How do you justify (ethically) consuming animals and animal products when you don't need to?

[thirtythree]

So I'm in the process of going vegan. While I'm sure it would be less work not to be vegan, I haven't come across any arguments that would justify consuming animals when I don't need to. What do you think?

 

[Kirby]

delicious?

 

[EvilYoda]

I think it tastes good and makes me happy.

 

[Maleficus]

I wasn't aware this needed justification?

vegan = weak
don't give me that soy crap either, meat is good, meat is essential, meat is tasty.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/spor.../12/athletics.tanzania
"I miss meat and blood very much. Not vegetables because they are food for a woman. There is milk here but blood is better because it gives energy."

 

[thirtythree]

I don't think those things have much to do with ethics. e.g., "Why did you kill and eat that child?" "It made me happy, plus the child was tasty."

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Because natural selection has led our evolution to require nutrients that come from a balanced diet of both plant and animal matter, and as I don't want to waste the animals I do kill for food, I wear leather jackets and squirrel shoes.

 

[Kelvrick]

You going to be a pussy and eat "veggie" meat products like soy burgers and stuff that "tastes" like meat but isn't?

Do you use fuel? Isn't fuel the remains of organic matter from millions of years ago? How about road kill, its already dead. Will you eat it?

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy
Because natural selection has led our evolution to require nutrients that come from a balanced diet of both plant and animal matter, and as I don't want to waste the animals I do kill for food, I wear leather jackets and squirrel shoes.

lol

 

[JackBurton]

"Bacon tastes gooood. Pork chops taste gooood."

 

[EvilYoda]

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy
Because natural selection has led our evolution to require nutrients that come from a balanced diet of both plant and animal matter, and as I don't want to waste the animals I do kill for food, I wear leather jackets and squirrel shoes.

Dammit, I'm still wearing last year's chipmunk...curse you and your up-to-date fashions!

 

[FallenHero]

To irritate the crap out of vegans like you. I shall eat twice as much meat to make up for your lack of intelligence in terms of diet.

 

[BigJ]

Why are you correct when you say animals have rights and I'm incorrect in not agreeing with many of the rights you arbitrarily decide to assign to them? I can get behind opposition to cruelty and whatnot, but why is it unethical to eat them?

 

[RaistlinZ]

I don't need to justify it. I'm at the top of the food chain.

How do you justify (ethically) consuming innocent plants and vegetables when you don't need to?

 

[Baked]

What is the definition of animal? Everything you eat is a living organism, so your vegan ideal is a lie. I think it would be better if you just cut yourself and eat your own flesh and drink your own blood if you wanna go hardcore vegan.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Originally posted by: FallenHero
To irritate the crap out of vegans like you. I shall eat twice as much meat to make up for your lack of intelligence in terms of diet.

I'm just gonna go out and smash a kitten with a brick. Any time someone comes out as a vegan on AT, I am going to smash a kitten with a brick. That is my pledge. I'll go to Scamps; they wouldn't even notice the kitten had died.

 

[gamepad]

Is it unethical for the lion to kill the antelope for consumption? How is it unethical to kill a cow for consumption?

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: Baked
What is the definition of animal? Everything you eat is a living organism, so your vegan ideal is a lie. I think it would be better if you just cut yourself and eat your own flesh and drink your own blood if you wanna go hardcore vegan.

vegans are even more wasteful then regular people. Products made from animals are everywhere. By not using hte flesh, he's wasting it while having the animal killed for its one part that he'll still use (leather).

 

[mcturkey]

Ethics have nothing to do with it. I justify it because I'm at the top of the food chain, and eating meat is a healthy and natural part of a balanced diet. Going vegan is extremely dangerous if you're not very careful. Vegetarian is fine, but I'd personally never do it.

I think most of us would view traditional Native Americans as having perhaps the best balance with nature that any society has had in the past few hundred years, and they most certainly ate meat.

 

[FallenHero]

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy

Originally posted by: FallenHero
To irritate the crap out of vegans like you. I shall eat twice as much meat to make up for your lack of intelligence in terms of diet.

I'm just gonna go out and smash a kitten with a brick. Any time someone comes out as a vegan on AT, I am going to smash a kitten with a brick. That is my pledge. I'll go to Scamps; they wouldn't even notice the kitten had died.

And my army grows...excellent!

