Quote:
Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate
Well, laws are an artificial construct in and of themselves. Homosexuality is a crime in many countries. You can't seriously base your ethics solely on what is legal vs illegal within a given border.
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Ethics are also social constructs based on where we live and interact. In this case, in this land, people do not think it is unethical to eat meat while they do think it is unethical to kick a dog. You can make your comparison between meat eating and dog kicking if you are in such place where there is a significant proportion of liked minded peers who would tolerate someone would kick a dog. Unfortunately, I do not know of such place where this comparison would be accepted.
DA, it is a great thing that you have managed to live your life without meat in order to live a principle. However, people here are attacking you not because of your vegetarianism, which is well-meaning, but because the general tone and examples you choose to defend your decision come across at a minimum pious, and at worst a troll trying to get a rise out of people.
I agree with you on a point though, people do eat meat because they enjoy it. I certainly do. We humans have evolved that we have many ways to get our daily nutrients. To take your arguments to the extreme, we wouldn't have to eat at all, but instead be hooked up to feeding tubes and IV nutrient systems. It would even be more environmentally friendly than a plant based diet. Similarly, and maybe better examples to use, it's the reason why people buy fancy cars, or wear fancy clothes, drink a variety of different beverages. All these thing are nice to have but there are more environmentally and socially acceptable options.
Part of the life experience is to enjoy things, and meat is something a large majority of the human population enjoys.
To go back to your dog kicking false equivalent, meat eating has an evolutionary basis, satisfies a basic human need, and is socially acceptable. None of those things can be said about dog kicking, and this is why people are calling you out
Lchoy