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Alex
Joined: Apr 5, 2004
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Re: animal cruelty
April 5, 2004 - 02:10 AM
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I've been a vegetarian for 6 years (I'm 18 now).
At first (at 12), I was incredibly saddened and distraught by anybody killing anything. I would print slogans such as "Meat Is Murder" and "Animals Died For Your Dinner!" over my notebooks for example. Now that I'm a bit older, though, I've reformed my personal beliefs regarding the consumption of meat.
The amount of waste produced through farming is appalling. But when you think about it, wasting everything and anything we can is a social trend - our society is unecessarily wasteful of everything (water, energy, food products). The clearcutting of forests to make room for cattle ranches in underdeveloped countries because it is cheaper is a waste. Wasting large portions of each animal to achieve an ideal cut of meat is also unecessary.
Animals on large farms are not treated humanely. Chickens, for example, are kept in incredibly tiny cages. They cannot walk around - and they couldn't if they wanted to because they have no muscle mass. This is because people prefer to eat chicken that's not got much muscle.
Not all animals are abused while they await slaughter and eventually someone's dinner table - small family farms usually include free-range animals - but these animals are much more expensive to raise and thus much more difficult to sell.
---
If you're concerned - research where the meat you eat comes from. Decide if you agree with the practices used to produce it. It is entirely possible to continue eating meat if you want to - buy your meat directly from the producer (ie: a small farm) if there is one in your area, whose animal-raising methods you agree with.
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Emily
Joined: Mar 16, 2004
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Re: animal cruelty
April 5, 2004 - 07:50 AM
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Mcdonalds??? dont want to have high cholestoral now do u??
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Brian
Joined: Jan 22, 2004
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Re: animal cruelty
April 5, 2004 - 08:05 AM
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Let's put it this way: If McD's cut everything from it's menu except for fries, those yummy little cookies that they keep in the back that are about 11 years old (used to munch on these like mad when I worked there long ago) and McFlurries I would be just fine with that. All they would have to do with the fries is use sea salt and a cholesterol-free-but-still-yummy oil for frying.
Who's with me?
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Brian
Joined: Jan 22, 2004
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Re: animal cruelty
April 5, 2004 - 10:11 AM
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Good point. Also there was a mad cow outbreak a few months ago. Even if you do eat meat, you have to be worried about diseases and things like salmon. If I remember correctly, farm-raised salmon (which was thought to be better) turned out to be partially poisonous. Basically because the fish were kept in a closed environment and were breathing in their own poop! Yuck...
I also heard soemthing not long ago about fish having ammounts of mercury. There are just so many risks that go right along with moral issues like killing animals. It just doesn't seem right no matter how you look at things. I'm trying to reduce my meat intake, but I'm still fighting those cultural preferences! McDonald's has largely lost it's charm for me...but their fries are still the best!
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Emily
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Re: animal cruelty
April 6, 2004 - 03:29 AM
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And what, just eat mcdonalds all day--u wish!!
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Udara
Joined: Dec 10, 2003
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Re: animal cruelty
April 6, 2004 - 04:25 AM
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Well, If eating flesh of animals is good, whats wrong with
eating the flesh of humans ? We all are created equal, right?
Lets hope the humans would understand the suffering of other living beings....
Udara
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Brian
Joined: Jan 22, 2004
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Re: animal cruelty
April 6, 2004 - 05:41 AM
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McHuman nuggets? I see your point Udara!
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Brian
Joined: Jan 22, 2004
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Re: animal cruelty
April 6, 2004 - 05:42 AM
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ema: No not all day, just as a supplement for my regular diet of good stuff!
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gzusbmine
Joined: Sep 26, 2003
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Re: animal cruelty
April 6, 2004 - 11:02 AM
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What about the people in India who are starving as a fat juicy steak walks by? God gave us meat to eat. It is in Genesis Chapter 9 verse 3. So eat meat guilt free! 
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Emily
Joined: Mar 16, 2004
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READ THIS!!!
