Poll: Why do you (not) eat meat?

[MajorTomServo]

People who eat meat just havent learned enough about where it comes from. I find that no one is ever able to beat me in an argument about it. It usually comes down to "But it's tasty! D:" or "If you dont eat meat you're a queer-bag! D:<" or "REAL men eat meat! Carnivores ftw! Mighty hunters herp derp durr!"

Because nothing says mighty predator like buying pre-packed cuts of an animal someone else raised and slaughtered for you.

I know where meat comes from and I still eat it. it's already dead and not eating it won't help anything.

By eating meat, you create demand for more meat. Farmers raise more animals so they can sell them to you.

Also, by "where it comes from," I dont mean animals. I mean the fact that the cows/chickens/whatever are packed so close together that they cant sit or lie down and spend their lives literally knee-deep in shit and other animals that have been trampled to death.

 

[MajorTomServo]

Your reason is that it is bad for the environment? Unless you are eating wild dolphins then no, no it isn't.

It [http://www.greatgreenidea.com/Why-Eating-Meat-is-Bad-for-the-Environment.html]
appears [http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/meat-and-environment.aspx]
you're [http://www.alternet.org/environment/141898/eating_meat_isn't_bad_for_the_planet,_it's_our_system_of_raising_the_animals_that's_wrong/]
wrong. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/18/environment-eat-less-meat-cheese-dairy-health_n_901464.html]

 

[larryparker]

The meat is the proper food like milk so most of the peoples take meat for the proper diet,

 

[Soods]

those people clearly have a low double digit IQ. you offered nothing intellectual on the table.

secondly, don't ask me to provide sources then link a couple of Wikipedia pages. it's insulting. Wikipedia is a good place for quickly looking up general facts, but an absolutely terrible thing to "source". I can only assume you're in grade school if you think Wiki is a respectable source.

What's wrong with wikipedia? It certainly is better than nothing. And wikipedia has its own sources as well, so if you don't believe wikipedia, you can check the sources.

 

[xPixelatedx]

If there was something wrong with the concept then life wouldn't be designed this way.

Are you serious? Because that kind of horrible logic can be used to justify just about anything. Hey nothing wrong with killing each other, otherwise life wouldn't have been designed that way. Or heck, anything at all.

We don't need that logic to justify anything, we do whatever we want and make up our own justifications for it anyway. This is why politics are subjective.

 

[Arina Love]

i love meat! it's tastes great and is able to fill me with necessary energy! As for "animal rights" ? animals have the right to be tasty, that's all.

 

[CrazyJew]

Recently my wizardry talent has been showing itself, and according to the "Sword of Truth" series, it affects my tastes in food. I am starting to dislike meat.

 

[Rikkano]

To quote Bart Simpson "I can't possibly be a vegetarian, I love the taste of death!"

But on a more serious note, I eat meat because I like the taste of it.

 

[Strazdas]

I did not ate meat in the past becuase i didntl ike the taste of it. Now i eat it because i like the taste of it.
Also i understand that vegetable is more efficient, but since i have a choice i chose to eat what i like. i think we have much bigger illogical consumption problems (alcohol, cogrettes, obesity) than meat being too inefficient. Also since we started growign meat in laboratories, its efficiency increased drastically. personally, i have nothing agaisnt eating meat grown intentionally for food.

 

[Ursus Buckler]

Because I like to. Way I see it, you can live your life being righteous and moralistic, or you can do what you enjoy.

This pretty much sums it up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q7kUFS-0XQ

 

[kinapuffar]

I eat some meat. Like reindeer, or really any venison, and some types of pork dishes, and seafood. But if I'm given the choice between a veggie alternative, or meat, I usually go veggie.

It's simple: I don't like the taste of meat.
I find most meat fairly disgusting. Especially beef. So I don't eat it.

Has nothing to do with saving the environment or giving animals the same rights as humans or any of that PETA bullshit.
I just don't like the taste.

Also, falafel is the food of kings. All kneel before the mighty falafel!

 

[Gerishnakov]

I love meat, and I don't think I could ever give it up entirely.

I'd certainly be happy to try and eat less if it were proven necessary for the environment. However, I try to only buy meat that hasn't been intensively reared and fed naturally, which as I understand it, is better for CO2 (and methane) emissions.

Likewise the same goes for high welfare meat, I only buy that. It is not immoral to eat meat, when it is what our ancestors, and progenitor species, have been doing for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years. There may be arguments about whether that applies now because of agriculture, but that in itself is not cruel. It is entirely possible to care about animals, and still eat them, because they're so delicious.

Search 'Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall' for a fine example of a man who knows his animal welfare and environmentalism, yet still loves his meat. If you can get hold of it, there's also been a brilliant series of shows made for the BBC originally called 'Kill It, Cook It, Eat It'. That show challenged meaties and veggies of varying flavours to view the humane processing of unintensively reared animals from the field to the plate, and then eat them. A lot of meaties actually found it difficult to subsequently eat the animal they had seen alive just a short while ago.

