Vegetarians - you will ove this child

[Miss Chicken]

Vegetarians - you will love this child

I am a meat eater but I am very impressed by his reasoning. He is only three years old.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJNntUXyWvw[/yt]



I do feel a little guilty about loving to eat meat.

 

[Sephiroth]

*chewing on beef jerky* that's it, cause of this kid I'm doubling up on on beef for my next pot roast

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I do feel a little guilty about loving to eat meat.

I don't.

 

[Amaris]

I cried, too. What sweet reasoning. Even if you like to eat meat (which is fine), the little boy makes good points. For him, he doesn't want animals to die. He wants them to keep "standing up," and that's just adorable that he already cares so much and is so aware of things at the tender age of 3!

 

[Kelso]

That's sweet. I love his reasoning.

However, the ladies who make the two egg and sausage breakfast at Dollie's Farmhouse Restaurant make a compelling counter-argument.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Taste is a compelling reason for me to eat meat and it always over-rides most of my guilt.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm sure this child is quite a nice kid, and of course you should not deliberately want to make any child sad, but let's face it...you can't stop doing things just because it makes a kid cry.

Let the vegetarians have their own reasons for not eating meat - but you shouldn't feel obligated to go "D'oh! Eating meat makes this little boy cry, so therefore eating meat is wrong!" That's absurd, really.

That being said, here are the reasons I eat meat: 1) It tastes damn good. 2) I consider it safe. 3) It's not immoral - animals kill each other for food, so why shouldn't we? 4) Did I mention it tastes good?

Now of course this does not mean we should deliberately make animals suffer either. I would be all for a method that immediately and painlessly causes an animal's death so that they are not mistreated in the process of meat preparation. But that's another matter entirely. In the end...we, as meat eaters, are simply fulfilling our role in the food chain. I see no reason whatsoever to feel guilty. It's just the order of things, as it were.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Pain and suffering are the reasons I feel guilty about eating meat. I try to avoid eating animals that are factory farmed - I do wish that there stricter laws to identify what meat is truly free range.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Some might claim that by eating meat, we create demand for it, and therefore encourage animal killing. I say, nay-nay. For everyone who doesn't eat meat, there's someone who will. The demand will never cease, it will never even slack off a bit. There will always be meat eaters. If you don't eat it, someone else will.

 

[Amaris]

I'm sure this child is quite a nice kid, and of course you should not deliberately want to make any child sad, but let's face it...you can't stop doing things just because it makes a kid cry.

Well, sure, but I doubt they've stopped eating meat; though I would imagine they'll let the boy skip it.

Let the vegetarians have their own reasons for not eating meat - but you shouldn't feel obligated to go "D'oh! Eating meat makes this little boy cry, so therefore eating meat is wrong!" That's absurd, really.

I don't think anyone is saying that. I'm certainly not, and I am a vegetarian.

That being said, here are the reasons I eat meat: 1) It tastes damn good. 2) I consider it safe. 3) It's not immoral - animals kill each other for food, so why shouldn't we? 4) Did I mention it tastes good?

Now of course this does not mean we should deliberately make animals suffer either. I would be all for a method that immediately and painlessly causes an animal's death so that they are not mistreated in the process of meat preparation. But that's another matter entirely. In the end...we, as meat eaters, are simply fulfilling our role in the food chain. I see no reason whatsoever to feel guilty. It's just the order of things, as it were.

I can understand that, and we both agree when it comes to treating animals with less cruelty. It's one thing to eat meat, and it's another to make an animal needlessly suffer. We have the capacity for compassion, and I believe we should employ that compassion whenever possible.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Side note: Whenever I hear the word 'vegetarian' I think of a dazed Wile E. Coyote going "How do you do I am a vegetarian my name is mud...IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?!?!?"

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

A lot of things bothered me about vegetarianism for a long time, having lived in a variety of communities and had relatives in diverse cultures. Though I totally get it, not wanting to cause death and pain etc.. this article was compelling to me in that it articulated the tensions with culture that white people western vegetarianism IGNORES. Yeah it's annoying to post an article but I feel that I'd just be ripping it off to rephrase it at this point:

Veganism, Racism, Culture and Identity:

http://asen.org.au/publicationsnews.../2010/07/30/veganism-racism-culture-identity/

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I just watched the OP's video. That was really sweet of him, and very nice to see him develop a reasonable judgement call on what he feels he wants to eat and why. I found it interesting that the boy in the video was offered octopus to eat, especially considering how intelligent those creatures have been shown to be (and I'm not just talking about predicting football scores here).

Of late, I find myself eating less and less meat (although it's probably more to do with health reasons) and finding fruit and veg-based alternatives more tasty. Plus I've started getting a taste for quorn.



On a lighter note, I came across this SMBC strip earlier this month on the subject:

http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3105


Also, whenever discussions about choosing vegetarianism crop up, I am always reminded of A. Whitney Brown's famous reasoning:

I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals. I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Ron White on vegetarianism:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw4ZH2c-rOY[/yt]

 

[EmoBorg]

Ron White sounds like a comedian that relies on cheap ignorant jokes.


Morrissey should school him on vegetarianism

Morrissey PETA interview

 

[Relayer1]

Taste is a compelling reason for me to eat meat and it always over-rides most of my guilt.

I love meat. I just haven't eaten it for 29 years, because it's wrong.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ It's not wrong.

And pardon me if I can't seem to find any give-a-crap over what Morrissey or PETA think.

 

[bbailey861]

Some might claim that by eating meat, we create demand for it, and therefore encourage animal killing. I say, nay-nay.

I read this and had visions of John Pinette.

 

[Relayer1]

^ It's not wrong.

And pardon me if I can't seem to find any give-a-crap over what Morrissey or PETA think.

Eating meat for survival is OK - it's part of the natural order.

Eating meat because you like it is killing for pleasure. That's wrong.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Eating meat because you like it is killing for pleasure. That's wrong.

No on both counts. The consumer is not the one who killed the animal, they just eat the finished product. (You want to blame someone? Try the butcher, or whoever runs the meatpacking plants.) It's not the consumer's problem. The animal's already dead by the time it gets to them. Our hands are clean, as it were.

And even if it is killing for pleasure, so what? Like I said, we humans are at the top of the food chain. Animals are put on this planet FOR our pleasure. That sounds harsh, I know, but remember what I said - it's the order of things. Those animals higher on the food chain kill those who are lower, for food (and you better believe they enjoy it, too). It's a definite hierarchy, top to bottom. It's just how it IS.

And like I also said, it doesn't mean we should ABUSE animals or deliberately make them suffer. No one is suggesting that. Killing and eating an animal is not abuse. It's part of all life. It's just what we do. It's what ALL life forms do.

@bbailey: Yes, that was an intentional Pinette reference.