Please select the category that most closely reflects your concern about this content,
so that we can review it and determine whether it violates Civility 101 or isn't
appropriate for some other reason.
Abusing this feature is also a violation of Civility 101.
Explanation:
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?
7
9
10
6
6
1
7
7
Biweekly updates on new debates and experts
Please check your email to confirm your subscription.
© 2008-2010 Opposing Views, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Opposing Views, Inc. is not responsible for the content posted on this website. Please view full disclaimer under Terms
Nobody Should Be Allowed to Tell You Whether or Not to 'Go Veg'
Thanks
I'm only allowed 1000 characters, and your quote by John Stuart Mill will save me lots of space. I suggest others read that quote and decide for themselves whether or not we are truly doing this for other sentient inhabitants of our planet. If animals have the right not to be imprissoned, tortured, and then brutally slaughtered, then this argument flies out the window. If you truly believe that animals do not have these most basic rights, then you need to truly think about why this is. Because they don't communicate like we do? Because they look different? Perhaps because they don't have the same type of intelligence we do? What right do we have (according to Mill) to acquire gains at the expense of millions upon millions of animals desiring and struggling to be free of the oppressive, torturous, murderous hand of mankind? Resolve that conflict, and the point posed by this expert becomes meaningless.
- mike
August 16, 2008 8:38AM
Reply to this Recommend
(2)
Side: No
Thank You for your Comment
We review all comments before they're posted. For more on our comment policy, please see our FAQ.
Why animals are kept separate?
You said, 'Millions upon millions of animals desiring and struggling to be free of the oppressive, torturous, murderous hand of mankind?' With no disrespect intended, that quote is pure speculation. That you can even make a claim that there is some kind of evidence showing animals 'struggling' or 'desiring' to be free is extremely unfounded. Many smaller chicken farms don't even fence in their chickens - The chickens return, of their own 'free will' (I quote this because I cannot prove whether or not they have this will) night after night, even though some are killed for food . Even though cows are kept in fenced areas, this is not to stop their 'fleeing', it is to stop their wandering off of their respective owner's property.
- TruthBuster
December 1, 2009 5:24PM
Reply to this Recommend
(0)
Side: Uncommitted
Thank You for your Comment
We review all comments before they're posted. For more on our comment policy, please see our FAQ.
Unfounded speculation?
I strongly disagree. If you haven't done so, I recommend you watch candid footage of slaughterhouses, feedlots, factory farms, etc. Better yet, visit one. Behavioral observations are very telling. It would be rather hubristic to assume that the blood curdling screams, the bellows, the pulls, the pushes, the scrambling limbs, and the wide eyes of animals that are brought to slaughter are not reactions with which we can empathize. Is the most logical conclusion here truly anthropomorphism?
No matter how many idyllic family farms you cite, but your numbers will be negligible outliers when compared to the 50 billion land animals processed for food each year.
- mike
December 1, 2009 9:51PM
Reply to this Recommend
(0)
Side: No
Thank You for your Comment
We review all comments before they're posted. For more on our comment policy, please see our FAQ.