spp@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Stephen P Pope) (01/30/86)
I'd like to put in my two cent's worth on this
discussion.
First my own views: I consider it ethical for man to
consume meat. I object to the conditions under which livestock
and poultry are kept in this country. (Were my objections
somewhat stronger, I might well be a vegetarian for that
reason.)
I respect anybody who, on ethical grounds, refuses to
eat meat. And anybody holding that view should be free
to express and promote it. But what I *really* object to,
quite strongly, is that small minority of vegetarians
who think that they are *better* than people who eat meat,
who view non-vegetarians as having lower morals than themselves.
This is a real losing attitude. Unfortunately, these
zealots have managed to give a lot of mainstream Americans
the impression that *all* vegetarians have the same
attitude. I'd like to let these ego-trippers know that they
are doing great damage to vegetarianism in this country.
I think this situation is unique to the U.S.
From what I can see, in Great Britain vegetarians and
non-vegetarians have much more mutual respect for each
other. George Bernard Shaw had strong ethical objections
to eating meat. But he didn't think the lesser of any
of his meat-eating friends because of it.
There are reasons other than ethics for being vegetarian.
I think most would agree that eating a lot of animal fat and
very little fiber is not the healthiest thing to do.
But the claim that humans are not suited to meat consumption
is groundless. Humans are omnivores, and both vegetarian
and non-vegetarian diets can be perfectly healthy.
Claims that meat consumption is a waste of world food
resources are equally weak. There are lots of areas of the
world where the meat of grazing animals is an essential part of
the diet. It is true that fattening up cattle in feedlots
is not an efficient use of grain. But as a whole meat is
an important part of the world food supply.
Since somebody brought it up: I too have strong objections
to the killing of fur-bearing animals for their pelts.
I think this is especially gross since fur coats are a
symbol of wealth and decadence. I particularly object to
the use of furs as prizes and promotions. This is really
unnecessary, and I try not to patronize businesses that
have done this.
steve