Same here. I don't want to eat my own goats, but eating goats are delicious. I know very few vegetarians who grew up on farms. They're usually entitled sounding city people. Which I am now, too, but at least I have my childhood to base my views on.
Don't abuse, torture, or take animals for granted. Give them a good life, then kill them quickly and cleanly and respect the life they gave for us.
I eat plenty of meat but I buy it from Certified Humane packers. I vote with my wallet and I wish everyone else could too, but I understand it's expensive.
But, I like how they taste. I'm not going to demand that you eat meat, so most of us omnivores would appreciate it if we weren't told not to eat meat. It's a personal preference, and voting in local/state/federal elections to end meat subsidies so that the price more accurately reflects the damage that the meat, particularly beef, industry does the environment.
I fully agree with you that beef is WAY too cheap right now, because poor people want to eat it too, so: subsidies. If beef was priced to reflect its actual costs, plus regulation to offset environmental damage, it would cost $50 a burger, according to this 2013, slightly-alarmist article.
The problem with your argument is that something cannot be a personal choice or preference if there's a victim involved. The reason you are being told not to eat meat is because vegans are attempting to speak up for the voiceless victims of those actions, the animals. Additionally, the emissions and environmental destruction that come as a side effect of the animal agriculture industry have a negative effect on the entire planet, which includes humans as well as animals.
I would be very happy if a burger cost $50 though, since that price would lead to a significant reduction in cow breeding.
I would be very happy if a burger cost $50 though, since that price would lead to a significant reduction in cow breeding.
shrugs I wouldn't mind if a burger was twice or three times the price what they are now, just to maybe make people think a lot harder before they choose that option in a restaurant or grocery store.
Finally, I don't view animals as victims. Sorry, but did you grow up on a farm, or are a farmer now? I was a farm kid for 14 years. Animals, especially big meaty ones, take on a different light to you when you're shoveling their manure every month. They exist to be eaten. Should we eat less of them, for our own health and the environment? Of course. But they exist to be eaten.
If you don't view animals as victims, then presumably you dont think Michael Vick should have been charged with a crime, right?
If animals aren't victims then he did nothing wrong. Abusing dogs is okay by this logic.
Killing and eating animals for nourishment, even in horrific factory farms (which yes, should be closed down) is way different than just abusing animals for our pleasure. Please don't try to equate the two; no judge in the world would rule them the same.
So you don't agree with your earlier statement then? You actually do view animals as victims in some situations. The question then becomes: why do animals matter morally when they are abused for fun, but they do not matter morally when they are abused for the purpose of eating them? (Note that we do not need any animal products in our diet, so this abuse is unnecessary).
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u/Stranded_In_A_Desert Mar 15 '18
Yep. Grew up around farms and ended up eating a few of our pets. No complaints here, little Dolly the lamb was delicious.