Flamethrowers and Pigs Brains: Kill It, Cook It, Eat It

I like what you said about being humane but how do you know what we are designed to be? A lot of cultures have done fine without eating meat. It's easy for us humans to justify eating animals especially since animals can't defend themselves. I honestly feel that we are responsible for taking care of them, not eating them, abusing them and using them to get out our frustrations and psychotic tendencies. And certainly not to use to experiment on. (I want to acknowledge that you did mention animal treatment so most of this isn't really directed at you.)

I don't know what you meant by "If all life is somehow equal...." but you posed the question, ".....are meat eating animals cruel and evil?"

One of the biggest differences between us and animals is that animals act on instinct whereas we have the ability to choose and think about what we are doing. Animals don't think about morality and compassion. A lot of people don't either. But for people it's not a matter of instinct but they are rather a product of their conditioning. We have the ability to think about our conditioning and do something about it. Our belief systems have a lot to do with it. We can buy into our conditioning and also believe in what we hear, watch and read on radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, etc or we can think for ourselves and question our conditioning and what is going on around us. Animals can't be cruel and evil, they just are. I often think about how some animals eat other animals that only eat vegetation and am very disappointed with it but that's the way it is. Shortly after I rescued a dog it instinctively killed one of my rabbits that I had also rescued. That dog, so far, hasn't eaten what it kills, it just kills. I was extremely angry and despondant about that for a long time but I can't blame the dog. That's just how she is. It's instinct.

Any "sin" exists only in your own mind; eating animals is indeed a sin for hundreds of millions worldwide. Also, there's no way to know what we are "designed" to do. And worrying about the moral standing of *other species* - ! Well, I'm reminded of the Republican obsession with women's reproductive lives. Isn't that taking meddling a bit far?

I'm glad I could help but even being a vegetarian doesn't necessarily mean being healthy and dodging that "bullet." My girlfriend is an unhealthy veg. If you know about genetically modified foods then you are ahead of the game and know which vegetarian foods to avoid. Use of pesticides has also gotten a lot worse. Two examples of relatively recent developments. The American public's ignorance has a lot do with politics, greed and (media) deception.

For many vegetarians, personal health isn't the main goal. For me, it's always been, first and foremost, about living ethically - about taking responsibility for my own actions. Yes, torture of the living is wrong. But many of us also feel that TAKING LIFE is wrong as well. Shasser said it very well above. I'll never know what I'm "designed" to eat, but every ounce of my moral awareness assures me that I'm not "designed" to torture and kill, even indirectly.

WELL SAID. I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT I AM ALSO CONCERNED ABOUT ANIMAL ABUSE AND KILLING. IT HAS TAKEN ME QUITE A WHILE BUT I ALMOST HAVE THE MEAT EATING THING LICKED (NO PUN INTENDED). I'M STILL MAKING MYSELF WATCH VIDEOS BECAUSE AFTER A LIFETIME OF CONDITIONING, IT'S BEEN TOUGH BREAKING THROUGH YEARS OF THAT MENTALITY.

BUT FOR THOSE THAT WOULD RATHER ARGUE ABOUT IT THAN SWITCH, I FEEL THAT MAYBE THEY MIGHT BE CONCERNED FOR THEIR OWN HEALTH. FOR ME IT'S A MATTER OF ATTACKING THE SUBJECT FROM DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS RATHER THAN JUST ARGUING OVER AND OVER ABOUT THE SAME THING AND REALLY GETTING NOWHERE WITH IT. I REALLY HAVE BEEN DOING RESEARCH ON THE HEALTH ASPECT OF EATING ANIMALS AND FEEL THAT PEOPLE REALLY NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON BECAUSE THEY WON'T GET IT FROM THE NEWS OR THE GOVERNMENT - WHICH IS ALLOWING ALL OF THIS TO HAPPEN. AS I SAID BEFORE, THERE IS A REASON FOR THAT AND IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT THE BOTTOM LINE.

I became a vegetarian in 2003, and I thank GOD that I did. People who think we have to eat meat are nuts. In fact nuts are big in my diet!! LOL

I agree, you can be an unhealthy one! I am a practicing healthy one, making sure I eat a plant based diet. Your girlfriend is destined to have some very serious health problems if she doesn't change her ways. There are people who think just not eating meat, but eating crap is a vegetarian.

