Chrsity Turlington is a vegetarian supermodel.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Celebrity: Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the former, and one of the greatest presidents of the United States of America. He was a vegetarian.
Restaurant Fiasco
Three nights ago I went to a vegan restaurant with my friend. She was not too into the whole vegan thing, and the first thing she asked the waitress is if they have any pork at all. When the waitress, appalled, said "No, we only carry vegan food," my friend said, "ok well I guess I'll just have the chicken." Needless to say, I won't be going back there anytime soon!
Comic: Plants or Animals?
In the dialogue, it talked about the differances between eating animals and eating plants. This comic shows this argument from the view of a plant.
What do Luna, Auguste and Oscar think about becoming vegan?
Dialogue One
Huck is sitting on the stairs to his front porch when Finn comes running up to him.
Finn - Hey Huck!
Huck (grimly) - Hi Finn.
Finn - Why so glum kiddo?
Huck – I just don’t get it. My little brother, Jack, stole my ball, so I slapped him, and now I’m in trouble and can’t come out and play.
Finn – Well of course you got in trouble. Ya’ can’t just go around slappin people.
Huck – Why not? My papa slaps and whips his slaves all the time.
Finn – Its ok to treat a black slave like that, but not your little brother.
Huck – Whats the difference between my little brother and a slave?
Finn – My papa told me slaves have no feeling, emotions, or thoughts like white people do.
Huck – So they’re different from us?
Finn – Yeah, they’re not human, so they don’t have rights.
Huck – Do you have to be human to have rights?
Finn – Yeah, obviously.
Huck – But then what does it mean to be human?
Finn – Well you have to be white, and talk and think and have feelings like a white man.
Huck – Well my little cousin is disabled, so he doesn’t look or think or talk like us, but he still gets treated awfully nice. If he’s different then us, they how come he still gets treated like a human?
Finn (flustered) – Boy, you ask too many questions. Wanna come play some ball with me?
Huck – Maybe later.
Finn – Ok, see you later.
Huck – Bye
End of first dialogue.
Dialogue Two
Ms. Wilemina – Good morning class! I am announcing a new project this morning. I would like to discuss the morality of eat meat with you in a weeks time. I have eaten meat for many years, but have recently became a vegetarian. I am going to put each of you in pairs, and one of you will be exploring why humans should eat meat, and the other will be exploring why humans should be vegetarians. Auguste and Luna, you are partners. Auguste, you are defending meat, and Luna, you are defending vegetarianism.
Auguste – Do you want us to write a report on it?
Ms. Wilemina – No, next week I will meet with both of you, and we will sit down and debate the topic. I will mark you on your debate.
(lunch bell rings).
Ms. Wilemina – Have a nice day class!
Luna and Auguste – You too! Bye!
End of dialogue two.
Dialogue Three.
Luna and Auguste are sitting down together in the cafeteria.
Luna – So what do you think about our project?
Auguste – Yeah it should be cool. I’m pretty sure I’ll win the debate though. Sorry you had to get vegetarianism.
Luna- What makes you so sure its ok to eat meat?
Auguste – Well a lot of people eat meat, so it must be the right this to do.
Luna – Why is it the right this to do?
Auguste – It’s healthy for our bodies to eat meat, we need the protein, Iron, and B12.
Luna – There are other ways to get protein and vitamins you know, its just harder.
Auguste – Well if its harder, then why wouldn’t you just eat meat?
Luna – I would never eat meat because it was one a living animal, and to eat it would be morally wrong.
Auguste – What is morality?
Luna – Morality is what is right and what is wrong.
Auguste – Well I think its right to eat animals. So does that mean that it’s morally right to eat animals?
Luna – But its not morally right to eat animals.
Auguste – Why’s that?
Luna – Because I don’t think its morally right to eat animals.
Auguste – So morality is just a matter of opinion?
Luna – No, its not. I’m right. And I’ll prove it to you.
Auguste – Luna, people from all over the world eat animals. Why do you seriously think that ever single one of them is wrong, and you and a handful of other people are right?