April 6, 2004 - 11:20 AM
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hey, people of biblical times WERE starving, thats why god let them have meat. but now (with the exception of places like India) we arent starving. we can go without meat. when i was younger i always told myself that it was wicked to destroy someone else's creation like that (in which i was talking about gods creations). god made animals with pain and fear, just like us.
it also says in the bible that u musnt eat the food of sinners. do u know how we got that meat in the supermarket??? we fed those animals antibiotics-which hurt them. we crowded them in cramped cages, so they would go insane. we let them (most types of animals) spread diseases without medical care. we let them go without daylight. we let them go injured. doesnt that sound like a sin to u, cuz it does to me!!! and trust me on this one, cuz ive researched it enough!!
and finally, do u think jesus would approve of this??? not just OVEREATING meat, but torturing innocent animals?
let me just say to all u christians out there, the bible was created close to 2000 years ago. it is time for us to go beyond the bible. cuz the bible doesnt talk about present day problems.
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Brian
Joined: Jan 22, 2004
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Re: animal cruelty
April 7, 2004 - 08:15 AM
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I respect the Indians for their ability to stand by their religious convictions and not eat meat. Just wish us Christians had such unified convictions. How many of us as Americans would rather starve than break away from a principle or faith tenet? I probably wouldn't.
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Udara
Joined: Dec 10, 2003
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Re: animal cruelty
April 8, 2004 - 04:30 AM
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We need to reduce the atmosphere of killing and violence, both in our society and in our own lives. Each one of us can reduce the level of killing in our own lives by the very simple act of becoming vegetarian. An ancient sage once said:
For hundreds of thousands of years
The stew in the pot
Has brewed hatred and resentment
That is difficult to stop.
If you wish to know why there are disasters
Of armies and weapons in the world,
Listen to the piteous cries
From the slaughterhouse at midnight.
In a more contemporary vein George Bernard Shaw wrote a "Song of Peace:"
We are the living graves of murdered beasts,
Slaughtered to satisfy our appetites.
We never pause to wonder at our feasts
If animals, like men, can possibly have rights.
We pray on Sundays that we may have light,
To guide our footsteps on the paths we tread.
We're sick of war, we do not want to fight,
The thought of it now fills our hearts with dread
And yet we gorge ourselves upon the dead.
Like carrion crows, we live and feed on meat,
Regardless of the suffering and pain
We cause by doing so. If thus we treat
Defenseless animals for sport or gain,
How can we hope in this world to attain
The Peace we say we are so anxious for?
We pray for it, o'r hecatombs of slain,
To God, while outraging the moral law,
Thus cruelty begets its offspring--War.
For those who still do not see the logical relationships, I shall try to spell them out more clearly. Non-human life is not qualitatively different than human life, according to Buddhist teachings. Just as when a human is killed, an animal too most often responds to its death with thoughts of resentment, hatred and revenge. While it is dying, these thoughts or emotions poison its flesh. After it is dead, its disembodied consciousness continues to broadcast thoughts of resentment, hatred and revenge to the minds of its killers and those for whom it was killed. Think of the billions of cows, pigs, chickens and sheep that are killed for consumption each year in the United States alone. Those of you who have passed the slaughter yards on the interstate highway near Coalinga, California, have probably noticed not only the stench but also the dark cloud of fear and violence that hangs over the place. The general mental atmosphere of that entire county is thick with thoughts of violence with which such thoughts within our own minds can all too easily resonate.
One of the problems of modern society is that the karma we generate is often indirect and not immediately obvious to us, even though it can be quite powerful. We are no less responsible for the death of the animals when we buy meat wrapped in plastic in the supermarket than if we had killed them ourselves. We are no less responsible for the environmental poisoning of people by chemicals that we pour down our drains or by industries we work for or whose products we buy, than if we had personally added the poison to their food. So too we may not be directly aware of the ways in which we may be providing support for many conflicts and wars around the world. Of course, it is much worse to do something wrong, clearly knowing that it is wrong than to do it in ignorance. Yet ignorance does not absolve us of blame.
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Brian
Joined: Jan 22, 2004
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Re: animal cruelty
April 8, 2004 - 09:18 AM
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Two whole days meat free! Guess this thread really got to me...
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Emily
Joined: Mar 16, 2004
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Re: animal cruelty
April 10, 2004 - 03:41 AM
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Excellent Brian!! Try to go for a week next time.
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Udara
Joined: Dec 10, 2003
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Re: animal cruelty
April 10, 2004 - 04:01 AM
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Well done Brian!, I second the suggestions done by Emma
peace,
Udara
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