Vegetarian?

[9y]

If so, Why?

If not, Why not?

No, Simply because I do like meat and also, If I was to become a vegetarian, the animals would still be slaughtered and eaten by someone else.

[Muct]

I'm not a vegetarian but I eat very little meat, I duno why not, I just like some meats x

[Dandelion]

I love meat! Can't live without it tbh. :D

[FlyingJesus]

No, I enjoy meat and it makes no sense to be a vegetarian anyway.

[Shar]

No, I enjoy meat and it makes no sense to be a vegetarian anyway.
This. But I don't mind trying it at some point.

[Fez]

There are some people who are weekday veggies, I'm tempted to try it out.

Then start eating elephant.

[Rozi]

I voted yes, but like a very loose yes ha. I eat fish and the occasional bit of chicken but really chicken is only like once every two months

[Mathew]

No I'm not.
I don't see the point in eating quorn either - if you like the taste of fake-chicken, why not just eat proper chicken? :P

[Keri?!]

I'm vegetarian, have been since I was 9.
I just don't like the fact that I would be eating an animal that has been killed just so someone can eat it. In my opinion, animals have feelings, no matter what animal they are.

[Matthew]

i love meat, and as you said, even if im a veggie, its not gonna stop them from slaughtering the animals and feeding the other 'normal' people :S

(not saying veggies are abnormal but its all that came to mind :p)

[Slowpoke]

No, I'm not. I like meat too much.

[FlyingJesus]

I'm vegetarian, have been since I was 9.
I just don't like the fact that I would be eating an animal that has been killed just so someone can eat it. In my opinion, animals have feelings, no matter what animal they are.

And what about that cucumber that was grown and killed just for human consumption? Plants have reactions to certain stimuli in exactly the same way that animals do (albeit with smaller visible effects in most cases) but like non-human animals, have no way to process their pain as anything other than an instinct to get away from the source or get the source away from it and so do not actually suffer in any way other than physiologically.

[Keri?!]

And what about that cucumber that was grown and killed just for human consumption? Plants have reactions to certain stimuli in exactly the same way that animals do (albeit with smaller visible effects in most cases) but like non-human animals, have no way to process their pain as anything other than an instinct to get away from the source or get the source away from it and so do not actually suffer in any way other than physiologically.

Well it's not like they have a brain, so they can't feel emotional pain aswell and I just think animals can.
I don't know, I'm making myself sound like a right **** but I just don't see animals as being alive and able to feel pain :S

[Slowpoke]

And what about that cucumber that was grown and killed just for human consumption? Plants have reactions to certain stimuli in exactly the same way that animals do (albeit with smaller visible effects in most cases) but like non-human animals, have no way to process their pain as anything other than an instinct to get away from the source or get the source away from it and so do not actually suffer in any way other than physiologically.

But let's suppose one decides that the act of eating plants is cruel, since they presumably have sensations of some sort, what are you going to eat? Anyway, they don't have a nervous system so even if they do react to certain stimuli, they never experience any sort of suffering or pain.

[Samantha.]

I'm not a vegetarian! I love meat too much.

[Roxy]

No, simply because I love the taste of meat.

[FlyingJesus]

I just don't see animals as being alive and able to feel pain :S

Think you meant plants :P and I don't really believe that plants feel pain (or at least not as we do), I just don't think non-sapient animals can truly experience suffering. That's not to say I advocate punching kittens or anything, I just have no moral objection to eating them. Not that I eat kittens


But let's suppose one decides that the act of eating plants is cruel, since they presumably have sensations of some sort, what are you going to eat? Anyway, they don't have a nervous system so even if they do react to certain stimuli, they never experience any sort of suffering or pain.

Suffering and pain aren't the same thing. Pain is any "signal of present or impending tissue damage affected by a harmful stimulus", and as such pretty much all life with more than one cell has the ability to feel it - just not process it, which is what would more closely define suffering.

[flatface]

This topic came up on Clubhabboforum recently, I found this article as to why some people are vegetarians.


People decide to become vegetarians for a variety of reasons. Here are some responses by WikiAnswers contributors:

It's good for the animals, the environment and us.

For health reasons -
Excessive meat eating is linked to cancer and circulatory system diseases.
Meat is high in cholesterol and can be bad for you, especially in the quantities eaten in the US.
Most cases of food poisoning are from animal products; factory farms, slaughterhouses, and meat packing plants are extremely unsanitary places.
Vegetarians usually have less weight problems, lower rates of cancer, and live longer. The Ornish diet (low fat vegetarian) is proven to reverse heart disease.
Meat takes a very long time to be digested.