Luna – People believe what they are taught to believe. My parents are Christian because they were brought up that way. But I guarantee you that if you asked them why they go to church every Sunday, they would have no idea. They would tell you they do it because they do.
Auguste – How does that work?
Luna – People believe and behave how they are taught to believe and behave. We are all products from our society, and until we take a step back and examine our values, we will never know what is truly right and what it truly wrong.
Auguste – I think I get what your saying.
Luna - Do you think its ok to kill a cow or a pig?
Auguste - sometimes.
Luna - why only sometimes?
Auguste – I think it’s ok to eat an animal when you are going to eat it or use its fur, but its not ok to kill an animal just for fun.
Luna – Do you think it would be ok to kill a human?
Auguste – No! Never.
Luna – Well would be ok to kill a human if you were going to eat it?
Auguste – No, its still not ok.
Luna - Would it be ok to kill a kitten or a dog?
Auguste – No.
Luna – Not even sometimes?
Auguste – Not unless you were stranded on a desert island and you would die if you didn’t eat the kitten or the dog.
Luna – what if there was a cow or pig on the desert island?
Auguste – Oh, well it would be ok to eat the cow or the pig. And then if you absolutely had to, I guess it would be ok to eat the cat or the dog.
Luna - why do the other animals have to get eaten before the kittens or the dogs?
Auguste – It’s not ok to eat kittens or dogs, but it is ok to eat other animals
Luna - Why is it morally right to kill some animals but not others?
Auguste – I have never thought about it…
Luna - This is because you have been taught by your society to believe that it is ok to eat some animals, but not others.
Auguste – I still thinks that its ok to eat animals
Luna – Why do you think its ok to eat animals, but not humans?
Auguste – Animals are different from humans, they don’t have feeling or emotions or fears or thoughts like humans do.
Luna - Isn’t that sort of like what the people in that movie said about slaves?
Auguste – Well that that was different, all humans should have rights.
Luna - Why should all humans have rights, but all animals shouldn’t?
Auguste - Because they are animals and we are humans, we are different.
Luna - That is just like saying black people shouldn’t have the same rights as a human, because some are white and some are black.
Auguste – Black people are just like white people and should be treated equally. All people have feelings and thoughts and emotions, no matter what the color of their skin is. But we don’t know if animals have the same feelings or emotions as people do.
Luna - Do you think that a living being has to have all of the characteristics of an adult human to have rights?
Auguste – Well you have to be able to think to have rights.
Luna – Does that mean it would be ok to eat people who are mentally ill?
Auguste - Definitely not!
Luna - Austguste you’re contradicting yourself.
Auguste – No I’m not!
Luna - But if living organisms are given rights based on their mentality, then why wouldn’t it be ok to eat babies or mentally ill people?
Auguste – It’s ok to eat animals because they are animals, and it’s not ok to eat humans because they are humans.
Luna - What does it mean to be human?
Auguste – To be a human you have to look like a human and act like a human.
Luna - Auguste you’re contradicting yourself again because you said that black people are the same as white people even though they don’t look the same, and that mentally ill people and babies have the same rights as a adult human simply because they are all human, but then you said that you have to look like a human and act like a human to be a human.
Auguste (frustrated) – Luna, what are your beliefs?
Luna – I believe that you should treat all living organisms with respect, even if they have different ways of showing emotion or if they think in a different way or if they don’t think at all.
Auguste - Does that you can’t eat anything?
Luna - No, I can still eat fruits and vegetables.
Auguste – Well fruits and vegetables are living organisms too, so why is it ok to eat them, but not animals?
Luna - They don’t think or have feelings, they are just fruit.
Auguste - Exactly, just like how people once thought black people have no thoughts or feelings.
Luna – I don’t know what to say…
Auguste – Do you now think it is morally right to eat fruit and vegetables?
Luna - I think its ok to eat fruits and vegetables, but it’s not ok to animals or humans.
Auguste - Why do you think it is morally right to eat fruits and vegetables?
Luna – I think that there is now no definite right or wrong answer to this question.
Auguste - Why not?
