Vegetarians - why?

[Kortney]

I think the most sensical reason for being a vegetarian is to " protest " the abysmal living conditions of animals used for slaughter have.

Humans eating cows was the best thing that ever happened to them as a species. It's a purely unemotional view, but I doubt cows would be around today if it wasn't for the fact we ate them. Cows are around today to be food for humans. Just like flies are around today to be food for spiders.

It all comes back to that weird trait we have. We are fine with the idea of a lion eating a gazelle, because that's the food chain. Why doesn't that same food chain exist with humans and cows? I see it all as a food chain.

As far as the topic if concerned, why do we even have to ask why? Excuse the irony, it's a real question. I'd understand the need to ask why if they were acting in a way that was dangerous or harmful, but they are just expressing a dietary choice.

 

[MR.Spartacus]

I can understand not liking the flavor of meats. Ground turkey Is one that I will not eat. At least not without burying it in curry to block out the taste. So there's always that. Or they're uber pacifists what don't want any part direct or else wise in harming anything?

Because animals.

Or because they dislike the taste.

Not one, myself, but totally understand the most popular reasoning.

I mean, I'm apparently in the minority in that I find chocolate ice cream absolutely disgusting and terrible.

I too find chocolate ice-cream to be a most detestable flavour o' ice-cream. That stuff makes me feel off, Either a bit of nausea and/or a headache.

 

[Alon Shechter]

For the same reason you don't eat scorpions.
Something about it WILL disgust you,
whether it's the killing or the eating or the possible health risks, for some reason you won't eat it.
Just that vegetarians go beyond the scorpion. (And if Scorpion is not the example for you, pick another )
And I don't blame them.
I'm actually on their side but I'm a walking stick as it is and cucumbers won't help me.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I don't know. I'm pretty picky, the only meat I eat is chicken if it is cooked right, usually has to be crispy and breaded. Other than that, I eat pepperoni on pizza, and lots of bacon in general.

Seriously, who could resist bacon wrapped bacon with a side of bacon and bacon for dessert?

What I want to try is bacon that is cooked into pancakes, that sounds awesome, especially if the bacon is really salty, so it combines well with the sweet syrup.

 

[subfield]

It's a way of life that is philosophically superior.

 

[valkeminator]

its either religion or preference. I for one dislikes candies, and I usually give away whatever candies I get. I do like chocolate, but if its fancy (even easter eggs are enough to turn me off) i probably reject it as well.

 

[lettucethesallad]

I don't like the taste of meat. Ethically I don't really have a problem with others eating it. But I get a lot of other good things out of being a vegetarian - I'm thin, my cost for food is lower since meat is expensive, I don't contribute as much to global warming through the emission of green house gasses (methane is around 30x as potent a green house gas as carbon dioxide and cows fart it out), and I don't contribute to animals being treated cruelly in slaughterhouses. To me it's a win-win.

 

[squeekenator]

Some people think it's healthier for them. They have a point, but they ostracize the wrong foods (FYI: excessive grains in a diet paired with little exercise tends to be what makes people fat). Some people do it because they think animals shouldn't be killed for food. To those people I say "Well then, carrot juice constitutes murder [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmK0bZl4ILM]".
Or maybe they don't like the taste of meat. Hard to imagine for me... but I guess I can relate a little... I like my steaks well done.

Because carrots are sentient!

...and animals never kill each other for food in the wild...

And animals have very little choice in the matter. All the people who argue that meat-eating is fine because that's what happens in nature would have a point if human society wasn't centred around doing away with as many natural things as possible. We have collosal amounts of infastructure and huge numbers of people dedicated to getting food onto your plate without you having to hunt or gather for it, we have video games and the internet so we can entertain ourselves without having to run around outside and be active or whatever it is animals do to enjoy themselves. We cover ourselves with artifical skins and hooves to protect ourselves from cold and anything we may tread on. We have guns to kill anything that threatens our life, we have houses, heaters, medicine and a thousand other things to keep ourselves alive and well if something other than an animal threatens us. We have cars, bikes, planes, boats and countless other things to cross whatever distances we want. One of the side effects of this man-made world we have is that we can get whatever food we want delivered to us rather than hunting or gathering for it. If you're willing to pay for it, there are artifical cooling devices that can keep your food edible for weeks or months that will automatically signal someone to drive over to your house and deliver your food as soon as you run out. The vast majority of people saying that eating meat is natural have never killed an animal with their bare hands and eaten it raw, they get other people to effortlessly execute it, drain the blood, turn it into a tasty-looking steak shape and then sometimes even cook it for them.

