What's your excuse for eating meat?

[GLASSJAW]

What's your excuse for eating meat? I'm saying it like that because it's 2015 and you MUST know how the meat industry works by now. You MUST know how animals are treated or mistreated. So surely you have given this some consideration and made some argument, or some excuse, for why you feel it is ethically, morally, or otherwise justifiably okay to eat meat?

And let's pretend you don't, or that you have your head willfully stuck in the sand.

A 2009 article (there is no reason to believe the stats have significantly changed for the better) from the New Yorker summed up American meat consumption as follows:

35,000,000 cows

150,000,000 pigs

9,000,000,000 birds

You should know that the vast, vast majority of these billions of animals are being killed in completely horrendous ways (the article calls it "barbaric"). The living conditions aren't much better: windowless rooms, excrement everywhere, breathing in straight ammonia, etc. (article goes into more description of the carcasses, sores, and violent scenes found in many, many, many/most farms in America today: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/11/09/flesh-of-your-flesh)

But none of this is new. You know it without having to read it. And that's America. The numbers are different here, and in some cases, so are the conditions (for example, do we not have laws against certain growth hormones?). Buuuut that's a weak thing to hold onto.

Of the hundreds of millions of animals slaughtered here each year, the conditions are still weak. According to The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, Canada's "Farming, transport and slaughter practices in Canada have remained at the status quo for many years, falling further and further behind countries such as Australia, New Zealand and members of the European Union, where public demand has required progressive policies and legislation for farm animal welfare. For example, many countries and even some U.S. states have introduced legislation mandating the phase-out of battery cages, gestation stalls and veal crates." But again, you probably already know this. You have to be a serious moron to not know that animals are, by and large, mistreated.

If you've read any of Michael Pollan's works or seen his interviews, you will even probably be familiar with misguiding labels which act as nothing more than a tensor for consumer guilt (i.e. 'grass fed' doesn't necessarily mean anything other than that some grass was in its diet, although it would lead many consumers to think the animal has a 'normal' grazing life). So even when you think you are eating ethically, you may actually not be doing so at all. But do you sincerely even take that into consideration?

If you are okay with your dinner living a miserable life, suffering a painful death, and then being transported to your plate -- what about the environment consequences of eating meat?

Damian Carrington of The Guardian writes:

Beef’s environmental impact dwarfs that of other meat including chicken and pork, new research reveals, with one expert saying that eating less red meat would be a better way for people to cut carbon emissions than giving up their cars.

The heavy impact on the environment of meat production was known but the research shows a new scale and scope of damage, particularly for beef. The popular red meat requires 28 times more land to produce than pork or chicken, 11 times more water and results in five times more climate-warming emissions. When compared to staples like potatoes, wheat, and rice, the impact of beef per calorie is even more extreme, requiring 160 times more land and producing 11 times more greenhouse gases.

(the New Yorker article also goes into detail about the sea of 'crap' from some farms which fills up more space than that of Californians and Texans combined, each day, creating 'dead zones' and environmental disaster areas)

But again, even the Guardian acknowledges that this isn't necessarily anything new. Even though the data or specifics may be clearer than before, we have known for years that cattle are environmentally dangerous.

The New York Times had a contest recently (2012) for someone to write a short essay arguing for the ethical reason FOR eating meat. The selected winner option is linked here (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/magazine/the-ethicist-contest-winner-give-thanks-for-meat.html?_r=0), but if you read it, also check out the comment section, which has many hilarious responses about how the essay is sort of a failure.

So, if the NYT couldn't really do it, how about us? How do you overlook the fact that your dinner is what it is? I know it sounds condescending, but I don't mean for it to. I think the simple facts of the matter simply MAKE it sound condescending. I'm only asking because I am seriously interested. I am not a vegan or something. This isn't a call to vegetarian arms, I am legitimately curious as to how we make our food choices.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a vegetarian, but I do not cook meat on my own. I never make meat-based dishes. But I still have meat on/in some meals when I go out or have dinner with family and stuff like that, maybe 15 times a year or so. I could go the rest of my life without eating meat and be totally happy. If you can't, how do you reconcile that with the fact that individual sentient beings and the environmental world at large may suffer because of your choice?

edit: link to Guardian article: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/21/giving-up-beef-reduce-carbon-footprint-more-than-cars

[JohnLocke]

It's tasty and I need the protein to get swole.

[Stelar]

It tastes good

[Mathew Barzal]

*insert witty zero fucs given quote*

[GLASSJAW]

now that we have gotten the most obvious responses out of the way, if anyone with a brain wishes to respond, i would love to read it

[drummer4now]

*insert witty zero fucs given quote*

I was just going to drop one...

[Webster6]

Grass fed meat and or hunted meat is the way to.

