Vegetarian?

[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 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.