Luna – I believe that it is wrong to kill any living organisms, but if I never killed any living organisms, I would die, which means I would have just killed a living organism. Therefore, there is no definite right or wrong.
Auguste – Does that means that morality does not exist?
Luna - Maybe morality isn’t a list of definite rights and wrongs.
Auguste – Well now we’re back at the same question: what is morality?
Luna – Maybe morality is what we apply to our decisions to decide what is wrong and what is right. For example, if someone asked me if it was morally right to eat a cow, I could say it is not, because I know that I do not have to kill that cow. I could eat tofu and soy beans instead.
Auguste – But then you are still killing the soy beans and tofu.
Luna – But if I didn’t kill the tofu and soy beans, I wouldn’t be able to survive, so I have to make a decision on whether I would kill the cow or kill the vegetables. Killing living organisms is part of the circle of life.
Auguste - Why would you always choose to kill the cow, wouldn’t it make more sense to even it out? Isn’t this all part of the balance of life?
Luna – Yeah, I guess it is.
Auguste - this is why you should eat a balanced diet. It is part of the circle of life, and it is the way that the earth is meant to function.
Luna - If the world is designed so that we have to kill living organisms for us to survive, then why wouldn’t we eat other humans?
Auguste – It is morally wrong to kill or to eat other humans.
Luna - Where does this morality come from?
Auguste – I have been taught from a very young age that its not ok to hurt other humans.
Luna – Does this mean that morality comes from our society?
Auguste – I think our values are ingrained into use by our society, but that morality is something that is an integral part of human nature, and we have to use that morality to evaluate whether or not our society’s values are just.
Luna - I have been taught by my parents that it is ok to eat meat, but I re-evaluated these values and decided that it was not ok to kill a living organism for food. However, after talking to you, I realized that I have to kill living organisms to survive. So, I have decided that a balanced diet is the best way to live ones life morally. However, I still do not believe that one should kill for sport, and that one should always value the life of the creature being eaten.
Auguste – Did you know that humans are one of the only species in the entire world that kill each other? I think that we go against nature by killing one another, so if we ate each other it would also be going against nature. Thus, I think that humans should not be eaten. However, I also think that it is ok to eat other animals and other living organisms because otherwise humans could not survive. This is all part of the circle of life.
Oscar comes in and sits down at the table with Auguste and Luna.
Luna – Hey Oscar!
Auguste – Whats up man?
Oscar – Hey guys, nothing much. What are you guys talking about?
Luna – The morality of eating meat.
Oscar – Awesome. Yeah, I was thinking a lot about that project,
Luna – Would you like to discuss it with us?
Oscar – Yeah for sure. I’ve been a vegan for two and a half years now, so I feel pretty strongly about the subject.
Luna – Oh really? Well I have always been a vegetarian, but Auguste pointed out that there is no point, because I’m still killing plants. So no matter what I eat, I’m still killing a living organism.
Oscar – Oh yeah, I considered that too. But then I did some research and learned that plants do not have nervous systems or anything structural that perceives pain. Also, more plants are cut down to feed farm animals than to feed humans, so by being a vegan, you are still killing fewer plants than as a meat-eater.
Luna – I had never thought of that.
Auguste – No no no! We would be offsetting the balance of life by not eating meat. Animals eat other animals, so we should be able to eat animals too.
Oscar - Animals kill too survive, and humans simply don't need to do so because we have modern resources that allow us to avoid animal products and still survive. If we were to imagine ourselves back in the wild, without any of the modern world, we wouldn't be part of the same food chain with chickens and cows. It's more likely we would be eating vegetables, fruits, grains, and the occasional small animal like squirrels and other rodents. Besides, if we are going to ask this question, shouldn't we then make ourselves use the same methods for killing animals as other animals? That would mean we would need to hide behind bushes and hunt the animals, slaughter them ourselves, and process them. Our food system has nothing to do with nature's original purpose.
Auguste – But humans are meant to be carnivores. We are going against nature by not eating meat.
