Guest guest Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 Dear All! I am a pure vegetarian for the last 15 years (I am 23). The reason for adopting this lifestyle was simply that I cannot stand cruelty to helpless animals just for taste. I have posted this message to other veggie groups but received no meaningful replies, except for a couple. Now the thing is that for so many years, my friends, mates and colleagues have been asking me the one question: why am i vegetarian? I always reply that I its cause of cruelty to animals. Their reply is that: why do eat plants then? arent they living things? its cruel to eat a living thing, so why do u eat plants? I simply have no answer to that; I just say that I just cant eat meat and stuff, but I have no solid argument. Another argument that I am confronted with is: eating animals is part of the food chain.. everywhere organisms eat other organisms, so the world goes round this way. Once again, I am stumped. And, finally, they say that animals are made for human beings. They are here so that we can eat them n stuff. This argument is one which I simply refuse to agree to, but again I have no proof or reason. Anyway, all of you have been vegetarians for so long, and can certianly provide some guidance regarding my problem. Although it is not necessary for me to provide any justification to others for my actions or lifestyle, but it is always a confidence-boost if I can convince others to my point of view. Therefore, I request everyone here to please provide valuable input regarding my situation. It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you & Best wishes. Rahul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 Rahul, Get yourself a copy of " Diet for a New America " by John Robbins. That will clear up many of these questions. -Kim On Thu, 13 Mar 2003, bluebasket wrote: > Dear All! > > I am a pure vegetarian for the last 15 years (I am 23). The reason for adopting this lifestyle was simply that I cannot stand cruelty to helpless animals just for taste. I have posted this message to other veggie groups but received no meaningful replies, except for a couple. > > Now the thing is that for so many years, my friends, mates and colleagues have been asking me the one question: why am i vegetarian? I always reply that I its cause of cruelty to animals. > > Their reply is that: why do eat plants then? arent they living things? its cruel to eat a living thing, so why do u eat plants? I simply have no answer to that; I just say that I just cant eat meat and stuff, but I have no solid argument. > > Another argument that I am confronted with is: eating animals is part of the food chain.. everywhere organisms eat other organisms, so the world goes round this way. > Once again, I am stumped. > > And, finally, they say that animals are made for human beings. They are here so that we can eat them n stuff. This argument is one which I simply refuse to agree to, but again I have no proof or reason. > > Anyway, all of you have been vegetarians for so long, and can certianly provide some guidance regarding my problem. Although it is not necessary for me to provide any justification to others for my actions or lifestyle, but it is always a confidence-boost if I can convince others to my point of view. > > Therefore, I request everyone here to please provide valuable input regarding my situation. It would be greatly appreciated. > > Thank you & Best wishes. > > Rahul. > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 > Their reply is that: why do eat plants then? arent they living things? > its cruel to eat a living thing, so why do u eat plants? I simply have no > answer to that; I just say that I just cant eat meat and stuff, but I have > no solid argument. yes, this is a time-honoured, worn-out argument made by meat eaters when they start to feel bad for eating animals. it always comes down to this. there is no easy answer. one is that plants don't have brains or the ability to feel pain. another is that eating plants is more sustainable for the earth. a plant won't run away from you when you come at it with a knife. food from animals will give you food poisoning give a half a chance, food from plants will not. the list goes on. > Another argument that I am confronted with is: eating animals is part of > the food chain.. everywhere organisms eat other organisms, so the world > goes round this way. Once again, I am stumped. it's part of some people's food chain - and look at how the earth is suffering because of it! we do not need meat to survive, and there are many vegetarians and vegans that are living proof of this. we also get to choose what we eat - we're not bound by where we are in the food chain - we can choose to be guardians and caretakers for animals and the earth instead of surrendering to our animal brains and eating anything that moves. > And, finally, they say that animals are made for human beings. They are > here so that we can eat them n stuff. This argument is one which I simply > refuse to agree to, but again I have no proof or reason. there is no proof either way when dealing with this argument, unless you are arguing with christians. in this case, it is to do with the bible. the bible is translated as stating that animals belong to humans to use as they like - however you can also interpret it as that we were granted stewardship of all animals - to protect them and make sure they are able to continue as species. if you're not arguing with christians then all you can say is that you don't agree that humans can do whatever they like with animals, that you believe them to be sentient creatures that do not deserve to be slaughtered for food. you can also ask them why they won't eat certain types of animals if they believe it to be their right - why don't they eat cats, dogs, goldfish? is it perhaps because they feel compassion for these animals that show us friendship? hope this helps some, and i second the recommendation to read " diet for a new america " . it's a great book. thanks olivia o http://veganchallenge.