So where exactly does the natural way of things come in to human affairs?

Animals eat other animals to survive. An animal that's hungry will eat another animal because that's what it needs to do if it wants to live. If a human needs to kill and eat an animal to survive, that's fine. But I do not, so why would I? Eating an animal because it's necessary for survival is one thing, ending a life just because bacon is tasty is another. Killing an animal because it makes you enjoy dinner a bit more? How many people would sacrifice a goat in order to unlock the secret 'super special awesome' graphics setting on Crysis for five minutes? It's the same thing. End a life because it makes you a bit happier for a few brief minutes. It's amoral and cruel and mean and all those things, but above all it's just plain selfish. Screw the world, I want bacon and I'm going to have it no matter how many intelligent animals have to die, because otherwise my breakfast wouldn't be quite as nice.

That's why I'm vegetarian.

 

[Double A]

I mean, I'm apparently in the minority in that I find chocolate ice cream absolutely disgusting and terrible.

You're pure evil and should be burned at the stake.

OT: Because the sight of raw meat is disgusting? Bad enough when all the blood's been drained, and it's just the nice clean stuff you buy in stores.

But if you had to pull the guts out and the skin off... yeah, I can see that making people sick.

I've seen deer guts, yet I find venison to be delicious. People need to grow stronger backbones, it seems.

 

[ALX-00]

Why don't you eat human?

I'd try it if it was legal, although I suspect we would taste too gamey.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for the whole not eating meat issue, humans are omnivores, and we need meat for certain amino acids that we can't get from plants or make ourselves. (Taking pills doesn't count.) I love the taste of meat, and the textures just add to the "experience."

For the topic of slaughterhouses and farming animals, it is similar to normal farming of crops in a way. Sure you could argue that plants may not feel pain or suffer, and I will agree that the practices that involve animals should be made to cause as little suffering as possible, but that is the reason those certain animals were bred, as were the pants. Humans caused the production of these other living things to fill our needs.


So really, if you say you don't eat meat because it is causing harm to another living thing, then you should know that eating plants is doing the exact same thing. Hell, basically anything you do kills something.

Animals, that are carnivores/omnivores, eat each other, what makes humans special?

Well the entire basis of my opinion and earlier statement is that the slaughterhouses do cause them to greatly suffer even before being killed. Plants have no nervous system and the issues with farmers are a separate subject in itself. So, eating plants is not "the exact same thing."

Nothing wrong with killing things for food. But you suggest that its alright because they were bred to be eaten. If I may offer some insight, I don't think the reasons for or ramifications of something being bred have to do with it being fine or not to cause them brutal pain or not.
Death is certain, but it doesn't need to be as horrific as slaughterhouses make it.

Ok well you seem to have twisted what I have said a little, what I meant was that both are being bred for our consumption, not that both are suffering, (but who knows, maybe plants do suffer and feel pain through some strange way that we do not know of yet.)

I will agree with the brutal nature of slaughterhouses, and I always have wished for better conditions. Nothing deserves that sort of pain, (well, maybe some people do.)

 

[iamthe1]

Eh, the only reason we don't eat people is 'cause it tastes lousy.

 

[loc978]

Some people think it's healthier for them. They have a point, but they ostracize the wrong foods (FYI: excessive grains in a diet paired with little exercise tends to be what makes people fat). Some people do it because they think animals shouldn't be killed for food. To those people I say "Well then, carrot juice constitutes murder [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmK0bZl4ILM]".
Or maybe they don't like the taste of meat. Hard to imagine for me... but I guess I can relate a little... I like my steaks well done.

Because carrots are sentient!

...and animals never kill each other for food in the wild...

And animals have very little choice in the matter. All the people who argue that meat-eating is fine because that's what happens in nature would have a point if human society wasn't centred around doing away with as many natural things as possible. We have collosal amounts of infastructure and huge numbers of people dedicated to getting food onto your plate without you having to hunt or gather for it, we have video games and the internet so we can entertain ourselves without having to run around outside and be active or whatever it is animals do to enjoy themselves. We cover ourselves with artifical skins and hooves to protect ourselves from cold and anything we may tread on. We have guns to kill anything that threatens our life, we have houses, heaters, medicine and a thousand other things to keep ourselves alive and well if something other than an animal threatens us. We have cars, bikes, planes, boats and countless other things to cross whatever distances we want. One of the side effects of this man-made world we have is that we can get whatever food we want delivered to us rather than hunting or gathering for it. If you're willing to pay for it, there are artifical cooling devices that can keep your food edible for weeks or months that will automatically signal someone to drive over to your house and deliver your food as soon as you run out. The vast majority of people saying that eating meat is natural have never killed an animal with their bare hands and eaten it raw, they get other people to effortlessly execute it, drain the blood, turn it into a tasty-looking steak shape and then sometimes even cook it for them.

