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> Or are you at the point where you'd just as gladly kill animals for food yourself? If you're not willing to look the animal in the eyes and kill it, you shou
by mitchty 10y ago
> Or are you at the point where you'd just as gladly kill animals for food yourself?
If you're not willing to look the animal in the eyes and kill it, you shouldn't be eating it. I'll go one further and say if you haven't actually butchered a cow or chicken, you shouldn't be eating that meat. (I'll say the same about pork, bison, ostrich, snake, rabbit, sheep, etc... too but those are less common)
I grew up on a farm/ranch, I've looked cows in the eyes that I fed daily to fatten them up just for this purpose. I genuinely don't care about it, its a part of life. So for myself that point probably doesn't exist.
You can look at it in two ways philosophically, one, which seems predominant on this forum is that any human inflicted "suffering" is wrong and should be avoided.
One other view, which I think most cattle producers would think philosophically, is that you brought into the world more animals than if you didn't exist. Note, I'm just ignoring feed lots here as that isn't what I grew up around, nor does anyone I know support them.
Presupposing however that only the former viewpoint regarding suffering is correct is a bit of criticism however. Additionally, if you've ever watched how most predators take down prey, humans are vastly more humane about it.
I'd rather we separate out the feedlot question from the actual killing question. The former is an economic issue, the latter I think of in many ways as the Lakota did.
- burfog 10y agoIf you haven't actually poured asphalt, you shouldn't be using that road. If you haven't actually connected a pipe to city sewage, you shouldn't be using that flush toilet. If you haven't actually nailed shingles to a roof, you shouldn't be using that roof. Oh come on. Many jobs are miserable and dangerous. I've been 20 feet away from a pig as the guts were removed, and that was more than enough odor. (the pig was full of shit) I don't have a problem with the "look the animal in the eyes" thing though. Animals are just food. I butchered a duck. That didn't smell much, but I was a bit worried about being bitten by external parasites. A cow though... if that thing falls off the crane/hoist/lift thing it'll squish you to death. This isn't some wimpy emotion thing. Squish! Oh, and probably lots of ticks, and prior to death it may kick you or gore you. Cattle are not to be messed with unless you have special training and equipment.
- mitchty 10y ago> If you haven't actually poured asphalt, you shouldn't be using that road. If you haven't actually connected a pipe to city sewage, you shouldn't be using that flush toilet. If you haven't actually nailed shingles to a roof, you shouldn't be using that roof. The reason for actually having done it is to understand the reality of where food comes from, not to try to instill a view that everyone must do everything themselves to be able to use anything in the world.
- accountyaccount 10y agoThanks for taking the time to talk through that, it's an interesting perspective.