The ethics of eating meat

[Sprig of Parsley]

Why are animals made of food

Because *insert deity of choice* loves us and wants us to be happy

 

[NimertiS]

There's no ethical consumption under capitalism, you can wear plastic "leather" and eat avocados and still destroy the environment.

 

[PL 001]

I eat meat because it's fucking delicious.

I can understand wanting to go vegetarian though. I've flirted with the idea in the past, but I just don't think I could commit to it. Just don't go vegan. You're beyond redemption at that point.

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

There's no ethical consumption under capitalism, you can wear plastic "leather" and eat avocados and still destroy the environment.

There's none under any other sort of economic system either. Ethics can go fuck itself when you're hungry, cold, and naked.

 

[heathercho]

I choose not to eat meat because of my beliefs, but I wouldn't enforce them on others.
In fact, I prepare food for my pets and humans all the time that is meat. I would never go full vegan, there's no need.

Spoiler: Wherein I give you my opinion whether you like it or not...

As for ethical concerns, that's exactly why I don't eat meat. If I can't eat or kill a human, then I don't wish to eat or kill another living being. That's my own belief. You ingest the energy of entity that you are eating. That's the purpose of nutrition. I don't wish to do that. I don't care if others want to do that, that's their business.

I think there's a lot of nutrition that comes from meat though. A lot of genuine benefit from it, but I also think that humans are lucky to be able to eat a variety of things. Modern humans eat too much meat, from an evolutionary perspective. They also eat too much processed meat and aren't eating the organs they should be, the collagen they should be etc. They eat "lean" cuts. That really honestly defeats the purpose of eating meat. All you're getting from the meat then is a bit of protein. I find it fucking hilarious when people say "I'm not giving up meat, we're supposed to eat meat" and then they turn their noses up at gizzards and brains. People are ridiculously uneducated.

People also eat too much processed shit and not enough fibre. Honestly, if people were more focused on getting rid of that, than meat, they'd be a lot happier. American processed food is so bad, I'd rather take my chance on eating some low quality shit from China.

But ethically, if you want to eat meat ethically and nutritionally, then eat the meat from the entire animal, be thankful for the nutrition you're getting and don't eat processed junk or shit full of chemicals. Also, buy locally, go to a farmer's market and support the local produce, if you care for ethics.

You can eat vegetarian and get solid nutrition. You can eat vegan and get solid nutrition. You just have to be educated on what you need, what your body needs and to do it in a way you enjoy eating.

It's really no different than any other dietary or lifestyle change. You just have to actually put effort into it. You can get plenty of Iron from a vegan or vegetarian diet. B12 is a bit harder on a solely vegan diet, but a lot of meat eaters don't get enough b12 either. It is able to be done on a vegan diet though. You just have to be responsible with your food choices.

 

[RG 448]

Life consumes life, always. The process of harvesting the ingredients to vegetarian and vegan diets mangled thousands of field animals like mice and snakes. There’s no such thing as an ethical/unethical diet.

 

[nagant 1895]

I don't eat fish and there is an ethical reason why.
The cow, the pig and the chicken all are alive because somewhere somebody knew that I would want to eat them, so they bred and fed that animal into being. The fish? the fish was doing its own thing, it was only alive becaue two fish parents got it on. Man contributed nothing to the life of that fish so unless I'm on the verge of starvation I don't have a reason or a right to eat it.
We put a stop to industrial bird and bison hunting (a bit too late but we did it). I really wish we could end industrial fishing.
I know fish farms are a thing but fish origins are often obfuscated. Also oceanic and coastal fish farming is wretched for the environment and produced gross tasting polluted fish.

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

I don't eat fish and there is an ethical reason why.
The cow, the pig and the chicken all are alive because somewhere somebody knew that I would want to eat them, so they bred and fed that animal into being. The fish? the fish was doing its own thing, it was only alive becaue two fish parents got it on. Man contributed nothing to the life of that fish so unless I'm on the verge of starvation I don't have a reason or a right to eat it.
We put a stop to industrial bird and bison hunting (a bit too late but we did it). I really wish we could end industrial fishing.
I know fish farms are a thing but fish origins are often obfuscated. Also oceanic and coastal fish farming is wretched for the environment and produced gross tasting polluted fish.

