It is clear that we don't need meat to survive. There are many millions of people in the world who have never tasted meat, who are in robust good health and live full lives. Meat is not necessary for a human being.

It is also clear that excessive amounts of meat is unhealthy, and causes us to sicken and die. The most obvious signs of excessive meat intake are obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Most meat produced in the United States is contaminated with antibiotics, growth hormones, pesticides, and often bacteria. Those bacteria, being resistant to antibiotics, can cause serious illness and even death.

It isn't clear whether moderate intake of meat is necessarily harmful. Some claim it is, but it appears that those who only consume small amounts of meat don't suffer from increased ill health.

In the meantime, the factory farms are massive cesspools of disease and pollution. Runoff from such factories can dump massive amounts of ammonia, bacteria, and other pollutants into the ground water. Nearby populations have bee sickened by such pollution. Massive amounts of methane are produced by the animals themselves, as well as their manure. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, more harmful than carbon dioxide.

Whether to eat meat is a personal decision that should not be forced on someone. However, a person should know what the cost is of eating meat, both to himself, and to the environment.

If eating beef or chicken is bad, then why do vegetarians eat meatless products that are shaped and seasoned to look and taste like hamburgers and chicken patties? Just curious...

Originally posted by Legion2112
If eating beef or chicken is bad, then why do vegetarians eat meatless products that are shaped and seasoned to look and taste like hamburgers and chicken patties? Just curious...

Why is a hamburger patty shaped like a chicken patty smarty pants?

Originally posted by Divinorumus

Originally posted by Legion2112
If eating beef or chicken is bad, then why do vegetarians eat meatless products that are shaped and seasoned to look and taste like hamburgers and chicken patties? Just curious...

Why is a hamburger patty shaped like a chicken patty smarty pants?

Because they both fit the bun quite nicely. And you didn't answer my question

Originally posted by Legion2112
And you didn't answer my question

You just did yourself.

I've noticed something very interesting here on ATS. Whenever someone posts an 'anti-meat' article, people become furious. I mean, raging angry about it. I only wonder, is it because of the comfort?

We certainly don't need meat to survive. Sure it can be delicious when prepared correctly, but we aren't really equip to eat as much of it as we do in modern society.

Wow... the fury.

Originally posted by Avarus
Whenever someone posts an 'anti-meat' article, people become furious. I mean, raging angry about it.

Wouldn't you, if you knew flesh and blood thirsty vampires were slaughtering your friends and eating them? Say, do you believe in fair turn-around, an eye for an eye, what goes around comes around, karma, and all that? If some reptilians from outer space that like to eat humans came along to harvest us, would everyone still be so fond of this idea of murder and death as food? If one believes it's okay for a higher species to eat a lower species, you would have nothing to complain about being eaten by a higher species. Right?

[edit on 29-10-2009 by Divinorumus]

Originally posted by Avarus
Actually, I think you misunderstood...

Oh, I see, so sorry, my bad.

Myself, I don't see the vampires becoming so angry as much as they keep rubbing their practice in our faces (I do not eat death either, btw). They'll say things like "and now I'm going off to commit murder and then shove a bloody carcass down my throat" .. well, not so much in those exact words but basically that's what I hear them saying.

Maybe it's their anger showing through because of their lack of will power to break this connection they have with eating flesh and blood, death, and it's being vented upon us stronger willed and morally higher creatures of Earth, ha. Of course, murderers do have a lack of compassion, that much is obvious, and that could be showing sometimes too.

There, that might help to explain some of it.

Originally posted by Divinorumus

Originally posted by Avarus
Whenever someone posts an 'anti-meat' article, people become furious. I mean, raging angry about it.

Wouldn't you, if you knew flesh and blood thirsty vampires were slaughtering your friends and eating them? Say, do you believe in fair turn-around, an eye for an eye, what goes around comes around, karma, and all that? If some reptilians from outer space that like to eat humans came along to harvest us, would everyone still be so fond of this idea of murder and death as food? If one believes it's okay for a higher species to eat a lower species, you would have nothing to complain about being eaten by a higher species. Right?

