butter7 said:
Mimosa plant, ever seen one before?
Plants don't have mouth so they couldn't moan or talk, they don't have eyes filled with tears, but it doesn't mean they can't feel anything.
Oh, really? So if you have to kill the whole plant, you don't eat, right?
So you definitely don't eat carrot, onion, garlic, cabbage, lettuce, potato, celery, beetroot....etc, etc
Could you please tell me, what do you eat?
Yes, not all species eat animals; but not all species are live on vegetable only either.
To live is to kill, only because we kill, so we can live.
If there was a tiger right in front of you, and you have a gun in your hand. Will you pull the trigger to save your own life, or you take off your cloth so the tiger could have its dinner served right? Yes, there is a third option that you could try to convert the tiger to be a vegetarian.
Being questioned about my beliefs is not something I have to respond to at all, because I could sit here and say I eat red meat on Tuesdays and fish on Wednesdays and artichoke hearts on Fridays and it would be true and right because if you believe something sincerely, who is someone else to tell you it's wrong or stupid or pointless.
I eat dairy products but not animal meat because I have a PERSONAL problem against it. I continue to hang out with my friends (all, except 2 who eat meat regularly). We go to eat and they all order meat and I do not start an argument telling them why I don't agree with what they eat. We respect each other because that's how I believe civil relationships are. Also, I never said plants do not have "feelings". It's a question of morality and personal belief whether or not anything (even humans) have credible feelings.
When I talked about vegetables, I was just defending what I thought was an attack towards me or other well-meaning vegetarians.
I do not bother others to try to find food for me to eat. If I go someplace, I can always just order a side and be as happy as ordering an entree. If I am doing a special dinner, I always make sure they have something available for me before I go. I wouldn't go out of my way to make a scene in order to publicize the fact that I am vegetarian.
I don't know if I will be vegetarian my whole life. To me, this is a part of my life that is a personal journey. It's a learning experience and it's allowing me to broaden my horizens. It lets me choose options I wouldn't have otherwise...I don't eat fast food as often, because there simply isn't a lot to choose from that isn't meat. It also lets me be more conscious of food I am putting into my body, whether it is made with meat or meat derivatives... but also other nutrition facts that I would not have otherwise noted.
But the thing about the tiger..that's really not something I want to answer, because it's irrelevant. I am not talking about self-defense. I am talking about taking animals and farming them in order to kill them. Of course in self defense all matters change. Given the chance to free himself from a butcher, I'm sure any wild animal would fight for his life, but animals born and raised in captivity have no other option but to live and be fed...not knowing they will later die.
When people give hypothetical situations like "Would you kill an animal if..." it puts me in a bad mood because I want to say "If you could talk to that cow... or empathize with him... know exactly how it is to be that cow (not a human changing into a cow, but to be born a cow) would you have the nerve to kill him?"
Maybe you would...and maybe that's your personal choice. Maybe I just find it hard to imagine myself as being better than a cow simply because I don't understand how it is to be a cow. It's like saying "well, I don't speak Russian, so all Russians must be stupid," That's very wrong and so is saying cows are lesser beings because they do not fit into the model of what "reasoning, thinking individuals are...as defined by humans"
Of course I am not perfect and I don't know all the facts about why vegetarianism is flawed and why eating meat is flawed and why humans are omnivores and how we have evolved, blah blah blah. What I know is that personal choice is one hell of a great thing.