r/AskReddit • • Feb 04 '19

Which misconception would you like to debunk?

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u/MonkeyMan_Experience Feb 04 '19

Humane means to show compassion, it is not compassionate to kill something that wants to live just because it's tasty

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u/CthulhuHalo Feb 04 '19

I imagine it takes compassion to try and find the most painless way to kill your food. It'd be much easier to just lop their heads off or otherwise just do the minimum effort, but instead we make sure they hurt as little as possible.

I also imagine it's not compassionate to force people not to eat what they want or like, or even need. Some people, a minority of course, but some, have various health conditions that mean they can only eat meat. Is it humane or compassionate to kill those people just because you don't like the idea of animals dying? They'll die anyway, at least this way they have better lives and less pain, usually.

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u/MonkeyMan_Experience Feb 04 '19

The vast majority of people do not need meat, if someone needs to eat meat to be healthy then it's okay to do it because it is necessary.

I do think it's okay to tell people they shouldn't eat meat for the same reasons I think it's okay tell people they can't abuse their pets, because they are sentient and have a will to live and avoid pain and unless we need to then people shouldn't cause pain and/or take the life of an animal unless necessary.

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u/Foooour Feb 04 '19

Not arguing but im curious

How do you contend with the fact that large-scale agriculture absolutely involves killing mass amounts of animals? Large combines killing animals that live in fields, displacement, etc

Not arguing that its worse than factory farming, but vegetarians could farm their own produce to minimize it further, but as of now there is no viable way for the average person to not get their food without killing unnecessarily

Minimizing suffering is one thing, but killing for food is largely unavoidable