For ethical/ philosophical reasons -
The cruelty of the meat industry is inexcusable.
Animals are not ours to eat, and should not be raised for slaughter.
We deny animals their natural rights.
Some people believe it is wrong to kill and eat animals
They object to the way animals are treated in factory farms and in the slaughterhouses.
The animals are often given drugs to make them grow bigger and produce more meat; this is not healthy to animals or humans.
Animals have feelings and a personality just like us!!
They think eating meat is morally wrong.

For environmental reasons -
Meat production destroys endangered rain forests, produces lots of methane (a greenhouse gas) and water pollution in the form of sewage.
Livestock raising produces more greenhouse gases than all the cars in the world. Raising vegetarian food uses much less water.
Half of all water used in the US is used to raise livestock.
It takes many pounds of vegetarian food to produce one pound of meat.
In the US over half of all the food grown goes to livestock production.
Meat eating creates around half of the world's pollution, traffic only causes 11%.
Meat production is wasteful to water resources, land resources, and food itself.

For political reasons -
If resources were diverted from meat production; there could be enough food to feed everyone on the earth.
Meat production is wasteful; it takes many pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat.
A fairer distribution of food and resources in the world is possible if the food fed to farm animals was used to feed people instead. Much of the food grown in the world goes to feeding livestock.

For religious reasons -
Some religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and the Seventh Day Adventists encourage people to become vegetarian.
Eating meat creates bad karma.
Seventh Day Adventists are among the healthiest people in the world today.

For psychological reasons -
Some people find meat unappealing.
Because they become aware of what they are eating and what disease it could hold. Also, they realize how messed up it is to eat a living thing.

Peer pressured to (not common, it usually pushes the person to go the other way)

[immense]

no. i am old fashioned and eat meat raw.

[Caution]

I'm not, but I don't eat much meat but it's cos I don't like it much. I could easily be a veggie.

[Jordan]

Im not a vegetarian, idk why I just love meat, chicken is the best

[Special]

i only eat chicken

[Slowpoke]

Im not a vegetarian, idk why I just love meat, chicken is the best

Same. If you grew up say in a vegetarian family out in the country and never witnessed anyone eating meat then obviously it'd be different.

This thread has made me hungry.

[Jordy]

I'm a little bit unsure why I've vegetarian, I find it quite convenient these days to be honest. I've never been any sort of animal cruelty activist and I think a lot of them have invalid points tbh, it's very much a grey area as to whether animals can feel pain or not, I'm yet to be proved either way.

Before I was vegetarian (Around 8 years ago) I had been poisoned by meat a few times but the bottom line is I don't really like the texture or the taste of meat at all. It's managed to keep me in good shape and very healthy also so I've little reason to change.

[RedStratocas]

yeah im a vegetarian, it was a choice i made a couple years back. its not really cause i feel bad for animals or anything (i hate peta with a passion), it's mostly from my disgust at the food industry. i try to avoid preservatives and packaged food as much as possible, and unfortunately you can seldom find meat thats free of preservatives. not to mention the way animals are raised nowadays is completely unhealthy; how well the animals we consume eat matters too. they're raised to be fat, so farmers give them fattening (aka unhealthy) food which in turns makes us all the more unhealthy. after a while of not eating meat, i just find meat to be really gross. it helps that i never really liked most meat very much to begin with.

and btw being vegetarian doesnt make you less healthy insomuch as eating meat doesnt make you less healthy. it's overall diet that matters. the science is conflicting, and nutritional experts are all bogus, bias people working for the industry, so their studies usually dont matter. what DOES matter however is eating whole foods. people who eat whole foods (aka things not in packages) are substantially healthier than most people, no matter what their diet consists of.


it's very much a grey area as to whether animals can feel pain or not, I'm yet to be proved either way.

not trying to single you out or anything but you were just the most recent person in the thread to say this, but i dont understand how a bunch of people here arent sure whether or not animals can feel pain? i think its pretty obvious that they can, even though im sure there's science to back it i think it's pretty apparent animals can feel pain on just plain experience. ever swat a bug and it didnt die? you can see it struggle in pain. it makes perfect sense that animals would feel pain, it's a warning system. it tells us we're in danger or to tend to a damaged body part. evolution makes sure that those of us more responsive to pain are more likely to survive.

and if you meant emotion, many animals also feel virtually all the same emotions us humans do. even elephants and certain primates have been shown to have a sense of humor. people forget that humans ARE animals, the only thing that truly separates us is our intellect.

[immense]

i think to test we should all hit our pets

[beth]

yes i am, and i hate it.
i've been one since birth, basically my mom made the choice for me and in hindsight, i wish she never had.

i'm too scared to try meat (i know that sounds stupid).

