I’m writing a paper based on a quote I found that said: animals eat each other, why treat animals better than they treat one another? I would like to refute this claim but I am having a hard time finding flowing sub-arguments.
Any input/ideas would be great!
Thanks!
Chosen Answer:
*Not all animals eat each other. There are three kinds of animals: carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores. Contrary to popular myth, there is a great deal of scientific evidence to suggest that humans biologically are designed to be herbivores (see the first three links below for summaries, overviews and charts which show how humans (based on science, anatomy and taxonomy) are optimized for eating plants and are not designed to be able to properly digest and process meat). The fact that our bodies are not optimized for processing meat (unlike the carnivorous animals that eat prey) is overwhelmingly supported by research that shows that “Americans will not reduce their rate of cancers, cardiovascular disease and other chronic, degenerative diseases until they shift their diets away from animal-based foods to plant-based foods,” to quote Dr. Campbell at Cornell University. As a carnist your chance of getting heart disease – the number one cause of death for both men and women – is approximately 50% (flip a coin). As a vegan your risk would drop to less than 4%. Even a very small amount of meat has been shown to increase your risk of developing a myriad of cancers, and both Cornell and Harvard have now stated that “the optimum amount of meat in the human diet is precisely zero,” to borrow the words of Philip Wollen.
*Raising animals for meat is arguably the most environmentally destructive of all human activities, and animal agriculture is the primary cause of pollution and environmental destruction worldwide. To quote Thom Hartmann, “In the 24 hours since this time yesterday, over 200,000 acres of rainforest have been destroyed in our world. Fully 13 million tons of toxic chemicals have been released into our environment. Over 45,000 people have died from starvation, 38,000 of them children. And more than 130 plant and animal species have been driven to extinction by the actions of humans. And all this just since yesterday.” Of course, these figures actually continue to increase exponentially every year… and all of these problems are directly linked to animal agriculture. The vast majority (approximately 70%) of all the edible grain in the world is fed to cattle while children continue to die of starvation. If this food was fed to humans (instead of to the animals we raise for meat for just a few greedy nations) we could feed every man woman and child in the entire world and still have food to spare. Animal agriculture is also the primary reason for the destruction of rainforests, coral reefs, fresh water reserves and other irreplaceable ecosystems worldwide that are being completely devastated. We are driving other species to extinction at a rate 1,000 times the “natural” or “background” rate (which is greater than anything the world has experienced since the vanishing of the dinosaurs nearly 65 million years ago) and scientists have now confirmed that we are in the midst of a catastrophic 6th mass extinction. Meat production also contributes to pollution and global warming more than all modes of transportation worldwide. This is why even the United Nations is calling for a worldwide shift to a vegan diet as the ONLY way to avert mass starvation and global disaster, and to ensure the survival of the human species.
*Throughout the ages humans have attempted to justify torture, abuse and murder of living sentient beings by claiming that they are somehow less intelligent or valuable. We are currently committing an animal holocaust (because we think meat “tastes good”) in the name of our superior intelligence (which we base solely on definitions most convenient to us). After all, the human animal is the only one perpetrating genocides, mass slavery and holocausts – in nature animals consume what they need and maintain and natural balance; there is no animal on earth that treats its prey as horrifically as we treat the animals we imprison, torture, mutilate, dismember and slaughter “for food” (see fourth and fifth links below). We are also the only animals to completely destroy our own habitat (just for meat), even at our own peril. Like Einstein said: “Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
Note: If someone really thinks humans are omnivorous by nature, ask them to show you a child that will catch, kill and eat a rabbit or a squirrel without any prompting or training. Ask them when they have seen a child tear up and eat a family pet because they were hungry (as opposed to fruit or seeds which most will eat without any prompting). Most children cry rather than salivate when they see an animal killed. In fact, when children first realize that they are eating dead animals, the vast majority are horrified. We have to teach children to eat animals, and actively convince them that it is natural, normal and okay.. because really carnism is not part of our true nature at all.
by: Jayde
on: 8th April 13