| Kantor said I've left in the points about which I feel strongest. If something is enjoyable, that's one of the strongest arguments in the world for doing it. The exception is, of course, when doing something enjoyable harms someone else to an extent that is greater than your enjoyment. In my view, however, the full diet and nutrition of human beings is more important than the life of farm animals. Again, perhaps this makes me a savage. If one of the prerequisites of civilisation is that you have a deep respect for all life, then I am not civilised, and will not pretend to be. And I certainly hope that all of my fellow omnivores feel the same way, because if they don't, that is a sure sign that they have never even thought about it. I have no proof for this, but I highly doubt that a lioness is feeling remorse when she kills a deer to feed herself and her children. She recognises that she is biologically superior to that deer, and that it is her right to kill the deer. By what I'm getting from your ideology, then, she isn't civilised. Indeed, no animal is civilised, because the only reason an animal avoids meat is that it cannot manage to find, subdue and consume an organism that will give it nutrition. This applies to dolphins, too. Do they care about the lives of the fish they eat? Again, I highly doubt it. If you say that we as humans are superior to those organisms because of our ability to pity other species, then you are admitting that we are not like other animals, and so animals are not deserving of the same quality of treatment as we are. If pigs managed to form a political party, and one of them dressed up in a suit and gave a speech on porcine-human equality, perhaps then I would consider swearing off pork. I would, however, continue to eat beef, mutton, chicken and so on. You're getting perilously close here to using that awful cliché line: "Would you want a superior organism to eat you?". Well, of course I bloody well wouldn't. I have no desire to be shot and eaten. But from an objective point of view, they have that right. Why don't we have the right to eat other people, then, you ask? Because we are equal. We are not, however, equal to cows, and nor are we on the same standing as these superhumans who are apparently going to eat us in the future. As for the conscious thought, as I've mentioned above, they've shown no real signs of it. I have never seen a chicken protest about living conditions or genocide, but perhaps it's one of those government coverups and WikiLeaks will have something on it soon. |
''If something is enjoyable, that's one of the strongest arguments in the world for doing it.''
The very thing that differentiates us from animals is that we have the ability to not be pulled by our senses in whichever way they want to go. Furthermore, I cannot agree with that since sense-enjoyment is often at the expense of others and we can clearly see that we are part of a network of human beings that are interdependent.
'' In my view, however, the full diet and nutrition of human beings is more important than the life of farm animals''
A little research on your part will show that there is absolutely no nutritional argument for humans to eat animals.
''I have no proof for this, but I highly doubt that a lioness is feeling remorse when she kills a deer to feed herself and her children''
A lion surely doesn't feel remorse since she was born to hunt and kill. Its part of what a lion is. Human beings have a choice. You can do whatever the hell you want. You can even eat lion if you really want.
''If you say that we as humans are superior to those organisms because of our ability to pity other species, then you are admitting that we are not like other animals, and so animals are not deserving of the same quality of treatment as we are''
They don't deserve to be treated well because we are better than them? Do you really want to live in a world where that type of mentality sinks into your subconscious every time you have a meal?
''You're getting perilously close here to using that awful cliché line: "Would you want a superior organism to eat you?''
I was never going to say that. There are much better ways of making the point.
''Why don't we have the right to eat other people, then, you ask? Because we are equal''
Human beings are not equal. We are not born equally, and we don't exhibit the same level of prowess and quality of life.
Do you really think that a higher form of life than us would have any desire to eat us? Here's some food for though:''A research study conducted on more than 8,000 people, and published in the British Medical Journal, found that there was a high IQ link to being vegetarian'' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism
''As for the conscious thought, as I've mentioned above, they've shown no real signs of it. I have never seen a chicken protest about living conditions or genocide, but perhaps it's one of those government coverups and WikiLeaks will have something on it soon.''
Ever had a pet dog?
