I'm thinking of becoming a vegetarian.

[Aaron Lee Morrison]

Avoir Le Retour...

Well, I recently saw an HBO special on PeTA (People for the ethical Treatment of Animals), and Ingrid Newkirk, who I found out was Atheist through the special, and I am contemplating becoming a vegetarian or vegan. I've always been a meat eater, but I've gone three days without eating any meat at all. I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind, but my dad, I'm positive, would find it odd. I don't want my dad to view me as some sort of weirdo, so I'm thinking of kind of laying low on the idea for a while. I'll eat meat when I have to, so as to not bring it up, but I won't eat meat when I don't have to. It's horrible how animals are processed, used, and abused constantly. I love animals too much to want to eat them any longer. I'm sure I will miss the taste, but I find it worth it. So, please, anyone who can lend me some advice, (if you're already a vegetarian or vegan) I would really appreciate it.

Thanks a lot.

...Les Adieux

 

[Napoleon_Danneskjold]

noooooooooooooo.......... the ecoterrorist church has another recruit...  

[Aaron Lee Morrison]

Napoleon_Danneskjold

noooooooooooooo.......... the ecoterrorist church has another recruit...

Avoir Le Retour...

lol look, I don't actually support PeTA. I don't like their ways of exploitation, and I find the fact that they absolutely lower humans to 'just animals' extremely stupid. Yet, I still think that eating animals is not necessary, and that they should be treated with at least the amount of ethics that doesn't involve bloody massacres everyday. I am not converting to some church of ecoterrorism, but I am trying to convert to vegetarianism.

...Les Adieux

 

[Napoleon_Danneskjold]

XD actually PETA doesn't regard humans as "just animals." They regard them as less. They are an animal rights organization, and yet Newkirk states "I do not believe that a human being has a right to life."

Regarding treating animals with "ethics" may I ask why? They won't return the favor biggrin . Ethics toward others (e.g. politics in philosophical terms) is always necessarily based on reciprocation, unless you regard the other as superior to you. Are you then inferior to an animal?  

[HEHeverywhere]

I would, but I could never give up delicious prosciutto....

Or venison. Or sushi.  

[Meirelle]

I eat meat. Meat is tasty. heart

So I really don't care as long as the animal is treated humanely before it's killed.  

[Zambimaru]

I saw the same documentary. PETA is a bunch of hypocrite's and they condone terrorism. They think its immoral for people to eat animals, but why is it okay for other animals to eat meat? I'm an animal lover also, but I believe eating meat is part of life so it isn't cruel.  

[Redem]

MMm tasty crunchable fishies

Me no wanna give it up.

On the other hand, no one wants animals to suffer. It's apathy that hurts them, not cruelty.  

[JadeDragonSoul]

As Zambimaru said, eating meat is a natural part of life. There is nothing wrong with eating what our bodies need. You say that there is no need, but in what sense? Meat is an integral part of the human diet. Sure, it sounds fancy and makes you look intellectual, but there will always be another person to eat the meat you don't!
Yes, the meat industry is commercialized for consumers, but people to associate these words with "slaughter" and "inhumane" like the PETA. I'm not saying that some aren't humane, but I am saying that chances are the animals you eat are killed swiftly. Remember, you saw a biased documentary from the PETA themselves. Why not look into how the meat industry words from their perspective?
In the end the choice is yours, but before jumping to conclusions I suggest looking into it before making a life-decision. As an atheist, if some one asks why you are a vegetarian you'd love to give thoughtful reasons why, right?

I know it kind of seems like I'm telling you not to, it's just the thinking skills acquired as an atheist should be applied to all opinions and debates that person has. Why just use them for advocating atheism? 3nodding  

[Aaron Lee Morrison]

Avoir Le Retour...

Well, I have other reasons as well, and a list I am about to post lists them, and others I didn't know about. I would have listed more before, and I should have. Here is a list of many reasons to become a vegetarian, which I read through several times before making the decision.

