So someone posted a debate topic on forandagainst.com reading "Eating Meat Is Not Wrong. Vegetarianism Is Unnatural". I posted a pretty lengthy reply, and realised that since a) it pretty much constituted a blog post and b) I don't blog enough about vegetarianism, I should copy-paste it here. Enjoy!
Their Argument:
Meat = protien [sic] (And B12). Big brains need those substances to survive. And yeah, you can get that protien from plants, but not B12. Thats why vegetarians have to take supplements, which is further proof that vegetarianism is unnatural. True, you can say that eating life is wrong, but its kind of hypocritical. Plants are living creatures too. To sustain life, you have to take some form of life. There is no getting around that. Now shut up and eat your cheeseburger.
My Response:
-You've already accepted that protein can come from vegetarian sources, so I'm not going to go into that. Not really sure why you even brought protein up.
-Vegetarians obtain more than enough b12 from eggs and dairy. Vegans, yes, have to take supplements, but since those supplements exist it is still possible to have a vegan lifestyle and live a healthy life.
-The question of whether or not vegetarianism is natural is a little ambiguous. Our bodies are designed for an omnivorous diet, it's true. But the majority of humans throughout history (nearly all prehistoric peoples and most historic and modern Asian cultures) have been vegan, and most humans outside the Western world develop lactose intolerance after early childhood.
-Regardless, the question of whether or not something is "natural" is irrelevant. It is not natural to fight disease with anything other than our immune system. It is probably not natural to stay with the same sexual partner our entire lives. It is not natural to wear eyeglasses, dye our hair, transport ourselves in wheelchairs or install pacemakers. I could go on. Just because something is natural does not automatically mean that that thing is good or bad, you still need to examine the nature and consequences of the thing before you can pass judgement. With meat-eating, it is not good enough to say that since eating meat is determined by our genes, it must be good, and disregard the abuse of animals, rapid consumption of resources, health risks and pollution which are a result of the animal rearing industry.
-With the whole "eating plants is just as bad" argument, yes you need to destroy life in order to sustain life, but there is a clear and marked difference between destroying something that is alive in the way plants are alive and causing suffering to and then killing a sentient creature. You would not say that there was no moral difference between pulling up a weed and drowning a dog, or destroying a colony of bacteria and shooting a horse. So while it is possible to apply vegan/vegetarian logic to say eating plants is also wrong, it is clearly the lesser or two evils.
-I don't currently possess a cheeseburger.
Their Argument:
Meat = protien [sic] (And B12). Big brains need those substances to survive. And yeah, you can get that protien from plants, but not B12. Thats why vegetarians have to take supplements, which is further proof that vegetarianism is unnatural. True, you can say that eating life is wrong, but its kind of hypocritical. Plants are living creatures too. To sustain life, you have to take some form of life. There is no getting around that. Now shut up and eat your cheeseburger.
My Response:
-You've already accepted that protein can come from vegetarian sources, so I'm not going to go into that. Not really sure why you even brought protein up.
-Vegetarians obtain more than enough b12 from eggs and dairy. Vegans, yes, have to take supplements, but since those supplements exist it is still possible to have a vegan lifestyle and live a healthy life.
-The question of whether or not vegetarianism is natural is a little ambiguous. Our bodies are designed for an omnivorous diet, it's true. But the majority of humans throughout history (nearly all prehistoric peoples and most historic and modern Asian cultures) have been vegan, and most humans outside the Western world develop lactose intolerance after early childhood.
-Regardless, the question of whether or not something is "natural" is irrelevant. It is not natural to fight disease with anything other than our immune system. It is probably not natural to stay with the same sexual partner our entire lives. It is not natural to wear eyeglasses, dye our hair, transport ourselves in wheelchairs or install pacemakers. I could go on. Just because something is natural does not automatically mean that that thing is good or bad, you still need to examine the nature and consequences of the thing before you can pass judgement. With meat-eating, it is not good enough to say that since eating meat is determined by our genes, it must be good, and disregard the abuse of animals, rapid consumption of resources, health risks and pollution which are a result of the animal rearing industry.
-With the whole "eating plants is just as bad" argument, yes you need to destroy life in order to sustain life, but there is a clear and marked difference between destroying something that is alive in the way plants are alive and causing suffering to and then killing a sentient creature. You would not say that there was no moral difference between pulling up a weed and drowning a dog, or destroying a colony of bacteria and shooting a horse. So while it is possible to apply vegan/vegetarian logic to say eating plants is also wrong, it is clearly the lesser or two evils.
-I don't currently possess a cheeseburger.
A set of nicely put arguments. Although I would add, for the sake of clarity, that vegans don't necessarily need to take tablets for B12 as it added to soya milk, cereal and many other foods for the benefit of vegans and non-vegans alike. Although it's sensible to take a multi-vitamin if you're vegan or a meat eater, realistically it's possible to get all the B12 you need from a regular vegan diet, as it's added to so many of the foods vegans tend to consume a lot of... Just FYI.
ReplyDeleteThanks. :) I was aware that B12 is fortified in cereal, soya milk etc., but since it is artificially added, I sort of placed it under the umbrella term of "supplement"... which I know wasn't very clear. But yeah.
ReplyDeleteFuck it! I'll eat the fucking cheeseburger... om nom nom nom nom
ReplyDeleteThank you for your invaluably insightful and intelligent contribution to this discussion.
ReplyDelete