10-21-2014, 01:33 PM
(10-21-2014, 11:28 AM)Icaro Wrote: While we might "use" others to kill animals for us, we also use others to do all sorts of things we don't want to do. But as you said, we don't have to look at it that way..it's interdependence and functioning as a unit.
And Monica, since you agree that one realistic goal is for meat eaters to drastically cut meat consumption, those who have the courage to slaughter (humanely raised/slaughtered) can then be seen as filling a necessary role, and there is no need to demonize them..because eating meat just isn't going to disappear anytime soon. People don't consider the value of new viewpoints if they're made to feel bad about themselves (meat eaters in general). We should then be thankful for those who do the things we're not able to do..positive interpretation, positive energy sent.
Firstly, there seems to be an offense taken here all the time, when facts or opinions are presented by those promoting vegetarianism or veganism. It is a choice to be offended. I discuss the subject on B4 assuming the members here are evolved enough to not indulge in petty human behavior, since we are presumably here to discuss things of a more advanced nature than the mainstream. I wouldn't talk about these things outside of B4 as I know I would do just what you said above: make people feel badly about themselves. But here, jeez, I would assume I could talk freely without having to walk on eggshells because someone might feel badly about themselves (which is a choice). It's not that I want to make anyone feel badly, and I strive to be fair and kind, but with this subject there is so much unkindness happening to animals, the focus on human reaction because they don't want to give up taste or habit pales for me in comparison.
There is truth to what you say about those who raise and slaughter animals humanely being a step in the right direction, a huge step actually.
It may be stretched to see raising animals for food an interdependence, but what do they get out of it? In the case of plant life, plants need animals to disseminate their seeds as they are root-bound to the earth—so there is an exchange. With animals perhaps love and care would be what they get from humans, but freedom is taken away (and they end up slaughtered in most cases, because they are used by humans for food).
And I don't think the idea of humans having other people do what we don't want to do a good thing or positive at all. It derives from separatism and unconsciousness. If you aren't willing to take the life of an animal for food, I say you are in denial, not working in symbiosis. You are shilediing yourself from something horrible (killing a live being that doesn't want to die) but taking the results of it. (*nicer in comparison* analogy: If you don't want to be a garbage collector because it is unpleasant, there is denial all over the place: how much garbage are you making unconsciously, why aren't you willing to be a good steward of your own environment and take care of whatever you create, etc.)