Oscar – We learned in science class that human bodies are actually very different from the bodies of carnivores. Carnivores have short digestive tracts, sharp claws, and curved fangs; humans have long digestive tracts for vegetable matter, flat thin nails made for protection from dings, and flat teeth for grinding at plant protein. Even human canine teeth are far flatter than those on carnivores.
Auguste – Well even if I’m not meant to eat animals, they still taste good. I love steak. Why should I even care about eating animals?
Oscar - Most people would feel bad upon seeing a domestic animal like a cat or dog suffer, and would never consider harming one themselves, but they don't stop to think twice about eating a farm animal. Farm animals feel pain and emotional stress the same as humans, and certainly as domesticated pets. Their suffering is no less intense just because they don't speak English or walk on their hind legs or live in our house with us. As Peter Singer covers in Animal Liberation, just because we enjoy the taste of some animals doesn't mean that we should be freely allowed to eat them whenever we please. Humans aren't free to exercise any of their desires anytime they want, and food choices should be the same. Even if you didn't physically kill the animal yourself, you paid for the killing when you bought the animal product at the store.
Luna – Do you not eat meat because you don’t like the idea of supporting the killing of an animal, or is it because you don’t like how the animals are treated?
Oscar – I choose not to eat meat because I don’t like killing animals, but I don’t use animal products because he doesn’t like how the animals are treated.
Luna – So does that mean you will eat free range meat or eggs?
Oscar - The term "free-range" has been badly misused in the food industry. Many people believe they are ensuring that the animals they are eating have lived a fulfilled life, when in fact their life is no different than any other farm animal. A product can be labeled as "cage-free" or "free-range" if the animal had access to the outside, no matter how unrealistic that access is for the animals. In most cases, the access is a tiny door to a tiny yard that the animals never use because their feed is located inside the barn. There are many ways that farmers get around using terms that make people feel more comfortable with their support for the farming industry. The only truly safe way to avoid supporting the factory farming industry is by avoiding eating animals at all.
Auguste – Well that can’t be right because farmers must treat their animals well so that they will produce good eggs and milk.
Oscar - Contrary to popular belief, animals are not raised on old-fashioned farms where they walk around on grassy fields, make babies when they are ready, and crow to wake up the farmers. Modern farms (commonly called factory farms) are made to process animals as quickly, cheaply, and efficiently as possible. Animals are never given medical care, are often genetically engineered, and are fed hormones, antibiotics, and medicine. They are not treated well, by any stretch of the imagination.
Luna – Well isn’t it ok to drink milk?
Auguste – Oh yeah, its good for cows to be milk.
Oscar – Not necessarily. Cows produce milk in the same way that human’s do- when they have a baby. In nature, the calf would drink his mother's milk and then she would no longer have a supply of milk. On factory farms, dairy cows are impregnated so they constantly have milk. They then have their calf taken away from them immediately after birth and are made into either veal cows (males) or future dairy cows (females.) Also, dairy cows are given growth hormones so that they produce much more milk than they would have in nature. Once they are no longer able to produce a large amount of milk they are slaughtered.
Luna – Oh my gosh, that’s awful!
Auguste – Well fine, but eggs are fine because hens naturally provide eggs.
Oscar - The egg laying hens go through some of the worst abuse of any factory-farmed animal. These hens are packed into cages with numerous other hens, and those cages are stacked several layers high. As the hens on the top defecate, the poop falls into the cages below. The hens are unable to stretch their wings or legs, and often develop severe bone disorders. When the chickens die, they are often left in the cages where the other hens trample them as they begin to grow around the wires. Of the eggs allowed to hatch, the females become laying hens. The males are useless, so they thrown into a trash heap where they suffocate or are crushed, or they are ground up alive.
Auguste – My sister told me something like that once. She’s a vegetarian, she only eats fish.
Oscar – Now that’s something that I’ve never really understood. Fish have brains and nervous systems just like other birds and mammals, so they can feel pain. Their mouths and tongues are used like mammals use their hands. Research also shows that fish have a sense of fear, showing bursts of adrenaline and breathing rates when they are threatened. I don’t think a true vegetarian can eat fish, and a vegan definitely cannot.
Luna – Oh my gosh, theres so much to think about. I don’t know what to believe anymore!
