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I'm not a vegan, but whether or not i choose to eat meat is my choice and just that. Not eating meat doesn't make me feel any cleaner, nor does it scientifically MAKE me any cleaner. The reason i curb my intake of meat is both by personal choice and by heath reasons. My family has a history of high blood pressure, and i try to avoid getting caught in the stroke-stream by eating less meat. I dont like to be made an evil one because every once in a while i enjoy a hamburger. I wouln't care less if the world got rid of McDonalds, or Wendy's, or Subway, or Outback steakhouse. It doesn't really affect my personal view of myself or the world. The fact is, the meat industry is here to stay no matter what.
I don't like to be made to feel bad because i'm eating what used to be an innocent cow. Should lion's feel bad because they hunt the antelope? Should a swarm of army ants feel bad for plundering some poor defenseless ground animal? Should a colony of tapeworms feel bad after they burrow their way into a human brain starting from the stomach of an "innocent" human being? probably not, because they can't help it right? supposedly it is WE who are born with the free will to choose. Why do we choose to eat meat?
Probaby because humans have been omnivorous since the beginning of time. Sure, ancient humans hunted down animals for food. With a booming population, people just cant go out and hunt anymore. Meat has to be breeded, so humans can go on the way they did, as omniverous creatures. Maybe its the not the fact that we are eating meat that's disturbing to many, but the way we raise it. How we raise an animal from birth to be our food, and when its time, we brutally terminate its life so we can have a barbecue.
The native americans believed that nature is one being. Humans, animals, trees, etc, are all part of a larger being. When they hunted down their "brothers" it was acknowledged that the animal had "given" its life to save its "human brothers". The natives americans had great respect for humans and animals alike, and animals were hunted with the greatest amount of respect possible.
Maybe they had a good point.
Besides we are all animals, but we are also probably the only species that has a concept of animal rights. Think of the shark that attacks the surfer. Or the mosquitos that attack you at night. Yes the animals are being cruel to us. But do they know that? If we had the same minds as the animals...we'd be eating them anyway...
hmmm, I'd kinda like to argue some of the stuff davey said, but that would be kinda assholish after he took the time to write it wouldn't it? Oh well, at least you read two viewpoints and maybe it will make you think a little bit and that's all I really wanted in the first place. I'm not trying to force my ideas down your throat. That would be even more evil ,perhaps, then swallowing meat down your throat...ewwwwww... HAHA.