Quote:
Originally Posted by Freebase Dali
And that's why I respect your choice of Veganism as much as I respect my choice as a meat eater. I think it's healthy to learn about things we don't personally support, like this whole debate we're all having, because it helps us realize what makes personal choice important to not only ourselves, but to others. Understanding other people's motives goes a long way.
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I agree it is healthy to try to understand people's views and motives. At the very least, it lets us know each other better.
The reason vegetarianism vs. eating animals is a tricky issue, I feel, is that choosing what or whom one eats *isn't* a personal choice: it directly affects other beings.
The best non-meat analogy I could give would be circumcision. Some people feel that whether or not a parent decides to have the genitals of a child cut "is the parent's personal choice." Yet it is obvious that parental choice over circumcision isn't a *personal* choice, because the child is the one affected and cut against its will.
Similarly, eating meat destroys the whole body of an animal against its will, so deciding to eat an animal isn't solely a personal choice.