[jhrovii]

I'm thinking of adopting a vegan lifestyle. Not just in food, but in really everything I consume and utilize. Not that I can't or haven't eaten meat...but more recently I have found it incredibly disturbing and I think my abstaining from animal products would actually help animals, the environment, other people, and especially myself.

I'm just sounding this off to get some real-world experiences or views. I've visited sites like http://www.vegansociety.com/html/ but I wanted the real deal- advice from my home slices.

The only real drawback I could envision is not ever having a true meat lovers pizza again...but thinking back, I can't imagine how I could eat the slaughtered flesh of pigs or cattle...

Thanks, guys.

[Lunaris]

Because the slaughtered fish pigs and cattle give jobs and at least those animal were born for that purpose. When we no longer consume those animal, there will be no reason to keep them and let them live out side zoo.

[Commissar Elvis]

I think it's a pretty silly phase that teenagers and young-twenties go through. I'm an animal-lover, it's true, but food animals are here to be eaten. I've yet to see a health benefit to a vegan lifestyle. If you a real moral issue with eating animals, ok, but just be a vegetarian. No need to be a vegan, IMO. And no need to be a vegetarian, IMO, too, but....well, I like meat.

[crazedmongoose2003]

One of the biggest dilemmas I had to face when I was around 12-14 or so was that I liked both meat and animals (and I mean liked animals, like its very rare for me to kill a fly or a roach even if they sneaked into my bedroom, I'd just take them outside) but later I just realized that animals die regardless and they're creating jobs for farmers etc etc....


Thus my new rule is that I will take no part in animal slaughter, will not eat an animal unless it was intended to be eaten, and will not eat an animal that has been treated with incredibly cruelty. (Except of course most of the time you don't know if the animal has been retreated, but say with stuff like Veal, you're torturing a baby cow to life in death until slaughtered just to make that meat is a little softer...)

[khanaris]

I would go vegetarian instead of vegan. I have worked on a dairy farm before, and those cows, at least, had a pretty nice life. I am not sure if the same can be said for egg-laying chickens, but it has to be better than the meat industry. Bison are really the best if you want to eat meat but are worried about mistreatment, since there seems to be a well-documented correlation between their quality of life and their subsequent taste. ??? A diet with less meat in it is obviously lower in fat, which is a plus, but you do need an alternative source of certain nutrients.

[Wargamer]

I remember hearing someone claim once on the radio that anyone who is willing to eat meat should be willing to slit the animal's throat first.

I wonder; since the guy was willing to use a toilet, should he be willing to scrape the filth off the sewer walls as well? :

When it comes to meat, I tend to avoid anything that was obtained cruelly. I won't buy battery-hen eggs, for example.

[Chton]

Another product indoctrinated to people through the modern age. It is not natural. In the beginning of our sentient evolution, meat was the only thing on our menu. It was not before way later we began to adopt the habits of dining on vegetables.
By refraining from killing animals you do not help the environment at all. I have yet to hear one good example of it being helpful.
But don't get me wrong. I love animals. I'm against animal cruelty as much as any of you. Still, I'm a hunter, and a fisherman, and I also buy meat from the store at several occasions.
I have gotten a lot of "pepper" from animal "protectionists" because of my views, over the times, but those I have written off as ignorant. I see nothing wrong at all, by eating meat from animals, unless they are from an endangered species or such, or lived inadequate lives before being slaughtered in a cruel way.
I'm not too familiar with vegans, but I have heard that they don't even eat eggs, dairy products or wear clothing made from animals. I could not live under such an ideology. Take away my daily 1l of milk and the cheeseslice on my loaf of bread in the morning, and you would have a very angered, bearded man after you.

[cl.ryan sg-3]

but human society grew up eating meat.
just because it is not necessary today to survive does not mean you should not eat it.
it is un-natural

[PrdiG]

all vegans are crazy... I LOOOOVE meat. I would die without it. Seriously, when I look at a cow, all I see is a steak on legs...hmmm... spare ribs... man I'm hungry

Edit by FT: Try to be more diplomatic towards the other members...

[crazedmongoose2003]

See and I respect Cthon and all that, because I'm like that (okay I don't have what it takes to end an animal's life myself true) but as long as its not like giant panda bears, or non free range chicken, then I see no difference between us eating these animals than every other carnivore/omnivore in nature doing it. I would only hesitate to eat meat if the animals are endangered or if they were really mistreated just for the purpose of eating.


Hmm, the bison thing sounds good, I'd try that some day....sounds interesting.