Why I Am A Vegetarian

reply to post by jiggerj
I wouldn't kill and eat my dog, but a select haunch of long pig might be quite tasty.

With allllllll the evidence about meateating and what it does to the human body (not good things, that's for sure), I'd wish more people here would listen. Especially with threads like this when a newer member is sharing with us.

Again with the argument "Plants are alive too!" Ah, yes, but most vegans and vegetarians eat the seeds, seed pods (fruit), and the leaves of plants, not the plants themselves. That's why I try not to eat carrots - it's the entire body of the plant. Wait, I'm hearing the first thing God said according to the Biblical writers, Gods first instruction to the human race, something called Genesis 1:29:

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

Sometimes people ask me when God told the humans not to eat corpses. I always say "It's on the first page!!!"

Originally posted by TheFinder
reply to post by retirednature

 

Actually, I wouldn't. My morals for the love that is given me in my life would never allow me to turn against the dog that loves me unconditionally.

Is your dog a vegetarian too?

Originally posted by elfrog
reply to post by jiggerj

 

I wouldn't kill and eat my dog, but a select haunch of long pig might be quite tasty.

This is fine. We wouldn't eat anything that we would claim as our own, but to claim that humans are above eating animals is just wrong. We are not above, we are 100% part of nature. And, nature's very foundation is for living things to eat or be eaten. We can't escape it.

reply to post by Aleister


I have yet to meet a healthy vegan. Not a single one.

I think what's being missed here (by of examples of our history or situations of when you might HAVE TO eat meat) is that the O.P. has made a moral decision based on experiences...no reason to rebuttal.
My experience is similar, many years ago we rescued a German Shepard. Some years later she started dragging a rear paw, had $8,000 in surgery done...didn't help. About a year later she started going down in the rear, she became depressed. We found a solution in a wheel chair and the excitement in life was re-found for her. That lasted about 3 years until it spread into her front have. About 3 years of carrying her everywhere, manually making her do her bathroom needs, flipping her every few hours through the night, taking her for car rides to entertain her brain etc... She became our child in a way that was no longer like a "dog" but a being that truly loved us and relied on us.
After that last period of about 3 years the worst possible, it spread to her brain.
When we called the doctor to give her the injection in our home and she passed in my arms, I realized the love and relationship we can have with any of God's creatures. Because we are smarter, that doesn't make us superior. What she received from us, to me, doesn't equal what we received from her.
I don't push my values off on anyone, I rarely even bring it up. I will say that I don't believe we as a civilization will ever move to the next level as long as we continue the perverse relationship we have with animals. I don't specifically mean just eating them, but the lack of respect not only in the slaughter house, but many people's homes.
As far as HAVING to kill them to survive, well I am a CCW civilian and that same respect for life would make for just as difficult decision to take a human life so that I may survive. Would I eat an animal if I had to survive? Would I shoot someone so that I may survive? I don't know, all I can say is my morals say right here, right now...no.

reply to post by TheFinder


I have been silently lurking these forums for a while now and I don't think I have replied to any posts yet, but this one really hit home. I have been thinking of becoming a vegeterian for a while because of this same reason, but my stomach just can't handle not eating meat for any length of time, not to mention I am diabetic and almost everything that is not meat contains a lot of carbs and carbs = sugar. I think the way animals aretreated is so horrible I can't begin to put it into words. It makes my soul ache to imagine another living being spend its whole life like that just so I can have food. I am not against eating meat, nature is nature, it is not pretty but it is what it is. I believe that all life should be respected though. From an insect to a human nothing should die or bekilled or suffer without need. What happens to these animals in these places is brutal. Chickens getting their beaks cut off with no anesthesia, castrations, limbs being broken so animals don't move around and get too muscular etc.. and now the government is passing laws to prevent whistle blowers from even documenting what's happening. It is all very upsetting but I do not have a good answer to it all.

Originally posted by calstorm
The animals do not need to know fear or pain. I am strongly against factory farming practices, but I still eat meat. I just buy from local ranches that are humane kill only that are grass fed, free range and antibiotic free.
In case you didn't know there is a taste difference between animals that an adrenalin spike in there system at death and those that didn't.

Instead of going vegetarian, why don't you go humane kill only? Supporting ranchers that use humane practices is going to do more to help fight factory farming than going vegetarian.

Makes me wonder about "Kobe beef' and all the pampering. Wonder how their killed?

I'm a vegetarian because eating animals is for primitive idiots. Sorry, you can't mince words. You are what you are.

Originally posted by Wisescarab
reply to post by Aleister

 

I have yet to meet a healthy vegan. Not a single one.

Then you really really need to get out more and hang out with the vegan people. The celebrities alone who are vegan are as healthy as horses (who are vegan), have the strength of elephants and the swiftness of deers (both vegan), carry with them the wisdom of the gorillas and the tenderness of the alien people of Sirius (all vegans). I was going to write lollollol at your comment, but was too surprised to lol. It just sounds so weird to me, pardon my overboardness. It's like "huh?" compared to my own experience.

EDIT: Since you haven't met one yet, I'd like to introduce you. Wisescarab, meet Anne. Anne, Wisescarab.

