Vegetarians - you will ove this child

[Amaris]

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

Eating a salad because you enjoy it is killing plants for pleasure then.

Nope - that's for survival. Eating vegetables is hardly a pleasure...

Given a choice of food source I'll go with the lower end of the developmental scale. I'm unsure how 'aware' molluscs are. Applying that criteria to vegetables doesn't give me much to worry about.

I don't eat anything with a shadow.

 

[Emher]

So...you live on air? I'm not trying to be glib or anything, but even a cucumber has a shadow.

 

[Relayer1]

During biology class in high school my classmates did not want to put the animals to sleep for vivisection, so I chloroformed them, ducks, rabbits and frogs.

Vivisection ? In schools ?

 

[Tora Ziyal]

^ I dissected a frog in high school biology in the '60's.

Nice timing: this NYT article about part-time veganism showed up on my Facebook feed right after I posted above.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I don't eat anything with a shadow.

Level 5 vegans... they're everywhere.

 

[Amaris]

So...you live on air? I'm not trying to be glib or anything, but even a cucumber has a shadow.

Nah, it's just a joke.
It's from an episode of the Simpsons, where Lisa meets a "Level 5 Vegan" and he claims he doesn't eat anything with a shadow. I was attempting to show my ass, thank you very much.

I don't eat anything with a shadow.

Level 5 vegans... they're everywhere.

w00t! Simpsons in the hizzouse!

 

[Venardhi]

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.

That's been my experience, too.

I think they're just more "in your face" and loud about it, using it as jokes and such. By percentages, the passive-aggressive "Do you have to eat that where I have to smell it?" vegans are certainly no scarce creature.

 

[scotpens]

I dissected a frog in high school biology in the '60's.

So did I. The frogs were pithed, as described in Wiki:

. . . a procedure used in biology classes to immobilize a specimen, for instance a frog, by inserting a needle up through the base of the skull (from the back) and then wiggling the needle around, destroying the brain. It allows for dissecting the frog, as well as observing its living physiology, such as the beating heart and expansion and contraction of the lungs, without causing unnecessary pain to the animal. The specimen remains living because respiration continues through the skin without cerebral control.

Gary Larson pitched pithed frogs in a Far Side cartoon. The husband frog is driving erratically, causing his wife to complain, "Honey, you're driving like you're pithed."

As far as I can remember, no one in the class expressed any ethical objection to the dissection of living but insensible frogs.

 

[Relayer1]

What about the ducks and rabbits ? Does that still happen in schools ?

 

[Thestral]

^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.)

Sounds like cool people, good for them.

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.

Oh, that's a good point actually. I don't know if I'd thought of that before.

What about the ducks and rabbits ? Does that still happen in schools ?

When I was in high school aside from the frog we dissected a fetal pig and (in AP Bio) a shark.

 

[Relayer1]

We did cows eyes and other parts. It's not that that bothers me particularly. It's kids vivisecting (note vivisecting, not disecting) animals and being told it's O.K. to do so that bothers the hell out of me. Particularly higher order creatures like rabbits and birds.

 

[Captrek]

The ducks and rabbits were dead before dissection. The frogs still had moving parts but were dead by chloroform.

"Vivisection" was my poor word choice. I was helping Comet post and I misunderstood what she was telling me, and since English isn't her first language she didn't catch my error.

Now she's mad at me for making her look bad.

 

[Relayer1]

Understood ! Yes, there,s a big difference.

Vivisection's a very controversial subject in the U.K., maybe not so much elsewhere, but it certainly gets people upset over here.