Auguste – Yeah, I’m not sure what to believe anymore. I don’t think I could go completely vegan, it would just be too hard. But maybe I’ll become vegetarian because I really don’t want to support the farming industry. The way that they treat the poor animals sounds terrible.
Oscar – Well I’m glad I could open your eyes to the reality of the farming industry.
Huck is sitting on the stairs to his front porch when Finn comes running up to him.
Finn - Hey Huck!
Huck (grimly) - Hi Finn.
Finn - Why so glum kiddo?
Huck – I just don’t get it. My little brother, Jack, stole my ball, so I slapped him, and now I’m in trouble and can’t come out and play.
Finn – Well of course you got in trouble. Ya’ can’t just go around slappin people.
Huck – Why not? My papa slaps and whips his slaves all the time.
Finn – Its ok to treat a black slave like that, but not your little brother.
Huck – Whats the difference between my little brother and a slave?
Finn – My papa told me slaves have no feeling, emotions, or thoughts like white people do.
Huck – So they’re different from us?
Finn – Yeah, they’re not human, so they don’t have rights.
Huck – Do you have to be human to have rights?
Finn – Yeah, obviously.
Huck – But then what does it mean to be human?
Finn – Well you have to be white, and talk and think and have feelings like a white man.
Huck – Well my little cousin is disabled, so he doesn’t look or think or talk like us, but he still gets treated awfully nice. If he’s different then us, they how come he still gets treated like a human?
Finn (flustered) – Boy, you ask too many questions. Wanna come play some ball with me?
Huck – Maybe later.
Finn – Ok, see you later.
Huck – Bye
End of first dialogue.
Dialogue Two
Ms. Wilemina – Good morning class! I am announcing a new project this morning. I would like to discuss the morality of eat meat with you in a weeks time. I have eaten meat for many years, but have recently became a vegetarian. I am going to put each of you in pairs, and one of you will be exploring why humans should eat meat, and the other will be exploring why humans should be vegetarians. Auguste and Luna, you are partners. Auguste, you are defending meat, and Luna, you are defending vegetarianism.
Auguste – Do you want us to write a report on it?
Ms. Wilemina – No, next week I will meet with both of you, and we will sit down and debate the topic. I will mark you on your debate.
(lunch bell rings).
Ms. Wilemina – Have a nice day class!
Luna and Auguste – You too! Bye!
End of dialogue two.
Dialogue Three.
Luna and Auguste are sitting down together in the cafeteria.
Luna – So what do you think about our project?
Auguste – Yeah it should be cool. I’m pretty sure I’ll win the debate though. Sorry you had to get vegetarianism.
Luna- What makes you so sure its ok to eat meat?
Auguste – Well a lot of people eat meat, so it must be the right this to do.
Luna – Why is it the right this to do?
Auguste – It’s healthy for our bodies to eat meat, we need the protein, Iron, and B12.
Luna – There are other ways to get protein and vitamins you know, its just harder.
Auguste – Well if its harder, then why wouldn’t you just eat meat?
Luna – I would never eat meat because it was one a living animal, and to eat it would be morally wrong.
Auguste – What is morality?
Luna – Morality is what is right and what is wrong.
Auguste – Well I think its right to eat animals. So does that mean that it’s morally right to eat animals?
Luna – But its not morally right to eat animals.
Auguste – Why’s that?
Luna – Because I don’t think its morally right to eat animals.
Auguste – So morality is just a matter of opinion?
Luna – No, its not. I’m right. And I’ll prove it to you.
Auguste – Luna, people from all over the world eat animals. Why do you seriously think that ever single one of them is wrong, and you and a handful of other people are right?
Luna – People believe what they are taught to believe. My parents are Christian because they were brought up that way. But I guarantee you that if you asked them why they go to church every Sunday, they would have no idea. They would tell you they do it because they do.
Auguste – How does that work?
Luna – People believe and behave how they are taught to believe and behave. We are all products from our society, and until we take a step back and examine our values, we will never know what is truly right and what it truly wrong.
Auguste – I think I get what your saying.
