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So My Girlfriend's Becoming a Vegetarian...
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Tens of millions of small furry animals are killed in horrific and painful ways by the combines, harvesters etc used to bring those grains to your table. Their deaths are far less humane than anything the meat industry does.
I keep trying to press meat on her, she keeps objecting for moral reasons.
giggity
You've really got a chip on your shoulder about this don't you? Let me put it to you this way...
I believe one should try to live their life in accordance with the ethical principles they believe in. People who fail to do this are the very definition of hypocrits.
So let's examine the ethical framework of the PETA-types who insist "A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy" (a quote from Ingrid Newkirk, founder of PETA). In other words, animals are moral equivalents of humans, and meat is murder to use another of their little slogans. Let's see if we can live in accordance with this ethos...
Eat meat? Murderer (obviously). Wear fur or leather? Murderer. Eat eggs or dairy? Murderer (they don't have retirement homes for old chikins). Eat commercially harvested grains? Murderer. Live in an apartment or use an exterminator at your house? Murderer. Drive a car or ride a bus or train? Murderer (all those poor insects). Use electricity? Then you're paying people who commit murder on your behalf. Same with riding airplanes (airports kill a lot of birds, as well as using exterminators). I could go on....
So any of the PETA freaks who aren't living in rat infested shacks in the wilderness making their own electricity and growing their own crops are hypocrits who (according to their own moral system) commit murder or pay other to on their behalf on a daily basis.
Modern human life requires the horrific and painful death of millions of animals. Deal with it.
People in the meat industry are as humane as they can be, within the framework of running a business and making a profit. They are not Snidely Whiplash style villains twirling their mustaches and plotting how to torture animals. Nothing that happens in a slaughterhouse comes close to approaching the terrible cruelty of nature itself. Watch a pack of wild dogs in Africa eviscerate a gazelle and eat it while it's still alive. Watch a pod of killer whales ripping a blue whale apart. Witness mass starvation die offs of whitetail deer after the damned hippies stop hunting and they over-populate an area.
And, to the OP. Don't worry about it. It really is quite easy to cook up some meat on the side and throw it into any of her veggie dishes for yourself. Just keep some chicken & such on hand and know what kinf od meat to throw into different types of dishes.
My girlfriend has been a vegetarian for almost 11 years now. Its been about 7 months for me now, and frankly, I dont miss it. Though my girlfriend never asked me to go veg. And she still kissed me after eating meat.
My girlfriend has been a vegetarian for almost 11 years now. Its been about 7 months for me now, and frankly, I dont miss it. Though my girlfriend never asked me to go veg. And she still kissed me after eating meat.
Maybe people "like me" have "a chip on their shoulders" because people like you a) stereotypes us (I do not belong to PETA and don't agree with many things Ingrid Newkirk says/belives) AND b)have the wrong or no idea of what most common philosophy of vegetarianism/veganism philosophy is about. For one, it is not an absolute philosophy. It is an earnst attempt to avoid suffering of sentient beings whenever possible. It is about living in accord with nature instead trying to dominate it.
Logically, your moral agruments make no sense. There are too many holes to point in a single post, so you can PM me if you want a debate. The one thing I will say is that by any definition of the word "humane", factory farming is not. The shocking pictures and video you can find on the web are the normal operating pratices, not the exception. Comparing to wild animals who hunt to mechanized mass slaughter of liverstock is a false analogy on more that a couple levels.
I am out of this thread, I've derailed it enough.
I've always been baffled by the degree to which non-vegetarians are upset/disturbed/threatened by vegetarians. If it's not outright anger, it's the little "jokes" ("Want some steak with that? Har har.") Why?
I agree that PETA gets a bit silly, but my wife and I are both vegetarians (she for nearly 20 years, me for about 10) and we don't push it on anyone. Our kids even eat meat.
I am bothered by the "hypocrite" accusation so quickly resorted to by so many non-vegetarians. ("If you're a vegetarian, what's with the leather belt? Huh?") The answer is, you try to do the best you can. I'm not religious at all, but I completely understand religious people's concept that while everyone sins, you *strive* to be a better person. My wife takes calcium for her health; the only kind available is made from mollusk shells. Other than that, she's 100% vegetarian. She does what she can.
