Are Meat-Eaters Selfish? Are Their Arguments Deceitful? How Do They Justify Their Existence?

Question

A family of four could eat for a month on the grain it takes to grow one pound of beef.

A beef cattle uses 2500 gallons of water to mature.

Grazing cattle cause the extinction of hundreds of species of birds. Rain forests are being destroyed for grazing cattle.

Meat-eaters seem to be concerned that beef cattle will become extinct, but have no concern about the hundreds of other species meat animals drive to extinction.

Raising meat animals, and farming fish and shell fish, creates huge amounts of waste which winds up polluting our land, and water. It pollutes the ground water as well as the rivers and coasts. It has caused "dead zones" in our gulf and other places.

Birds and insects are essential to our human existence, but meat-eaters ignore this and insist that all 300 million of them have the right to eat animals every day, even if it causes great extinctions.

Do the math. How many animals to feed 300 million people?

Is the contemporary meat-eating habit justifiable?

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Answer 1

While your argument holds weight there are still some unresolved issues in the conflict between meat eaters and non-meat eaters.

If your argument holds that we should not eat meat, to what extent are you willing to take the ramifications...

Lets say we stop eating meat. Does that mean we should stop killing animals? Because the only justifiable reason for not eating meat is due to our concern over animal welfare and thier sentient ability to feel pain.

Now before we all get up in arms about the ability to feed a family of four on grain, think on this... what you seem to be talking about here is HOW we eat meat, not whether or not we should. It may be more resourceful and better for the environment if we ate vegetables and the like, but we could still farm animals and eat meat on a smaller scale and achieve a similar goal.

Many of the arguments put forward by meat eaters are done so from the point of view of the meat industry and as such always hit sour notes and seem like they are not taking the animals into consideration, this is usually true. Large scale farming and mass slaughter are disgusting and should never have been allowed to commence, let alone continue. But again, these are issues about HOW we eat meat.

When talking of SHOULD we eat meat, we need to look at possible reasons as to why. The environment is a good one, but that can be argued against as a scale problem. We kill more than we need and do so by farming animals in horrible conditions.

Now in order to find justification for meat eaters we need to look to nature itself for answers. I could talk about our being animals and make references to how lions eat meat, but a lion is a lion and a man is a man... we hardly expect lions to vote now do we?... our circumstances are different.

No, I will refer to meat eating as a neccessary option towards a more productive end.

Lets say we stop eating meat. If we continue to kill animals and simply bury the remains, that would mean a less effective result from a similar treatment of animals. We must therefore look at stopping the killing of all animals. But if we do so... how will we control thier populations? Control you gasp! What kind of a monster am I?

Well, Im the kind that doesnt want Possums raging out of control, the kind of monster that would appreciate a lack of disease carrying pests and insects. For you see, if you deem it fit NOT to kill an animal, then you deem it fit not to kill ALL animals, for they are all capable of feeling pain to some extent.

Meat eating use to be a means of control of population and a determining factor in evolution when we were part of the natural world. But as we have grown in numbers and dare I say pride, we have taken ourselves out of that loop.

"All the more reason to stop eating meat." I hear you say.

But the unfortunate circumstance is this... we still live on earth, we cant duplicate the planet and we cant make it bigger. It is what it is. There is only enough room for so much and there are only so many resources open to us, they may be huge, but still finite... Superabundance is a myth when looking very long term.

So... should we make the neccessary leap into not killing animals? If we do, we best try to find somewhere else to live and some other way to survive, room and resources would be at a premium.

Is it not more of a viable option to have the option of eating the meat of those things that we kill? Granted some meat we cannot or will not eat, but still, if its a more viable option to kill and eat one thing, surely its a viable option to kill and eat another. In a sense... its crowd control.

It use to be done, but at the will on nature, we had to do it to survive... in a way things havent changed, we simply need to look at HOW we eat meat.

Some animals are so good at mass reproducing we already have them underfoot and destroying countryside everywhere... Stop eating meat? What about rabbits? here in NZ they are a pest, destroying countryside by the acre... Should we kill them and leave them to rot, wasting a valuable resource? Leave them and lose land and gain disease? or Kill and eat them?

If your going to talk of Cattle... then be prepared to talk of all animals... including ourselves. We mistreat animals in so many various ways besides eating them its mind boggling.

Respect is the key. Eating animals use to be an experience where we treasured the life that was taken in order to sustain us. Now it is simply a means of staying satisfied.

Meat eaters are neccessary to nature and even supply a more resourceful means to utilise things that must, in essence, be killed in order for us to survive.

It is our population, our greed and our dierespect for nature that needs to be attended to, not our predisposition of mind to eat meat.

In conclusion...

"Is the contemporary meat-eating habit justifiable?"

No... but lets not lump all the unknowing consumers into one barrel. Some meat eaters care for the environment and all its inhabitants.

Remember... Its not that we do it... Its HOW we do it.

Answer 2

Well, you see there really is no argument with the numbers. Vegan or at the least vegetarian eating is more cost-effective, less harmful and arguably better for everyone, especially the meat-animals.

However, the problem is that meat eating is three things.
1. very popular
2. tasty
3. traditional in most societies

So what you need in fact is really not so much a scientific argument but a sustained PR campaign and something like Iron Chef of the Garden.