Luna - Do you think its ok to kill a cow or a pig?
Auguste - sometimes.
Luna - why only sometimes?
Auguste – I think it’s ok to eat an animal when you are going to eat it or use its fur, but its not ok to kill an animal just for fun.
Luna – Do you think it would be ok to kill a human?
Auguste – No! Never.
Luna – Well would be ok to kill a human if you were going to eat it?
Auguste – No, its still not ok.
Luna - Would it be ok to kill a kitten or a dog?
Auguste – No.
Luna – Not even sometimes?
Auguste – Not unless you were stranded on a desert island and you would die if you didn’t eat the kitten or the dog.
Luna – what if there was a cow or pig on the desert island?
Auguste – Oh, well it would be ok to eat the cow or the pig. And then if you absolutely had to, I guess it would be ok to eat the cat or the dog.
Luna - why do the other animals have to get eaten before the kittens or the dogs?
Auguste – It’s not ok to eat kittens or dogs, but it is ok to eat other animals
Luna - Why is it morally right to kill some animals but not others?
Auguste – I have never thought about it…
Luna - This is because you have been taught by your society to believe that it is ok to eat some animals, but not others.
Auguste – I still thinks that its ok to eat animals
Luna – Why do you think its ok to eat animals, but not humans?
Auguste – Animals are different from humans, they don’t have feeling or emotions or fears or thoughts like humans do.
Luna - Isn’t that sort of like what the people in that movie said about slaves?
Auguste – Well that that was different, all humans should have rights.
Luna - Why should all humans have rights, but all animals shouldn’t?
Auguste - Because they are animals and we are humans, we are different.
Luna - That is just like saying black people shouldn’t have the same rights as a human, because some are white and some are black.
Auguste – Black people are just like white people and should be treated equally. All people have feelings and thoughts and emotions, no matter what the color of their skin is. But we don’t know if animals have the same feelings or emotions as people do.
Luna - Do you think that a living being has to have all of the characteristics of an adult human to have rights?
Auguste – Well you have to be able to think to have rights.
Luna – Does that mean it would be ok to eat people who are mentally ill?
Auguste - Definitely not!
Luna - Austguste you’re contradicting yourself.
Auguste – No I’m not!
Luna - But if living organisms are given rights based on their mentality, then why wouldn’t it be ok to eat babies or mentally ill people?
Auguste – It’s ok to eat animals because they are animals, and it’s not ok to eat humans because they are humans.
Luna - What does it mean to be human?
Auguste – To be a human you have to look like a human and act like a human.
Luna - Auguste you’re contradicting yourself again because you said that black people are the same as white people even though they don’t look the same, and that mentally ill people and babies have the same rights as a adult human simply because they are all human, but then you said that you have to look like a human and act like a human to be a human.
Auguste (frustrated) – Luna, what are your beliefs?
Luna – I believe that you should treat all living organisms with respect, even if they have different ways of showing emotion or if they think in a different way or if they don’t think at all.
Auguste - Does that you can’t eat anything?
Luna - No, I can still eat fruits and vegetables.
Auguste – Well fruits and vegetables are living organisms too, so why is it ok to eat them, but not animals?
Luna - They don’t think or have feelings, they are just fruit.
Auguste - Exactly, just like how people once thought black people have no thoughts or feelings.
Luna – I don’t know what to say…
Auguste – Do you now think it is morally right to eat fruit and vegetables?
Luna - I think its ok to eat fruits and vegetables, but it’s not ok to animals or humans.
Auguste - Why do you think it is morally right to eat fruits and vegetables?
Luna – I think that there is now no definite right or wrong answer to this question.
Auguste - Why not?
Luna – I believe that it is wrong to kill any living organisms, but if I never killed any living organisms, I would die, which means I would have just killed a living organism. Therefore, there is no definite right or wrong.
Auguste – Does that means that morality does not exist?
Luna - Maybe morality isn’t a list of definite rights and wrongs.
Auguste – Well now we’re back at the same question: what is morality?
