Thanksgiving arrives every year with a heated debate over how to best cook that plump and juicy turkey. But the idea of a tofu turkey (also known as a “tofurkey”) has gone from a joke a couple years ago to a reality for many. While vegetarianism has been practiced for over a thousand years in some countries, it is a relatively new concept in the West. And so, with the question cropping up more and more often, should we eat meat?
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Yes, eating meat kills animals. Eating vegetables that come from big farms for mass production also kills animals. The last paragraph seems to state (and correct me if I'm wrong) that we should stop as much of the aminal killing as we can. Fair enough, we have a way that we can stop all the animal killing, by farming our own vegetables. If you live in an apartment, move!
It's clearly within our power, but it's not convinient, so the idea will be dismissed. Killing animals is a matter of convinience. Some people love the animals enough to stop eating them, but not enough to stop killing them from mass consumption crops.
- Kawlinz
December 8, 2008 4:21PM
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Plant-Eating Kills Plenty of Animals Too.
- From Consumer Freedom
By The Center for Consumer Freedom - Promoting Personal Responsibility
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Meat eating causes bad arguments like this one
This is one if not the most ridiculous arguments I've ever heard. First of all more plant foods are fed to animals raised for food than humans actually ever eat. So, giving up animal products will only lighten that consumption as well. Even if all humans switched to veggies.
So, let me ask you... are people that construct highways to blame for the accidents caused on those roads? Are car manufacturers or car sales people responsible for automobile related deaths?
Are you serious with this argument? If that's all you have to go on to convince people to keep consuming animal products you. You better go back to where you get your funding and do a little research on how to come up with real arguments.
- Phat P
August 15, 2008 6:57PM
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So should humans not eat plants?
Based on The Center for Consumer Freedom's argument, humans should stop eating vegetables and fruits.
Instead of using this as your argument, those who object eating meat may find a good solution to end all these killing of lives because of land clearing and reason that humans can actually find a solution to end all those unneeded killing.
Also, based on your other argument, eating meat ia a natural process. I do not disagree, but eating vegetables is also a natural process. Humans are not meant to kill to get food. It is only because our population is very big, that's why we need to clear the land. We can also find other alternatives so that we will not kill animals in the process of eating vegetables.
As experts, those opposing your p.o.v. may very quickly find an alternative. I do not think this argument makes great sense as you are contradicting your earlier arguments.
Humans have our rights, so do animals. Humans have their natural processes, so do animals.
- Rainie August 16, 2008 12:51AM
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Being a vegetarian or vegan's moral component is not what you think
Being a vegetarian or vegan has a moral component because right now in the human world, it is not about killing or not killing, but the way we treat the animals, unlike the natural processes in the wild.
We, humans, should not be ill-treating the animals, because they would live a good life in the wild before getting eaten by their predators. It is only fair that we stop eating until the farms agree to stop mistreating the animals.
- Rainie August 16, 2008 12:53AM
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Phat P has the right answer
While the other two comments are well-meaning, they get a little convoluted. The reality is that this argument is terribly flawed, because more crops are created and more natural habitat is destroyed in making way for sustaining the animals so many humans desire to eat. Less crops (therefore less land and fewer mice, gophers, etc killed) in a world where domesticated animals don't exist. Moving away from animal consumption alleviates this excess suffering on multiple levels.
Contrary to a previous comment, vegan morality is absolutely about killing. But it is about choosing the route of least suffering and working towards a life of no unnecessary harm. Eating meat is unnecessarily harming millions of small rodents who live in the crop fields, millions of animals displaced by deforestation, and millions of farmed animals.
I love that argument, because refuting it does such a great job of uncovering some of the most tragic and inconsistent behaviors of humankind.
- mike
August 16, 2008 8:08AM
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It's in the intent.
As Gary Francione puts it, it's in the intent. The highway example is perfect. Would we not build them since we know people will die? Of course not. It`s different choosing to kill, than the deaths of animals in the field when food is harvested. We are not intending to kill them, whereas in a slaughterhouse we are.
- mgalli
August 17, 2008 2:59PM
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Grass-Fed Beef argument answered
http://jgmatheny.org/matheny %202003.pdf
- Rog
August 18, 2008 9:42AM
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Veg*ns kill far fewer animals than nonvegans.
A plant-based diet is much more environmentally and ethically responsible than an animal-based diet. Eating as a vegetarian or vegan will kill far fewer plants than eating as an omnivore.
- ElaineVigneault
September 1, 2008 6:50PM
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Why meat?
Why vegetarian and not meat, why consuming plant base diet kill more animals and not the other way around.
It is not so much whether eating meat is more cruel than eating plant, to those who is being raise on meat and love biting on that morsel will always argue for killing more animal because they need to satisfy their urge to eat meat and thus find reason be it reasonable or not and so goes for the other side of the argument.
What we should look at is our biological build up.
1st we look at where the food enters the body, our mouth. Ask any dentist and they will tell you our sets of teeth is not design for meat eating. There are more teeth design for grinding than cutting, if one were to take a careful look at the teeth of meat eating animal there are more teeth design for cutting than for grinding other than reptiles that swallows their food .
Look at the teeth of plant eating animals and you will find more teeth design for grinding than cutting.
2nd out digestive system, we have longer intestine that meat eating animal. Majority of plant eating animal have longer intestine compare to meat eating animal, I don't know the reason why perhaps some one out there can throw light on this. All plant eating animal had longer iintestine than the meat eating animals.
3rd our body is make up of all the elements found in the earth and in order for our body to replenish this elements we either have to eat the soil or from the plant that had absorb this elements. Eating meat does not fulfill all our requirement for this elements.
4th the human body is not every efficient in breaking down saturated fat found in all meat except those in fishes. Because we are such intelligent creatures that we learn to build comfort around us and wear clothing to keep yourself warm much of this fats are stored in the body instate of flushing them out. Most plant products carries the unsaturated fat except for a few variates.
Biologically humans are not design to eat meat so why did we ended up eating so much meat. Putting evolution aside, economic, the meat and meat related products industries is one of the biggest industries in the world and they spend more money advertising their product than Ford and General Motor put together.
We had been sold the idea that animal products is the best form of food since the day we were born, doctor recommend it, your grandparent recommend it and the business man recommend it so how can they be wrong.
The next time you put that morsel into your mouth think of what goes on in your body when you swallow it.
To those who need to eat meat I suggest that once a week eat no meat and if you do not feel sick for that day try it twice a week and so on.
If you are not convince of the above, I suggest you add more vegetable product to your food intake.
Whether we clear land to produce more meat or plant food for humans, we only have so much land will we have enough left over, to pass them on to our future generation to come.
- why
September 9, 2008 9:37PM
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agriculture screwed us all
i suggest everyone go type in "agriculture: man's worst mistake" on yahoo and then go to popular science dot com and type in green tower. You can still eat meat without abusing animals and it also solves a good portion of pollution problems.
- ignint
October 1, 2008 9:31AM
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Simple math for a simple-minded argument:
Imagine 10 voles are killed to produce a pound of grain. It takes 10 pounds of grain to produce a pound of beef.
My lunch=10 deaths
Your lunch=101 deaths
The vast majority of agricultural land is devoted to feeding animals destined for slaughter. A veg*n diet causes far less harm to animals.
You fail.
- hap
January 1, 2009 2:31PM
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