Should everyone go vegan?

[Carl-Richard]

1 hour ago, Bashar said:

You're saying just because we can do something good, doesn't mean we should? a few centuries back you'd be saying the same about getting rid of slaves.

I'm saying it's not clear what it's best to spend your limited time and attention on. If you want to cure cancer, you can't at the same time be a leading vegan activist that topples the meatocracy. Those are full-time jobs. So you have to choose what to focus on, and if that is the case, why not focus on something you're good at, something you want to do?

As for choosing to not personally be a vegan in your daily life, let's be real here, what percentage of animal suffering are you alleviating? If you care about animal suffering, in a meatocracy, you would do more than simply not eating animals. But then again, there are other things worth caring about.

And if this sounds like cold consequentialism, veganism is absolutely the superior moral choice on a personal level. But the personal level matters SO little in the grand scheme of things, and you can be doing so much more with your life than nudging a number one hair's thickness on the road to Proxima Centauri.

But I agree it does seem like a disturbing image that if I were to experience the perspective of a chicken when I say it matters so little that specifically that chicken gets eaten. I would never do that if it was me in that situation. But then how different is the mind of a chicken from the mind of a plant? I would definitely think cows and pigs are far far from a plant, but I'm not sure all animals are.

Edited 21 hours ago by Carl-Richard

[Davino]

Going veggie does something very positive to your mind and body, it's a cleansing. So in my life I've been vegetarian for 2 years and not any more. I plan in the future to be again vegetarian for a period.

It was easier to meditate and contemplate while being vegetarian, but harder to do lots of sport and be grounded, with intense work in your human life.

[Dabidoe]

If all life is interconnected how can eating one another, killing one another (plants compete over resources - sun + nutrients, deer eats plants, wolf eats deer) be "BAD"? Seems kind of biased and egotistical to assume that somehow we are the exception to the rule.

Buddhists eat mostly vegetables but still eat meat. I don't think there's anything wrong with meat - factory farming etc. is wrong and gross but that's different.

[UnbornTao]

A "should" will necessarily be based on some value system, likely inherited from one's particular culture.

Edited 7 hours ago by UnbornTao

[Sandroew]

For me its not about eating meat or not, its what we do to the animals in the process.

 

[Schizophonia]

43 minutes ago, Sandroew said:

For me its not about eating meat or not, its what we do to the animals in the process.

 

I don't see what the problem is, it's a very quick death.

That's sensationalism.

[Schizophonia]

1 hour ago, Davino said:

Going veggie does something very positive to your mind and body, it's a cleansing. So in my life I've been vegetarian for 2 years and not any more. I plan in the future to be again vegetarian for a period.

It was easier to meditate and contemplate while being vegetarian, but harder to do lots of sport and be grounded, with intense work in your human life.

Cleansing of what

[Carl-Richard]

2 hours ago, Schizophonia said:

I don't see what the problem is, it's a very quick death.

Imagine if you get reborn as a male chicken 😬

Edited 19 hours ago by Carl-Richard

[Ramasta9]

7 hours ago, ryoko said:

@Ramasta9 Eating meat does cause disruptions spiritually, but the point is to be materialistic and eat meat, building muscles, and be fine with killing. 

There's a deeper intelligence which is not limited to mind, that of our body's. Treat it well, and you're good. It could mean eating no meat or eating meat everyday. Just eat whatever suits your daily needs. 

It also causes disruptions physically, emotionally, mentally, and no that's your idea of "the point".

You can still build muscle and be materialistic with plant-based foods.

Killing is a form of ignorance not deeper intelligence.

[Ramasta9]

5 hours ago, Bashar said:

Of course.. apes and monkeys are known for eating meat..

They only eat meat and usually very small bugs and animals when they have no fruit / food available, that doesn't mean its designed for them or that they prefer it, but they can tolerate it once in a while, and like humans (who are one step up the evolutionary path), will always prefer fruit over any other food. Its the only food that requires no mechanical or artificial processing or flavoring to make it enjoyable to our taste buds.

The simple analogy would be: If you put a human baby or young child in a room with a rabbit and a piece of fruit.

The baby will never eat the rabbit and play with the fruit. You can even put a vegetable in there, it will still prefer the fruit.

That in itself speaks volumes beyond what all outside sources say.

 

[Carl-Richard]

18 minutes ago, Ramasta9 said:

and like humans (who are one step up the evolutionary path), will always prefer fruit over any other food. Its the only food that requires no mechanical or artificial processing or flavoring to make it enjoyable to our taste buds.

The simple analogy would be: If you put a human baby or young child in a room with a rabbit and a piece of fruit.

The baby will never eat the rabbit and play with the fruit. You can even put a vegetable in there, it will still prefer the fruit.

That in itself speaks volumes beyond what all outside sources say.

You're talking about modern fruits downstream of millennia of selective breeding creating essentially candies on a Christmas tree. Babies also like candy.

Will you eat sea sponge?

Edited 17 hours ago by Carl-Richard

[Ramasta9]

3 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

You're talking about modern fruits downstream of millennia of selective breeding creating essentially candies on a Christmas tree. Babies also like candy.

Will you eat sea sponge?

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1620552515

[Schizophonia]

11 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

Imagine if you get reborn as a male chicken 😬

It's still better than living 70 years in the life of a neurotic human before dying by peeing yourself due to a stroke during the night.

[Carl-Richard]

6 hours ago, Ramasta9 said:

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1620552515

Of course you feel bad when you eat meat.

That book seems like an extension of Terrence McKenna's entheogen hypothesis for the development of complex language and higher cognition. Which is not much more than a hypothesis with little corroborating evidence. There is generally a lack of evidence for theories that try to explain things that happened in the distant past, even rigorous scientific theories. Evolutionary biology is plagued with endless competiting and comparably plausible "just so" stories. It could also suffer similar problems to ancient aliens egyptology (endless post-hoc multiple comparisons); you can always find an explanation that fits the hypothesis but which is not conclusive or confirming or disconfirming evidence.

Edited 7 hours ago by Carl-Richard

[Someone here]

You're gonna die anyways. Eat meat drink blood it doesn't matter. 

[zurew]

21 minutes ago, Schizophonia said:

It's still better than living 70 years in the life of a neurotic human

Said  by Genghis Khan  after someone  objected to him raping thousands of women and  to him indiscriminately murdering men and boys regardless if they were soldiers, civilians, or simply in the way.

[Schizophonia]

8 hours ago, Ramasta9 said:

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1620552515

I have this book; I'm open to everything but the author seems to be weak and not very healthy just like a lot of frugivores if not most.

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Schizophonia