You're right. Unfortunately, eating/drinking milk and milk products isn't good either as well as most eggs. Also, egg cartons are misleading.

exactly.

i do watch the show. it's fascinating. doesn't put me off of meat at all.

seen it. do you deny your DNA? i kinda wonder on you veggies that get off on showing off that kind of thing. the footage doesn't bother me, but then i don't eat fast food, processed meat or anything like that. i've raised, killed and slaughtered my own meat and i can tell you it's a much more humane way to go than most prey animals experience. would you rather suddenly lose consciousness and simply not wake up, or be killed by the teeth and claws of a wild predator? we are not herbivores, and i refuse to take a step back in evolution.

It's not about "accepting or denying DNA." I think you're confusing "DNA" with conditioning. The environment we grow up in tends to be the foundation for our belief systems. There are and have been many cultures that didn't eat meat. I grew up on eating meat and it's been extremely hard for me to break free from that conditioning.

What it does have to do with, for me, is that I have been researching health for a long time and have found out some very interesting and scary things that are going on with food especially in the U.S. There is constant research, studies and discoveries going on all the time, all over the world. These are things you won't see, hear or read on "main stream" TV, radio, newspapers or magazines. And there are reasons for that.

Eating animals just isn't healthy. Even fish these days with all of their environments being polluted and toxic. Fish farms are even worse. I go into stores now and realize that there is hardly anything there that is really healthy to eat. Do you ever think about all of the diseases that are going on now and how many people are dying? Cancer alone is out of control, but that's a political and greed issue. So is heart disease, Diabetes, Aids, Alzheimers, and on and on.

If you're raising your own animals and feeding them "pure" food and water then slaughtering them, then a lot of this discussion doesn't apply. But most people aren't doing that. The only issue then is about compassion which I won't get into now. And what about other things you eat and drink?

As far as taking a "step back in evolution" goes, cave men used to eat meat so how evolved can that be? On the other hand, other "cave men" in different environments didn't eat meat.

All of my family are meat eaters and I still make meat dishes for them. I had a lot of personal reasons in 2003 to give up meat and I don't preach about it to anyone. My grandchildren know that "gram is picky" about food. I am more upset with FACTORY FARMS, that abuse the animals before they are butchered. If anyone wants to know more about factory farms, read or google Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollen.

I agree and I am a meat eater. We all need to be made more concious of what we consume and what it takes to get it to us. No doubt about it, 10 acres of corn makes I pound of beef. But I also think we need to carry it further - we need to see what it takes to raise commercialy grown vegitables, too. and I think executions need to be made public with at least one mandatory watching. We need to learn how ALL the 'sausages' get made in our society. A lot gets done in our name that we are too blissful in our ignorance to keep ignoring. Have you read "The Conflicted Omnivore"? After learning what is done to milk and what regulators allow in it and how factory raised animals suffer, its amade me change sources of meat and I will never ever drink milk again.

peta is a fringe group that is hypocritical in the extreme. they kill thousands of animals every year with a walk in freezer.

Hi Nancy - I'd appreciate hearing more of what your reaction was. Thanks for responding.

bullshit. vegans are no healthier than natural omnivores. i say natural because it's unnatural for us to be vegan.

It's perfectly "natural" to be vegan. The biological determinism argument is very flawed and has been used by scientists to justify rape and violence to our fellow humans as well. You can find any horrid behavior in nature. Thus, everything is "natural". But just because something is in nature, doesn't mean it is right.

Vegans on the whole fare better than meat eaters for many reasons. But I can see you are very set in your belief that finding something in nature makes it ok. It can be seen how you comment with such dissociation on all of these videos. Can't you see animal suffering for what it is? Why do you have to make it about you and make meat jokes?

How do I get this on my facebook and e-mail? These videos should be sent to Michelle Obama. (My e-mail: StuartHassel@gmail.com

That was hard to watch, so I need to pass it on to everybody else.

WTF does this have to do with michelle obama not wanting your kids to be fat little lumplings?

Not really. As far as that goes she has absolutely no idea of what the real causes are. I don't think she's going to go anywhere with that. I guess I mentioned her because if she was majorly affected she would probably bring it to the attention of her husband, might be able to influence other people, and maybe she might even take on this as a project.