In fact , throughout human history no civilization has risen or survived without the "trinity" of domestic animals. Chickens, Pigs & Dogs. Humans have had these three animals with us pretty much where-ever we have gone. Not having one of them has historically been an indication of a civilization in trouble (see Collapse - by Jarred Diamond).

Answer 3

The main reason for food shortages is not because people eat meat--it is due to political corruption stopping the distribution. We have various crop subsidies that pay farmers to let grain rot (that is immoral). I've heard this argument before, and the truth is there is enough food to feed the world even with herds of grazing cattle. The problem as always is the people. On your other issues, cattle would need to graze in any event. I think the ecological destruction you mention is overstated.

So, I don't see a moral problem with eating meat for the reasons you've given.

Answer 4

I see a little touch of fanaticism here. I agree that polluting the world should stop and all that but, not eating meat isn't going to fix the problem. Get a grip. I bet you drive a car or truck almost everywhere you go, don't you? Doing your fair share to increase the hole in the ozone? And, you have the audacity to attack people who eat meat?
Sure, rain forest are being wiped out. Do you really think that land and those trees are being cleared just to graze cattle? Nope. Think of all the lumber we use for building materials and paper. Think of the land that is used to build hospitals and schools and homes for people.
Yes, some species are going extinct. That's may or may not be all our fault but I certainly don't believe it is due singularly to cattle grazing.
Pollution isn't the only cause to dead zones in the ocean. Scientists have been studying them for hundreds of years and there are alot of contributing factors. In some places they can find no reason for them at all.
Basically, what you say about the destruction of the earth and animals is true. We need to get alot of things under control. But, becoming a vegetarian isn't the answer. At least not for me. Animals were put here for us to consume. It's unhealthy not to get the vitamins and nutrients you get by eating meat.

Answer 5

No. But neither is using cars, trains, aeroplanes or consuming goods transported by said methods. Nor is using plastic in any form...Washing macnines ?? Fossil fuel for anything except basic heat and light? I could go on. The world would be a much more just place if economic barriers both physical and logistical were broken down and wealth completely and evenly distributed. In a free, informed, global vote on the subject that's just what would happen.

It's just the meat eating, car driving, tumble drying, TV watching, toilet flushing, internet surfing people will never allow the vote to happen.

Answer 6

i think sometimes we tend to forget that we humans are animals also, and many animals do eat each other. Yes, we are given minds to think about these things, and find other resources then meat to eat, but at the same time we are very influenced by our environment, our nuturing. If we were born into a non-meat eating situation, many of us wouldnt think to do it, just as though we eat meat, many of us dont eat dog or cat etc, we have had it built into us both to want to eat meat, but only certain meats. This is hard to overcome.
And , even if we dont eat meat, unless we grow the fruits and grains ourselves , say in our backyards or patios, resources would still be used on a major level to produce and ship what we need to substain ourselves.
so there are two issues, to me, to the eating of meat, one is using the natural resources you mention, the other is the brutality of eating another animal, and the conditions that animal lives in and is killed by.
As we continue to use up resources and damage our planet, and not live in a "natural state", i see the production of meat a small factor in this. True , we dont "need" to eat meat, nor have cars nor computers . These are all extras we do/have, which have impact on the earth.
As to the brutality of eating meat, killing animals, i dont see that stopping as long as we continue to kill each other in war and other ways. We still legally allow parents to hit children, only consider it wrong when there is extreme physical injury or death. So i dont see many, as a whole, accepting the violence of meat eating as a fact.
Yes, we can make individual choices , and hope to influence society in gerneral, and that is most likely what it will slowly take, to make any changes. Our American society is just now dealing with issues like racism, domestic violence , polution, etc i think it will be a very long time till we progress to a vegetarian society!
Is it justifiable to eat a dead animal, for any reason? I, a meat eater, would have a hard time finding an excuse, reason, justification for it, since i know its not necessary to my survival.

Answer 7

Things go extinct without our help. This world is one where the strong devour the weak.

Yet the meat industry isn't the only one with dark origins. Take that computer you're posting on. Do you drive a car? Use a Bus? How many trees were used in your home? Use any plastic product? If so, do you dispose of them properly? Ever use Air Conditioning? That soil that they grow the wheat on, it becomes unusuable after not too long, what about the trees or plants that could've grown there instead? What about the creatures that used that land for their home?

Sorry, you just sound too 'holier than thou,' to me.

Answer 8

I am thinking about nature when I encounter about existence. It is a mystery cause existence itself has existed out of no where, and out of the timeless space. All we've gotten with us from those profoundly sophisticated studies that nature itself has guided to calculate the symbols and signs we receive or perceive to the universe around us. In order to navigate the natural system and the purpose of life that which existence has offered. Have a wonderful time..! <3

Answer 9

You have many facts that are worthless. But on the up side that does agree with the value of your question.

This is the wrong catagory for foolish questions. The vegan catagory is perfect for a question like this.

I eat meat because I love vegetables and would never harm one. Sounds pretty stupid right?

Answer 10

This is a stupid question. Meat is the most delicious thing there is. Any kind. It all tastes good. And I would never give up eating something that tastes so good. Steak anyone?