I will need to print out and read through all of Stuart and my discussions about the vegetarianism question, Stu's last post was here and mine here.
But... here are some more thoughts for now.
1) I accept that factory farming has some excessive cruel practices. I would rather not associate with these, and given the easy choice wouldn't. I would even pay a premium over cruelty derived foods. Not given the choice, and not knowing how the meat was obtained... how strongly do I feel about this? Not sure. I also believe people shouldn't starve. Do I feed myself and clothe myself with the bare minimum and send the rest to charity? No. How much should I? I am not sure.
Does it leave me feeling uneasy... yes.
2) I do not accept that the logical conclusion to saying that cruel practices exist is to not eat any meat that's commercially available.
If there is demand for meat that is `cruelty free'... the invisible hand will provide.
3) Stu, do you believe it is wrong to eat meat irrespective of whether it was cruelly obtained or not?
On the `impending doom' post...
Say I were to accept that the majority of meat was cruelly obtained, I also know this is unlikely to change if I stop eating meat since most people won't. Especially since vegetarianism is also a pretty elite, top of maslow's hierarchy concern. If you are starving... you don't really care what you eat. We are a long long way from being able to feed the world on a meat free diet, let alone a diet at all.
That is a cop out I know... hence the impending doom.
What I do have a problem with is the inconsistency. If you believe that anything obtained through cruel means is unacceptable... how can you drink the cappuccino that you don't know where the milk comes from. How can you buy leather shoes?
Is it possible to live a consistent cruelty free life? Maybe not now, but maybe it is something we can work towards. Again a cop out.
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