[edit on 29-10-2009 by Divinorumus]

What about animals that, due to instinct, eat humans? Sharks, bears, boars, coyotes, crocodiles, alligators, lions, tigers etc. I understand your point about the hypocrisy of turning a blind eye when we mass-kill animals and crying if a higher species came and did the same.

But you do have to remember that we as humans have the ability to reason and think critically perhaps more than any other animal in existence. This means that we do have a morally more justifiable reason for living than most other animals. I know this may sound harsh. Realistically however, does any other animal have the capacity for creation and survivability that us humans do? We are definitely capable of great evil, but our potential to do good for both our race and the planet is far greater than any other animal currently in existence.

If you really want to get into a deep moral debate on what we should not eat, then technically speaking plants should not be eaten either. Plants respire and are regarded as organisms. Yes, they may not have brains, emotions and feelings, but putting them on an "ok to mistreat and eat" is the same thing as those equating mistreating humans with non-humans.

Also remember that it was Aristotle who told us that we humans are social beings and our relationships with other humans form an integral part of our existence. While animals do have social contracts and relations with other animals (prides, packs, hierarchies) compared to us humans it is extremely limited and thus far less global.

[edit on 29/10/2009 by Dark Ghost]

Stop feeding cows corn, they cant digest that crap. They need to eat grass, but we have a surplus of corn, so we feed them corn.

Then the crap and the crap isn't fertilizing properly, why? the corn!

Then these poor bastard cows walk around in their sh*t, and get covered in it, then to the slaughter house while covered in sh*t. After being ground to bits (including their poop)...hello Ecoli!

FEED THEM GRASS YA DAMN FARMERS!

Problem solved.

Disgustipated Lyrics by Tool

And the angel of the lord came unto me, snatching me up from my place of slumber, and took me on high, and higher still until we moved through the spaces betwixt the air itself. And he brought me into a vast farmland of our own midwest. And as we descended, cries of impending doom arose from the soil. One thousand, nay, a million voices full of fear. And terror possessed me then. And I begged: "Angel of the lord, what are these tortured screams?" And the angel said unto me: "These are the cries of the carrots. The cries of the carrot. You see, reverend Maynard, tomorrow is harvest day, and to them, it is the holocaust." And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat with the tears of one million terrified brothers and roared: "Hear me now, I have seen the light. They have a consciousness! They have a life! They have a soul. Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses. Save our brothers." Can I get an amen. Can I get a halleluiah. Thank you, Jesus.

This is necessary, this is necessary, life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on
This is necessary, this is necessary, life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life

This is necessary, this is necessary, life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on
This is necessary, this is necessary, life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life

This is necessary, this is necessary, life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on
This is necessary, this is necessary, life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on
This is necessary, this is necessary, life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on
This is necessary, this is necessary, life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life

It was daylight when you woke up in your ditch. You looked up at your sky. That, that made blue be your color. You had your knife there with you, too. When you stood up, there was goo all over your clothes. Your hands were sticky. You wiped them on your grass, so now your color was green. Oh, lord, why did everything always have to keep changing like this. You were already getting nervous again. Your head hurt, and it rang when you stood up. Your head was amost empty. It always hurt you when you woke up like this. You crawled up out of your ditch, onto your gravel road, and you began to walk, waiting for the rest of your mind to come back to you. You could see the car parked far down the road, and you walked toward it. If god is our father, you thought, then Satan must be our cousin. Why didn't anyone else understand these important things. When you got to your car, you tried all the doors. They were locked. It was a red car, and it was new. There was an expensive leather camera case laying on the seat. Out across your field you could see two tiny people walking by your woods. You began to walk towards them. Now red was your color. And of course, those little people out there were yours, too.

You guys can quit eating meat. I'm all for it.

That much more for me.