As for animal sympathy, explain spirituality to your local bear and tell me how well that goes.

Your genetics are soaked in the blood of animals eaten by your ancestors. Proteins of which helped your body evolve into what it is today. You've got a demon inside. Just let it out.

[theminister]

I don't eat huge meat based meals at home often either but when I do want to I get the best I can find.

It's true that the politics of food are important in our society but that doesn't require a complete negation of the meat industry but rather a change in our purchasing habits.

Still... I don't ever plan on giving up feasting on the souls of the unborn. (eggs)

[420since1974]

I eat wild meat because the deer that I shoot eat healthier food than the beef in the grocery stores.

[GLASSJAW]

Grass fed meat and or hunted meat is the way to.

As for animal sympathy, explain spirituality to your local bear and tell me how well that goes.

Your genetics are soaked in the blood of animals eaten by your ancestors. Proteins of which helped your body evolve into what it is today. You've got a demon inside. Just let it out.

what? explain spirituality to a bear?

because the people who came before me lived violent lives means i (or you) should as well?

[Big Mike]

Simply put I'm a hunter/trapper I understand how the food chain works. The animal at the top eats the animals below it, we've just adapted to raise animals in larger numbers to enable more people easy access to fresh meat. The byproduct is that the animals are often raised or killed in a manner that people find unpleasant. Personally most of the meat I eat is hunted except for chicken and beef which I get from a local place that raises them free range.

[drummer4now]

now that we have gotten the most obvious responses out of the way, if anyone with a brain wishes to respond, i would love to read it

I eat meat because it is a staple dietary food source in my household.. Kind of like a norm now.

I have no issues with people who don't eat meat though like my grandpa who stopped eating it when he was young after watching someone eat stringy pieces of chicken... Apparently it disgusts him..

The ethics of meat certainly bother me as I don't like eating stressed induced meat aka mass produced farmed meat...

As for the environment I only care about water issues, and waste management..

Rising temperature and carbon emissions don't concern me..

My two cents.

[JohnLocke]

Humans > Animals

So I support the humans side.

If there are tangible benefits to humans, then I support it. Maybe we can look at more humane ways to raise and slaughter animals.

[Webster6]

what? explain spirituality to a bear?

because the people who came before me lived violent lives means i (or you) should as well?

The spirituality thing was a joke since a lot of vegetarians like to put hemselves on a pedestal of being a more spiritual being than someone who "savagely" eats meat.

Think about this though, would you eat meat that.. Was grown in a lab, looks indistinguishable from the real thing, has the same texture as the real thing, and tastes just as good. Because that's been done as of 2012. It's just the issue of becoming a plausible concept for the mainstream to have access too. Mass production of it will eventually be a reality.

Hunger won't be an issue in the 22nd century. Unless of course corrupt politics keep it the way it is.

[Webster6]

Humans > Animals

Basically.

#TeamPeople

Soon enough we'll be able to genetically clone replicas of any species or subspecies just from a bit of it's DNA.

On the way to becoming masters of the universe I wanna jack some animals that jacked my ancient ancestors.

[King Heffy]

It's delicious and I don't think I need to excuse myself for eating it.

[Piggy Bank]

Because I hunt. I take only the meat I need, and waste none. I get deer made into salami, sausage, steaks, ribs etc.

I am thankful for every animal I take. No better way to respect an animal that you would eat than to get it yourself.

Also, it is natural for us as humans to eat meat. Like any other species does. It is nature. Bears can eat berries and shrubs, but they choose to eat fish and scraps.

[Hugor Hill]

Jesus allows it.

[drummer4now]

I eat wild meat because the deer that I shoot eat healthier food than the beef in the grocery stores.

Simply put I'm a hunter/trapper I understand how the food chain works. The animal at the top eats the animals below it, we've just adapted to raise animals in larger numbers to enable more people easy access to fresh meat. The byproduct is that the animals are often raised or killed in a manner that people find unpleasant. Personally most of the meat I eat is hunted except for chicken and beef which I get from a local place that raises them free range.

Because I hunt. I take only the meat I need, and waste none. I get deer made into salami, sausage, steaks, ribs etc.

I am thankful for every animal I take. No better way to respect an animal that you would eat than to get it yourself.

Also, it is natural for us as humans to eat meat. Like any other species does. It is nature. Bears can eat berries and shrubs, but they choose to eat fish and scraps.

Do all of you honestly hunt? The number seems kinda high here..

[ManUtd]

I was a vegetarian for years (not for ethical reasons I just didn't like meat) but gave it up when I ended up super iron deficient and tired and sick all the time. Now I can't get enough meat. Usually, I stick to local meat that I buy straight from the farmer because it just tastes better. I will only eat farm fresh eggs but not because of animal welfare. I just think the ones from the store taste disgusting.