So where exactly does the natural way of things come in to human affairs?

Animals eat other animals to survive. An animal that's hungry will eat another animal because that's what it needs to do if it wants to live. If a human needs to kill and eat an animal to survive, that's fine. But I do not, so why would I? Eating an animal because it's necessary for survival is one thing, ending a life just because bacon is tasty is another. Killing an animal because it makes you enjoy dinner a bit more? How many people would sacrifice a goat in order to unlock the secret 'super special awesome' graphics setting on Crysis for five minutes? It's the same thing. End a life because it makes you a bit happier for a few brief minutes. It's amoral and cruel and mean and all those things, but above all it's just plain selfish. Screw the world, I want bacon and I'm going to have it no matter how many intelligent animals have to die, because otherwise my breakfast wouldn't be quite as nice.

That's why I'm vegetarian.

...didn't mean to elicit a flood, I only met sarcasm with sarcasm. The only counter I have to ye ol' wall o' text there is that I'm not a puffy, city-dwelling person so removed from nature as to have never killed my own food. Honestly, I think the natural way of things has far too little to do with human affairs. Unfortunate, that.

Also, compare the length of human history with that of human prehistory. We evolved as hunter-gatherers. Yes, a healthy diet is composed chiefly of vegetables, but there's a reason our distant ancestors were also hunters. Grains are a ***** to digest.

 

[matrix guardian]

no idea, but i didnt climb the top of the food chain to eat rabbit food

Really? You climbed the food chain? I'm pretty sure you were born into your position on the food chain. You make it sound as though you personally struggled to overcome the obstacle of not being able to eat certain things, or the threat of being eaten by others.

Anyway, I've always thought that it was weird that there are so many people that don't count fish as meat. In my conception of what meat means, it's referring to the flesh (particularly the muscles) of an animal in the context of food. I have no idea why people think that fish don't qualify for that. Fish are animals too.

Anyway, while I do enjoy the taste of meat, I can also respect someone's choice to be a vegetarian, whether their reasons are ethical, health/diet, or flavor preference.

 

[squeekenator]

...didn't mean to elicit a flood, I only met sarcasm with sarcasm. The only counter I have to ye ol' wall o' text there is that I'm not a puffy, city-dwelling person so removed from nature as to have never killed my own food. Honestly, I think the natural way of things has far too little to do with human affairs. Unfortunate, that.

Don't take it personally, I didn't particularly mind your post, that rant was more aimed at other people in this thread (and I was a bit grumpy about the OP, who clearly knows why people are vegetarian and just wanted to troll). You just happened to be the most recent person to make one of those comments and I was too lazy to find another one.

EDIT:

Two types of Vegetarians:

Type one: They choose not to eat meat, but they don?t preach it. They tend not to mind if you do, and are more open as to why. One type one vegetarian I knew was a hunter. Their husband ate the meat, and they loved shooting the animal

Type two: ?MEAT IS MURDURRRR? will typically be yelled at you if you are munching on beef jerky anywhere within a mile of their ire. They have the sense of humor of a brick, and hate any people who like meat. They are annoying, and I dislike them.

I tried it for a week, and hated it. I felt week, tired, and angry.

I have to agree with this. I disagree with people who eat meat, but have no problem with them - my wall o' text before was mainly because I just really like arguing on the internet. On the other hand, I both disagree with and despise any type 2 vegetarians, because they're a bunch of elitist pricks sitting on their high horses and trying to force their beliefs on everyone else, but all they end up achieving is making people think that every vegetarian is a jerk.

 

[DvelopmentalInsanity]

Two types of Vegetarians:

Type one: They choose not to eat meat, but they don?t preach it. They tend not to mind if you do, and are more open as to why. One type one vegetarian I knew was a hunter. Their husband ate the meat, and they loved shooting the animal

Type two: ?MEAT IS MURDURRRR? will typically be yelled at you if you are munching on beef jerky anywhere within a mile of their ire. They have the sense of humor of a brick, and hate any people who like meat. They are annoying, and I dislike them.

I tried it for a week, and hated it. I felt week, tired, and angry.

