eating Meat? good or bad

[Noaidi]

A general consensus here seems to be that eating meat per se is not bad (we are a species of omnivores, after all), but it's the way in which the animals are reared that is the problem. Would those that do eat meat be prepared to stalk and hunt for their food (assuming you don't already)?
If I were to eat meat, this would be the only way I could justify it to myself. What do others think - is it too easy to just walk into a supermarket and get it skinned, boned and ready to go?

 

[MSizer]

While I certainly agree that small farms generally tend to be able to provide vastly more human lives for their animals than factory farms, it doesn't change the fact that the animals are sentient beings, and killing them is immoral.

Do you think a moose who has just had an arrow driven through it's shoulder socket and into it's abdomen, piercing several organs along the way, would be comforted by the fact that it's a wild animal rather than a domestic one?

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

That's really the issue for me. Every time I buy meat in the supermarket I feel a little sick knowing where it came from. We used to buy only organic, free-range meat, but we just can't afford that right now.

Back when my cousin used to raise beef cattle, I had no qualms at all about eating beef from his farm, but industrialized farming is horrific.

I think most people can not afford to eat organic meat, But they also don't need to eat meat 3 times a day. We do what we can do. I also cheat sometimes I buy cheap pork hot dogs for my dogs once a month. One of my dogs tends to need it for his health. The funny thing is the health issues started because I took my dogs off the vegetarian dog food because the pet store clerk made me feel bad. One of my dogs lost weight because he was use to his original type of food and would not eat all of his food. The hot dogs help me to get his weight back up.

 

[Magic Man]

While I certainly agree that small farms generally tend to be able to provide vastly more human lives for their animals than factory farms, it doesn't change the fact that the animals are sentient beings, and killing them is immoral.

Killing anything isn't inherently immoral. The circumstances are what make it immoral. Again, we are part of an ecosystem where living things feed off of other living things. That's life.

 

[MSizer]

Killing anything isn't inherently immoral. The circumstances are what make it immoral. Again, we are part of an ecosystem where living things feed off of other living things. That's life.

OK, well then I'm going to go downtown tomorrow and kill all of the homeless people. They don't pay taxes and they clutter up the sidwalk. I'll do my very best to minimize any pain.

 

[DallasApple]

OK, well then I'm going to go downtown tomorrow and kill all of the homeless people. They don't pay taxes and they clutter up the sidwalk. I'll do my very best to minimize any pain.

GROSS!

Love

Dallas

 

[Magic Man]

OK, well then I'm going to go downtown tomorrow and kill all of the homeless people. They don't pay taxes and they clutter up the sidwalk. I'll do my very best to minimize any pain.

OK, just as long as you keep two things in mind: What you're doing is immoral and will get you sent to jail.

 

[bobhikes]

I have a problem with using morality or (good or bad) to defend anything. Morality and good or bad are opinions there is no scientific definition of either. What is moral or (good or bad) is very much dependent on your societal standards, your religion, and what is available to eat.

There are however many scientific justifications to eat meat and for not eating me. Scientists do believe our brains got so big because of all the protein we got from meat. Basically without eating meat we would never have been able to have this debate.

 

[DallasApple]

OK, just as long as you keep two things in mind: What you're doing is immoral and will get you sent to jail.

Yep///Its called "murder"..

Love

Dallas

 

[Just_me_Mike]

Yep///Its called "murder"..

Love

Dallas

Who coined the term murder? Anyone know?

 

[MSizer]

I have a problem with using morality or (good or bad) to defend anything. Morality and good or bad are opinions there is no scientific definition of either. What is moral or (good or bad) is very much dependent on your societal standards, your religion, and what is available to eat..

No, people's decisions are influenced by those factors, but moral theory itself is binding to principles of harm and fairness. Just because many people aren't aware of the workings of nuclear physics, it doesn't mean there is no correct way to describe the phenomenon of nuclear physics. Principles are no different.

