Strider Posted October 18, 2012 Posted October 18, 2012 [Warning] – Do not read this thread if have a tendency to firebomb butcher shops On my facebook friends list I have an ‘acquaintance’ who I have known since secondary school. She’s the kind of girl who will constantly link to PETA and explain her love for animals and also her hatred for anyone who eats meat. In response to a photo showing a piglet and a lamb in a nice (suspiciously convenient) pose she comments “BEAUTIFUL, how can people eat such harmless innocent animals, people who eat meat should feel ashamed!!!!!!”. Now ignoring the overuse of exclamation marks, this photo didn’t have any obvious link to the food debate, so why bring it up? She seems to have the opinion that if an animal lives on a farm, it’s obviously being mistreated somehow. Now originally I thought PETA was a well respected organisation, it has major links to celebrities and it’s quite big in the press. However looking on their website it’s full of over-exaggerations and false information. Now I’m all for the ethical treatment of animals, but this organisation is completely deluded. And for me this just tipped it: PETA As a meat eater I don’t feel any shame or guilt towards eating animals. If anything I would go out of my way to try an unusual meat just to say I had. I would say I have a good knowledge of the realities of what actually happens to them both on the farm and in the slaughter house. So I ask. What’s your food preference and why? Do you feel ashamed or guilty for eating meat (if you do) Also do you buy anything specific when you buy animal food/products (organic, free range etc)?
The Peeps Posted October 18, 2012 Posted October 18, 2012 In my opinion it is not morally wrong to eat an animal. It's nature. Do they get angry at foxes for eating rabbits? Animals definitely should not be mistreated though. I think animals should be able to live as normal a life as possible before the inevitable and they should obviously be killed in as humane a way as possible. I have no problems with anyone who wants to be vegetarian, it's their choice and that's great if they want to do that. I don't want their opinion forced on me though. It's not the kind of thing where one group is right and the other is wrong. What does annoy me is people who say they're vegetarian but then they eat fish. I don't understand the reasoning behind that and I find it to be a massive hypocrisy.
Coolness Bears Posted October 18, 2012 Posted October 18, 2012 What does annoy me is people who say they're vegetarian but then they eat fish. I don't understand the reasoning behind that and I find it to be a massive hypocrisy. tbf,
Cube Posted October 18, 2012 Posted October 18, 2012 What does annoy me is people who say they're vegetarian but then they eat fish. I don't understand the reasoning behind that and I find it to be a massive hypocrisy. Isn't the general response something completely made up like "fish don't feel pain"?
The Peeps Posted October 18, 2012 Posted October 18, 2012 That's the excuse I've heard the most doesn't even back up their argument. If it's morally wrong to eat animals, it doesn't matter if they feel pain or not. You're still ending their life prematurely. Some people are vegetarians for other reasons than morality though so the counter argument doesn't apply to them.
Ashley Posted October 18, 2012 Posted October 18, 2012 As an animal loving vegetarian I can safely say PETA are a bunch of dicks that make the rest of us look like South Park characters and I really wish they'd stop.
Dannyboy-the-Dane Posted October 18, 2012 Posted October 18, 2012 What does annoy me is people who say they're vegetarian but then they eat fish. I don't understand the reasoning behind that and I find it to be a massive hypocrisy. The people I know who eat fish but not others types of meat are doing it for health reasons, not ethics.
Magnus Posted October 18, 2012 Posted October 18, 2012 Well, the issue was with people calling themselves vegetarian when they still eat fish, not with people who eat fish but not other meats. I know a woman on Facebook who sometimes posts about PETA (these days she's more about THE MUSLIMS, though), and eventually I got tired of it and posted a link to a list of some of the many ridiculous things PETA has done. And she was like, "I don't care what they do, I'm a member of PETA because I love animals." WELL I LOVE VIDEO GAMES BUT YOU DON'T SEE ME POSTING IGN ARTICLES.
The Peeps Posted October 19, 2012 Posted October 19, 2012 The people I know who eat fish but not others types of meat are doing it for health reasons, not ethics. Some people are vegetarians for other reasons than morality though so the counter argument doesn't apply to them. I know a few people who do it for health reasons too. As I said, the counter argument only applies to people calling themselves vegetarians for moral reasons yet they still eat fish. although if you eat fish you are not a vegetarian, no matter what your ethics are
jayseven Posted October 19, 2012 Posted October 19, 2012 PETA are also against the notion of 'pets'. You can 'adopt' an animal as a companion, though. They also are advocates for reducing the amount of meat pets should eat; vegetarian cats and dogs, vegan dog food. I have a friend who was kind of a militant vegan for something like 7 years, and he's now running one of the best burger vans in Brighton. He literally meets the majority of the cows that he's serving to his customers. Massive u-turn. Personally, I can understand the ideas behind PETA, but I have to disagree. Shamefully, simply because I like meat. Their argument would be "well if you like rape that doesn't make rape ok!" but I'm too tired to define my preferences in legalese.
