Are you a vegetarian?

[BioLogic]

In my mind, being tasty has nothing to do with it. I thought meat was tasty. Sometimes it smells tasty still. Doesn't matter; it's not what's for dinner (to me).

 

[NudeDiver]

Just because it may be to you (AND ME!!) doesn't mean it is to everyone.

Just because someone has their eyes closed and can't see the light, doesn't mean the light is not on.


In this world I'm living in I see the light
Vegetarians are gone, now I know what is wrong and right
Morning came on slowly pushing back the night
It's good times now that I can see the light
On this road I'm walking on I see my way
Meat I'm living for each and every day
'Bout the crossroads of the past, nothing more to say
It's good times now but we can see our way
In this sea I'm moving through, feel my life complete
With the one I'm living for time is, oh, meat so sweet
Feeling us together, living in the bright
It's good times now, we can see the light
In this world I'm living in I see the light
Vegegarians are gone, now I know what is wrong and right
Morning came on slowly pushing back the night
It's good times now that we can see the light

 

[DaleC]

I don't know what "it" is either Mike, but if we can bottle it we'll make a million

Sabbath. I hear you! I don't get the obnoxious response so much (because IRL I'm 6' 215lb's and look like I might bite back) but I do get a lot of justifying. I hear about the tastiness, the pioneer heritage, the biblical references, the need for strength and muscle mass, the manliness factor, and the basic "no ones going to tell me what to do" stance. None of which I really care about because I'm not arguing. I just want to eat my darned veggie burger and get along. I try to be kind however and usually joke it off. I'm sure somewhere they have felt just as put upon by a rabid nut crunching PETAish vegetarian that thought it was better to control others rather than controlling themselves.

It is similar to smoking in some ways (I used to be a 2 pack a day man). If one is a non smoker you see the harmful effects to the individual and to society. If you are a smoker you think you are only harming yourself (if anyone) and can't figure out what all the fuss is about. Some smokers are inconsiderate and some non smokers are OTT when it comes to clean air. Some smokers are just damn glad they quit and leave it at that and others turn into zealots and try to get the whole world to quit with them. Like meat eating I have some empathy as I have been both the smoker and the non smoker. As long as you're not blowing smoke in my (or my kids) face I don't care if you smoke and as long as you don't shove a hot dog in my mouth I don't care what you eat either (for a Canadian I'm quite American with the whole "freedom" thing).

Even though I am a vegetarian now I am also something of a farmboy/outdoorsman and was a long time avid fisherman. I am just as comfortable chewing the fat (so to speak) with hunters and ranchers as I am with a yoga teacher. I count myself as blessed that I get along with both. My path with animals (particularily fish) has taken me from enjoying killing them, to being a dispassionate consumer of them, to being an observer/caretaker of them to sharing a sense of communion with them. On a good day I don't see myself as superior to animals or their "master" but rather a fellow passenger journeying through an, already too short, life together. My life is richer because I have known them and I am grateful to them for it.


As far as eating goes I keep it very simple. Can I get through today without intentionally killing another living being. If the answer is yes I give the rest of life on the planet a pass for the day. If the answer is no... well for the last 10 years or so the answer has not been no and I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I don't think anyone has to adopt my stance but you can't really knock me for having it.

Ha ha! I just read ND's post. He must have entered it while I was writing. If that's what meat does to the mind... I'm glad I quit

 

[NudeDiver]

It's all just for fun

But you know, plants are living beings too....

I don't kill my meat anyway. The meat I buy is already dead. If I don't eat it, someone else will - or it will just go to waste. So I might as well eat it.

That said - I have cut way back on meat, for no other reason than economics. Meat has become ****ing expensive!!!!

 

[DaleC]

But you know, plants are living beings too....

False argument really. Remember the puppy and potato. Kind of a joke but with a kernel of truth within. In the real world most people understand the difference.

I don't kill my meat anyway. The meat I buy is already dead.

Killing it, or having it killed for you, is the same thing really. Some would say those who do their own killing are just more intellectually honest about it.