Originally posted by retirednature
Better hope you don't get stranded in the mountains during a snow storm for a couple weeks, with just your dog and a family member. You will go against everything you just said.

edit on 10-4-2013 by retirednature because: (no reason given)

edit on 10-4-2013 by retirednature because: (no reason given)

For argument's sake, make it a month stranded. Thinking Donner Party style here.

edit on 10-4-2013 by retirednature because: additional statement

depending on what family member im stuck with... i might feed said family member to my dog to fatten him up good before i eat him

Originally posted by Wisescarab
reply to post by Aleister

 

I have yet to meet a healthy vegan. Not a single one.

i have eaten a few... not bad

While I do consume a minimal amount of meat (free range organic chicken twice a week and occasionally fish) for dietary and medical reasons, I can completely understand where you're coming from, OP. I'm not a fan of how animals are treated before and during the slaughter process either.

I'm not a vegetarian and I don't judge those who also aren't. But I can completely empathize with the desire to not be responsible, even indirectly, for suffering. I don't even like the fact that I eat as much meat as I do. It's a personal thing, which I don't extend on to others or judge them by the same standards of.

Peace.

I'm a vegetarian because eating animals is for primitive idiots. Sorry, you can't mince words. You are what you are.

We are omnivores by nature. You can go against nature and say people are just being cruel and senseless idiots, but that doesn't make you right. We are still animals. Thinking animals, sure, but animals with nutritional needs that our bodies have grown used to over 10s of thousands of evolving years. I also have a soft spot for animals, but I got quite ill after I stopped eating meat for several months.

In a nutshell, if you have to take supplements to make up for what your body needs, something is not right with your diet. I understand your empathy, but I think you are wrong to judge others for doing what comes naturally to them as a species.

reply to post by fleabit

I'll have to get serious (I hate getting serious. Just look at that egg on my back.). Humans are not meat eating animals. Like our buddies the chimps we need, we crave, we lack big time, "Vitamin C" (ascorbic acid). So the chimps only kill tiny monkeys and go first for the brains and the (is it kidneys or the liver? whatever holds the most Vitamin C) - where the largest store of Vitamin C is. Chimps eat "meat" very seldom, and our other cousins (gorillas, orangs, and the gang), never. If you are not taking enough C supplements (lots of good threads on ATS about "C") you are craving corpse in hopes of obtaining some. Eat the brains, that's where the biggest deposit is. Yummmmm.

Originally posted by Wisescarab
reply to post by Aleister

 

I have yet to meet a healthy vegan. Not a single one.

My friends family are all Vegan, they are the most amazing people I have ever met. They are all very. very intelligent beautiful people glorious hair, skin and figures I actually am full of envy. One has worked for years for kashi and is an artist, one is a naturalist and weaves baskets that sell in the thousands. I guess you just have not met any.

reply to post by TheFinder


I wouldn't consider this dumb, but certainly ignorant. Vegetarians eat eggs, cheese, milk, and all that other fatty stuff right? That is why your farts and breath stink. Ever seen a skinny vegetarian? Of course not because all they eat is cheese and other fats. Vegans are a different story. Skinny with stinky breath and farts.

All those things are factory farmed that you vegetarians eat. Are you okay with eating your 5$ Little Ceasars cheese pizza? That pizza box killed a tree that housed a thousand or more creatures. Do you even know where processed cheese and milk comes from?

Vegans and vegetarians contribute to just as much animal consumption as a meat eater does. Your leather shoes, car seats, petroleum plastic packages, and EVEN your stick built house has killed millions of animals. Even the pencil you write with cost a bunch of lives. **Mod Edit:removed personal insult** .

I'll have to get serious (I hate getting serious. Just look at that egg on my back.). Humans are not meat eating animals.

Humans have always eaten meat. We started out almost -only- eating meat. Then we become hunters -and- gatherers, and slipped a bit more into the omnivore role. Humans have eaten meat since they first evolved. I'd that this is proof to the contrary to your comment, that humans are not meat eating animals. Clearly, we are. Meat has been a part of the human diet for 250+ thousand years. Well actually 5 million + years. But since our more "evolved" stages, humanity have been meat eaters. To say we are not is ridiculous.

We are not chimps. Just because we share a resemblance to chimps doesn't mean we're doing it wrong. Chimps indeed, eat little meat. But comparing us to them is also silly. We split over 5 million years ago, becoming hominids. And we've eaten meat since, and it was a key reason we moved up the evolutionary chain.

Claiming we are not meat eaters is just ridiculous, sorry.

The only animals I do not care about are the ones I eat.

Originally posted by Char-Lee

Originally posted by Wisescarab
reply to post by Aleister

 

I have yet to meet a healthy vegan. Not a single one.

My friends family are all Vegan, they are the most amazing people I have ever met. They are all very. very intelligent beautiful people glorious hair, skin and figures I actually am full of envy. One has worked for years for kashi and is an artist, one is a naturalist and weaves baskets that sell in the thousands. I guess you just have not met any.

Because you know them personally is why they are the most "amazing people" you have met.

Most vegans I have ever met stare down there nose at you.
They can go # themselves, not eating meat is not going to win some global war to save the animals.