Sansa Stark

Lmao right?

CrazyVegn

Yep, I think I have seen this film along w/ many others like this. The topic is extremely talked out to me. However, I do praise omission of meat in diets either temporarily or especially years/decades-long diets. When someone can give up beautiful shoes bc they are leather, for the less attractive vegetable shoe, it says a lot.

WWWP

What the **** did I even just read.

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CrazyVegn

Vegetable shoes I bought?:
Freerangers Shoes

or the conversation from last night?

WWWP

I'm referring to the entire thread.

So, ok, my two cents. The thing is, I don't think you should just generalize and say that anyone who isn’t a vegetarian or vegan is actively contributing to animal torture. It’s not that simple, and as much as I wish you could, you can’t just tell people what to do with their lives and use scare tactics as justification. I think that the issue is more a matter of access to information and resources. Personally, my life philosophy does not allow me to eat meat and I am 99% vegan – I say 99% because it would be absolutely deluded and hypocritical of me to claim otherwise as I am typing this on a laptop and earlier today drank a Bloody Mary that I later learned was made with Guinness.

There is absolutely classism and abelism at play when you make such statements, OP, and no matter how right you are or how righteous your cause, you should try to acknowledge and understand that. Better yet, be productive and present the information in a way that does just that: presents the information. Don't bring morality into it on such a large scale until you can be sure your audience is - and is able to be - on the same page.

I don't know. This shouldn't be a combative topic.

EDIT: Further, I think that part of the human experience is the realization that existence in itself requires a tangible amount of suffering imposed on other existing beings. There is no escaping it, so the best you can do is educate your peers and do your best to reduce that amount of suffering that you impose personally as much as is possible.

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Honey and Salt

I think Phantom did just that. He just was suggesting a film. It wasn't until debate began that people began taking sides and arguing. That's life. There's no perfect way of communication, however, I feel pretty confident in my words and my arguement.

You're right, this should not have been combative. But it is was and will be. As I said prior, my statements were concrete and didn't subject anyone for any other reason than maybe ignorance or lack of proper debate. Eat animals, do not eat animals. Either way, we're passionate aboutour lifestyle and the preservation of innocent life. How one wants to take that is strictly up to their perception and coping skills.

Jamata!

WWWP

Except he added the PS bit to his initial post. That was likely to spark debate because of the implication of the tone in which it was posted. The post would not have been lacking without it, I'm just saying it was unnecessary.

The topic shouldn't be a combative one, generally. I'm not saying people shouldn't argue - arguing is important. I think saying "eat animals or don't eat animals" is a copout, the point I'm trying to make is simply that more aspects of dietary lifestyles need to be taken into consideration before things begin to get accusatory.

EDIT: Again, further, I think it's funny you bring up perception when everyone got all bent out of shape when Hermione called OP out - what she said was accurate. Perhaps it's just your perception of how she said it that made you feel defensive?

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CrazyVegn

Psssh I don't buy that, knowing you...

He is a big teaser on any subject. Welcome to the world of kind living, Phantom and Honey. Subconsciously you had to have known demonstrating such passion is "asking for it" =P

At the end of the day (after all is said and done) my six pussies get Science Diet (the only cat food good enough for human consumption) as directed by their very talented and compassionate team of vets Mommy spends thousands on each year. I asked him if cats can be vegan and he said, "They get REALLY sick..."
If anyone doesn't believe that, they can take it up with my veterinarians, I will show you the link to their bios, you can read their years of devotion, study, and schooling for animal care, and contact them.

Peace

Engine

I don't feel that anything that has been said in this thread is "wrong" and just about everybody has made some really good points. Even dj saying he would torture animals - all that means is that he's willing to work in a slaughterhouse or other animal farming facility. Also, I don't think anybody's points of info are necessarily in opposition to each other. Rather, the collection of information and reasoning that has been posted here reflects reality.

For me the two points below are especially important.

I have been a vegetarian for over 20 years and was strictly vegan for some of those. It's tough for a person trying to be vegan to grapple with the notion that there is no way to live in modern society without using things that have animal parts in them. In the end, what's important is that people try their best to do right by their own morals and beliefs. That is, do as much as you can while realizing that you can't do it all, or ever completely fix what you see as a problem with the world. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing situation.

The way I see it, anybody who does anything at all for the sake of something they believe is right is doing the right thing, regardless of what they are not doing.

PS - It's definitely true that cats should not be vegetarian (dogs either in my opinion but they can at least survive it, unlike cats).

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Stephen

Couldn't have said it better Engine.

I try to live by my own flexible set of morals. I'm not perfect and I don't expect others to follow my rules or beat myself up over not meeting other peoples' expectations.

As for vegetarianism I'm fortunate enough to live somewhere with a wealth of dietary information and readily available alternatives so that I am free to choose not to consume products that I deem as harmful to animals. I try to avoid paying someone else to do something that I wouldn't be prepared to do myself.