Do you think its silly when meat eaters say they care for the animals but still chow down on meat?

Question

I know alot of people who like to debate with me about veganism and they like to tell me that they also care about animals just as much as I do but they continue to eat meat. Why would somebody say this and continue to support the abuse and murder of animals by eating meat? Can someone please give me a decent answer?

Answer 1

I like animals but we need to eat meat to stay healthy and strong so that is why people who like animals still eat them.

Answer 2

This is a very interesting question but the way you have put it across it seems slightly arrogant and naive. The traditon in the western world is towards meat eating and keeping pets won't change that.

Firstly let me say that I am a meat eater and I also have quite a menagerie of pets sharing my life. I'm also a vet so by definition I DO care for animals and have helped lots of them through birth, life and with their final passing.

As a meat eater, I only buy meat from local, organic and free range sources some that I have actually seen.

Just like you, I have made a dietary choice which is my personal business and it does not and never will mean that I don't love and care for my animals.

EDIT: I disagree with the ridiculous and adolescent statement some poster made about people not knowing where their meat comes from. Of course peolple know where their meat comes from, don't make sweeping generalisations. The fact of the matter is that the majority of people were raised eating meat they're used to it and the sight of a fluffy lamb in a field or a tortured chicken in a cage isn't going to change how they view their food.

Answer 3

I personally an a vegan since the age of 10.I am a huge animal lover.I have 3 dogs,2 cats,10 fish,and a hamster.I could never see myself eating any of my pets;so why would I get anything else that is living.

I have had a couple friends who said they cared about animals but would get meat,eggs,fish and anything more of a once living animal and I am proud to say I am no longer friends with these people.

Answer 4

Who said that the animals were necessarily abused? Ever heard of Kobe Beef? They get treated better than we do. They get fed high quality grains and beer daily, and even get massaged with beer and sometimes sake. They're left to live for a very long time before they are put down.

It is very possible to care about and have respect for natural and it's animals and still eat meat. The native american peoples had a very strong connection with nature, and a deep respect for animals and of butchering them properly and only as necessary, and they gave thanks to nature by treating it respectfully.

it comes from an understanding that we are not above the food chain. We are designed to be omnivores. And that's our place in the food chain. Why aren't vegan activists trying to talk the Lions out of eating Gazelle? Same exact thing. "Conscience" has nothing to do with fundamental understanding of the ecosystem.

Since we've knocked the natural system out of balance so badly, it might even be necessary. kangaroo are a huge pest in austrailia now, that's why they're now being seen as game animals for eating.

Answer 5

I'm not vegetarian due to a lack of funds... Meat is generally made cheaper than a vegetarian diet with sufficient nutrients, and so I take the murderous way out. I'm not happy doing so, and I would gladly give up meat if I could get to that stable financial level.

Answer 6

I think you can still be an animal lover and eat meat. You just have to be a very mindful consumer. Consider where all your products, accessories, clothing & food comes from. There are always more ethical alternatives to animal products, such as synthetic materials. And there are free range alternatives to most factory farmed animal products. You can choose products which do not test on animals. Fair trade, recycled, free range, biodegradable packaging, and ecologically sustainable sourced products are all actions we can take to ensure we live a more sustainable and animal friendly lifestyle.  Carefully choosing your products can means you can still love animals but are more considerate of their plight. Sure some of these products cost slightly more, but at least the terrible cost is not imparted upon helpless animals. If you can elliminate animal products that's even better because you can further reduce animal suffering.

Check out the humane consumer web site.

http://www.humaneconsumer.com.au/index.h...

Answer 7

because we know there isnt anything we can do about it

no matter what they are going to continue to be killed to be ate

so why not enjoy the meat

you know it tastes great

just think it was already dead-you cant stop that fact

Answer 8

yes it's quit silly

visit  www.rountan.com

Answer 9

Yes, I have a friend who is this way.  I feel it is totally hypocritical.  She claims not to eat anything but organic meats from farmer's markets, but that's not true, considering that whenever hot dogs or other things like that are being served, that's what she's eating.  She also claims not to eat beef, due to the recent beef recalls.  (Not true.)  I almost got her to become vegetarian/vegan, and I succeeded...  for a day.  She later sent me an e-mail saying stuff like, "I can't be a vegetarian...  Meat is my BFF."  How can you say that's not hypocritical?!

Answer 10

I agree with you poster; it is hypocrisy.  The thing is, people think the saran-wrapped steak they buy at Safeway always looked like that.  They don't want to know about the torment the animal endured in life.  They actively CHOOSE to banish those thoughts, to repress that information.

