Giving up being a vegetarian

redmandarin

ringo_24601 wrote:

Have you tried eating some more unusual types of meat.. kangagroo steaks, venison sausages (very rich), alligator?

I'd personally avoid smoked reindeer (you can buy it in ikea) as it's the foulest thing i've ever eaten.

Great advice ringo - why don't you eat some nice tasty fluffy kittens, waggy tailed puppies and baby bunnies whilst you're at it? Maybe you could take Ted_Hutchinson's advice and catch, kill, skin, joint and cook them yourself? Or go to an abattoir and see for yourself the horrific conditions involved in the production of the meat that you usually eat.

Oddly enough, most of those who choose to eat meat tend to not want to have any involvement in the catching, killing and cooking of the “food” on their plates. Nor do they want to see the gruesome, violent methods involved in the caging, housing and slaughtering, to which innocent animals are subjected. Why not? If meat eating is so great, why be so shy about the mean and vicious methods involved in its production? It’s because meat eaters choose to not face this reality. This reality includes, for example, seeing and hearing pigs or cows screaming in agony, having their throats slit when they are still conscious, because the stun guns have failed to work properly, having been incorrectly applied by uncaring slaughterhouse workers.

Because animal production for food is such a cruel and violent process, the methods involved are mostly hidden from the general public who generally don’t like to think about it. Most do not want to consider how the contents of their bacon butty or "juicy" rare blood filled steak arrived on their plate because it is too disgusting for them to contemplate. The concealment of these unpleasant processes of production is further evidenced by people choosing to buy meat from supermarkets where it is presented in little white sanitised polystyrene trays (as though not part of a dead animal at all). Why is this? Because most meat eaters don’t want to see and smell the reality of slabs of dead animals in the butchers or walk on the blood soaked sawdust floors. Heaven forbid that they should subject themselves to the possibility of discovering any of the truths that might provoke their consciences.

If all meat eaters did their own slaughtering or witnessed the real conditions of the meat production that is done on their behalf, then most would realise that vegetarianism (or veganism) is the only guilt-free, compassionate, ethical option and the world would be a much less cruel and violent place in which to live.

redmandarin

pbradley936 wrote:

as long as they are treated well and killed quickly and humanely my conscience is not disturbed. Some people think animals are as important as people – I am not one of them. We keep animals even pets for our benefit not theirs, a horse does not “benefit” by being ridden. People ride horses because they like it, they cannot even claim that it is a valid method of transport anymore. People keep dogs for companionship, again for their benefit because they would be lonely without Fido. Does that make mankind wrong? No it makes him superior. At the top of the food chain. My point is made by these lunatics who prattle on about animal rights – how many other species exploit or defend rights? None only mankind because we are the only species capable of such reasoning.

If humans are the only species capable of reasoning, how is it that this "reasoning" involves the decision that they are a superior species? Rather an arrogant decision, don't you think? Humans ride, hunt, kill and eat animals because they are able to exert power over them and are able to use and abuse them for their own selfish purposes. Having the power to inflict suffering and death on those that humans regard as inferior does not show that humans are a superior species - in fact it demonstrates the reverse - a so called "superior" species should be intelligent and compassionate enough avoid such barbaric practices.

In terms of the rearing and slaughtering of animals for human consumption, there is much evidence to show that animals processed for human food are not treated humanely or killed quickly, as meat eaters like to believe. And even if they were, it would not make it right for humans to eat them - just because we have the power to do so.

I do not understand how a vegetarian (as in the case of the op and others) could ever begin eating meat. You’re either a compassionate person or you’re not - and human compassion must extend to animals too. They do not exist on earth to be used and abused by humans just because we have the power to do so. They are living, thinking, feeling creatures who suffer pain too and they should be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve – anything else makes us less human.

Ted_Hutchinson

redmandarin wrote:

If all meat eaters did their own slaughtering or witnessed the real conditions of the meat production that is done on their behalf, then most would realise that vegetarianism (or veganism) is the only guilt-free, compassionate, ethical option and the world would be a much less cruel and violent place in which to live.

