Speciesism

[kitschyduck]

I can't pinpoint the time or moment when I thought there was something to the argument, so it was a kind of accumulative process. But once there was a tipping point... When you come out the other side intellectually, I'd almost say it's crippling. You're immediately confronted with a holocaust, that is occurring everywhere at all times and

Comments

[kitschyduck]

I agree with you to an extent. Unlike a couple of vegans I'm friends with, I admit that humans have evolved to be able to digest meat (via figuring out we can cook it to break it down) and have been eating animal products for at least 2.5 millions years. We have adapted to being able to obtain nutrients that animals have eaten, second hand through their flesh, eggs and milk when times have been hard and we wouldn't have survived otherwise.

However, in this culture I'm beginning to consider it all as completely unnecessary. How can we justify the imprisonment, slavery and slaughter of thinking, emotional and feeling animals just for the taste of them? There are alternatives now and it's gotten out of control purely because we believe we're above them. It's natural for a species to place more importance on their own because life has evolved purely to pass on genetic code, but as humans we have become more aware. We have choices now. Choices beyond what's 'natural'. The choice to reduce needless suffering.

But yeah, I do continue to live as I do, because that's what my parents did, and they're parents did and so on.
I want it to stop, but saying that,I'm not sure veganism is the healthiest long term option either. Just eating less animal products in general seems to be the answer, although nothing seems to be a perfect solution.

[jaelle_n_gilla]

I think we've degenerated rather than evolved when we managed to cook our meat to make it more digestible. And we've certainly grown soft when we stopped hunting our own meat (and as a result only eating it once in a while, rather than as a main course with every meal). I do agree that it makes sense to eat more veggies and I'm still hoping for artificial sources of animal protein that tastes like burgers, steak, and seafood :-)

My point was more though - where do you draw the line? Plants are alive. I'm pretty sure a 100 yo oak tree has more "will to live" in a sense than a mollusc. Is fishing from the wild ok but penning up pigs not? I get vegans even less. It isn't as if honey bees are treated badly or suffering. The milk cows I know are doing fine, too, all day on a meadow and coming home for the milking. Where is the line? Mammals, fish, non vertebrates, eggs, milk, honey, plants? I understand when people say "I won't eat that" at whatever point, but it's a very personal line and you can challenge each and every one of them down to a point where you can't eat anything any more. Where is the line?

[kitschyduck]

Yeah, I think that if there wasn't such prevalent and unquestioned trend towards speciesism then we may have already found a way to synthesise meat. Or maybe scientists would have found a way to make sure mostly only female chickens hatch so grinding up billions of male chicks wouldn't be necessary. But why would they bother? It's cheap and easy to just kill them as soon as they're sexed and their suffering is of no consequence to us.

'Killing' plants to eat doesn't concern me because they have no nervous system, emotions or awareness to speak of. A mollusc feels intense pain if you put salt on it and my pet snails all behave differently. They have favourite foods, favourite places to sleep and they can be either shy or out going. :)

That said, you're right about not knowing where to draw the line. Even if I became a strict vegan, I own cats that require meat, five snakes that require mice and rats bred in trays in a warehouse somewhere before they're gassed to death. And lizards that require live insects that also feel pain.

I also work for carvery and grill restaurants, which means I have to design posters, emails and flyers to advertise meat to encourage others to eat it. I don't imagine my moral compass will ever be entirely consistent, but I'm beginning to see the merit in at least being aware of it and doing what's realistic rather than settling on the 'all or nothing' attitude I had not long ago.

I've heard mixed things about dairy cows and I'm apprehensive about leaving my ignorant bubble on that just yet. Apparently they're kept almost constantly pregnant and each calf is snatched away to be slaughtered - despite the mother cow's distressed calls. I've begun buying almond and rice milk now but I'm not strict enough about it to allow myself to consider avoiding sauces, icecream etc.

It's definitely a very personal line, and that fact alone stops me judging anyone for making different choices to my own.