or another. I eventually convinced her of the truth of this, and peace was restored.

    I know there are vegans of the fanatical and arrogant type you've encountered, but through my sister I've met a huge number, and none of them have ever been like that to me.
     
  18. Captain Kathryn

    Captain Kathryn Commodore Commodore

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    I'm a vegetarian (formerly vegan) and I do not feel the need to tell anybody what to eat or to tell anybody why I eat what I eat. I don't care what you eat as long as you don't care what I eat. XD

    Just saying.
     
  19. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    That's what it should be, IMO as well.
     
  20. Captain Kathryn

    Captain Kathryn Commodore Commodore

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    A lot of people at my work find it amusing to make fun of me...but I still see no reason to make fun of what others eat. If you do not mind me saying...I really do not give a s#&t. :D

    I've been vegan for 5+ years of my life, and have been vegetarian for about 11 years of my life.