Veganism and Morality

Hey Scott, for the record, I think you're spot-on about point 4.

But whether or not it's easy to imagine a world where animals are killed painlessly, I don't know. But I know the story doesn't end there. What about their families? Their grieving companions? If I shot your partner painlessly and immediately, she might not suffer, but surely you will. There is still needless suffering in this equation.

If we COULD eat animals without CAUSING pain and/or suffering, the argument becomes very different. Indeed, eating road kill doesn't cause pain or suffering (not that it sounds very appetizing!), similarly, eating meat found in a dumpster is not contributing to the cycle of suffering either (they call it freeganism).

However, most people in our society don't eat roadkill, and aren't freegans. Most people buy their processed animal flesh shrink-wrapped from the supermarket. Before it was at the supermarket it was at the abattoir being dismembered, before that, she was a terrified and confused animal who perhaps wasn't stunned properly before she had her throat slit and was left to bleed to death. Before she entered the abattoir she was crammed tightly onto a truck and left without food or water for extended periods. Before that she was locked in a tiny metal cell so small that she couldn't turn around. She was denied social interaction, mental stimulation, and the freedom to express basic natural instincts which give quality of life. She was forcibly impregnated time and time again until her frail body could no longer take the physical stress of repeated gestation. Perhaps she became lame from denial of exercise, or perhaps her reproductive system simply shut down. Before that she had her tail cut off without anaesthetic, parts of her ears cut off with scissors (again, without anaesthetic), and also had her teeth painfully broken as a baby before she was prematurely and stressfully torn away from her mother. She was brought into this world solely to be killed. Her welfare and quality of life came second to the profit she could yield, and for this reason the laws were long ago bent so that animals raised for food like her could be subjected to extreme acts of cruelty -- without the threat of legal prosecution.

THIS is the reality for tens of billions of animals raised every year to feed people. Nobody can deny the suffering this causes. This is what we object to. This is why we are vegetarian, and vegan.

(But if you want to eat road kill, go right ahead )

Very passionate and compelling post there Karen  

I agree with you that in response to todays practice of meat production you really have to be vegan. Im not questioning peoples choice to be vegan, far from it, otherwise why would i be on this forum? Im just of the opinion (from being a long time opposer of these type of movements) that to convince people you should suggest eating meat is wrong in todays society, its far more effective in my experience.

Just wondering, but did someone move this to "anything goes" from "activism"? Or has it always been in anything goes? Just curious as to if im losing my mind or not lol

As animals ourselves, we seek to avoid pain  and death. Pain is not conducive to comfort in any way, and is often something that occurs prior to a grievous injury or death. This is why you see any other non-human animal attempt to avoid pain, thus avoiding death.

The Veg*n choice (vegetarian or vegan!) is one that is taken after the consideration of this, and wether or not it is ethical to inflict upon other non-human animals what we seek to avoid ourselves...