Luna – Maybe morality is what we apply to our decisions to decide what is wrong and what is right. For example, if someone asked me if it was morally right to eat a cow, I could say it is not, because I know that I do not have to kill that cow. I could eat tofu and soy beans instead.
Auguste – But then you are still killing the soy beans and tofu.
Luna – But if I didn’t kill the tofu and soy beans, I wouldn’t be able to survive, so I have to make a decision on whether I would kill the cow or kill the vegetables. Killing living organisms is part of the circle of life.
Auguste - Why would you always choose to kill the cow, wouldn’t it make more sense to even it out? Isn’t this all part of the balance of life?
Luna – Yeah, I guess it is.
Auguste - this is why you should eat a balanced diet. It is part of the circle of life, and it is the way that the earth is meant to function.
Luna - If the world is designed so that we have to kill living organisms for us to survive, then why wouldn’t we eat other humans?
Auguste – It is morally wrong to kill or to eat other humans.
Luna - Where does this morality come from?
Auguste – I have been taught from a very young age that its not ok to hurt other humans.
Luna – Does this mean that morality comes from our society?
Auguste – I think our values are ingrained into use by our society, but that morality is something that is an integral part of human nature, and we have to use that morality to evaluate whether or not our society’s values are just.
Luna - I have been taught by my parents that it is ok to eat meat, but I re-evaluated these values and decided that it was not ok to kill a living organism for food. However, after talking to you, I realized that I have to kill living organisms to survive. So, I have decided that a balanced diet is the best way to live ones life morally. However, I still do not believe that one should kill for sport, and that one should always value the life of the creature being eaten.
Auguste – Did you know that humans are one of the only species in the entire world that kill each other? I think that we go against nature by killing one another, so if we ate each other it would also be going against nature. Thus, I think that humans should not be eaten. However, I also think that it is ok to eat other animals and other living organisms because otherwise humans could not survive. This is all part of the circle of life.
Oscar comes in and sits down at the table with Auguste and Luna.
Luna – Hey Oscar!
Auguste – Whats up man?
Oscar – Hey guys, nothing much. What are you guys talking about?
Luna – The morality of eating meat.
Oscar – Awesome. Yeah, I was thinking a lot about that project,
Luna – Would you like to discuss it with us?
Oscar – Yeah for sure. I’ve been a vegan for two and a half years now, so I feel pretty strongly about the subject.
Luna – Oh really? Well I have always been a vegetarian, but Auguste pointed out that there is no point, because I’m still killing plants. So no matter what I eat, I’m still killing a living organism.
Oscar – Oh yeah, I considered that too. But then I did some research and learned that plants do not have nervous systems or anything structural that perceives pain. Also, more plants are cut down to feed farm animals than to feed humans, so by being a vegan, you are still killing fewer plants than as a meat-eater.
Luna – I had never thought of that.
Auguste – No no no! We would be offsetting the balance of life by not eating meat. Animals eat other animals, so we should be able to eat animals too.
Oscar - Animals kill too survive, and humans simply don't need to do so because we have modern resources that allow us to avoid animal products and still survive. If we were to imagine ourselves back in the wild, without any of the modern world, we wouldn't be part of the same food chain with chickens and cows. It's more likely we would be eating vegetables, fruits, grains, and the occasional small animal like squirrels and other rodents. Besides, if we are going to ask this question, shouldn't we then make ourselves use the same methods for killing animals as other animals? That would mean we would need to hide behind bushes and hunt the animals, slaughter them ourselves, and process them. Our food system has nothing to do with nature's original purpose.
Auguste – But humans are meant to be carnivores. We are going against nature by not eating meat.
Oscar – We learned in science class that human bodies are actually very different from the bodies of carnivores. Carnivores have short digestive tracts, sharp claws, and curved fangs; humans have long digestive tracts for vegetable matter, flat thin nails made for protection from dings, and flat teeth for grinding at plant protein. Even human canine teeth are far flatter than those on carnivores.
Auguste – Well even if I’m not meant to eat animals, they still taste good. I love steak. Why should I even care about eating animals?