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick

Originally posted by: Baked
What is the definition of animal? Everything you eat is a living organism, so your vegan ideal is a lie. I think it would be better if you just cut yourself and eat your own flesh and drink your own blood if you wanna go hardcore vegan.

vegans are even more wasteful then regular people. Products made from animals are everywhere. By not using hte flesh, he's wasting it while having the animal killed for its one part that he'll still use (leather).

God, they're such elitist assholes. Burn in hell!

 

[AlienCraft]

The politics of food, this is why the terrorists hate us.

 

[EvilYoda]

Originally posted by: Baked

Originally posted by: Kelvrick

Originally posted by: Baked
What is the definition of animal? Everything you eat is a living organism, so your vegan ideal is a lie. I think it would be better if you just cut yourself and eat your own flesh and drink your own blood if you wanna go hardcore vegan.

vegans are even more wasteful then regular people. Products made from animals are everywhere. By not using hte flesh, he's wasting it while having the animal killed for its one part that he'll still use (leather).

God, they're such elitist assholes. Burn in hell!

Medium rare please.

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: Maleficus
I wasn't aware this needed justification?

vegan = weak
don't give me that soy crap either, meat is good, meat is essential, meat is tasty.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/spor.../12/athletics.tanzania
"I miss meat and blood very much. Not vegetables because they are food for a woman. There is milk here but blood is better because it gives energy."

I agree, soy isn't the panacea or anything, but I do like soymilk and soy yogurt. I didn't read that article, but I don't think calling it womanly has much to do with whether it's right or wrong.

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy
Because natural selection has led our evolution to require nutrients that come from a balanced diet of both plant and animal matter, and as I don't want to waste the animals I do kill for food, I wear leather jackets and squirrel shoes.

Like what nutrients? It's the position of the American Dietetics Association (largest U.S. group of dietitians) that all nutrients can be provided by a vegan diet. I can't think of any exceptions, and I've read quite a bit about vegan nutrition. Besides, animals either get these nutrients from plants or create it themselves... much like humans can do.

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
You going to be a pussy and eat "veggie" meat products like soy burgers and stuff that "tastes" like meat but isn't?

Do you use fuel? Isn't fuel the remains of organic matter from millions of years ago? How about road kill, its already dead. Will you eat it?

I've had a veggie burger or two, but I don't plan on eating them regularly. I use as little fuel as possible (public transportation). I'd consider eating road kill if it didn't disgust me.

Originally posted by: FallenHero
To irritate the crap out of vegans like you. I shall eat twice as much meat to make up for your lack of intelligence in terms of diet.

Please explain how being vegan indicates a lack of intelligence in terms of diet.

Originally posted by: RaistlinZ
I don't need to justify it. I'm at the top of the food chain.

How do you justify (ethically) consuming innocent plants and vegetables when you don't need to?

You may be at the top of the food chain, but you also have the power for moral reasoning. What's natural to animals isn't a guide to what's natural to humans. It's natural to eat meat raw, but very few humans do. It may be natural for certain animals to forcibly have sex with females, but not so for humans.

As for the plant argument, I've made the assumption based on what I know that plants don't consciously experience pain or pleasure -- that is, they don't really care what happens to them. They may react to outside stimuli, but that doesn't imply any sort of awareness. Plus, I have to consume something, so I think consuming plants is the lesser of the two evils, at least. Animals consume a lot of plants while growing fat so we can eat them.

Originally posted by: mcturkey
Ethics have nothing to do with it. I justify it because I'm at the top of the food chain, and eating meat is a healthy and natural part of a balanced diet. Going vegan is extremely dangerous if you're not very careful. Vegetarian is fine, but I'd personally never do it.

I think most of us would view traditional Native Americans as having perhaps the best balance with nature that any society has had in the past few hundred years, and they most certainly ate meat.

Again, appeal to nature is not an ethical argument, nor is a well-planned omnivorous diet healthier than a well-planned vegan diet, to the best of my knowledge. As for Native Americans, they likely did this out of necessity or not knowing any better. Given what we know today about nutrition and the alternatives we have readily available, the Native American ideal doesn't really apply. Not to mention, the Native Americans didn't breed billions of animals a year for the sole purpose of using them, killing them, and profiting from it.

 

[JM Aggie08]

simply because this looks 1000x better than this

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: JM Aggie08
simply because this looks 1000x better than this

Biased sampling. What is that, boiled tofu? Who eats boiled tofu? I don't claim that these are the best examples of vegan cooking, but here are the first results on Google images:

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Again, taste isn't really an ethical argument.