Vegetarianism

[Reef.]

anyone here veggie?

i have been for maybe 4 years now and vegan for a year before that. When i first stopped supporting the meat and dairy industries, i was so shocked to find how contraversial it was! people actually cared, big surprise to me

I converted purely for ethical reasons, i just dont want to be a part of something that uses animals for industry. Even though my over thinking makes me question whether i'm actually creating less demand, or just more waste

probably like most people i was hit with attention like "why would you do that?" "what can you eat?" "you're so wierd, i'm not getting near you" and "theyre only animals". The worst thing is people finding it funny, like trying to trick you into eating meat or rubbing in your face how delicious their ham sandwich is

just wondered what your thoughts are

[ender]

I've been a vegetarian ever since I was three.

A few of my friends joke around with me about it, but it's never that bad.

My brother can be a pain about it, though.

[Reef.]

yea mine was too, but he hated me in general not just about the veggie thing lol so yep, its been much easier since he moved out

[ender]

lol It's funny when you tell people your a vegetarian and then the very next hour they'll ask:

"Would you like turkey on your sandwich?"

[Reef.]

lol i never get that!

what made you convert?

[` z i p p o <3 5453399]

Quite frankly, i like my meet.

[` z i p p o <3 5453399]

Ahhk,
meat*
Sorry, havnt had coffee yet.

[Reef.]

and there you are talking about the values of proper english! lol

[` z i p p o <3 5453399]

Well, excuse me.. Lol!

[Reef.]

i like meat too, which is the annoying thing. a lot of veggies go on about how delicious meatless recipes are.... i dont think so. but its just one of the sacrifices

[mate]

Personally, I could never be a vegetarian, animals (including us) are all meant to be eaten by something or another, it is way nature intended it to be. I must admit I do not like how they slaughter the animals, but then again you get a zebra that runs for its life and if the lion/ess can not kill it, the animal is eaten alive. Woman need iron and where do you get iron from? BLOOD! We have different sets of teeth, front for cutting and slicing (eye teeth for slicing), and the molars are for grinding meat. It is just the natural order of things. But I am nothing against vegetarians, except for the ones you go out of their way to try and make us omnivore depressed about the natural way of life. Take PETA for example, some cases they are right, whaling is wrong, most whales are going extinct, BUT the fur industry, how do you think the "cave" man survived the harsh winters once we evolved from being fur-less. We killed animals and wore their hid. I have never seen a PETA member run up to a pack of lion/ess and throw buckets of red paint or sometimes REAL blood upon them... Do you? On saying that, we have created ways to warm ourselves without the use of animal "skins" but if we really wanted to stop polluting the Earth we wouldn't use fires and indoor heating, we would go back to using animal fur.

[Reef.]

maybe i'm just not a big enough fan of humanity to embrace our "right to luxury"

eating meat is a natural thing within the animal kingdom but factory farming isnt, which is where my problem lies. iron is easier to absorb from meat products but you can get it from things like chick peas and spinach too, as well as taking suppliments. it might be an extra hassle but humans dont need meat, making it a luxury. Same with fur, except for inuits, but i deffinately get your point about the indoor heating! ;D
humans are different from lions in a number of reasons, the most obvious being that we are omnivours and they are carnivours. although. Secondly, we should know better. It doesnt seem (although who can be sure?) that lions feel empathy towards their prey but we do. or maybe thats not all of us! lol i was going to say "we know its wrong" but.... yea. The "its natural" argument i've always found funny, because when it comes to eating meat it fully stands up as great but when it comes to being eaten by our natural predators, suddenly most people are desperate to rethink lol

[mate]

As i stated in my first post, I do not like the aviators themselves, and the meat industry, but nothing makes you healthy then actually meat, yes there are substitutes, but that is all they are substitutes. In true fact there are no substitutes for the real thing. I if you were to take a person who eats healthy food (including meat AND vegetables, etc) and take a person who eats nothing but factory made mineral substitutes, the meat and veggie eater are going to rule over all for they have no extra chemicals in their body. To try and get all the iron and other minerals you need from vegetables and fruit would extremely harder and put your body through more then it can handle rather then just having one piece of steak. I shouldn't of use lions as a examples, wolves then, they are omnivores, or apes, apes do feel sympathy for the animal they have killed not normally meaning of their food. But it as been clinically proven that they feel sympathetic toward the animal they have killed. Personally I would like it to be eat or be eaten, saying that I might not like it if it was actually happening to me. BUT if we went back to the whole, use fur not fuel, we would have no environmental problems whats so ever... Thus ending a hell of a lot of problems we have today. And in reading back my post I have ridiculously turned this vegetarian thread into a environment problem solutions LOL. By the way I am not trying to make an argument, just stating my opinion

[Reef.]

dont worry about it, theres a huge difference between argument and debate!

i guess it depends where your priorities lie. from a subjective point of view, a meatless diet is second best, hence most people are meat eaters but as far as i'm concerned, my diet actually has very little to do with me. obviously its different for anyone who's motivation is health or spiritual.

and i'm really intruiged about this empathy thing, how did they prove apes care about their prey?

[mate]

I saw a lil bit of it on the Geo channel, they put a ape in a box thins (like a stall) and put all these sticky things on its head and that. (it showed up as lines and colours on the computer) they placed a hairtail monkey ( I think that is what it was called) In their too, the ape killed it (slowly terrible to watch) by slamming it against walls and such and in the end it just sat there with the monkey in its hands and all the colours and lines went crazy on the comp (obviously scientist can read that) and then they told us what they all meant and what feelings the ape was going through.