171–180 of 275 posts
I simply can't understand why eating meat is wrong, when eating plant is not wrong. I feel they are same.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. It's strange that people really think that what they're doing isn't connected in a way with their self-esteem, especially if they claiming all the time that they're doing it only for a better world. Wouldn't it be funny, if at the end there's no much difference between the SUV driver and the vegan.
I think people buy large SUVs under the false assumption of crashworthiness. For the price range they could have gotten sedans of similar prestige.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The point of the story is that not everyone can do a Vegan diet and still be healthy. When you hear a story about how some substance 'cured cancer' do you instantly conclude that the claims are necessarily correct - even for the cured person in the story? Would you expect the story to become popular on HN? The problem with one-off anecdotes like this is that they don't even conclusively demonstrate anything. > I so…
Being a strict vegan and getting all the required nutrients to maintain optimal health is almost mutually exclusive. You can take pills and shots to make up for the missing parts but these use animal products. It can be an insane amount of work for normal people. To say it would be easy if more people do it does not reflect the realities of nutrition. I wish you luck but it is not and can not be for everyone at leat…
Whatever your position on the subject, it's important to approach this matter with objectivity, logic, openness, sensitivity and lots of data. :)
I'm all for radicalism since radicals are the main force questioning conventional wisdom. But the size of the vegan movement is totally out of proportion to its veracity. Take the whole "meat is murder" slogan. It's ridiculous from the outset and completely ignores our existence within the earth's ecosystem. I mean industrialized animal farming is fairly horrific, but the way to stop that is by advocating and paying…
I never understood the "Meat is murder" slogan. It's factual. They should have used "Meat is torture". I think it's more accurate with their line of thinking.
I'm all for radicalism since radicals are the main force questioning conventional wisdom. But the size of the vegan movement is totally out of proportion to its veracity. Take the whole "meat is murder" slogan. It's ridiculous from the outset and completely ignores our existence within the earth's ecosystem. I mean industrialized animal farming is fairly horrific, but the way to stop that is by advocating and paying…
It is almost as ridiculous to posit that humans should be held to the same standard as your average animal. The moral objection is that being able to comprehend the existence of other beings bestows an obligation to facilitate their well-being in addition to your own. You can disagree with that, but it is not "ridiculous". Personally I think that we as a "higher species" - in comparison with the rest of the lifeforms on this planet - should at least make an effort to move toward veganism. In the end, it may not fully work and it will never completely remove the need to kill animals, but I think it can go a long way to reduce unnecessary suffering.
A lot of people do and will continue to eat meat (and wear leather &c.) but that is not an argument to not attempt to change the situation - or just change your own habits if you feel no pull toward effecting social change. Your argument is also undermined by the very factual increase in vegetarian and vegan
Most vegans I know are quite aware of food quality and will avoid additives and processed foods. Some do not, some have very poor diets indeed. There is no dichotomy here, though.
On the topic, while the most hard-line vegans will disagree, I think milk, eggs and non-sentient beings like various clams, oysters and such are a reasonable compromise in ensuring one's nutrition. They - given humane and sustainable practices of course - do not cause much suffering to the animals involved.
Reminded me of a comment by Linus Torvalds [1]: Meat is kind of important to people. Young kids in particular need a lot of varied nutrients, and a balanced diet - with meat - is likely to be way healthier than the alternatives. Quite frankly, being vegetarian is like being religious: you should let the kid decide on his/her own when they are grown up and can make that choice on their own. Plus by then they've done m…
I'm 6'1", ~175 lbs, and am strong and healthy. I've never had a blood test show any deficiencies. I don't have to go out of my way to find protein: dairy, eggs, and legumes are in enough dishes to make it easy. Plus, you don't need nearly as much protein as most people get.
Linus is often wrong about things, especially when they're outside his areas of expertise.
I'm all for radicalism since radicals are the main force questioning conventional wisdom. But the size of the vegan movement is totally out of proportion to its veracity. Take the whole "meat is murder" slogan. It's ridiculous from the outset and completely ignores our existence within the earth's ecosystem. I mean industrialized animal farming is fairly horrific, but the way to stop that is by advocating and paying…
The industry just in the U.S. consumes something like 150 million cattle and 9 billion fowl per year and that's not counting the animals we use for other purposes (dairy, eggs, etc.)
Are we to let them just starve and die in the fields? Pets? Let them go feral? (I can tell you that feral pigs are some of the scariest, meanest animals in the world). Can cows even go feral? Or have they been so domesticated over the last 10,000 years that they're pretty much useless in the wild?
No matter what, it would be intolerably cruel to the extant population of farm animals.
I'm all for radicalism since radicals are the main force questioning conventional wisdom. But the size of the vegan movement is totally out of proportion to its veracity. Take the whole "meat is murder" slogan. It's ridiculous from the outset and completely ignores our existence within the earth's ecosystem. I mean industrialized animal farming is fairly horrific, but the way to stop that is by advocating and paying…
Best line in the whole post: "I now no longer lie to myself about the fact that life requires death." I never understood the "Meat is murder" slogan. It's factual. They should have used "Meat is torture". I think it's more accurate with their line of thinking.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're inferring the feelings of an animal to make your judgement. No one actually knows the living preferences of a chicken or a cow. Since you posit that huamn beings can infer the feelings of animals I posit that animals prefer to be factory farmed than spend what existence the animal has being constantly chased by predators. Therefore wearing leather and eating mass-produced chicken makes perfect sense and is in…
> You're inferring the feelings of an animal to make your judgement. > No one actually knows the living preferences of a chicken or a cow. Does the lack of knowledge of their living preferences somehow bolster the argument that it's ok to factory-farm them though?
"Monks, these two extremes ought not to be
practiced by one who has gone forth from
the household life. (What are the two?) There
is addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures,
which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary
people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there
is addiction to self-mortification, which is
painful, unworthy, and unprofitable. Avoiding
both these extremes, the Tathagata (the
Perfect One) has realized the Middle Path; it
gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to
calm, to insight, to enlightenment and to
Nibbana. And what is that Middle Path realized
by the Tathagata...? It is the Noble Eightfold
path, and nothing else, namely: right
understanding, right thought, right speech,
right action, right livelihood, right effort,
right mindfulness and right concentration."
- Siddhārtha Gautama, Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta