Vegetarian advice: should you become vegetarian? Practical and ethical issues are discussed here, and vegetarian myths exploded.
I initially became a vegetarian, not because I felt a particular compassion for animals but because I felt that the practice of killing animals essentially to increase human pleasure was wrong. Believing that it was wrong to kill other creatures made my decision to become vegetarian inevitable, as quite naturally I didn’t want to do something that I saw as unconscionable.
There are a number of arguments against this line of reasoning, some I consider to be fairly respectable. Others seem to me to be simply ways of deflecting and avoiding the issue – some people don’t really want to think about whether they are doing something wrong by eating meat (or at least, they worry that it is wrong and wouldn’t like to examine their motives), so they like to employ these arguments without ever thinking about them. If you identify with the following arguments, I suggest you think carefully about my objections.
Nature
The nature argument essentially says that because
humans
evolved while eating meat, so this illustrates in some way that eating
meat is
more acceptable. We instantly start to doubt this argument when we
imagine the
situation in which it is discovered that humans used to sacrifice
children. Simply
because we ‘evolved’ sacrificing children, doesn’t mean that
sacrificing
children is acceptable. We each choose our own morality according to
the
principles we believe in; these should not be affected by the behaviour
of
pre-historic man or animals. In modern life, pretty much everything we
do can
be said to be ‘unnatural’ by this definition of nature – using
detergent,
plastics, computers; even clocks, flights, imported fruit and
vegetables, and
even animal farming methods can be unnatural depending on your
definition of
nature. In any case, most people in Europe and
Tradition
Similar to the nature argument, but different. The traditionalist says that because people have been eating meat for a long time, this makes it morally acceptable. I say that for a while we were trading slaves, and were this practice not stopped by economic issues and activism slave owners and traders would be making exactly this argument. We each choose our own morality based on our own principles; sometimes entire societies are wrong about these things. Perhaps we should expect every society to be wrong about at least something.
The Human Body Cannot Cope Without Meat
There are nutritional issues in becoming vegetarian, but then there are nutritional issues related to eating meat also. As long as you want to eat properly as a vegetarian you should find it quite easy to get the protein and iron you need, especially if you continue to consume milk and eggs. Most vegetarians seem to find that there is a considerable health benefit in becoming vegetarian.
It’s Not As
Though We’re
Killing The Animals Ourselves
Farmers who kill animals are just people trying to
earn a
living by responding to public demand for meat. For a long time it was
our only
option for health, nowadays it is a very poor option for staying
healthy. To
buy meat is essentially to make it profitable for people to kill
animals. The
difference between simply buying meat and killing an animal isn’t
morally
clear. We might see it as similar to buying a slave and actually
abducting one;
or paying a hitman to kill someone or
actually
killing someone ourselves. In order to decide whether this difference
is real
or not, you need to decide exactly what is wrong with killing an
animal: is it
that you will find killing an animal in person harrowing, and therefore
it is
wrong? Personally, I have decided that I would find killing an
animal
harrowing, precisely because it is wrong to cause the death of an animal.
Animals Aren’t As Important As Humans
Essentially, I agree with this idea. But there are limits to how often we can fall back on it. At one end of the scale, we might successfully argue that the use of animals in cancer research is okay, because we are seriously enriching and prolonging the lives of humans at the expense of animals (this is my personal opinion). On the other end of the scale, we wouldn’t expect such an argument to justify torturing a cat or a cow simply because we enjoy doing it. Eating meat falls somewhere in between these acts. Ask yourself what eating meat brings for you. It does not significantly contribute to your health, there are alternatives available which often taste nicer than meat itself and a vegetarian lifestyle costs around the same, and often is cheaper.
It is not my intention to convince everybody that they should be vegetarian. It’s my intention to help people come to a decision which reflects their principles. You may very well decide that you are vegetarian because
What Are Vegetarian
Principles?
Different vegetarians have different principles. The only thing they have in common is that their own principles mean that they see eating meat as wrong – at least in most cases. I would describe myself as vegetarian, but I would, with a fairly clear conscience, be able to eat meat if it became a survival issue, or a serious health issue. For instance, if food shortages were to create a situation in which eating meat became the only plentiful source of protein, then I would consider eating meat to be justified. Essentially, I believe that it is possible to justifiably kill an animal, but that it is not acceptable in what I would call ‘normal’ circumstances.
Other Reasons To Be
Vegetarian
Health
Being vegetarian is on the whole good for your body, as long as you ensure that you get enough protein, iron and vitamin B12 (supplements would help, as well as ‘fake’ meats). Fake meats are usually much lower in fat than ordinary meats, and often contain enough protein for your body. Going vegetarian might help you lose weight, if done properly, but probably isn’t the magic bullet you’re looking for. If you do not do it properly, you risk weight gain as dietary imbalances can lead to excess hunger. This is very easy to avoid though with a little planning.
Global Warming
Around 10% of carbon output comes from animal farming. If everyone stopped eating meat we could make a big difference to our carbon output.
What Is Being
Vegetarian Like?
On the whole, being vegetarian isn’t much different than being a meat-eater. Some issues you might want to consider are:
Whilst it’s good to be aware of these issues before you make your decision, bear in mind that any problems are only likely to be teething problems. Restaurants will normally have quite a good vegetarian selection and the taste of micoproteins are useful. Often our friends might have decided that vegetarians are a certain kind of person – that they are hippies, or that they are animal rights activists. Most vegetarians are just normal people who have put some thought into how they want to live their lives. Any fascination will pass quite quickly and there is no need for you to change your social circle or the kind of person you think you are. People are more complicated than stereotypes and you can still be an aggressive stockmarket trader, a fashion designer, a plumber or a deeply right-wing conservative.
There are some real advantages to vegetarianism you shouldn’t forget:
Once I had decided what my conscience entailed I went straight into being vegetarian – that minute. Because I was clear about what I wanted, I didn’t experience any cravings in particular, and did pretty well. For some of you, this will be the best option. If you know that you can cook vegetarian food, don’t eat an awful lot of meat, I would recommend doing it this way. Having said that, other vegetarians would disagree, so perhaps it’s best to go with your gut.
If, for any reason, you think that you need a run-in, consider the following ideas:
The idea behind this is for you to get a feel for being vegetarian so that the change is not particularly drastic. My suggestion, however, is not to delay things for too long. After a month or two at most, it should be time for you to make a firm decision.