i don't think it's wrong in and of itself. i think the way it's being done is really unfortunate and not good for people or animals. we've come a long way from hunting for our food or raising it on diversified farms. mass producing meat is already known to be dangerous to human health and harmful to the environment. i believe veganism is a good choice for those reasons but i doubt that all humans are going to give up eating meat any time soon, so i think that there should be more humane, responsible, and sustainable options to meat production. it's like the environment issue; people need to take a stand and demand it before anything will get done. it's already beginning with the organic movement. it's voting with your dollars that leads to change these days.

I flip flop like a fish out of water on this issue.

I'm not sure we 'need' to consume the fleshy, coagulated corpses of cows to sustain our biological function. In (industrialized) the world there are other ways to get your nutritional needs. 'Cept that pesky B12. Eggs and cheese, I say.

Don't get me wrong; I love a good steak (medium rare) but am so disgusted by the...

Oh, I just threw up in my mouth a little... *Birch runs to the potty*

I am a little odd on this issue as well.

I have no problem (unlike Birch, poor nauseous Birch XD) with killing an animal, chopping it open, gutting it, etc, and cooking it and eating it. I've done it before indeed.

I would have no problem with beef/pork/chicken... if the animals were not mistreated before being killed. That's my only issue.

I also believe humans in a developed world don't need as much meat as many of us are consuming. It's just not necessary or healthy as our obesity rates prove.

i could go either way on this
its a tough subject

Well my observation is this: We are omnivores by genetics. So, we are capable and gain a lot of health from eating meat. Eating meat is actually the reason we were able to have enough fat in our diet to grow out large fatty brains lol.

oh geez the last things humans need are fatty brains lol

We already have them... lol. You're too late by several thousand years hahah.

Oh..I think I just...

*runs to the bathroom covering mouth with hand*

[quote="Birch"]

Oh..I think I just...

*runs to the bathroom covering mouth with hand*[/quote

dangit birch i wanna know what you think!!!!! quit getting sick!!!!

are you trying to say when you think about what they put into/do with the meat before we eat it.....

*oh god...*

Well, when the blood...and...our biological functions...uh oh...

Here we go again...

*mad dash*

your driving me crazy

Hehehe. I guess I shouldn't describe how I once had to kill a fish with a steak knife instead of a proper cleaver... I had to saw and saw... Fish have tough skin! And tough backbones. Plus they wriggle and are slippery...





Love you Birch!!!!

ha ha
wow eiri that really helped alot!!!!!

My main problem is not the actual consumption of meat. In the hunter gatherer sense, it is very natural. However, the hormone pumped flesh which in life was cramed into inhumanely small stalls, continuously brutalized and experienced nothing but unnecessary suffering, is as far from natural as it gets.

Industrial society hides the real suffering well. Even though most humans are aware they are consuming a slaughtered animal when they bust out the pork chops, I think it's safe to assume the majority are completely oblivious to the reality of factory farms. The unnecessary pain and suffering that consumed the entire existence of an innocent animal... just for one meal.

I won't go into too much detail, about how laying hens are kept in cages so small they don't get to spread their wings in their entire miserable lives, they have their beaks seared off, are shocked or starved into a new laying cycle when production rates drop... okay I guess I will go into just a little bit of detail, but only about chickens. I won't touch that sometimes stunning fails and the bigger mammals end up traveling the conveyor belts alive, blinking, looking around, while having different parts of them carved out, killing them piece by piece... woops, but I'll spare you more, and believe me, there is more! I just know I don't want my body to be a burial place, where that suffering comes to rest (this might only make sense if you believe all things carry the energy of their life experiences, as I do). There is no way I could in good conscious let myself be a link in the chain.

I am told so many times my veganism isn't changing anything, but I just can't stand to be another disgusting wasteful human being. The problem is humans are such self righteous creatures. Somewhere along the line we've come to blindly accepted this as the way things are. We have this notion that we are more important then anything else on this planet, that it is our right to exploit entire species for our own profit. We're just so darn rude! We are raping our planet, right in the butt hole, and some how we pass it off as our right just because we have th is "superior intelligence".

I basically classify meat eaters into three categories.

The ignorant. People who's minds aren't awake and informed to the realities of the industry. I like to tell myself "if they knew it would be different" in this scenario.

The weak. They know better but are slaves to the products they consume. They are not strong enough, or too lazy, to make the sacrifices and a life changes.

The evil. These people are completely aware, with absolutely no emotional response. Cruel and heartless. Not the prime cut of the human population. I see them in likeness to nazi's.

I do what I can. My diet is vegan, for the animals and for the environment... the health benefits are a pleasant side effect. I don't buy my clothes new. I don't use products that are harsh on the environment, or that were tested on animals. Bolt cutters and the dumpster are as good as any other source for a meal. (Spare your "ews", grocery stores and bakeries chuck things for just approaching their due dates. Wasting food is sinful, in my opinion). In this situation I would consider myself a freegan, as I will eat animal products (not meat, but bread products containing whey, etc) received by this method, as the only thing worse then exploiting animals is exploiting them and then being wasteful about it, shameful!.

Basicaly... I think it is wrong. I have a hard time accepting that there are people that are okay with this as to me it is such an obvious moral no no.

Holy crap, I wrote a thesis. If anyone is interested in being enlightened on the suffering we all as humans contribute to, pm me for a link to nice little informative video.

meat is yummy .

Dont get mad but.....

wasting food is sinful.........you have got to be kidding since i bet you have done much worse than wasting food. you telling me you never throw just one peice of food away.

I'm talking about wastefulness on a large scale, like that of a business.

like the schools
who throw awy the milk cartons that are left after 2 days
tney just throw them away
milk
juice

or resteraunts even hotels

I am none of the above. I am not evil, weak, or ignorant.

I eat meat, but I also want to work for change in the way these animals are raised. I am as active as a vegetarian, but I do not restrict my species' natural diet for ethical reasons.

I believe that meat should be eaten with more respect. There are too many people who are in the three above categories that you are never going to get enough vegetarians to "take down" the meat industry. However, we can enact change.

When "The Jungle" came out, detailing the horrors of slaughter houses in the early 21st century, change was enacted. Food processing became cleaner, healthier. We can do the same thing again.

I have followed a vegetarian diet on several different occasions and I have found it to be hard and not as convenient. Which isn't the reason I stopped, I started eating meat again because I started to feel ill and tired all of the time. I realized I wasn't doing it right.

I took a nutrition course this past year and I'm kind of on the fence about whether or not to eat meat. On one hand, I dislike how things are done and I feel terrible about how animals are treated. On the other, I do know that I need protein and other vitamins that are in meat and I don't know if I think you can get them by eating beans and legumes without adding too much of other things to your diet.

So, basically, I think that a person who wants to stop eating meat or animal products needs to educate themselves a lot and take a nutrition course. Way too many chicks do this as a means of losing weight (or just to be cool, in some cases) and they have no idea what they are doing to their bodies.