[Polpolion]

The study of why people are vegetarians.

If you're not a vegetarian, post what your views are. If you are, post why you are.


I am not a vegetarian. I know two people whom are vegetarians. One of them says " you're eating the flesh of another animal. I just think thats a bit disgusting". I tend to think that is okay, but is kind of just saying that he's a really picky eater. The other says that she feels really bad about the way the animals are treated. I think that's a stupid reason because, it's either that, or pay thirty times more for the food, and have less than half of the amount we have available to us now. Plus, them not eating it wouldn't accomplish anything. It would only make that much more meat go to waste. That much more animals die for no reason.




Now what about you guys?

[Mr. Vega]

Plus, them not eating it wouldn't accomplish anything. It would only make that much more meat go to waste. That much more animals die for no reason.

If more people were vegetarians, then there would be less demand for meat, so less animals would be slaughtered.

[Nuclear1]

I don't really like vegetarian diets.

They're a little bit harder to catch, and the meat's a lot stringier too.

[achtung]

My signature states my opinion on the matter.

[MP-Ryan]

As usual, I revert to my biology background:

"See those front teeth you have?  Those are for ripping, shredding, and generally facilitating the consumption of meat.  Normal musculature?  Oh yeah, that's because we get large amounts of energy from fat, and building materials from protein - in the meat we're supposed to eat.  Those digestive enzymes throughout our GI tract?  Again, for meat.  At least half the systems in our bodies are based around the consumption of meat.  We're omnivores - like bears, we'll eat anything (nothing else explains the human fascination with junk food).  We're designed to eat meat and vegetable matter.  Get the **** over it already!"

Vegetarians are bad enough.  When it comes to vegans, I start invoking Darwinism.  I have no tolerance for stupid people - and yes, and over-developed sense of sympathy/morality is a form of stupidity.  By far the majority of vegetarians and vegans do NOT eat properly and suffer nutritional deficits as a result - which the rest of us get to deal with in terms of health care cost in taxes 50 years down the road if they don't eat themselves out of existence first.

Not agreeing with the treatment of animals is one thing - trying to deny your basic biological existence is quite another.

EDIT:  That said, the lunatics on the Atkins diet or those who eat nothing but meat are just as bad.

[vyper]

I cannot understand the mindset, beyond that I feel nothing. Now if you'll excuse me I'm off for a steak pie.

[karajorma]

I don't mind proper vegetarians that much. They're doing something stupid but no more so than most of us are in one way or another (Drinking too much, not paying enough attention driving/crossing the road). As long as they don't attempt to give me some holier than thou  attitude to go with their strange choice I don't mind.

What annoys me are vegetarians who eat fish and chicken. If you eat meat you are not a vegetarian. Stop pretending that you are.

As for vegans, as far as I'm concerned they can all take a running jump. If they can muster enough energy for either activity that it..

[Agent_Koopa]

My views are thus:

I don't care what others restrict themselves to. If it helps them live longer, so much the better for them. I resent it if I am told that what I eat is unethical, but then again that's never happened to me before. I do not think that eating vegetables is any more natural, and I dislike the overuse of the word for marketing purposes, but again, if that's what they choose, and as long as they're taking the proper supplements or making sure they're eating the right vegetables, etc. then it's none of my business. What am I supposed to do, say to them that meat tastes good and they should eat it? Who am I to dictate what people do or do not eat?

[achtung]

Plants are living creatures too.

[WMCoolmon]

I am not a vegetarian.

As far as my views, I understand the viewpoint. I tried being a vegetarian for about a week and didn't do so well; most of the people I talked to figured it was due to the lack of protein. Unless I need to justify my views on eating meat, I figure it's not worth fretting over. In the end, anything that's intelligent enough to object is something that I would probably agree that I shouldn't be eating.

In some sense, I see vegetarianism as a luxury of modern society. There's enough food (in America, at least) that people can choose to eat veggies and ignore meat if they like. Whereas if people were forced to scavenge and live off limited resources, facing malnourishment or starvation otherwise, I imagine that most vegetarians would find it necessary to redraw the line. In fact this may be where indigenous practices of honoring kills got started. "OK, it obviously lives (like us), so how do we justify killing it but not us?"

Plus I remember seeing some statistics somewhere that stated that vegetarianism led to longer lifespans, or there was some relationship between the two. At the very least, it seems like it would reduce your calories/fat intake. (I'm just making an educated guess here, your google search for actual statistics is as good as mine)

[karajorma]

That's probably not due to the vegetarian diet though and is simply a case of statistics giving you the wrong answer because you aren't asking the right questions.

Divide the population into two groups vegetarians and non-vegetarians (as the stats you mention have done). The vegetarians have made a conscious decision to watch what they eat carefully. The other group however contains people who don't give a stuff about what they eat as long as it tastes good.

It's not hard to see how those people could significantly drag down the average. The difference is nothing to do with the chosen diet and everything to do with the fact that vegetarians are on a chosen diet. A more sensible test would be health food eating vegetarians vs people who have chosen to eat healthily but still eat meat.

[Mobius]

I'm not vegetarian because:

1) I like meat;
2) Being vegetarian damages you;