BTW, since I've given up meat, I've felt much healthier-- far fewer colds, and so on.
I agree that PETA gets a bit silly, but my wife and I are both vegetarians (she for nearly 20 years, me for about 10) and we don't push it on anyone. Our kids even eat meat.
I am bothered by the "hypocrite" accusation so quickly resorted to by so many non-vegetarians. ("If you're a vegetarian, what's with the leather belt? Huh?") The answer is, you try to do the best you can. I'm not religious at all, but I completely understand religious people's concept that while everyone sins, you *strive* to be a better person. My wife takes calcium for her health; the only kind available is made from mollusk shells. Other than that, she's 100% vegetarian. She does what she can.
BTW, since I've given up meat, I've felt much healthier-- far fewer colds, and so on.
There is also this misconception that all vegetarians are concerned with animal cruelty problems - this simply is not always true. I have been a veg for over 10 years - and I am not really concerned with the way modern slaughtor houses are doing their jobs - in fact there has been very good progress in that area. I am veg because 1. Too much meat is really not good for a person 2. The modern production of SOOOO many animals really is a serious environmental crisis, and at the end of the day I would rather have a healthy ecosystem than a cheap unheathy cheese burger. 3. The amount of grain/corn we have to grow just to feed livstock could easily keep people in other areas of the world from starving - so it seems odd that we feed it to animals, and it goes without saying how much fresh water is used to bring beef to a table. (should I go into how many nasty chemicals and steriods our children eat with their meat)? Now, I am not against organic raised meat, or harvested wild meats (turkey, deer etc). Grab a gun, lets get some dinner.....Reminds me of my childhood.
My .02, please feel free to attack me now
My .02, please feel free to attack me now
Hey, maybe there should be a vegetarian bassist's club!!!!!
"Boom goes the dynamite!"
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=488579
As someone who once dated a vegetarian for a long time:
You definitely need to set boundaries in that you do not want to become a vegetarian, and that you will still eat meat. Respect her decision, and if she's a girl worth keeping around, she'll respect yours.
Whenever she cooked for us, it was always a vegetarian dish, and there really was no way getting around that. In some instances though, I would prepare my own meat to add in later (ex: Whenever we made burritos, I would grill some fajita meat myself)
When you go out to restaurants, however, make it clear that if you want to order a meat-filled dinner, by golly you were gonna do it and she isn't going to complain about it.
We fought about a lot of things (which led to our demise) but diet wasn't one of those.
You definitely need to set boundaries in that you do not want to become a vegetarian, and that you will still eat meat. Respect her decision, and if she's a girl worth keeping around, she'll respect yours.
Whenever she cooked for us, it was always a vegetarian dish, and there really was no way getting around that. In some instances though, I would prepare my own meat to add in later (ex: Whenever we made burritos, I would grill some fajita meat myself)
When you go out to restaurants, however, make it clear that if you want to order a meat-filled dinner, by golly you were gonna do it and she isn't going to complain about it.
We fought about a lot of things (which led to our demise) but diet wasn't one of those.
Also make it clear that when you go to restaurants with her, you'll only go to restaurants that offer some vegetarian things on the menu. And not just dinner rolls, baked potatoes, french fries and pickles. (If you love her, you'll learn to love all kinds of international cuisine-- Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc. etc.)
Actually, I prefer that most of the products I buy come from factories run by moustache twirling villains.
I don't know about anyone else, but if I'm going to throw a hypocrite argument out there, its because someone is being preachy and forcing their views on me. If someone's going to be condescending and degrading because I eat meat I'm going to point out that they're being an idiot for wearing that leather belt. If they just don't eat meat, and aren't going to be "holier than thou" about it, then we usually get along fine.
Or just both order an entree and trade meat for veggies. Everyone's a winner.
Pretty much this. It's only the PETA, meatismurder types I feel a desire to mock. Which is why some people need to untwist their knickers about my post, as I specifically announced who I was addressing. Of course if you are a PETA-type, then I stand by my post.
