Comments on: Pakistani brothers ‘dug up corpse and made it into curry’

By: Mat Baker

Mat Baker — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:25:48 +0000

@ Roshni and Ace

Well done on the mutual back-slapping!

Do you think it’s telling that you are happy to preach at people, but not so happy to engage them in debate?

By: Roshni

Roshni — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:45:45 +0000

Well said ace! You tell em!

By: Berber Anna

Berber Anna — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:21:32 +0000

Thanks Abeo!! You’re awesome

By: Berber Anna

Berber Anna — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:27:34 +0000

Rob: I left two more replies that somehow didn’t make it through the moderation queue, in which I explained my philosophy. It’s similar to yours — organic meat or game, line caught fish, and in general another kind of protein (cheese or Quorn) for about half of my evening meals. I don’t mind death (quantity of life) as long as it’s not random killing for the sake of killing (I believe in killing for food, protection and in mercy), but I hate the idea of any kind of orgganism suffering (quality of life).

Msg from Abeo: They went into the spam filter, I’ve dug them back out for you

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 09:53:16 +0000

@Berber anna: I totally agree. I gave up vegetarianism for this reason. It is impossible to survive without consuming entities that once were alive. Plants, animals, fish: who is to say what kind of awareness a plant has? A lack of pain does not mean a lack of awareness. A very different kind of awareness, granted, but life is life. Even bacteria have an incredibly simple awareness IMHO.
When gathering crops, the whole plant often dies.
The objective for me is to minimise suffering. I eat organic meat, no beef (or not much), line caught fish, mutton from an older animal, etc. A messy hypocritical compromise. I am far from perfect. Who is?
HOWEVER: eating humans may be necessary in extremis, but should never be a lifestyle choice for many reasons, especially those you already presented.

By: Berber Anna

Berber Anna — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:40:07 +0000

My issue with the men eating human remains is twofold.
One, it’s a vector for disease, as any pathogen that can infect one human can infect another human that ingests the first (a problem that is less prevalent when eating other species).
Two, it is respectless towards the families of the deceased. Most human cultures value the idea of being able to visit the remains of their dead (as do elephants, for instance). If you remove and eat those remains, you will in effect harm the bereaved.

By: Berber Anna

Berber Anna — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:34:58 +0000

I firmly believe that the purpose of all life is to feed other life. Plants feed on the sun, animals feed on plants and on the animals that fed on plants.
I have no problem with taking a life if I find doing so necessary (to feed or protect myself or to prevent suffering in a sick or dying animal), but I don’t do so thoughtlessly (I remove insects and pests from my house rather than killing them). I value quality of life over quantity of life. I eat only organically reared meat or wild game, the few times a week that I do eat meat (as we are omnivores and should eat meat sparingly). I refuse to eat an animal that has been locked up in a cage all of its life, as that to me constitutes cruelty.

(continued below)

By: Berber Anna

Berber Anna — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:26:40 +0000

Ace: There are quite a few plants that are killed by harvesting them. Most types of root vegetables, spinach, lettuce and several other leafy greens, cereals (we use the seeds, but we take the entire crop to extract them). Nuts and seeds are baby trees. And unless you plant the seeds of the fruit you eat, you are destroying baby plants.
Plants eat (they absorb chemicals and sunlight), reproduce, breathe (CO2 plus oxygen in the daytime, oxygen during the night) and move (towards the sun, and in case of flesh eating plants, in order to catch animals). They don’t have a nervous system analogous to that of animals, but they can get ill when injured and need to expend energy to mend just as we do, so injury cannot be pleasant to them.

You mistake a different philosophy for thoughtlesness.

By: Mat Baker

Mat Baker — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:35:21 +0000

@Ace

First of all, I was making a distinction between vegetarians and vegans – you appear to have missed that point entirely. My understanding of veganism is that vegans do not use/consume any product that is derived from animals – a very hard thing to achieve, and those that do have my respect for making such an effort because of their principals.

To me, vegetarianism is some sort of halfway house – and if you want to be be one, knock yourself out – just don’t expect meat eaters to sit there passively whilst they get moralised and lectured by someone who wears leather shoes, or drinks non-vegetarian wine, or whatever…

Is that clearer for you? In your haste to lecture me, you didn’t take the time to understand what I had actually written…

By: Ace

Ace — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 01:58:18 +0000

@Berber Anna: Three can play the same game as well

@Mat:
First of all, there are quite a few vegans who do go out of their way to not use products that result in the killing of animals to manufacture them. Don’t assume that your lack of motivation to stop using these products justifies that every single vegan is the same.

Second, your argument that vegans should not be using these products is the same as a religious person using modern technology. If you believe in God, then stop using these modern-day technologies which have been created using science.

Ridiculous statement? Well, so was your argument..