I care about the miserable lives animals have in the agribusiness industry and became vegetarian for that reason.  I refuse to be a part of it.  We don't need meat to be healthy: that's a myth.  There are cultures who are vegetarian, and have been so for thousands of years.  Abundant protein can be found in grains and legumes.  Chickpeas and soyabean in particular are very high in protein.  High protein grains include buckwheat and quinoa.  I had both at supper tonight.

Hope that answers your question.

Answer 11

i am an animal lover, i used to be a vegetarian but i eat small amounts of meat now because i get really bad anemia.

I refuse to eat factory farmed animals, I will not eat pork or chicken (as these are the animals that go through the most torture) unless i know it is completely free range and organic. I only eat free range eggs and milk from small farms where they milk the cows them self.  

I believe that everything eventually dies, I believe god intended certain animals for food, I do not support any cruelty to animals and i only eat it if i know it has lived a good life and killed without pain

I only eat tiny quantities of meat and really appreciate what the animal has gone through death so we can eat it. I eat soya supplements as much as i can

Answer 12

If vegetarians grow roses or flowers, why do they eat other plants? It's about as silly as you saying that you love people but ignore the homeless and the hungry found in most US cities

Demanding a "serious" answer with a ridiculous question like this is a sign of naivete and ignorance

Answer 13

A lot of people don't know the abuses the animals go through to get their meat.  I was always told that the animals lived on little happy farms where they were treated well and when they were killed they felt no pain and didn't know it was coming.  I didn't know any better until a few years ago.  Not everyone can go vegetarian for whatever reason it may be.  I am sure a lot of those who truely care about animals and know the truth of what is happening to them do buy organic and cut down on their meat intake, if they can afford too.  Instead of worrying about those who say they care and still eat meat, focus on doing things to help the animals that are being "raised" for food.  :)

Edit:  To the thing below who said my answer was adolescent, I have never run into anyone around where I live that has heard of a factory farm.  Upon telling a couple of people about it they have changed their eating habits especially after seeing the chickens in the cages that you say wont change peoples minds.  Well it happens, I am sure there are many vegetarians like me that saw those types of things and it made them go veg.  I never said people don't know where their meat comes from, I said they don't know the ABUSES the animals go through.  Lord.

Answer 14

I care for animals yet eat meat.  I don't have any desire to chow down on my kids' cat, my dog, or the neighbors parakeet.

I am assuming you are speaking primarily about factory farm animals. I don't consider specifically raised animals to be anything other than that; a food source.

The meat I usually consume is either shot by me or purchased by me from farmer friends of mine.

Let me ask you a question as well; Why do you care about factory farm animals and not wild animals, such as deer and raccoons who are splattered by the thousands on our nations highways?

Answer 15

I'll try but just drop all beliefs here ok.the reason is no one can give u an answer so strong as to overcome u in all the possible way not even yurself at times.u dont understand the natural way of things but u try,ok.the world we lived in has everything alive to make variation of actions to be grouped so u need that answer later in life but not now.in order to understand the other u need to complete yur whole cycle about not eating animals to know why they do so.this question over answer need lots of time to mature.(belief+decision+action/time)2=wi...

Answer 16

That is the food cycle what....

Answer 17

i eat what ever is on sale veggi or meats its a matter of economics these days.or what i get from the food bank

Answer 18

hello! i've recently turned vegetarian from being a meat eater my whole life and my family eat meat too. i find that, because my family are used to eating it and it's cheap, they'll buy it. they're not against me not eating it but it's just a way of life to them. however when i say to them 'thats a corpse on your plate' they get disgusted by me... but it's true! i think people choose to forget that it's an animal because it's their way of life. i became vegetarian because i believe in buddhism and that if an animal gets killed for me to eat it, something bad will happen to me. anyway, i am very interested in this debate and will keep reading up! some of the points other people have made are very good too.

Answer 19

I care about animals and eat meat.

Who are you to say that I an a hypocrite or whatever?

I bet if I analysed your lifestyle or that of other judgemental fools like you, I could easily expose a monstrous hypocrisy.

Unlike you, I recognise biological fact: the human is omnivorous, and yet we can CHOOSE to be veg or not.  Given a choice, most people will eat an omnivorous lifestyle.  Your ethics are yours to hold, but you are in no position to point the bone, so to speak.

Answer 20

I love animals, but only when they are on my dining table :)