Not sure where I was going with this really, but hey, enjoy!

 

[xPixelatedx]

If there was something wrong with the concept then life wouldn't be designed this way.

Are you serious? Because that kind of horrible logic can be used to justify just about anything. Hey nothing wrong with killing each other, otherwise life wouldn't have been designed that way. Or heck, anything at all.

We don't need that logic to justify anything, we do whatever we want and make up our own justifications for it anyway. This is why politics are subjective.

So now you're backtracking and saying that you didn't need a reason in the first place? Sounds like you're just not happy that your original logic didn't work so you're making an excuse. Well you could have some integrity either in the first place by not trying to make excuses when you didn't feel you needed them or now.

No, I am saying the point can be argued indefinitely and it is ultimately pointless. This is why we, as a species, still eat meat even though we are intelligent enough to understand how precious life is. Like many of the morally ambiguous things in life, everyone thinks they have the right answer, but no one does because there really isn't a defining end-all to this argument.
I can say we do it because, "That's what animals do and we are animals" and anyone apposing that logic can simply say "We don't do everything animals do; we are better then that" as you did. That's basically the end of the discussion right there, because technically speaking we are both right. After that it just comes down to a matter of perspective, which is why arguing is pointless. When people decide to eat meat or not to eat meat, they justify these actions in whatever manner is convenient for them and/or their beliefs, because the actual answer of right and wrong is far beyond us, as a species. This debate is something that has existed/will exist long after you and me are gone.

 

[SD-Fiend]

People who eat meat just havent learned enough about where it comes from. I find that no one is ever able to beat me in an argument about it. It usually comes down to "But it's tasty! D:" or "If you dont eat meat you're a queer-bag! D:<" or "REAL men eat meat! Carnivores ftw! Mighty hunters herp derp durr!"

Because nothing says mighty predator like buying pre-packed cuts of an animal someone else raised and slaughtered for you.

I know where meat comes from and I still eat it. it's already dead and not eating it won't help anything.

By eating meat, you create demand for more meat. Farmers raise more animals so they can sell them to you.

Also, by "where it comes from," I dont mean animals. I mean the fact that the cows/chickens/whatever are packed so close together that they cant sit or lie down and spend their lives literally knee-deep in shit and other animals that have been trampled to death.

it's not like i'm the only person eating meat. whether i stop eating it or not they'll still raise more and more animals for everyone else. and yes I already know about the second half of your comment already it sucks but too bad

 

[Gerishnakov]

by "where it comes from," I dont mean animals. I mean the fact that the cows/chickens/whatever are packed so close together that they cant sit or lie down and spend their lives literally knee-deep in shit and other animals that have been trampled to death.

You heard of free range, or even just higher welfare meat?

What you seem to be doing is employing the worst kind of argument against an industry, that is you are tarring all agriculture for animal products with the same brush. So called 'animal rights' groups like PETA would like everyone to think the way you seem to be.

 

[Kathinka]

i do. because it is tasty.

if god hadn't wanted us to eat meat, he wouldn't have made cows out of steak, damn it!

 

[Loki J]

Also 'because steak'.

We're made for it. It's very hard to stay healthy on a no-meat diet, even wit today's supermarkets, and it would have been impossible for our ancestors to do it.
Giving up meat is almost as silly to me as giving up walking and only using a segway, or trying to play an FPS with the Kinect.

Z

 

[Loki J]

Yes, but do you know the price of tea in China?

All the current tea crop in China is estimated at around 4.5 billion USD.

Z

 

[DrgoFx]

I do not eat meat because I believe it is harmful for the environment.

...What?

And I hate the greasy taste it leaves in my mouth.

Understandable. I like meat and I see nothing wrong with it, at least by farming standards. What we do is that when we kill an animal, we make use of that as best as we can. An animal is not killed for one reason, but rather several. Another note is that aside from a very few collection of plants, meat is our main source of protein.

I have nothing against vegetarians who have reasons that do not follow under "I don't like hurting animals." It's a very old argument, but again, what about the lion that kills the zebras in the wild? It's not like we're being cruel to the animals. Many farms that are not owned by fast food companies let their live stock roam free on their land and treat them to be healthy. The only time they are killed is if they are weak or growing old, much like in the wild.

My main issue is with vegans that are vegans, not because it's healthy, but because of "I don't want to make the poor animals work. D:" Well what about the other human beings that pick your god damn vegetables? What about the humans that make these non-animal labored substances that you eat, like vegan cheese? No, you don't give two shits about them.

I have nothing wrong with people not eating meat. I have nothing wrong with vegans. My problem are people that do it for stupid, poorly thought out reasons. Also, anyone that can stomach vegan cheese, I salute you, that stuff is nasty.

 

[Zeren]

I was raised with people who hunted or have raised beef. I have the teeth of an omnivore. I like how meat tastes. Those are my reasons to eat meat.