Debug Mode Posted October 19, 2012 Posted October 19, 2012 (edited) [Warning] – Do not read this thread if have a tendency to firebomb butcher shops DohohohohoOh wait, this isn't chronologically possible.. Back on topic though, fuck PETA. Way to take a noble cause and piss it all up without any sense of irony. Yeah let's save animals but euthanise pretty much every stray that walks through our door.. why not just cut back the budget on your constant marketing bullshit and use that money to actually do something. Heck, they could probably buy even more pentobarbitone if they ever feel to make it more blatant how crooked they are. Edited October 19, 2012 by Debug Mode
bob Posted October 19, 2012 Posted October 19, 2012 My girlfriend and I don't really buy much meat, mainly because it is so expensive. It tends to add 2 or 3 pounds onto the cost of the meal, and doesn't really add much to the enjoyment of the meal. That's not to say we are vegetarians though. She doesn't like the taste of meat much, but will still eat bacon (obviously) and if we go out for a meal, i'll usually order meat. Basically i consider us veggie 6 days out of 7, which i think is fine. If i was to become vegetarian, it would be from environmental grounds; i.e the amount of land/resources used to rear meat far outweighs that to grow crops. So not eating meat for most of the week helps that i think. Anywho, i wouldn't thrust my diet on someone else, so i don't like it when people do the thrusting at me. What does annoy me is Organic food. I purposely don't buy organic food from the supermarket, even if there's no other choice or it's cheaper (Ha!). My father works in the agronomy world as a research scientist, and i've read articles by some of his colleagues explaining how much bullshit the organic industry really is. I don't mean people growing vegetables in their back gardens obviously - that's no doubt fine and probably very healthy indeed. It is commercially grown organic food however which is total bullshit. There's an interesting article here about it. Basically a lot of Organic companies go so far out of their way not to use 'synthetic' chemicals, that they often use 'natural' chemicals which are not only far more dangerous than the synthetic ones, but they havn't gone through the rigourous testing process just on the basis that they are 'natural' and are therefore 'safe'. Anyway, that's just my thoughts.
Cube Posted October 19, 2012 Posted October 19, 2012 They also are advocates for reducing the amount of meat pets should eat; vegetarian cats and dogs' date=' vegan dog food. So PETA supports torturing animals? What does annoy me is Organic food. I hate the term. The majority of food is organic. No matter how many "synthetic" chemicals you put on a lemon, it's still organic.
Jonnas Posted October 19, 2012 Posted October 19, 2012 Fuck PETA and their posturing. Wasting resources on making disgusting flash games to send a message of...what, exactly? If they're criticising pokémon for advocating animal cruelty, shouldn't they be doing something to raise awareness regarding actual, real life cases of animal cruelty, instead of parodying videogames for shock value, to cause a stir? (Remember when they did the same to Cooking Mama? Wow, a cooking game that involves meat as a common ingredient... must be evil!) But the worst part is that they aren't doing anything themselves. They really euthanise most animals they come across, don't they? Do we even know their criteria for whether an animal should be put down or not?
The Bard Posted October 19, 2012 Posted October 19, 2012 As an animal loving vegetarian I can safely say PETA are a bunch of dicks that make the rest of us look like South Park characters and I really wish they'd stop. Oh shit. Well, I guess that makes the time we dragged you to Nando's and drunkenly devoured an entire chicken in front of your face a little awkward.
Agent Gibbs Posted October 19, 2012 Posted October 19, 2012 Peta are batshit crazy and celebrities who endorse it really need to research what sort of crazy stuff they come up with the whole Pet thing made me loose any sympathy i still had for them a long time ago. Peta put down animals simple as that, any "Pets" they rescue are either re-homed or destroyed a little googling reveals very startling figures, last year they re-homed only 24 animals and destroyed over a thousand PETA only kills dogs and cats because of “injury, illness, age, aggression, or because no good homes exist for them.” Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/24/documents-peta-kills-more-than-95-percent-of-pets-in-its-care/#ixzz29kQt0QLM they are hypocritical bastards who believe death is preferable to being held in captivity (or being a pet), they have so much trouble re-homing because only someone who loves animals as much as a Peta member could possibly care for them, only peta members don't believe in pets....aka bat shit crazy As for the meat/vegan/vegetarian debate; i'm an omnivore as nature intended i like meat simple as. I do however hate the terrible conditions that some animals are put through for production of food, so if i ever learn of somewhere/something that uses such foods i will actively avoid them. My best friend was "vegetarian" for about 15 years maybe more and i tore into him mercilessly for it......because he wasn't vegetarian...i'll explain He's a big guy and always has been overweight, so when he was aged 6/7 he was at a party and it was a bbq and he had no control over himself and overate on lots of meat based products and was sick for days (he claimed it was food poisoning, considering this is the guy who regularly eats two stuffed crust pizzas and then a bucket of ben and jerry's i think it was over eating). Following this he decided to not eat meat any longer, except fish, fish was fine, oh and Bacon because bacon isn't meat is it? so for years he actively called himself a vegetarian by choice, which he always said was due to health reasons, while technically true, it was not accurate. SO yeah he wasn't vegetarian and slowly crept burgers into his diet ad hot dogs, you know all the major food groups/meat types. As for "organic" food, that's just a marketing ploy to over price food, its all still organic
MoogleViper Posted October 19, 2012 Posted October 19, 2012 PETA are also against the notion of 'pets'. Actually I agree. Pets are for people who are both selfish and vain' date=' keeping an animal caged up for their own amusement. If you truly loved animals/your pets then you wouldn't keep them imprisoned in a cage/hutch/tank etc. for their whole life*. Obviously doesn't apply to animals like cats and dogs that are given enough attention and treated properly.
