To be, or not to be... a vegetarian?!

Today at our oh-so-magnificent (NOT) school cafeteria, they served veal. Yes, ladies and germs...they served veal. How horrible is that?! They served a baby cow. Do you know HOW they kill these animals? It's so gruesome that I don't even want to get into the minute details of it. Anyhow, I got to thinking... we already kill so many animals--chickens, cows, pigs--for our daily consumption. Why must we kill other animals if we are already wasteful with the amount of seafood and meat that we buy and never finish eating? Why do some people eat snakes, dogs, cats, whales, dolphins.... why do people eat just about ANYTHING in the world, with the justification that we CAN, because we are human, and supposedly we have higher levels of critical thinking?!

Mmm, touchy subject.
Humans are designed to eat meat. Our gut is designed to digest meat, and we are designed to eat plants. Look at our teeth. We have molars, to chew up difficult and hard plants, sharp teeth to rend flesh, and incisors to break apart Legos-I mean begin the vegetable process.
I don't think giving up meat altogether is a great thing, and certainly not going vegan. But limiting your contact with meat to free-range poultry, Kosher beef, etc. isn't a bad way to stay healthy and prevent some awful mistreatments of animals.
Limiting your meat intake in general isn't so bad, either. I prefer to have only a couple meals a week that contain chicken or fish, and maybe one or two a month that contain beef or pork. (Actually, I don't eat beef anymore. It makes me ill.) This isn't a bad lifestyle, and you can easily get your proteins and vitamins from things like beans, cheese, nuts, and tofu (if you're into that).
In general, I don't think that being a vegetarian is a bad thing. If you can still buy your cheeses and grains from whole foods stores that cater to the ecologically minded, great. If not, you're being a bit of a hypocrite. Cows and chickens can still suffer, even if they aren't being killed.
And going vegan, is, in my opinion, just dangerous. It's hard to get the neccessary protein, and most vegans I've met either look undernourished, or they're fat from too many carbohydrates.

So yeah. I'm an omnivore, although I may get a bit more salad and bread than shrimp and steak. I think it just makes for healthier eating.

Vegetarians who say they do it for love of animals are disregarding the amount of lives lost when their vegetables ripen. Unless you grow your own food in your own yard without killing one organism, don't talk about a regard for all life. Ever stepped on an ant? Ever killed a fly? Have you ever, in your life, taken something's life?

How big does a life have to be before it is worth defending? Is a baby worth less than a 2,000 lb japanese model named Oroku Saki?

We have been eating meat for our survival as a race since we've been a race (however long one wishes to believe that is) and it is very natural for us to do so. Only very recently (especially in evolutionary terms) has it become possible to eat a vegetarian diet in a healthy matter. Consuming necessary amounts of protein, iron, etc. without eating meat was something that was unknown until the last generation or two.

If you choose to be a vegetarian, good for you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, it is probably a good thing. But don't try to make me feel guilty for eating meat...it is healthy (especially chicken and fish) and I enjoy the taste. I have canines, I'm supposed to eat meat.

How would you feel if someone/something kept you in a cage, injected you with steroids and then slit your throat because they thought you tasted good? I know I wouldn't like it very much. Of course many don't think of it that way. Hey its just a brown patty i can pick up in the drive-through for cheap right? People don't know/don't care how they get it. If they had to get blood on their hands and see what actually happens, the pain and suffering, then maybe they'd think twice. But as it stands they can just pay other people to do the messy stuff for them, so they don't have to think about it. We just pay couple bucks and consume a carcass (have you ever noticed people don't say that? it's not very appetizing is it?).

peace.

Why do you seem to imply that killing a baby cow is worse than killing an adult cow, chicken, pig, <place another animal here>?

It doesn't quite make any sense to justify the senseless killing of other animals with the fact that we're wasteful of the current animals killed for mass human consumption. Maybe someone thinks snake tastes better, it's really irrelevant.

I don't see how eating a whale, dog, or cat is any different or less humane than eating a cow. If you want high critical thinking, think not to senselessly kill any animal in the world just because you have thumbs and a brain that works a few percent higher. It's of no significance to me if a cat is killed instead of a cow or vice versa, that act is all the same in my mind.

Your cafeteria probably kills chickens too, did you forget to mention that?

Yes, yes and yes. people always swat flies, step on bugs, kill cockroaches... but it's a bit different if one is mass harvesting animals and feeding them and injecting them with chemicals for the sole purpose of raising them for human consumption, and kill them through pretty inhumane methods.

I think part of understanding a vegetarian's beliefs coincides with your ability to understand them at all. There are many vegetarians and they all have different beliefs. In the case of vegetarians who are Jains (reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism) they generally believe in killing the least amount of organisms they can to sustain their own life. Many Jains where sheets over their mouths to avoid kill airborne organisms and sometimes sweep the ground they walk on to avoid stepping on any organisms as well. These are obviously, in some regard, extremist beliefs.

Sure, we have all stepped on an ant or killed a fly. Was I wrong to? Yes, I was--I am not afraid to admit it. Here in lies the question, do you not feel that you have no divine right or reasonable justification for killing another animal? Do you not think to yourself and admit, yes I am wrong for doing that?

I have no justification to say, yes killing a chicken was necessary to sustain my life. We're at the top of the food chain and we're capable of realizing, all of us, that there are other ways to sustain our life without the unnecessary killing of animals. Many of us are LIVING proof that you do not need to kill to sustain your own life. If you don't eat a chicken, the human race doesn't devolve in any way. The act is selfish. You omnivores in the world, provide me some real justification that what you do is necessary for your survival.

By this logic, we should all be against the worms. After all, they are only slithering idly by as we writhe through life just waiting to chew through our box and devour what's left.

Not all meat comes from places like that. If you want to eat meat from animals that were humanely raised and slaughtered, buy Kosher meat. There are options. It's not like our ancestors killed animals more humanely when they hunted them. I would think that being killed by an arrow would be a very painful experience.