This is an emotional protest, but I do post it in the interest of setting wider, more reasonable parameters for discussion about Veganism vs. Omnivorism. I would like to post a few opinions regarding those who vehemently insist, (from supposedly moralistic high ground), that "meat eaters" are consciously/unconsciously supporting all manner of cruelties, environmental degradations, (to include global warming), and a plethora of societal ills. Apparently, most of these arguments appeal to beliefs that animals are 'legal persons' that 'think and feel' exactly as we Cro-Magnons and that the methane emissions from cattle are a major cause of Global Warming, amongst other issues.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists in their FAQ about global warming, (see: http://www.ucsusa.org/... the overwhelming cause for such are the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Of course, if you walk everywhere in clothes and shoes you have made of non-biodegradable, naturally-shed materials, your halo can sparkle brightly. Of course, you'd have to be raising all of your own food on un-deeded land outside of any legal entity, and wouldn't even be reading this.
If you claim moral superiority by riding your two-wheeler everywhere all of the time, (and never call for an ambulance), you must be ethically superior to me, the omnivore, right? Bicycles were made with the use of fossil fuels, their tires made of the same stuff, and the road you use, the same. Did you even vote against the current administration, and thereby this damned war?
Of course, deforestation occurs to graze meat-herds, but also to produce your organic Quinoa breakfast cereal, cornmeal, and canola (rapeseed) oil; all of your Morally Superior products arrive in a truck to your local Co-Op, don't they?
It is the acme of human hubris to infer that all non-human species have arrived at the conclusion that, as Renee' Descartes did, that "I think, therefore I am.", and exhibit the range, depth, and complexity of Human Society from the first stone tool to the launching of spacecraft or appreciation of an Opera. A sheep is neither an iconoclast, an existentialist, nor does it fear Hell. When threatened by a wolf, it will run, (just like a Vegan). There, the similarity ends, my little Lamb Chop.
{See: Anthropomorphism (Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena.)Ref:}
A chimpanzee can be trained to use ASL to communicate, and receive a goody-treat or other payoff reinforcement, and exhibit, (or mimic), very human-like emotions to the human observer, (whether in the wild or captivity). However, where is the evidence that they ponder the Afterlife or show remorse when an Alpha male eats the offspring of a competing male?
Is it the cannabalism that cinches the argument for you?
One cannot 'Disneyfy' the plague-bearing rat, the camper-eating Grizzly, or cute-ify the rattlesnake. Is it only mammals, reptiles, and cetaceans, or do cockroaches then have thoughts and feelings, too?
Truly hungry people will eat anything to survive. Refer to the Biological Imperative; "Survive! (and Reproduce): see http://en.wikipedia.org/... . There were no Vegan survivors of the Donner Party, nor any strict vegans amongst the tribes upon the African savannah today.
I completely agree with the right of anyone who chooses to eat only vegetables and grains, and to eschew fish, dairy, or mammalian/reptilian/other flesh: have at it, buon gusto! I do not agree that such a person is morally superior to me, or is justified on any sound scientific basis which ascribes omnivorism which, by illogical extension, as the root cause for major societal ills and problems.
Don't preach to me at the stoplight, from the window of your Volvo on the way to the Co-Op, about it, when you may hold stocks that repress Developing Nations, support sweat shops, take Prozac and give your children Ritalin, while wearing Italian leather shoes, and come home to your OSB McMansion to tap away at your Mac or PC keyboard. I would be convinced, and awed, by your moral superiority if you lived in a lamasery in Tibet and received nothing but donated organically-grown lentils, rice, and chick peas, (and a robe woven out of natural fibers by your own hands); no yak milk, of course, and fire only from wood not required to re-enrich the soil by natural biodegradation.
