Is Meat Really Murder?

ThePhanastasio · 11-01-2010, 11:35 AM

I'm a vegetarian. I have been for years. I do, however, think that it's somewhat bizarre for people to say that "Meat is murder". Always have.

My not eating meat is a personal decision, one which I recognize I must supplement with vitamins and such daily in order to remain healthy. (I also have iron deficiency anemia, which means it's particularly important that I take vitamins and eat the proper foods. If I go just a day without doing so, I get really sleepy and feel like crap.)

But meat isn't murder - not by a long stretch. I don't like the way that our meat is processed, nor do I like how the animals are treated. I find it extremely unfair that we breed animals for the sole purpose of eating them - they don't even get a chance.

If people actually hunted their food in the wild to eat, I'd have less of a problem with it, I suppose. I feel like at least then, the animals have a fighting chance and get to live their lives the way they were meant to live them...before the predators (us) ate them. That's just the way things work in the wild. It's natural.

I don't look at a cheetah eating an antelope and start crying foul, exclaiming that the cheetah is a murderer. It's a freaking cheetah. It eats meat.

As such, people are omnivores. We do have certain intelligence and moral codes which other animals don't have, which means we can choose to not eat meat in keeping with our personal set of ethics. It also means we can continue to eat meat if it strikes our fancy.

It's a matter of preference. Not murder.

11-01-2010, 11:35 AM	#11 (permalink)
ThePhanastasio Killed Laura Palmer Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Ashland, KY Posts: 1,679	I'm a vegetarian. I have been for years. I do, however, think that it's somewhat bizarre for people to say that "Meat is murder". Always have. My not eating meat is a personal decision, one which I recognize I must supplement with vitamins and such daily in order to remain healthy. (I also have iron deficiency anemia, which means it's particularly important that I take vitamins and eat the proper foods. If I go just a day without doing so, I get really sleepy and feel like crap.) But meat isn't murder - not by a long stretch. I don't like the way that our meat is processed, nor do I like how the animals are treated. I find it extremely unfair that we breed animals for the sole purpose of eating them - they don't even get a chance. If people actually hunted their food in the wild to eat, I'd have less of a problem with it, I suppose. I feel like at least then, the animals have a fighting chance and get to live their lives the way they were meant to live them...before the predators (us) ate them. That's just the way things work in the wild. It's natural. I don't look at a cheetah eating an antelope and start crying foul, exclaiming that the cheetah is a murderer. It's a freaking cheetah. It eats meat. As such, people are omnivores. We do have certain intelligence and moral codes which other animals don't have, which means we can choose to not eat meat in keeping with our personal set of ethics. It also means we can continue to eat meat if it strikes our fancy. It's a matter of preference. Not murder.