They generally have to jump through all kinds of hoops to make farmed fish taste even close to as good as wild-caught. I think someone said once that farmed salmon actually end up with this uncharacteristically pale flesh and they have to actually feed them dye to get that distinctive orangey-pink color to the flesh.

 

[Sīn the Moon Daddy]

They generally have to jump through all kinds of hoops to make farmed fish taste even close to as good as wild-caught. I think someone said once that farmed salmon actually end up with this uncharacteristically pale flesh and they have to actually feed them dye to get that distinctive orangey-pink color to the flesh.

I imagine it's the diet. Salmon are predatory and they get fed food pellets when they're farmed. I don't know for sure and I could Google it but I'm at work so fuck it

 

[Ambidextype]

As long as you draw the line at eating pets.

 

[Ido]

I love animals, I could never eat meat from an animal that I considered more a pet (or reptiles*) than livestock- If I knew what it was before I ate it- so that's where I draw the line. Meat is a necessary evil for humans and even if the meat industry needs a massive overhaul we still need to eat. I'd argue that most animals are at the very least omnivorous, birds eat fruits and insects, hamsters will eat their own fucking babies, fish cannibalize and will eat the remains of other fish, lizards eat insects and greens, snakes eat mice and lizards. You can argue that like deer and other hoofed animals**, caterpillars, and other bugs are maybe complete herbivores but spiders... are not, and there are a fuck ton of them. I'd even argue that most animals will just eat whatever the fuck they can get a hold of if it's edible and they're starving, so even if you do go vegetarian, you're literally not making one bit a difference on the environment.

I remember the one time in health they showed us Supersize Me, they showed us the animated clip on how nuggets were "made" and I couldn't eat McDonald's for a while, but at some point you have to get over it and remember: life sucks and everything needs to eat, you weren't responsible for the animals death but you are making the most of it's body.

*I find gator jerky weird but suppose I would try it if offered.

**Moose are herbivores but they're giant fucking assholes so being a herbivore doesn't mean shit as far as godliness goes.

If everyone gave up meat the planet would fucking die because we'd need to many greens and we'd have an overabundance of animals that overpopulated to fight with.

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

I always found the notion of "I can't stand knowing what it was before it landed on my plate" kind of weird. I feel better if it's something I know was raised well, and the best way to ensure that in the past was to do it myself.

 

[Marissa Moira]

The only thing worse than vegans are vegans who impose an all vegan diet upon their dogs and cats.

 

[Y2K Baby]

Not eating meat won't change anything. If you feel bad, that's a fine reason to stop but if it's moral or political then it lacks any internal consistency.

 

[Zero0]

How about the ethics of eating plants?

 

[queue-anon]

I don't eat fish and there is an ethical reason why.
The cow, the pig and the chicken all are alive because somewhere somebody knew that I would want to eat them, so they bred and fed that animal into being. The fish? the fish was doing its own thing, it was only alive becaue two fish parents got it on. Man contributed nothing to the life of that fish so unless I'm on the verge of starvation I don't have a reason or a right to eat it.
We put a stop to industrial bird and bison hunting (a bit too late but we did it). I really wish we could end industrial fishing.
I know fish farms are a thing but fish origins are often obfuscated. Also oceanic and coastal fish farming is wretched for the environment and produced gross tasting polluted fish.

Another aspect of industrial fishing is that it often leads to overfishing. It’s essentially the tragedy of the commons where everyone’s trying to get a piece of the action and winds up destroying the whole thing. The government often has to regulate the industry, keeping people from collapsing fishing stocks, but there are a lot of countries that don’t, making regulation nearly pointless.

 

[SpergPatrol]

I would say don't go vegan from a medical perspective as the lack of vitamins and how much you would have to eat to make up proteins, vitamins, etc would be a huge time investment to keep all of that balanced in both your time and money range because organic food isn't cheap and doesn't last long.

I worked in hospitals before and all the fucking time I always get people who go on this diet having problems like amenia because they are unable to get enough proteins, etc to keep up with what their body needs.
You will look like you are fucking dying after ten years because you will end up like all the people that come in looking pale as fuck and very fucking depressed because your brain needs fats to function and lack of fats causes problems with dopamine production aka the shit that if you lack will cause depression.

