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Originally Posted by jackhammer
I think that dollar signs are more of a factor in meat production than any feelings of superiority of another species these days.
Bringing religion into the food chain is a weak catch all unless it's done on a small inclusive scale which is a natural progression of human beings to 'reap what they sow'.
Your intentions are commendable but many have slaughtered animals before any idea of a diety entered the equation.
Human progression is just not possible without the slaughter of animals that gave man strength, cunning and an intelligence that even now means that you can type on the net or form more complex actions and speech patterns.
The farming and treatment of animals in the modern age is deplorable I agree but it's a common and well known fact that farming animals has brought man to it's current philisophical, physical and mental state today even though we could argue that it's not the ideal progression of nature.
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Jackhammer, I agree with most of what you said. The livestock industry is a billion dollar industry and currently many people's livelihoods depend on it. I do think people look "down" on animals, though, and that this is part of how they justify treating them/using them as they do.
You are right that killing animals doesn't require religious justification...however, the sacrifice and use of animals has for thousands of years been intertwined with religious beliefs, and hunter-gatherers (following the only human lifestyle that existed before agriculture) had religious beliefs also.
My impression of a relationship today between religion and livestock producers is based on observations of Lutheran livestock farmers and packaging plant workers whom I know in the Midwest. They are very religious and pray to Jesus the lamb for mercy and kindness and compassion as they dig into a lamb or turkey or pig right on their table...an irony I've written about elsewhere. They also terrify animals as part of their human play (rodeo).
Domestication of animals in Eurasia (horse, cow, pig, goat, sheep) was one reason rising civilizations there gained great power, taking over many regions of the world and leading to patterns of human wealth and deprivation we see today, according to Jared Diamond, author of an excellent book,
Guns, Germs, and Steel. I feel his hypothesis is likely to be true. His book was made into a documentary available online that I recommend highly, if you are interested in history and social science..and it sounds that you and I share this interest:
Guns, Germs, and Steel - by Jared Diamond, Part I of 18:
Human evolution definitely involved killing animals, which was a shaping force in natural selection, though an interesting hypothesis I like about how our ancestors developed smaller dentition and pair-bonding is that after early people figured out how to make fires, they were able to gather and cook previously-inedible poisonous tubers, which encouraged females and males to pair-bond to protect their store of collected foods and their hearth! So, actually vegetable cooking may have had a big role in natural selection of qualities we see as very human today!
The question for the future, I feel, is how people decide to live when they no longer have to use livestock for survival.
Will the earth end up covered everywhere with factory farms, with nearly all natural ecosystems (such as the few remaining rainforests) converted to grazing land and/or agricultural land, simply because this makes money (mostly for the wealthy) and satisfies a taste for flesh?
Or will people start to value non-livestock sources of food more, so that people can gain wealth by more efficiently using the earth's resources to supply plant-based foods for people, and no longer perpetuate giant livestock populations?
I'm afraid I know the answer to this, Jackhammer...I've studied this issue and current trends for some time...but it doesn't stop me from trying to encourage the latter rather than the former scenario.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pourmeanother
That was awesome, and I really appreciate you taking the time to do that... Thank you! The time period is undetermined- but it's looking long term (years). Without saying too much, somebody close to me has had a... change in health, and one recommendation for him was to go raw, vegan, or vegetarian. If/until things turn around, and so long as he is skipping meat (and I believe fish too), I'll be joining him in the lifestyle change for moral support! I do like cooking, so I'll have to explore some recipes in the areas you mentioned  |
I'm glad it was helpful, pourmeanother. One recommendation I forgot to mention is that you and your loved-one include along with your almonds some
walnuts in your diet, as well as
canola oil if you use any oils in your diet, since both are a good source of alpha-linolenic acid, an essential fatty acid. I recommend this for people regardless of whether they eat meat or not.
Generally if people have high cholesterol, heart disease, or cancer, they are (or should be) encouraged to eat a nearly vegan diet since it is low in cholesterol and (if well-planned) in saturated fats, plus is high in nutrients that help protect against cancer. For example, anyone prescribed Lipitor should first be told to control cholesterol levels with diet, as the medication states openly, but I don't think this happens very often (based on my conversations with people prescribed Lipitor). Dean Ornish, M.D., writes books about his clinical work on reversing heart disease with a vegetarian diet, exercise, and group therapy...so I recommend his work if your friend is dealing with circulatory blockage issues.