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When we left off , the NewYork Times' Roger Cohen had eaten dog while in China, and wasn't thrilled about it emotionally. He writes: There is a rational, and for some people a spiritual, case for being a vegetarian: Killing animals is wrong. Logically, he admits it does make perfect sense to eat dogs if you eat pigs and cows.
But it's also remarkable in that Roger Cohen, a 50-something man who writes for the NewYork Times, wonders: But do pigs have any more or less of a soul than dogs? There is a rational, and for some people a spiritual, case for being a vegetarian: Killing animals is wrong. Are they any more or less sentient? I think not.
To the Editor: Let’s tell people of the quantum jump in energy efficiency that could be accomplished by eating less meat and having what meat is eaten be grass fed and pasture raised by local farmers. It’s easy to cut meat consumption if you start with one day a week of no meat. Bonnie Lane Webber NewYork, Jan.
Hal Herzog writes about how many people who say they are vegetarians will also say they ate meat within the last 24 hours. And of course, many self-identified vegetarians eat fishes and/or chickens. My doctorate in Applied Linguistics from NewYork University puts me at a considerable disadvantage.
A third of a century ago, when the modern animal-liberation movement was in its infancy, Martin published an essay entitled “A Critique of Moral Vegetarianism,” Reason Papers (fall 1976): 13-43. I suspect that many readers of this blog are Christians but not vegetarians. KBJ: There are different reasons to abstain from meat.
To the Editor: Re “ PETA’s Latest Tactic: $1 Million for Fake Meat ” (news article, April 21): The commercial development of meat from animal tissue won’t result in “fake meat” any more than cloning sheep results in fake sheep. A more accurate name for the end result would therefore be “clean meat.”
As a recent convert to vegetarianism, I found that it reinforced my feeling that the eating of living, thinking, emotional creatures is just plain wrong. The fact that geese mate for life, and that the mate of the poor goose that was slaughtered would step forward, was enough to make me swear off meat forever, if I hadn’t already.
For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. The Argument from Human Grain Shortage All of the clearly moral arguments for vegetarianism given so far have been in terms of animal rights and suffering. Second, it seems to assume that not eating meat is the best way to conserve grain.
22): Mr. Steiner might feel less lonely as an ethical vegan—he says he has just five vegan friends—if he recognized that he has allies in mere vegetarians (like me), ethical omnivores and even carnivores. Go vegan, go vegetarian, go humane or just eat less meat. Alexander Mauskop NewYork, Nov.
As a longtime vegan with three vegan-from-birth children, I would like to suggest that since vegetarians are generally healthier than meat eaters, there is no excuse for compassionate people to eat animals.
Cholesterol is found only in foods derived from animals, like meat, cheese and eggs. All food that comes from plants is cholesterol-free, so a vegetarian or vegan diet does wonders for lowering cholesterol levels. That is when I went vegetarian. My cholesterol levels have always made my doctors happy.
The meat and dairy industries want to keep their operations away from the public’s discriminating eyes, but as groups like PETA and the Humane Society have shown us in their graphic and disturbing undercover investigations, factory farms are mechanized madness and slaughterhouses are torture chambers to these unfortunate and feeling beings.
Yet Al Gore does not even mention the need for Americans to reduce meat consumption as we attempt to rescue ourselves from the climate crisis. 9, 2008 Note from KBJ: Some reasons for vegetarianism apply to all animals, from cows, pigs, and sheep to turkeys, chickens, and fish. Michael Radkowsky Washington, Nov.
And I suspect that people become vegetarians for precisely that reason: that by doing so they overcome the residue of guilt that attaches to every form of hubris, and in particular to the hubris of human freedom. If meat-eating should ever become confined to those who do not care about animal suffering then compassionate farming would cease.
I don’t necessarily advocate vegetarianism, but those looking to improve the sustainability of their lifestyles should take a look at their diet. Reducing meat consumption, particularly of beef, is one of the simplest and most rewarding things we can do. Nadia Eghbal Tübingen, Germany, May 26, 2008
But there is a net loss in all meat production, not just of farmed fish or feeding fish to land animals being raised for food. And while there are varying estimates, it takes between 3 and 15 pounds of grain to produce a pound of meat. But “encouraging healthy, less meat-based eating habits” will do nothing to ameliorate the situation.
To the Editor: Re “ Mr. Puck’s Good Idea ” (editorial, March 26): Thank you for writing about the restaurateur Wolfgang Puck and his desire to buy meat raised humanely. The next logical step for those who eat in restaurants is to demand more vegetarian-vegan options on their menus. Kristina Cahill Long Beach, Calif.,
It’s a terrible but ultimately not surprising tale, given the continued lack of self-regulation and the emphasis on profit over safety in the meat industry. The only way the meat industry will change its ways is for people to stop buying ground beef and cause sales to plummet. Ann Calandro Flemington, N.J.,
Here is a NewYork Times blog post about wolf hunting. While this belief might not compel us to be vegetarians, it does demand significant changes in the way we raise animals for food, and it forbids wolf hunting as a form of entertainment. Why does this belief not "compel us to be vegetarians"? Is meat-eating necessary?
By the way, the editorial board of the NewYork Times is progressive (as opposed to conservative). Think of all the progressives— Michael Moore , for example—who either eat meat or go out of their way to ridicule vegetarians. Why does it not call for the abolition of factory farming?
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