OK- as a former rancher I have to add my voice. It's to easy to go to the store and buy your food. When you raise it on a small farm like we did, you develop a respect for the animals in your care. It's not easy the first time you slaughter or eat an animal that your kids named and that you fed and cared for for however long you kept that particular animal. The first pork roast we ate almost turned my stomach, but there's a truth that I learned early on in our attempt to disconnect from the "civilized" world- Food that you cared for, that you raised and kept from getting sick, and took care of while it lived, tastes better than any food that you can get at the store- The lesson is this, It t...

OK- as a former rancher I have to add my voice. It's to easy to go to the store and buy your food. When you raise it on a small farm like we did, you develop a respect for the animals in your care. It's not easy the first time you slaughter or eat an animal that your kids named and that you fed and cared for for however long you kept that particular animal. The first pork roast we ate almost turned my stomach, but there's a truth that I learned early on in our attempt to disconnect from the "civilized" world- Food that you cared for, that you raised and kept from getting sick, and took care of while it lived, tastes better than any food that you can get at the store- The lesson is this, It took a lot for me to eat something I cared for, something that had a name, The same truth is that I've never had better tasting food in my life. We need to respect the animals that we eat- Their death should be swift and without pain, and then you have to know that your eating something you cared for- it really could make a vegan out of a lot of people if they had the experiences that my family has had. Food for profit is a dehumanizing, and degrading thing that should at the very least be regulated, but the other extreme of total vegetarianism isn't right (at least for me ) either. Predators are "smarter" ( they display problem solving intelligence ) than prey. I learned that it was the addition of meat to the original hominid diet that changed us into tool using modern humans as opposed to grassland primates that were at the mercy of their environment every day.I have no desire to get into it with any creationists about this theory, so don't even try, but- The eating and then subsequent cooking of meat not only sustained us as a species, but is more likely than not responsible for our problem solving intelligence. I have an enormous amount of respect for m vegan friends, but not one of them can be considered in good health. Well I mean robust, or strong. Just respect your food!

I would like to post a correction- I said that prey doesn't display problem solving intelligence and that isn't exactly true. Alpha males will be territorial and protect their herd to be sure- Hippo's are a good example of prey animals that display intelligence, elephants as well as many others, what I mean to say is that a cat will plan an attack, so will a pack of dogs and so on- they "plan" their attacks. Prey instinctively reacts to their situation, but besides the location of the next mouthfull don't plan anything outside of reproduction. As a species, we needed to plan and use tools to survive and we got that from eating meat. Again unless you've raised your own food, you should respe...

I would like to post a correction- I said that prey doesn't display problem solving intelligence and that isn't exactly true. Alpha males will be territorial and protect their herd to be sure- Hippo's are a good example of prey animals that display intelligence, elephants as well as many others, what I mean to say is that a cat will plan an attack, so will a pack of dogs and so on- they "plan" their attacks. Prey instinctively reacts to their situation, but besides the location of the next mouthfull don't plan anything outside of reproduction. As a species, we needed to plan and use tools to survive and we got that from eating meat. Again unless you've raised your own food, you should respect what animals go through
to make it to your frying pan or your local McDonalds
Vegetarians live by an ideal that has to be respected too. It's because of the "food for profit" lack of respect
for animals and how they are processed that vegans get so upset- Who can blame them? Again, prey animals are intelligent and sensitive, many of them feel loss at times of death and display a myriad of human emotions, but they don't plan and ambition is restricted to reproduction. I truly believe the difference is diet. That being said, maybe we could use a few more apples instead of cheeseburgers these days.
I apologize for taking so long with your time and thank you for indulging my idea's

One can simply try to explain (or justify) origin of cruelty and heartlessness with “human-predator evolution theory”. And one will always find some proves for this kind of explanation and at the same time one will ignore every other possibilities.
And jet authentically cruel people don’t search for explanations; heartlessness is their state of mind. They are not acceptable for other options.

As necessity for eating meat is reflection of state of mind, too. If just one, single physically normally developed person on whole world is capable to leave healthy, happily and personally fulfilled without eating meat, he/she represents absolute (one can say scientific) prove that leaving without ea...

One can simply try to explain (or justify) origin of cruelty and heartlessness with “human-predator evolution theory”. And one will always find some proves for this kind of explanation and at the same time one will ignore every other possibilities.
And jet authentically cruel people don’t search for explanations; heartlessness is their state of mind. They are not acceptable for other options.

As necessity for eating meat is reflection of state of mind, too. If just one, single physically normally developed person on whole world is capable to leave healthy, happily and personally fulfilled without eating meat, he/she represents absolute (one can say scientific) prove that leaving without eating meat is entirely possible and healthy for human beings.

As humans we are all “killers” just breathing and walking (and flying and driving and riding) around. For me the main question is: how to live with maximum fulfillment and at the same time to cause as little damage to other beings as possible.
And I am sure finding appropriate answers on this question, is integrated part of our evolution.

There are many different theories and explanations about origin of Homo sapiens. Did you hear this one (Well yes, it is obviously not scientific, it is probably ET)?

http://www.deusto.com/HOWLIFEBEGANONEARTHANDWHY/

Amergin

It is not cruel to eat meat, provided that you treat the animal it came from with respect.

I suppose you are talking about peoples who breed animals for themselves and they treat them with respect. But without looking for statistic I am sure this kind of breeding is very rare in compare of hundreds of millions of animals which are “produced” through mass production.

At first I have to say I eat a small amount of fish (I consider this as meat, too), approximately ones a week.
I agree with you that eating meat is not directly related to cruelty against animals, but it is definitely reflection of certain state of mind, related with our patriarchal culture, which is gener...

Amergin

It is not cruel to eat meat, provided that you treat the animal it came from with respect.

I suppose you are talking about peoples who breed animals for themselves and they treat them with respect. But without looking for statistic I am sure this kind of breeding is very rare in compare of hundreds of millions of animals which are “produced” through mass production.

At first I have to say I eat a small amount of fish (I consider this as meat, too), approximately ones a week.
I agree with you that eating meat is not directly related to cruelty against animals, but it is definitely reflection of certain state of mind, related with our patriarchal culture, which is generally based on raw discipline, domination, exploitation and similar “qualities”. Meat is not primarily something that man need for health; it is something he need for sustaining his muscular mentality and shape. This is why practicing vegetarianism is generally somewhat easier for women than for men.

It is more and more obvious that many indirect highly negative effects origin from present mass production of meet, as you can read from
http://www.celsias.com/2007/11/24/food-revolution-reversing-the-spread-of-hunger-part-ii/