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Originally Posted by kayleigh.
Fair point, though the mouse may have feelings and such. I believe that it should just go with a pyramid of biomass, I've never considered before the little mouse's feelings. But now that I have I still feel that the best interest is for the mouse to be killed by the cat, this may be selfish or whatever. I just believe that it's better that way, regardless or the little mouses feelings, although I do feel slightly sad. I don't feel strongly at all.
To be honest, I don't care much for any other dog other than my own and dogs I'm close to. I just view a Dog as a pet not tasty, whereas cows to me, are tasty...
Well my aunt has sorta pet cows, you can whistle on them and pet them and stuff, they lick you too, which is sorta weird until you get used to it, as much as I adore these cows, I still don't feel that every cow should be a pet, I mean I don't think every cow should be killed for meat. Nor do I hold much against the fact other country's eat Cat, but it would unsettle me to eat a Cat or any other domestic kind of animal.
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Kayleigh, it sounds like for you the personal relationship you have with a particular animal is what impacts strongly whether you view that animal as someone you want to eat.
I also don't have strong feelings for animals I don't know personally. Similarly, it is easier for me to have stronger feelings for people I know than for people far away with whom I never interact. Except Scottish people. All Scottish people are adorable.
However, knowing that *if* I knew livestock animals better, then I would care for them and want them to live a long and happy life, causes me to wish for them to be treated as well as an animal I consider a friend. When I think of all the animals whom I don't know personally, I feel it is not *their* fault that I don't know them, and so I don't want them suffering on my account. Each animal is an individual; whether I know her or not does not change the importance of her life to herself.
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Originally Posted by MAStudent
The monks are trying to build a temple, and it takes them sssooooooo long because they don't want to kill any worms in the dirt they are digging up to establish the temple foundation. Completely impractical.
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Yes,
MAStudent, there is no way to live without killing someone. Every time we build a home, for example, we destroy the nests of field mice (and certainly kill some, too). Whether something is practical or not depends on the person's value system.
The issue of practicality is interesting, because in many ways animal agriculture is *completely* impractical (and unsustainable): people put a whole lot of effort (and time and money) into setting up systems/industries to raise, transport, slaughter, refrigerate, and process livestock animals.
Vegetarianism, in most instances, is much more practical and efficient than animal-eating: you reduce land required for agriculture, you eliminate the massive undertaking of raising billions of confined aniamls, you reduce fresh water consumption, you reduce petroleum use.
Only if land is non-arable (such as grasslands) do I see an "efficiency" argument for raising livestock...but even so, one could raise some cows to take their milk, and raise some chickens for their eggs, and not *kill* the animals but let them live out their days. This seems fair to me, given that people *are* taking something from them. Stealing from someone and then killing her at a young age to me has always seemed doubly cruel. I actually wouldn't be opposed to eating some eggs and drinking some milk from livestock animals if I knew they would be allowed to live out their lifespans in good care.
Vegetarianism is not only practical from an efficiency standpoint, but also good for humanity: you don't support the creation of numerous diseases that originate with animal agriculture, like the swine flu virus and many more. You don't support the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a problem in countries like the U.S. where cramped livestock are fed continual low doses of antibiotics. You don't support the increased risk of heart disease and certain cancers associated with animal-product consumption (especially red meats).