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 13, 2003 Report Share Posted March 13, 2003 Quoting SFBAVeg : > Now the thing is that for so many years, my friends, mates and colleagues > have been asking me the one question: why am i vegetarian? I always reply > that I its cause of cruelty to animals. > > Their reply is that: why do eat plants then? arent they living things? its > cruel to eat a living thing, so why do u eat plants? I simply have no answer > to that; I just say that I just cant eat meat and stuff, but I have no solid > argument. > > Another argument that I am confronted with is: eating animals is part of the > food chain.. everywhere organisms eat other organisms, so the world goes > round this way. > Once again, I am stumped. The best answer I have hear to your first two questions I saw posted here on this list and it was something like this: Being a vegan/vegetarian one of the main goals is to reduce suffering of all life on the planet and to lessen the negative impact of life on the environment. We have to eat something to survive but it is a personal choice where on the food chain a person chooses to eat. A cow is fed a massive amount of plants (and ground up cows and chickens but that is a different topic) in its lifespan so by eating a cow a person would be causing more plants to die than if they ate a vegetarian diet. By eating lower on the food chain, by choosing a vegetarian/vegan diet, you are greatly reducing the number of plants and animals that need to be killed. Hope this helps, Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 13, 2003 Report Share Posted March 13, 2003 Another argument is that with modern day " factory farming " techniques, the animals that are raised for food are raised in quite horrifying conditions. " Vegan: the new ethics of eating " does a wonderful job explaining why vegetarianism, and veganism in particular is the most moral and ethical choice for eating on the planet. It was an eye-opening book for me and I broke down in tears several times. Best regards, Susan Jason and Vivian [jnv] Thursday, March 13, 2003 8:07 AM SFBAVeg [sFBAVeg] Re: Vegetarianism Quoting SFBAVeg : > Now the thing is that for so many years, my friends, mates and colleagues > have been asking me the one question: why am i vegetarian? I always reply > that I its cause of cruelty to animals. > > Their reply is that: why do eat plants then? arent they living things? its > cruel to eat a living thing, so why do u eat plants? I simply have no answer > to that; I just say that I just cant eat meat and stuff, but I have no solid > argument. > > Another argument that I am confronted with is: eating animals is part of the > food chain.. everywhere organisms eat other organisms, so the world goes > round this way. > Once again, I am stumped. The best answer I have hear to your first two questions I saw posted here on this list and it was something like this: Being a vegan/vegetarian one of the main goals is to reduce suffering of all life on the planet and to lessen the negative impact of life on the environment. We have to eat something to survive but it is a personal choice where on the food chain a person chooses to eat. A cow is fed a massive amount of plants (and ground up cows and chickens but that is a different topic) in its lifespan so by eating a cow a person would be causing more plants to die than if they ate a vegetarian diet. By eating lower on the food chain, by choosing a vegetarian/vegan diet, you are greatly reducing the number of plants and animals that need to be killed. Hope this helps, Jason *3/22 Bay Area Letter Writing Day! http://www.generationv.org/events.htm#lwp *More SFBAVeg Events: http://www.generationv.org/events.htm *Vote for future event locations! SFBAVeg/polls *Got Questions? We got answers! www.generationv.org/faq.htm *SFBAVeg Charter: www.generationv.org/charter.htm *FREE vegan info kit: http://www.veganoutreach.org/starterpack/free-vsp.html *Online discussion forum with threaded messages http://www.generationv.org/forum/ *Be Active for Animals! See http://www.freedom4animals.org/events.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 13, 2003 Report Share Posted March 13, 2003 re: plant's feel pain argument against vegetarianism I like to ask such people if they are in favor of laws prohibiting cruelty to plants. And if they aren't in favor of laws prohibiting cruelty to dogs and cats, then what point is there talking to them? Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 14, 2003 Report Share Posted March 14, 2003 Rahul, Also I would say, eating just fruits, stem, leaves (or portions of the trees) will not kill them. We let them live and eat the products from them. We can always proudly say that " We don't kill animals just for our existence in the Earth " Gana Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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