Type one: I have no problem with. Some of my best friends fall into this category. They have no objection to me eating meat in their presence.

Type two: Back when I was at university, there was one occasion when someone was standing outside one of the campus canteens, doing the whole "Meat is murder!" thing, complete with signs and leaflets. So, I went in, bought a large sausage roll, and stood on the other side of the door to them.

It's hard to eat a sausage roll aggressively at someone, but somehow, I managed it.

They left in disgust. I felt I had achieved something.

Having your own opinions is fine, but don't try to make me feel guilty about eating meat. You can pry my steak from my cold dead fingers.

 

[AWDMANOUT]

I neither know, nor care.

Veggies are living things too, so the argument "animals are alive" means nothing to me.

I guess there's health reasons to consider, but c'mon. I'd trade a couple of minutes of my life for a juicy mushroom and swiss burger.

 

[Rayne870]

no idea, but i didnt climb the top of the food chain to eat rabbit food

Really? You climbed the food chain? I'm pretty sure you were born into your position on the food chain. You make it sound as though you personally struggled to overcome the obstacle of not being able to eat certain things, or the threat of being eaten by others.

Anyway, I've always thought that it was weird that there are so many people that don't count fish as meat. In my conception of what meat means, it's referring to the flesh (particularly the muscles) of an animal in the context of food. I have no idea why people think that fish don't qualify for that. Fish are animals too.

Anyway, while I do enjoy the taste of meat, I can also respect someone's choice to be a vegetarian, whether their reasons are ethical, health/diet, or flavor preference.

dude that just makes it my birthright then. but tbh i couldnt care less what people eat, be it meat, veggies or busted bits of glass. you took what i said way out of context. i choose meat because i enjoy eating it, i also like a side of taters and corn and other veggies too. either way if i can hunt and kill something with nothing but wit and a sharpened stick yeah im on top of it in terms of the food chain. yes i did climb the food chain, we all did as humans, by learning to hunt animals, continuing to do so is a choice for everyone to make individually.

yes fish are animals, i never could understand the concept of fish being excluded.

 

[Darth_Murmeltier]

I'm not a vegeterian, but I'm considering to become one. I don't think that we shouldn't eat meat (it's delicious) in general, but the way it's produced is terrible. Watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-uYSafpKmk&feature=related

Also a thing that is not in the video (but in a part of the whole film) is that the chickens are eating the rain forests (not directly of course). The rain forests are getting cleared and then they plant soya there and use the soya as food for the chickens. If you buy chicken meat or any kind of meat of animals (cows, pigs etc.) that ate soya then you support the global warming!

Sorry for my terrible english.

 

[The Gnome King]

And apparently there are less stupid reasons as well. Though I am inclined to ask, do you always refuse to eat animal product or is it more of a "my diet is generally vegan" scenario?

My diet is exclusively vegan. I see food as fuel rather than as some hedonistic pleasure - I'm a rather thin man as you might imagine - and after keeping a vegan diet for so long it just becomes a hassle to deal with meat or dairy. I don't really digest animal products that well anymore - meat isn't appealing to me and dairy is mucus-producing and just... kind of gross to contemplate eating.

That having been said I *do* take 2 nutritional supplements that are derived from or comprised of animal products: Omega-3 fish oil capsules from Nordic Naturals (a brand I think is high quality and Consumer Labs, which I subscribe to, supports) and Vitamin-D3 which is the more bio-available form of Vitamin D. I do this because I get very little sunlight being a typical cave-dwelling gamer type... - though I exercise on a regular basis it happens indoors or when it's overcast or at night. I don't like the Sunlight much at all. The fish oil is more for cardiovascular benefits and as a nod to the fact that some vegans have deficiencies in fatty acids found in fish; then again, so do many omnivores who don't eat fatty fish on a regular basis.

So I suppose you can say that while my diet is entirely vegan I do consume minuscule amounts of animal products in the form of a fish oil and a vitamin supplement. Otherwise, I find eating flesh and dairy distasteful. I don't believe that "eating" animals is cruel, but I do believe the factory farm conditions of animals kept in at least the US are needlessly cruel and somewhat disgusting. That having been said, I see nothing wrong with, say, a farmer killing and eating his own organic meat and eating his own organic eggs.

I hope that clarifies my position a bit.

 

[Pontus Hashis]

REDRUM, REDRUM!!!
Or that it just feels better not to eat animals.
It just feels better when I eat vege-food.
I do still eat meat with my fammily tho, and chicken when I'm out at resturants and stuff.