February 25, 2010

Why vegan? Arguments and retorts.

Posted in Other tagged arguments, vegan at 8:49 pm by Megan

Why go vegan? I know this is a question I encounter quite a lot. Why should you care?

It’s widely believed across the states that animals are ours to do what with what we please; including slaughtering, torturing (animal testing), raping (dairy industry), and generally exploiting. If this wasn’t the case, we would all be vegans. However, the exploition of animals isn’t considered moral among people such as myself. Before I get into some more reasons on why to go vegan, let’s take a look at why people are against it:

1. “God says that animals were put here to use. Humans were created in God’s image, which puts us above them.” Although this may truly be what you believe, not everyone holds the same values. Also, the bible promotes kindness to all creatures and animal welfare, so it promotes vegetarianism at least. Personally I made the choice to go vegan because eating animal products went against my personal morals. What God had planned for me isn’t as pertinent because I follow my heart, I live by my own morals. I’m sure God will understand if I would rather not consume corpses or promote unfair treatment.

2. “We’ve naturally omnivores! We have canine teeth. Lions eat deer so I should be allowed to eat cows.” Actually, our digestive track resembles one of a herbivore more closely than one of an omnivore. We lack sharp nails and teeth necessary for taking down an animal. Think about it, when’s the last time you went hunting for your own wild cow and used nothing but your bare hands to kill it? Yeah, I think never. That’s because humans don’t even have the stealth and agility to take down most wild animals. You can’t compare a human’s eating of meat to that of a lion’s. A lion needs meat to survive, humans do not. A lion kills and eats its prey with its bare hands and without cooking the carcass. We need to cook our  meat to avoid getting sick and cannot easily catch or kill an animal without the use of weapons. That’s right, nature didn’t provide us with what’s necessary to eat meat, we’ve had to improvise.

3. “We’re higher than them on the food chain, it’s our right to eat them.” Put a human alone in the woods without weapons, and bears are higher on the food chain. Do you think anyone would agree that it is therefore their right to eat us? Maybe some, but probably not many. Man made weapons gives us an edge on other animals. Just because we can kill does not mean it’s right. Since we are, in general, capable of a higher level of thinking than animals, we are capable of obtaining nutrients from other sources. Something wild animals don’t have the ability to do. They have to take what they are given; we have the technology to make what suits us.

4. “Animals can’t be equal to humans because they aren’t as intelligent. When a cow can use an iPhone, then we’ll talk.” Animals are more intelligent than you may think. Pigs and dolphins are often considered more intelligent than 3-year-old human children. So using that logic, eating children and the mentally impaired is justified as well. Animals don’t need to live a complex life in order to deserve respect. A life is a soul is a life, even if that soul is in a different form or values different things than humans do. Animals think differently, that doesn’t mean they don’t think. I’m going to quote one of my favorite authors, Mark Twain; “It is just like man’s vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.”

5. “I like meat too much. Veganism is too expensive and limits where and what I can eat. It’s too hard.” Nonsense! Veganism is sometimes cheaper than eating meat. No one can argue that beans and rice cost more than steak; it’s only when you start buying substitutes like veggie burgers and vegan butter that it gets more expensive. And it’s not that hard after you get used to it; it becomes a way of life just like eating meat would be. I don’t value “I like meat too much” and “It limits what I eat” as valid arguments. Yes, they are reasons not to go vegan, but if you really care about something, selfish whims won’t hold you back.

6. “Plants are alive as well! How do you know they can’t feel pain?” Yes, plants are alive, but they cannot feel pain in the same way humans and animals do because they have no central nervous system. Sentient beings are those who are capible of feeling pain and emotion. Plants cannot feel pain nor emotion, therefore they cannot be mistreated. And if you want to make the argument of “Well, you can’t be sure”, let me present you with this: What do animals eat? Plants. It requires more plant consumption to produce a meal with meat than it does one without.

7. “VEGANS ARE PUSSIES. REAL MEN EAT MEAT.” (This is capitalized because the only people this argument comes from are what they like to call macho, who refuse to treat others as human beings, and always yell their arguments, which are often laden with insults. These are also the type of men who assume they’re above females and humans of other races and sexual preference.) I don’t consider this a real argument. Real men have hearts.

8. “You’re brainwashed, drinking milk doesn’t hurt anything.” I’m certainly not brainwashed; I think you’re just uneducated. I’ve talked to farmers as well as animal rights activists, and my perspective on the exploitation of animals has not changed. I think this argument is based on ignorance. Drinking milk not only supports the exploitation of cows (they must be recently pregnant to produce milk), but it also stimulates the veal industry. Where do you think all the calves that are born from dairy cows go?

9. “Meat is natural, we’ve always been eating it.” Just because we’ve always been doing something does not make it right. And consider this: we are the only animal that continues to drink milk as adults, and that milk isn’t even from our own species. Natural? I think not.

10. “Veganism causes global warming, we gotta eat those cows before they melt our planet!” By eating meat, you’re stimulating the industry. By putting demand on meat, you raise the number of cows that farmers breed and raise. You’re increasing the number of cows on earth. By going vegan and boycotting the meat industry, we lower demand. Animals such as cows are bred like crazy to provide for the human population, if demand dropped, supply would drop, less cows would be bred, and eventually the numbers would go back to normal.

So why go vegan? Because animals are slaughtered every second to put meat on your plate. Because cows are artificially inseminated to produce milk, and their babies are dragged away and sold to the veal industry. Because animals are mistreated all around the world and don’t have a voice to speak out for themselves. Because animals are not ours to  use for entertainment, transportation, experimentation, clothing, or food.

If I missed any arguments or you have another point to make, drop a comment!

Thanks for reading,

Megan

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