Eating Animals is Making us Sick, page 4

First and foremost, I should point out that I was a Vegetarian for a year and half – I lost weight, I looked good, but I was tired a lot (sometimes sleeping up to 13 hours a night). I lived the “luxury” (which, I should point out is no easy feat for a broke-all-the-time University student) of buying “organic” produce from the market, took vitamin supplements for Iron, B12, Calcium, and Protein supplements (mainly soy) to make up for the losses I incurred from living such a lifestyle.

Then I learned something: The problem is not meat. The problem is commercialized meat. Meat that has changed dozens of hands before it reaches the dining room table.

Originally posted by Tallsorts
Oh yes, animals know they are about to die, and the Animal Kingdom is well aware that they agreed to be food for Humans, that has been their function for a very long time. It doesn't make the whole thing pleasant, but there it is.

How do you know that an animal knows they are about to die? Have you ever been an animal? Do you talk to animals? Do you KNOW with 100% certainty that animals have feelings and thoughts? You speak with such authority on the issue, I’d like to see some sources, some credentials, and some proof if you please—that animals “agreed” to be humans food source, and “know” when they’re going to die.

Does a deer grazing in a field know before the bow hits, that its going to die? Is this some sort of animal intuition? Does a fish in the lake, know that my bait is their last bite? If so – then why would they bite? So then do only SOME fish have this intuition as well? See now we’re just getting into semantics about a subject neither of us are educated in or have practical first hand experience with.

2. Animals never agreed to be food for humans, anymore then the mosquito agreed to land in the spiders web to provide food for the spider. The part of the food chain puts US at the top. HUMANS are the intellectual species, HUMANS have a thought process that is superior to animals – which is why we surf the internet, build computers, build sky scrapers, and live in cities. THIS gives us the advantage. THIS makes us top of the food chain.

Whether you believe in Mother Nature, Evolution or God it’s irrelevant: We were designed/created/evolved to be the TOP. And if you believe in the religious aspect of it (Christianity or even Catholicism) then you would know, within reading the first 5 chapters of Genesis, that God put fruits, vegetables and animals on the planet for one purpose – to sustain the human race. If there is a God – there is no “agreeing” about it. There wasn’t some Animal/Human Summit in which all species were in attendance.......no one agreed to do, or be anything – it just IS.

Even if you believe in evolution, survival of the fittest – baring that cannibalism is frowned upon, and linked to several psychological disorders in tribes that still practice that—and Darwin’s theories of evolution, then it would stand to reason WE (the human race as a whole) is the fittest, thus placing all other mammals beneath us, in the line of the food chain.
(I am in NO way suggesting or endorsing any of these ideas... just a subject worth mentioning).

I have 2 dogs, and I have a cat. As much as I like to think "Oh the cat is smart for pestering the dogs then hiding under the deck" or “it hurts the cat’s feelings when I kick him out of my room at night” it's absolutely untrue. WE give our pet’s personality, thoughts and feelings – I would be a hypocrite to say my heart didn’t wrench when I found Freddy (my cat) sitting outside a hotel in a Cold Alberta Winter. It did, I felt sorry for him and it broke my heart that he was a teeny tiny little kitty that someone left out in the cold. But Freddy—was none the wiser of the people who left him there, or of my thoughts to take him home with me to a nice warm home. We associate our human emotions with animals because we’ve been conditioned to. Our media shows us movies of Pigs that talk, Pets that go on some long adventure to get home etc... etc...

Animals act on the basis of cause and effect/affect(*), instinct, and through a series of learning procedures. Behaviour of an animal (humans included too) can be predicted, influenced and manipulated. They’re opportunists, if they see food, they eat. If they have the opportunity to be “trained” into acting a certain way—which by the way is considered to be a manipulation of behaviour or classical conditioning to those who are familiar with the term—then they learn. They learn through rewards and punishments. It’s simple Psychology. Whether its in nature, in a lab, in a home etc... The animal does not make the conscious decision to stop acting a certain way. They associate the behavior through the rewards and punishments, and as such, a behavior can be changed, extinguished, or continued.

I am just one person who no longer eats meat, because it was making me ill; but it's nice not to have death on my dinner plate. Some people become more advanced spiritually, and give up meat, and many more don't.

I’m glad you’re no longer ill. The spirituality thing is lost on me though - I never once felt spiritual from not eating meat.

I would have no problem picking my fruit and veggies, but would all the meat eaters like to catch, kill and butcher their meat? It would be interesting to see how many would, but we shall never know.

Great – now here’s the million dollar question: Do you pick your own fruits and veggies?

Did you not take into account hunters? People who actually DO all that stuff themselves? Did you know that there are people who live in less urban communities who DO this stuff, ALL THE TIME? And don’t even flinch about it? Go check out a Rural Alberta, or Manitoba – and then ASK that question to ANY of the men you see walking around.

I don’t know about you – but the people I know, who fish – do all the maintenance themselves, usually right there in the boat, or by the shore.

The people I know who own a cattle farm in Northern Manitoba – do all of their own butchering, and whatever else is required.

The people I know who hunt for their meat – DO everything they need to do by themselves, to fill their freezers full of meat for the winter - or they do the killing and skining themselves, and have a butcher (usually someone they know, most likely someone they play crib with at the local pub) make the cuts and prepare the meat.

I understand this style of living is not feasible for everyone, and to make this sort of lifestyle change is nearly impossible for those who live in cities and urban centers. You can only do, what you are able to do, in the area of which you live.

In my opinion your body is only as good as what you put in it. Which is why I encourage having your own garden, growing everything yourself, and eating only the meat you catch, kill, or butcher yourselves. Someone mentioned Amish farms – these are usually pretty great for chickens, and knowing someone who owns a cattle farm makes it a whole lot more easier to stomach the thought of beef – which by the way tastes way better then when purchased from the supermarket.

There has to be, and should be, a healthy balance of all things: meat and vegetables in a person’s diet unless dietary restrictions keep them from ingesting certain foods.

Just some thoughts..

- Carrot

[edit on 10/28/2009 by CA_Orot]