[Rapidshare]

I eat meat, nom nomn nom

[Slowpoke]

it's very much a grey area as to whether animals can feel pain or not

Are you serious?

Emotional suffering - yes, that's a grey area (though, personally, I'm inclined to think that they can suffer emotionally - albeit to a lesser extent than humans). But I don't know how one can argue that animals don't feel physical pain. They have the same reflex responses as us and they share similar mechanisms of pain detection. For example, if you were to accidentally touch a hot iron, you'd quickly pull away your finger, just as a cat would pull it's paw away. I accidentally stood on my cat's paw earlier and he let out an almighty yelp. It was obviously because I hurt him.

[Jordy]

Are you serious?

Emotional suffering - yes, that's a grey area (though, personally, I'm inclined to think that they can suffer emotionally - albeit to a lesser extent than humans). But I don't know how one can argue that animals don't feel physical pain. They have the same reflex responses as us and they share similar mechanisms of pain detection. For example, if you were to accidentally touch a hot iron, you'd quickly pull away your finger, just as a cat would pull it's paw away. I accidentally stood on my cat's paw earlier and he let out an almighty yelp. It was obviously because I hurt him.


yeah im a vegetarian, it was a choice i made a couple years back. its not really cause i feel bad for animals or anything (i hate peta with a passion), it's mostly from my disgust at the food industry. i try to avoid preservatives and packaged food as much as possible, and unfortunately you can seldom find meat thats free of preservatives. not to mention the way animals are raised nowadays is completely unhealthy; how well the animals we consume eat matters too. they're raised to be fat, so farmers give them fattening (aka unhealthy) food which in turns makes us all the more unhealthy. after a while of not eating meat, i just find meat to be really gross. it helps that i never really liked most meat very much to begin with.

and btw being vegetarian doesnt make you less healthy insomuch as eating meat doesnt make you less healthy. it's overall diet that matters. the science is conflicting, and nutritional experts are all bogus, bias people working for the industry, so their studies usually dont matter. what DOES matter however is eating whole foods. people who eat whole foods (aka things not in packages) are substantially healthier than most people, no matter what their diet consists of.



not trying to single you out or anything but you were just the most recent person in the thread to say this, but i dont understand how a bunch of people here arent sure whether or not animals can feel pain? i think its pretty obvious that they can, even though im sure there's science to back it i think it's pretty apparent animals can feel pain on just plain experience. ever swat a bug and it didnt die? you can see it struggle in pain. it makes perfect sense that animals would feel pain, it's a warning system. it tells us we're in danger or to tend to a damaged body part. evolution makes sure that those of us more responsive to pain are more likely to survive.

and if you meant emotion, many animals also feel virtually all the same emotions us humans do. even elephants and certain primates have been shown to have a sense of humor. people forget that humans ARE animals, the only thing that truly separates us is our intellect.Apologies yes I was referring to emotional pain, the science is very grey in this area. I personally don't think we should risk it encase they do suffer emotional pain which is very probable, but then again I wouldn't use it as a reason to justify it me being a vegetarian seeing as it's not a fact.

[Nemo]

God no, i love meat way too much and if it wasnt there then i probably wouldnt eat nearly as much

[louder]

I'm a little bit unsure why I've vegetarian, I find it quite convenient these days to be honest. I've never been any sort of animal cruelty activist and I think a lot of them have invalid points tbh, it's very much a grey area as to whether animals can feel pain or not, I'm yet to be proved either way.

Before I was vegetarian (Around 8 years ago) I had been poisoned by meat a few times but the bottom line is I don't really like the texture or the taste of meat at all. It's managed to keep me in good shape and very healthy also so I've little reason to change.

exactly the same as me. except more, i choked on meat alot when i was younger & it scared the hell out of me so i was always a bit cautious of it.
but again, mainly the texture & taste. & processed meats are just abo****ely MINGIN.
edit; LOL i ment absolutely. funny how swapping 2 letters by mistake can do that. 8-)

[FlyingJesus]

i choked on meat alot when i was younger

lmao so hard right now

[Muct]

lmao so hard right now
LMAO IRL I just realized that too...

[Fez]

lmao so hard right now

Never change, Tom.

[KebabJuice]

I could never be a vegetarian. i love meat so much. especially Spaghetti Bolagnaise and Shepherds pie. mince is just yummy.
I love bacon aswell.

[9y]

lmao so hard right now

AHAHAHHAHA i didnt even realise. LOOOOOOL irl

[louder]

lmao so hard right now

LMAO. oops. 8-)