I think this is overstating the case. The lamb I had for lunch grew up in a field nor far from here. The person who cared for it treated it as if it were a pet and "Come here my lovelies" was the signal for more food. The same call would have had them running to the trailer that took them to the slaughterhouse a few miles away. There people who actually care about their profession would have dispatched them without stress or undue pain. I appreciate that small local abattoirs are not the rule but here in Lincolnshire we are still civilised and our butchers on the whole, take a pride in the quality of the meat they sell. If your nice to your animals and they come running to you when you call it makes life so much easier both for you and for them.

To paint such a terrible picture of the way animals are dealt with isn't reasonable. If you buy locally raised, locally killed and locally butchered meat you can be fairly sure it's been dealt with humanely and reasonably.

scheming_gypsy

redmandarin wrote:

If meat eating is so great, why be so shy about the mean and vicious methods involved in its production? It’s because meat eaters choose to not face this reality.

just like we don't choose to watch our clothes being made, or our TV being put together.

Midmac

ruthyjo wrote:

I've been a veggie for twenty three years and feel a lot less strongly than I used to. I almost think there might be an argument for eating meat if you ate decent quality local meat where you knew the animals had been kept in goodconditions - probably less appalling than drinking supermarket milk/eating battery chicken eggs etc. (I used to be vegan so I guess I have already weakened).

However the idea of eating dead flesh now that I've got out of the habit just makes me feel ill. Doesn't it seem like a bizarre thing for you to do - consume dead flesh? I'm sure lots of meateaters will be along to declare their allegiance to bacon butties etc and that's fair enough - I just can't get over a disgust I've built up over time at the idea of eating a corpse. Yuk!

Its natural Monkeys did it, cavemen did it, and we still do it :beer:

Ted_Hutchinson

redmandarin wrote:

You’re either a compassionate person or you’re not - and human compassion must extend to animals too.

I think your idea that those who breed, raise and care for farm animals are not compassionate in the way they deal with their livestock shows how out of touch you are with reality. The farmer who puts his beasts on my field is the most humane, compassionate bloke I know. Similarly the lady whose lamb is now in my freezer is a caring compassionate christian who would never under any circumstances allow her "lovelies" to be mistreated.

The local butcher has signs on the fields where animals he has contracted to buy are grazed. Anyone can see the care that those animals receive. No one is hiding anything about the way Lincolnshire beef is produced. It is a product those involved in producing are genuinely proud of.

While I cannot speak for the way animals are raised/slaughtered elsewhere I have no doubt at all the my neighbours know their stock, love their stock, care for their stock both while it is directly under their care and would not have any truck with anyone who handled the stock they have lavished their care on in any way which caused undue stress. Livestock farmers are not evil monsters. They may be daft spending more money on their stock than is economically viable but those that I know, really are caring compassionate and dedicated to the well being of their stock.

Ken-Dodds-Hairy-Knodule

Midmac wrote:

Its natural Monkeys did it, cavemen did it, and we still do it

Apes use bumsex as a control emchanism, cavemen used to have sex with 11 year old girls (after hitting them over the head with a club and dragging them back to their cave)..

Saying something is "natural" isn't a very good argument for anything (and conversely - unnatural doesn't automatically mean bad. Someone should tell the anti-anal sex brigade ;P ).

scheming_gypsy

i wish they f*cking would tell them

Ken-Dodds-Hairy-Knodule

scheming_gypsy wrote:

i wish they f*cking would tell them

The best thing to do with the bigoted idiots is just ignore them, unless they are getting in your face. In which case half-a-house brick usually does the job...

Bash the fash.. :>

A

[Deleted User]

Great advice ringo - why don't you eat some nice tasty fluffy kittens, waggy tailed puppies and baby bunnies whilst you're at it?

There's not enough meat on them and being puppies/kittens, there would probably be too much fat. I'd have no ethical problem with it though - meat is meat. The fluffy factor wouldn't upset.

Having done a biology degree, i've seen the insides of animals before and wouldn't have much of a problem with the catch/kill/skin/joint/cook - i'm quite a good shot with a shotgun.