...Les Adieux

Reasons to be Vegetarian  

[Sanguvixen]

I don't see any benefit of being vegetarian. Contrary to popular belief, the act of not eating meat does not make vegetarians more healthy.

It is the other things that Vegetarians tend to do that make them healthier than some of thier meat eating counterparts. It's not cheap being a vegetarian either. People who have success being full vege tend to have more money and more time on thier hands so they excersice among other things.

If you choose to not eat meat, someone else will just eat what you are not eating. Meat eating will not go away among human beings. The human body was meant to be omniverous anyway. Some people with certain blood types cannot not eat meat because they'll get very sick.

To top it off vegetarians that don't do thier research run into big problems with protien deficiencies, which can lead to a bigger problem in children and teenagers, because thier bodies are still growing and are being denied essential nutrients that are easily found in meat products.

It's your choice, but as for me, it's not worth it. Your body is designed to run on a mixture of plants and animals. Give the body what it wants, right?

 

[Levis Pennae]

I believe that the millions of years of evolution that gave us the ability to kill whatever and eat what ever we want gives us the right to eat what ever we want. Anyway, most meat is not processed in gruesome ways (minus the guts part, there's no way to make that better), because that costs money, the faster you can get meat off the field and into a burger the more money you make, and gruesome killings are not very fast. The only thing I would say is truly gruesome in the meat packing industry is Kosher (from what I know), where they slit the necks of animals and let them bleed to death.  

[Healer Guy]

I don't think you "should" or "shouldn't" do anything from a truly absolute standpoint.
I've been sort of vegetarian all my life because I was raised vegetarian. I don't like the taste of meat but I will eat fish and dairy products (yeah fish is still sort of a meat I think, but whatever).

It's a lot easier on the environment when you don't eat cows.
Cows take a lot of resources to breed, grow and feed.
Resources being lush rain forest. >_>

I hate it how whenever I order a vegetarian pizza and everyone else gets 2 meat pizzas, everyone still wants to eat mine.  

[Lee Retalis]

Good work.
Welcome to the club. I've been a vegetarian for seven years. I love it. If you want some info, PM me if you'd like, anytime. biggrin
It seems we are in the minority here.
I don't think we should eat them just because we can. Just because there will always be other people eating the meat I think is a silly reason to give up your morals. There will always be people killing people, so we should kill people too?

Healer Guy

I hate it how whenever I order a vegetarian pizza and everyone else gets 2 meat pizzas, everyone still wants to eat mine.

Yeah, why is that?

And please don't tell me the people in this guild are even going to start the "its natural" arguement.

The way I sum my views up is simple. If I don't have to kill it for food, then I don't wanna. I can't live without eating vegetables. I can live without eating meat. Animals are my friends, I don't eat my friends.  

[Sanguvixen]

Healer Guy

I don't think you "should" or "shouldn't" do anything from a truly absolute standpoint.
I've been sort of vegetarian all my life because I was raised vegetarian. I don't like the taste of meat but I will eat fish and dairy products (yeah fish is still sort of a meat I think, but whatever).

It's a lot easier on the environment when you don't eat cows.
Cows take a lot of resources to breed, grow and feed.
Resources being lush rain forest. >_>

I hate it how whenever I order a vegetarian pizza and everyone else gets 2 meat pizzas, everyone still wants to eat mine.

If you are not clearing forest for eating raising animals for the consumption of thier meat, than you are clearing forest to grow crops. In reality, growing crops is equally harsh on the environment compared to raising cattle.

Crops require not only a lot of fertilizer, but pesticides, water, and lots of land. That is if you grow it in bulk. That is why if the world went fully vegetarian it would be an ecological disaster.

The only way to effectively balance our need for food is to grow crops and raise animals for consumption. The waste that comes from farms can easily be put to good use by ranchers, and the waste made by ranchers and their animals can be a better alternative for fertilizer when it comes to farming. In fact the manure from cows can be turned into a kind of pot that is good for potted plants that are going to be transfered directly into the ground because the pot can be planted into the ground, and will biodegrade to offer the growing plant nutrients.