The Ethics of Meat

Plant vs. animal.


I'm an omnivore and enjoy it. That said, I'm convinced that it's healthy to be a vegetarian. I'm also doubtful of claims that people who eat meat have advantages in sports. At least I think this is true of most sports. Maybe not powerlifting?

I think being a vegan is a little trickier. Vegans tend to have difficulties being completely healthy, and are especially prone to deficiencies of Vitamin B12 and iron, especially if they are an active athlete.

I have worked around at vegetarianism for a couple of days at a time, usually to control my weight or improve biometrics, but always end up feeling famished.

I also love eating beefsteak, roast chicken, and many other meat dishes. I don't want to give up those things.

As for the philosophical or ethical concerns surrounding the eating of meat, I disregard vegan ethics. I don't think "ethical veganism" properly accounts for the necessity of taking life to eat. You have to kill plants too, and the more we learn about plants, the less they seem primitive compared to animals. As far as we can tell, plants do not have emotions but it seems plants experience distress and suffering in their own way. To delve into the ethics of sourcing nutrition, you can't work from principles, but must split hairs. Notions of suffering and rights become questions of degree, or worse yet, a spectrum. It's impossible to be precise. Vegans speak about an ethical plant-based diet with more confidence than they can rightly have.

I also think it's unethical and senseless to expect omnivores to not be omnivores. We would never do that to a pet dog, so why would we require it of ourselves? Currently we don't have the technology to properly replace animal meat. The tech bros have made progress but are still killing plants to create the types of fake meat that are now available in the supermarket.

Whether you are an omnivore or a herbivore, you have to kill living things to eat. It is a natural necessity. I can't see a distinction between killing plants and killing animals, other than I feel hungry if I follow a vegetarian diet.

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