Help from my fellow vegans!?

Question

My boyfriend is what I would call a Pescatarian (he eats clams and shrimp but no other meats) and I'm a vegan. When I treat us to dinner, he only orders vegetarian foods out of respect for me. But I have got to thinking and...what, in your opinion is the lesser of 2 evils?:

-Him eating shrimp/clams.

or

-Him eating milk/egg products.

I used to think that eating milk/eggs was better than him actually eating sea creatures. But, now I'm thinking that cows and chickens suffer more in the dairy/egg industrys than sea creatures ever do. They just have more of an ability to feel pain than clams or shrimp.

What is the lesser of two evils in your opinion? Thank you :)

Answer 1

Eating shrimp or clams is less cruel but may be more responsible for environmental destruction as the entire planet depends on the life in our oceans.

Answer 2

I think that eating seafood is the lesser evil with regard to animal suffering because I believe (but don't know) that cows in dairy factory farms suffer hideously, more than shellfish have the capacity to comprehend suffering.

BUT, that's not the only issue.  Overfishing the oceans is a huge environmental problem.  Plus the amount of mercury in the fish is going to mean no more edible seafood in the next 30 years.  We are literally wiping out part of our ecosystem.

Your boyfriend is trying his best, which is awesome.  Good for him.  I assume from your question that he eats dairy.  That's too bad.  I think it's the worst of the worst.  It's better to eat meat than to consume dairy.  Dairy cows are the most abused animals, hands down.

Answer 3

I don't think clams feel pain they are like one step above mushrooms. Shrimp are like spiders and can probably feel pain. It's totally his choice, so I wouldn't fight with him about it.

Answer 4

IMO, neither.  Exploitation of animal life is unethical, no matter what the form.

Answer 5

-Him eating shrimp/clams.

is less evil.

Answer 6

I don't really see the difference between one living organism and another - they are all alive.  Can you justify killing one vs. another?  Do you believe you are in a place to rank animals according to their size or brain capacity?

Milk doesn't kill the cow - and it is actually good for the cow to be milked.  Eggs arguably kill a chicken, and eating seafood also kills those animals.

What I'm wondering, is why you have to choose between the lesser of 2 evils.  Where is the good?

Answer 7

eat meat its good for you

Answer 8

Personally I think that all animals should be treated equally.  Just because seafood isn't cute and cuddly like a lamb doesn't mean that it doesn't matter.

To me the lesser of two evils doesn't count.  It's either evil or not and there is no in between...especially for the animals.

There are several things that I don't think you take into account.  Overfishing of the ocean is destroying delicate habitats...forever.  Fish farms are no better, just bad in a different way.  Over 1/3 of the fish die from the nasty conditions.  The farmers take this into consideration and just write it off like any other cost.

Vegetarianism and veganism is not about who suffers more.  It's about the fact that we do not need to eat animals to survive.  They are also not there just so we can eat them.  They have their lives to live and we don't own them.  

I'm sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear, but I don't think you should make assumptions and catagorize animals in the order of which one is more important.  Fish do feel pain.