Ethics: Don't you think it's a crime to kill and eat other mammals?

Question

I could understand doing it to animals who do not share most of our emotions, but isn't killing and eating cows and pigs, just to name two, pushing it?

Answer 1

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For some reason, I just don't think this is a matter of ethics. I am sure the vegetarians will agree with you; however, they do not take an ethical stance. They merely state a desire to omit meat.

God made animals for man to eat. These animals do not have souls; they have instincts.

Answer 2

I suppose it depends on where you choose to draw the line. Just understand that it is a choice.

Most people seem to draw the line at sentients. They won't eat other human beings, but anything else is fair game. It's nice that they make that exclusion for humans, but personally, I don't necessarily see the problem with even that, as long as you aren't killing extra humans because you're extra hungry.

I'm sure you know there's no small amount of vegetarians. I can understand where they're coming from. Animals SEEM to have many human characteristics, so it's easy to sympathize with them. They can cry out in shock and pain when you kill them (if you're not fast about it, that is). Some people don't like that.

I would suggest that there's a little hypocrisy even in that view, though. After all, you can't live anywhere without displacing animals that would have lived there instead of you, and those animals will die just as surely as if you ate them. Likewise, there are many plants that have been demonstrated to communicate. I have little doubt that they cry out in pain too when they're killed... it's just that they communicate biochemically so humans can't hear it. I suppose that makes slaughter all the easier.

The bottom line is that life is violent. You cannot live without depriving other living things of life, whether its from eating them, ruining their habitats, or any of a hundred other ways people MUST dominate their surroundings or be dominated by them. If it makes you feel better to spare a cow here or there, by all means do so. But ask yourself - would there even BE cows any more if they weren't so tasty?

Answer 3

I guess I'm not quite understanding you. Animals who don't share our emotions, but cows and pigs... um- yeah, they don't share most of our emotions either. Do you have new research to share? Also, I don't get your definition of crime. In looking it up, here are the options:
Crime: 1. an act or the commission of an act that is forbidden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law; especially : a gross violation of law

Not against the law to be carniverous. In fact, the USFDA would encourage it, as their livelihood in part depends on it. Gotta waste livestock every so often in order to keep prices up and farms in business after all.
2 : a grave offense especially against morality

Whose morality? Isn't something always against someone's morality? For example, brushing a fly away is against the morality of the Jains because you're killing "souls". Shall we not kill flies so as to avoid "the murder of innocents?"

3 : criminal activity

Sorry- can't see grabbing a burger in this light either. Call me culturally insensitve.

4 : something reprehensible, foolish, or disgraceful
Okay- now that last part about wasting food- that was the dictionary's example, not my own. Somewhat ironic, hmm? It's example suggests the opposite. It's immoral or a crime to NOT eat pigs or cows.
I guess I'll let that stand as my decision then. Thanks Webster.

Answer 4

I've been rather conflicted about eating meat for a very long time, but it is difficult to stop a diet that you've been doing all your life. I've also found that if I don't eat meat for awhile, I feel sick. I started doing research about eating meat and some articles state that most humans are behavioral omnivores, meaning we "choose" to include meat in our diet. There are a lot of other things we can eat to sustain life, than killing animals. When I think of the suffering that some animals go through, just so they can become an entree on my plate, makes me angry with myself. But isn't meat the richest source of protein on the planet? There are proteins from soy and eggs, but is it enough? Even vegetarians have to take vitamin supplements to replace those in meat and dairy, that are no longer in their diet.

This is a very interesting question and I think it's one that boils down to personal ethics. In my opinion, humans do everything to excess and maybe it's not so much that we eat meat, but to the degree that we practice it.

Answer 5

No. The cheetah kills and eats the antelope. The great white shark eats the seals off of the cape of Africa. Lions prey on the animals of African jungles.

The point is, humans are omnivorous. This means we are supposed to eat plants and animals. Now, HOW MUCH of each of these we eat has become a little extreme. If we were not "supposed" to eat other animals, our bodies would not be able to process the meat and our bodies would not be in search of specific proteins.

Gah, I hate vegetarian freaks. I also hate extreme carnivores, so, puh.

Answer 6

I think one answer is that biologically, most consider humans to be omnivores. As far back as it can be traced, clearly the archeological record indicates an omnivorous diet for humans that included meat. Our ancestry is among the hunter/gatherers from the beginning. Once domestication of food sources began, it included both animals and plants.

We don't typically think that a shark is unethical for eating other fish, because that is what some sharks were created to do.

Some vegetarian diets may also cause certain vitamin deficiencies and heart disease.

Answer 7

Well we have to have meat. It would be worse to kill just for the fun of it and leave the animal there. If I don't eat some meat, I get a headache. Even though fruits and vegetables are great, I noticed that I get a bad headach if I don't have some kind of meat in my system. (My headaches usually go away when I eat meat) I'm not crazy about meat, I will eat things like lunch meat, or chicken, bacon, pork chops, but that's about it.

Answer 8

As long as killing is for the purpose of food, I don't see anything wrong with, plus its not that cows and pigs are endangered species. But when we kill other human being simply for ideological reason, that should be our cause of concern. If I was stranded in the jungle, I would eat even snakes (my dad was in the army and he told me about how his group had to survive on whatever they found). Another thing that should be our concern is that while we discuss what kind of food we should eat, there are people dying for the lack of it. If we are in a position to discuss food, it only shows that our stomachs are full.

Let me end with a quote about killing form John Stuart Mill [Utility of Religion]-"In sober truth, nearly all the things which men are hanged or imprisoned for doing to one another are nature’s everyday performances. Killing, the most criminal act recognized by human laws, nature does once to every being that lives, and in a large proportion of cases after protracted tortures such as only the greatest monsters whom we read of ever purposely inflicted on their living fellow creatures.”

Answer 9

Since there are no laws against it, it is not a crime.

People are omnivores. We need to eat meat as part of our diets. Each society decides which animals are acceptable to eat. Dogs have special place in western society but I hear they are menu item in the far east. Cows on the other hand take up a large section of our menu but are revered in India.

As we sit at the top of the food chain, we get to make choices. I will choose to enjoy my position at the top of the food chain.

Pass the ribs...

Answer 10

Maybe not a crime, because crimes are man-made. But as we evolve spiritually and cosmically we will eventaully cease the need and desire to eat fellow animals. Only lower evolved ones would do this or even kill. Higher entities will be ale to exist on solar enegy alone.