How do you reply to people who say plants are living things too?

Question

So I am a vegan. I try to avoid everything that contains meat, dairy, seafood, etc. but most of the time I get someone that is upset about the fact that I am a vegan and challenges me with their ignorant question of "If you don't eat living things than why do you eat plants, vegetable, fruit, etc" How do I reply to this?

Answer 1

Simply put:

"Plants are not sentient."

Answer 2

Besides wanting to hit my head on a desk because so many morons ask this freaking question? Becaus someone asking about this doesn't give a damn about the plants, s/he just wants to needle a vegetarian and justifiy his/her meat consumption.

1) Plants cannot feel pain. They have no nervous system, they cannot escape animals that wish to eat them, etc. They have no emotions, no sensation whatsoever.

2) Animals such as cows, chickens, pigs, turkeys, ducks, etc., DO feel pain. They struggle, they scream, and if you have seen pictures taken from animal industrial facilities, you can see the misery in their faces.

3) Eating animals kills far more plants than just eating the damn plants. Hello, those animals whose flesh you gnaw on have to eat something. And it takes several pounds of plant food to produce a pound of animal food.

4) If you cannot tell the difference between a carrot and a cow, you need to go back to high school and take a remedial biology course or four.

5) Or you could be sarcastic and say that you're not vegetarian because you love animals but because you hate plants.

Answer 3

I think you should ask yourself why you actually are a vegan. Is it because you don't like the taste of meat products? Or maybe it is because you don't like to see the animals abused? Is it because you don't think it is right to eat other living things because they have rights too? Or are you just doing it to go along with others that are? Once you have figured this out, you can either say "one must eat something to live," or you could just call them a hypocrite and move on with life. Also by correctly defining it your eating habits as not eating living animals you will avoid this situation entirely. Explain to them that living things and living animals are different. If you felt that this answer helped you, by all means the best answer choice is just below.

Answer 4

After the same type of questions from my carnivorous family I finally told them "I don't eat something that formerly had a heartbeat."

After three years they have have finally decided it's not a fad with me, although being a lacto-ovo vegetarian tends to confuse them. I am still shocked at how often people get mad at me, think I'm insane, or treat me like I'm stupid because I chose no longer eat meat. I personally think there is enough pain in the world as it is, without adding a sea of slaughter to it as well.

If I was vegan I'd tell them "I don't eat what could have been someone's pet." Of course there are those moronic people who will always try to make you feel inferior because of your choice no matter what you may say. At times like those, just walk away.

Answer 5

The way the statement is written, the answer could be both true and false. For example, most living organisms obtain the food directly or indirectly from the plants as well as the oxygen we breathe. So this is true. However, there are entire communities of organisms living together in the deep ocean near volcanic vents in the sea floor. In this harsh environment, chemosynthetic bacteria provide foods for a complex ecosystem.. So these would make the state above false!

Answer 6

http://ar.vegnews.org/killing_plants.html
http://ar.vegnews.org/what_if_plants_feel_pain.html

“What about plants?”

There is currently no reason to believe that plants experience pain because they are devoid of central nervous systems, nerve endings, and brains. It is theorized that animals are able to feel pain so that they can use it for self-protection purposes. For example, if you touch something hot and feel pain, you will learn from the pain that you should not touch that item in the future. Since plants cannot move from place to place and do not need to learn to avoid certain things, this sensation would be superfluous. From a physiological standpoint, plants are completely different from mammals. Unlike animals’ body parts, many perennial plants, fruits, and vegetables can be harvested over and over again without dying.

If you are concerned about the impact of vegetable agriculture on the environment, you should know that a vegetarian diet is better for the environment than a meat-based one, since the vast majority of grains and legumes raised today are used as feed for cattle. Rather than eating animals, such as cows, who must consume 16 pounds of vegetation in order to convert them into 1 pound of flesh, you can save many more plants’ lives (and destroy less land) by eating vegetables directly.
http://www.peta.org/about/faq.asp

Answer 7

Why reply at all. No matter what you say to those people it isn't going to be right or good enough.

Plants don't feel pain...but they know that. The way a plant is alive is NOT the same way a animal is alive..they know that too. They are just looking to start a fight. AND no matter how you justify things it's never good enough for them. They just want to pick at you for whatever reason. It's common sense of what makes a plant different from an animal.

I tend to stay as far away as possible from those people. A few times of trying to justify your choices to them and you'll have the same outlook as me and many others. Don't grace them with your presence too long dear trust me.

Answer 8

Tell them you are vegan because you think eating meat etc is violent. Eating grains and vegetables is still violent, in a way, but doesn't normally involve destroying the entire plant.

Answer 9

Have you read Animal Liberation by Peter Singer? If not, then you really should. He says, "If a being suffers, there can be no moral justification for disregarding that suffering." Plants do not possess a complex nervous system as animals and humans do. They are incapable of experiencing suffering as we do. Both species react to pain by shying away from it.

Answer 10

As far as we know, plants don't experience pain the way animals do. Even if they did, we can't survive without eating something & if we eat animals, we're not only responsible for the pain of the animal but the supposed pain of all the plants that the animal had eaten in order to fatten it up for us.
I usually just tell ppl I don't eat anything that has parents.

Answer 11

Friend i am also a vegetarian like you & many times i have come across the situation.
I have reasons to give.But see that each time you try to convince such people they tend to comment on it some way and make us bother even more.
better not to bring the topic with whomever you are so that such arguments will never rise or simply you stop the topic inbetween if someone talks about it.
i do the same & hope the next time you will get satisfied