It's all just for fun

I am being quite playful myself (in a platonic, manly sort of way).

 

[NudeDiver]

False argument really. Remember the puppy and potato. Kind of a joke but with a kernel of truth within. In the real world most people understand the difference.

I'm sure the plants see it differently. The only difference that exists is the one you choose to make.

Killing it, or having it killed for you, is the same thing really. Some would say those who do their own killing are just more intellectually honest about it.

Oh please. When people stop killing your plants and environment for food and to give you a society to live in, please let me know.

On a somewhat related note - I've been suffering with a dreadful cold all day. Just horrible, horrible, horrible. I just polished off 8 cups of chicken noodle soup, and now I feel much better - at least for a little while.

Say what you want - but life without chicken noodle soup would SUCK. Go, chickens!!!!

 

[_kurt]

Was on a dive boat recently and on one day they served fish with the buffet style lunch

I was quite surprised to see this

I wondered the same thing when I started diving. Fellow rock climbers care about preserving the wilderness; why wouldn't divers be all-out in favor of protecting marine life? Actually, I was afraid of being an outcast. I do eat meat, fowl and fish (but not always entirely without guilt).

I've gotta say, though, my guilt is partially assuaged every time I see video of a shark or bear devouring fish by the dozen.

It is similar to smoking in some ways (I used to be a 2 pack a day man). If one is a non smoker you see the harmful effects to the individual and to society. If you are a smoker you think you are only harming yourself (if anyone) and can't figure out what all the fuss is about.

The comparison is a good one. I'm a non-smoker, but I think the current wave of anti-smoking legislation is way out of line. Kids twenty years younger than me will grow up and be amazed when I tell them that people used to smoke in restaurants.

Anyway, I'm new here, so I thought I'd jump on a semi-controversial thread right off the bat.

-Kurt

 

[DaleC]

I'm sure the plants see it differently. The only difference that exists is the one you choose to make.

No, its the feeling in your gut when you stick you thumbs in. You can't get around that by retreating into a theoretical/abstract intellectual comparison but.. could that be the difference? Perhaps you haven't pole axed enough cows yet. I've looked them in the eyes and then caved their heads in with a sledge hammer and I tell you there is a difference between that and mashing a spud. It's the desperation that a pig fights with when it senses you are going to bleed it and the whimper that an old dog lets out when you take it, and the 22, out for that last walk. Everyone who lives close to the land, whether they are meat eaters or not, knows the difference and doesn't try to diminish it by equating the two.

Oh please. When people stop killing your plants and environment for food and to give you a society to live in, please let me know.

More abstract baffelgab. To break it down algebraically:

If you say (a) is wrong I will try to say (b) is wrong in hopes that (b) will negate (a) so that (c) = 0. The only problem is that (a) is a real number and (b) is an imaginary number so (c) actually = (a)

See, it's still abstract baffelgab

On a somewhat related note - I've been suffering with a dreadful cold all day. Just horrible, horrible, horrible. I just polished off 8 cups of chicken noodle soup, and now I feel much better - at least for a little while.

Say what you want - but life without chicken noodle soup would SUCK. Go, chickens!!!!

I just hope you don't end up with Avian flu. Won't you feel a little...... sheepish?

 

[sibermike7]

I'm sure the plants see it differently.

Yeah, remember them there taters have eyes you know!

 

[sibermike7]

Perhaps you haven't pole axed enough cows yet. I've looked them in the eyes and then caved their heads in with a sledge hammer

Ouch! Been there, and you are right DaleC- no fun. 22 is easier. (Yes, you can drop a full grown steer dead in its tracks with just a 22. Placement is the key.

More abstract baffelgab. To break it down algebraically:

If you say (a) is wrong I will try to say (b) is wrong in hopes that (b) will negate (a) so that (c) = 0. The only problem is that (a) is a real number and (b) is an imaginary number so (c) actually = (a)

See, it's still abstract baffelgab

Wow. When you start speaking in Canadian-yogan, we simpletons get lost!

I just hope you don't end up with Avian flu. Won't you feel a little...... sheepish?