Ashley Posted October 19, 2012 Posted October 19, 2012 Oh shit. Well, I guess that makes the time we dragged you to Nando's and drunkenly devoured an entire chicken in front of your face a little awkward. That wasn't the awkward part. Nah people eat meat, it's hardly a shocker to me. Live and let live. Except the animals, apparently they die.
The Bard Posted October 19, 2012 Posted October 19, 2012 (edited) That wasn't the awkward part. Nah people eat meat, it's hardly a shocker to me. Live and let live. Except the animals, apparently they die. Was the awkward part when Scott tore ass and pretty much cleared out a space 20 metres in diameter? The only thing that could have made that night more fun is Karaoke Edited October 19, 2012 by The Bard
Strider Posted October 19, 2012 Author Posted October 19, 2012 Actually I agree. Pets are for people who are both selfish and vain, keeping an animal caged up for their own amusement. If you truly loved animals/your pets then you wouldn't keep them imprisoned in a cage/hutch/tank etc. for their whole life*. Obviously doesn't apply to animals like cats and dogs that are given enough attention and treated properly. So because I have a hamster I'm selfish and vain? This hamster probably gets more attention than most cats and dogs. It's all perspective, I know many working dogs that are caged for the majority of their lives and they're not suffering in any way. Their owners adore them. It's sounds harsh to say but they are animals and Im aware they do possess feelings, but not comparable to that of humans. As they dont think like us they don't know any better. Also I don't understand why you differentiate between cats/dogs and other caged animals. I could understand it with cats somewhat as they come and go as they please. But whatever a dog does is pretty much controlled by the owner anyway, with their walks/feeding times, it's no different to other caged animals you disagree with keeping.
MoogleViper Posted October 20, 2012 Posted October 20, 2012 Also I don't understand why you differentiate between cats/dogs and other caged animals. I could understand it with cats somewhat as they come and go as they please. But whatever a dog does is pretty much controlled by the owner anyway, with their walks/feeding times, it's no different to other caged animals you disagree with keeping. As you said, cats are free to go wherever. Yes dogs are controlled, but generally they are given the run of (most of) the house. And they are given a much larger space when taken to walks. So they're not free like cats, but they aren't caged. They're more like children in that sense. As for the hamster thing, unless it was a rescue pet (obviously this whole argument doesn't apply to rescue animals, but can you even get a rescue hamster?) then the only reason to own one is because you think it looks good or you want to play with it. Those are selfish reasons. You're not considering the hamster when you get it.
Mokong Posted October 20, 2012 Posted October 20, 2012 I don't mind people who want to be Vegitarian. Like others have said I just hate the ones who would try to preach to me about or change me (same goes for religious people) just cause I don't think the same as you do doesn't give them the right to continually try to change my thinking. Me I LOVE meat. Beef, pork, chicken, lamb.... damnit now I'm hungry. Hell if I'm driving past a farm as see some cows or sheep in the fields I get hungry thinking about which one would make for the best burger or rack of lamb.....gods I LOVE rack of lamb....shame it so bloody expensive I can't even watch food shows on the TV, just makes me hungry even I just ate. Worst (by worst I mean awesome and makes me really really really hungry) is Man v Food....damn he gets to eat some awesome looking meals. If I won the lotto I would travel the US visiting all teh places he showed on the show and try a few of the challenges Now I'm hungry.....*lunch*
jayseven Posted October 20, 2012 Posted October 20, 2012 A lot of rodents are tricky pets as they're a lot more skittish, and fleeing is very much in their nature so it always seems like they're just deathly afraid all the time. But I think it's important to accept that their 'natural' reality would be a world filled with fear and uncertainty. While they may still act afraid, you, as their owner, are more able to ensure their survival. Rats and guinea pigs make for great pets. They have heaps of personality. They do deserve to have free roam of a large space at least once a day, of course.
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