There are however many scientific justifications to eat meat and for not eating me. Scientists do believe our brains got so big because of all the protein we got from meat. Basically without eating meat we would never have been able to have this debate.

That doesn't negate the point that eating meat is immoral. I'm sure there were many benefits to keeping slaves.

 

[bobhikes]

No, people's decisions are influenced by those factors, but moral theory itself is binding to principles of harm and fairness. Just because many people aren't aware of the workings of nuclear physics, it doesn't mean there is no correct way to describe the phenomenon of nuclear physics. Principles are no different.
.

If you would please enlighten me on these morally binding principles then. I do not know them.

 

[Eliot Wild]

I certainly mean no personal offense to anyone with what follows:

But to the question of, is eating meat good or bad, I would say it is best when there is a New York Strip involved, it's cooked medium-well and served with a bottle of cabernet or merlot.

Personally, while I respect anyone and everyone's personal belief that killing animals for food is immoral, I simply don't agree with it. And again, I write this with all due respect, but furthermore, I find the pronouncement of such beliefs as absolute truth to be a bit pretentious.

Ultimately, everyone of us are just mammals wearing clothes. And while I can respect the fact that others believe they have attained a state of higher consciousness or even advanced evolution, I personally know families in the rural part of South Central Kentucky, U.S.A., where I live who survive by hunting deer in the winter and catching catfish in the summer.

Again, this is not intended to ridicule anyone's personal moral perspective or their religious teachings, but if you don't see how man, the animal, or at least some men, are still bound to this earth like their ancestors, are still reliant on game for life, then with all due respect, you should come down here where I live for awhile and see that not everyone can afford to buy packaged beef from Kroger.

 

[Smoke]

But they also don't need to eat meat 3 times a day.

Oh, we certainly don't eat meat three times a day. The only thing I ever eat three times a day is peanut butter. I love peanut butter.

 

[LuisDantas]

Eating meat may be necessary under some conditions (although they're far less prevalent than many people believe), but it is usually indeed wrong.

For one thing, it is not needed. For another, it is not very healthy or economically sound.

Most of all, it is quite cruel to the animals. Livestock is not sentient, but it sure feels pain, and it is often raised under unappealing circunstances.

I simply see no point in spending resources, time and various animal lifes only so that a handful of meals may receive a serving of meat.

I like meat very much, but I am not willing to ask others to kill livestock so that I may have it.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

I have found that I am not strong or moral enough to completely follow the path of Ahimsa or nonviolence. So I try to follow the path of no unnecessary violence. I would kill a rat that is in my home. Take a medicine that was developed by animal experimentation. Protect myself from a robber. I do not eat meat because I see it as completely unnecessary. At the same time who am I to judge other on this issue.

 

[Smoke]

OK, well then I'm going to go downtown tomorrow and kill all of the homeless people. They don't pay taxes and they clutter up the sidwalk. I'll do my very best to minimize any pain.

Do you plan to eat what you kill?

 

[MSizer]

If you would please enlighten me on these morally binding principles then. I do not know them.

It's way too much to do in a post. In a nutshell, Haidt et al research wich led to the 5 moral domains (2 universal of harm and fairness, and the remaining 3, ingroup loyalty, personal purity and respect for authority, which about 50% of humans agree are moral matters) set the stage for basic universal values. They're not some theory thought up by anyone, they're researched conclusions obtained from surveying over 32 thousand people across cultures. Martha Nussbaum's "capabilities approach to ethics" (based on Amartya Sen's sustainable egalitarian economic theory) does a very clear job of hashing moral matters out based on principles of harm and fairness (the two universal moral domains discovered by Haidt). Interestingly enough, Haidt's findings support Nussbaum's theory, but they came after the theory, so she's pretty much a genius.

 

[MSizer]

Do you plan to eat what you kill?

Nope. Should I?

 

[Breathe]

Nope. Should I?

There's good eatin' on them homeless.