Oscar - Most people would feel bad upon seeing a domestic animal like a cat or dog suffer, and would never consider harming one themselves, but they don't stop to think twice about eating a farm animal. Farm animals feel pain and emotional stress the same as humans, and certainly as domesticated pets. Their suffering is no less intense just because they don't speak English or walk on their hind legs or live in our house with us. As Peter Singer covers in Animal Liberation, just because we enjoy the taste of some animals doesn't mean that we should be freely allowed to eat them whenever we please. Humans aren't free to exercise any of their desires anytime they want, and food choices should be the same. Even if you didn't physically kill the animal yourself, you paid for the killing when you bought the animal product at the store.
Luna – Do you not eat meat because you don’t like the idea of supporting the killing of an animal, or is it because you don’t like how the animals are treated?
Oscar – I choose not to eat meat because I don’t like killing animals, but I don’t use animal products because he doesn’t like how the animals are treated.
Luna – So does that mean you will eat free range meat or eggs?
Oscar - The term "free-range" has been badly misused in the food industry. Many people believe they are ensuring that the animals they are eating have lived a fulfilled life, when in fact their life is no different than any other farm animal. A product can be labeled as "cage-free" or "free-range" if the animal had access to the outside, no matter how unrealistic that access is for the animals. In most cases, the access is a tiny door to a tiny yard that the animals never use because their feed is located inside the barn. There are many ways that farmers get around using terms that make people feel more comfortable with their support for the farming industry. The only truly safe way to avoid supporting the factory farming industry is by avoiding eating animals at all.
Auguste – Well that can’t be right because farmers must treat their animals well so that they will produce good eggs and milk.
Oscar - Contrary to popular belief, animals are not raised on old-fashioned farms where they walk around on grassy fields, make babies when they are ready, and crow to wake up the farmers. Modern farms (commonly called factory farms) are made to process animals as quickly, cheaply, and efficiently as possible. Animals are never given medical care, are often genetically engineered, and are fed hormones, antibiotics, and medicine. They are not treated well, by any stretch of the imagination.
Luna – Well isn’t it ok to drink milk?
Auguste – Oh yeah, its good for cows to be milk.
Oscar – Not necessarily. Cows produce milk in the same way that human’s do- when they have a baby. In nature, the calf would drink his mother's milk and then she would no longer have a supply of milk. On factory farms, dairy cows are impregnated so they constantly have milk. They then have their calf taken away from them immediately after birth and are made into either veal cows (males) or future dairy cows (females.) Also, dairy cows are given growth hormones so that they produce much more milk than they would have in nature. Once they are no longer able to produce a large amount of milk they are slaughtered.
Luna – Oh my gosh, that’s awful!
Auguste – Well fine, but eggs are fine because hens naturally provide eggs.
Oscar - The egg laying hens go through some of the worst abuse of any factory-farmed animal. These hens are packed into cages with numerous other hens, and those cages are stacked several layers high. As the hens on the top defecate, the poop falls into the cages below. The hens are unable to stretch their wings or legs, and often develop severe bone disorders. When the chickens die, they are often left in the cages where the other hens trample them as they begin to grow around the wires. Of the eggs allowed to hatch, the females become laying hens. The males are useless, so they thrown into a trash heap where they suffocate or are crushed, or they are ground up alive.
Auguste – My sister told me something like that once. She’s a vegetarian, she only eats fish.
Oscar – Now that’s something that I’ve never really understood. Fish have brains and nervous systems just like other birds and mammals, so they can feel pain. Their mouths and tongues are used like mammals use their hands. Research also shows that fish have a sense of fear, showing bursts of adrenaline and breathing rates when they are threatened. I don’t think a true vegetarian can eat fish, and a vegan definitely cannot.
Luna – Oh my gosh, theres so much to think about. I don’t know what to believe anymore!
Auguste – Yeah, I’m not sure what to believe anymore. I don’t think I could go completely vegan, it would just be too hard. But maybe I’ll become vegetarian because I really don’t want to support the farming industry. The way that they treat the poor animals sounds terrible.
Oscar – Well I’m glad I could open your eyes to the reality of the farming industry.
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