Also, by the way, you can still get diabetes from vegan diet so yeah you literally change nothing by changing course even for your own health.
I hate I had to explain that to so many people thinking they can't because of how "healthy they are."
No, you can cause diabetes from fruits too because they have sugar also and remember how much I said you need to eat to make up for lack of vitamins? Guess is what happens to many people who manage do that with mainly fruits? Diabetes almost fucking always

Most of the time the amount you need to eat to properly make up some of the deficient vitamins would be a greater carbon foot print than just eating the meat.

Example some vitamins can only be gained through eating meat, where are you going to get them then? Plastic bottles from companies that produce tons of greenhouse gases thus defeating the purpose of "going green."
Many bottles also don't actually have the vitamin you want as the FDC doesn't check them most of the time and can contain shit that even worse for you or is just flat out is a sugar pill.

Look you can love animals but loving something shouldn't come at the expense of your own wellbeing just like anything else you love.

Want better animal treatment? Then fight for it because not eating meat isn't going to stop these companies from force-feeding chickens to death and making farmers go bankrupt if they don't comply.

If you can't really fight then I suggest supporting local farmers because 9/10 they would of loved every product there like it was a second child and it will taste a whole lot fucking better too.
Seriously the natural meats have more vitamins and the quality overall is better for you than processed meats, you would be supporting better treatment for the animals while supporting your community.

 

[TenMilesWide]

The obvious ethical solution is to only eat animals that were trying to eat you, after besting them in single combat.

It won't taste great but you'll gain their strength, so it's worth it.

 

[Marco Fucko]

I've actually been thinking about trying out different diets as well, but for health reasons as opposed to ethical ones. Trouble is, there's a sliding scale with Paleo and Keto on one end and Vegetarianism Veganism on the other. I guess the short answer is I should go consult a nutritionist/dietitian.

I don't think there's anything wrong with eating animals even if they do live a tortuous, industrialized existence for it, since if they were in the wild they would still die and be eaten. The bleeding hearts will say it's all unnecessarily cruel on our part, but if they were so morally opposed to the machinery of civilization you'd think they'd just go live out in the woods or something.

 

[heathercho]

I would say don't go vegan from a medical perspective as the lack of vitamins and how much you would have to eat to make up proteins, vitamins, etc would be a huge time investment to keep all of that balanced in both your time and money range because organic food isn't cheap and doesn't last long.

I worked in hospitals before and all the fucking time I always get people who go on this diet having problems like amenia because they are unable to get enough proteins, etc to keep up with what their body needs.
You will look like you are fucking dying after ten years because you will end up like all the people that come in looking pale as fuck and very fucking depressed because your brain needs fats to function and lack of fats causes problems with dopamine production aka the shit that if you lack will cause depression.

Also, by the way, you can still get diabetes from vegan diet so yeah you literally change nothing by changing course even for your own health.
I hate I had to explain that to so many people thinking they can't because of how "healthy they are."
No, you can cause diabetes from fruits too because they have sugar also and remember how much I said you need to eat to make up for lack of vitamins? Guess is what happens to many people who manage do that with mainly fruits? Diabetes almost fucking always

Most of the time the amount you need to eat to properly make up some of the deficient vitamins would be a greater carbon foot print than just eating the meat.

Example some vitamins can only be gained through eating meat, where are you going to get them then? Plastic bottles from companies that produce tons of greenhouse gases thus defeating the purpose of "going green."
Many bottles also don't actually have the vitamin you want as the FDC doesn't check them most of the time and can contain shit that even worse for you or is just flat out is a sugar pill.

Look you can love animals but loving something shouldn't come at the expense of your own wellbeing just like anything else you love.

Want better animal treatment? Then fight for it because not eating meat isn't going to stop these companies from force-feeding chickens to death and making farmers go bankrupt if they don't comply.

If you can't really fight then I suggest supporting local farmers because 9/10 they would of loved every product there like it was a second child and it will taste a whole lot fucking better too.
Seriously the natural meats have more vitamins and the quality overall is better for you than processed meats, you would be supporting better treatment for the animals while supporting your community.

The amount of iron in 100g of lentils is way more than in 100gs of red meat. It's nonheme, but hemeiron isn't needed, it's just mildly digested better - for some people. For others, they get the same amount out of non-heme.

There's plenty of vegetable based sources of iron. People who eat vegetarian/vegan and don't know how to balance a diet are retards and deserve what they get. The same with meat eaters who end up with heart disease because they eat crap. If you don't know how to balance your meals, regardless of what you eat, you're going to have problems.