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me_irl (feddit.org)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/me_irl@lemmy.world
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[–] 3 points 9 months ago (7 children)

I would. If I eat meat I am responsible for taking that animals life, whether or not it's me that performs the killing blow. At least I know if I do it, it will be as quick and painless as I am able to make it. In the case of hunting, I would take some comfort in knowing it lived free and not in a cramped cage in a factory farm or something. If I was able to raise my own animals, I would give them the best and happiest life I was able to give them, and also end their life as painlessly as I could manage when it was time for that.

I wouldn't at all enjoy the act of killing, but I feel like it shows at least a little respect for the life of the animal that I am willing to take the responsibility to do it myself, precisely because it is a hard thing to do. I would never have eaten meat if I wasn't wiling to do the killing myself.

I recently switched to a Pescetarian diet, partly so I can stop supporting factory style farming. I know it's an anthropocentric pov but Its easier for me to kill fish and other sea creatures than land critters, but I still try to be as humane as possible when doing it.

I will never eat anything in the Dolphin, Whale, or Octopus families, which is another anthropocentric thing, and I guess it made me a hypocrite because I did eat pork and they are intelligent too. I am trying to reduce the harm I do at least.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago* (6 children)

    Killing a cow I raised would be the same as killing a dog I raised.

    Just because it's "yummy" and "I feel like it"?

    Seems pretty insane to me, but people be people'ing.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I feel the same, but I do think there's a threshold somewhere.

    Insects. I don't want to eat those, but if I had to, my conscience wouldn't be the problem.

    Fish. It's not my pet. I wouldn't worry too much about eating it. Breeding fish. Maybe not so easy, but fish will eat each other any chance they get, so why shouldn't I.

    Chicken. They're not good pets. Fucking dinosaur would eat me if it could. I don't know if I could have a pet-like relationship to a chicken. Maybe other birds are different. I'd respect a crow or eagle enough not to hunt it.

    Then there's mammals. I agree that most of them are like dogs. I don't want to breed or hunt pigs, cows, deer or cats. But how about rats and mice? They are a real nuisance and breed like crazy. It wouldn't matter much to anyone if there's a few more or less, and I surely wouldn't pet them in the wild. However, rabbits and hares. They're just too cute. No eating.

    So, there it is. Despite loving every living being, I could still eat some mammals, some birds and anything else in the animal kingdom without remorse.

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  • [–] 0 points 9 months ago

    I agree. While I feel like I couldn't kill a mouse/rat with my hands and watch it die, but I think I could make myself set a trap that kills the animal instantly out of my sight.

    Very interesting point you've made!

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (3 children)

    I don't think it would be the same thing at all. I wouldn't go out of my way to create an emotional bond with a critter I raised to be food. In fact im pretty sure I would intentionally not do that.

    Im not saying that it might not accidentally happen, I am a softie and an animal lover. If it did I probably wouldn't be capable of eating it.

    You seem to feel pretty strongly about this, don't you think its at least a little hypocritical to be ok with killing and eating an animal, as long as you personally aren't delivering the killing blow? You are every bit as responsible for the deaths of the animals you eat as the person at the slaughter house.

    I have no issues with people refusing to kill an animal on ethical grounds (reducing the harm from factory farming was a big consideration for the change in my diet) but you aren't doing that.

    It just seems like a weird stance to judge me for doing something you are also doing, but by proxy. If you hire someone to kill someone else, you would still get charged with murder. The same logic applies here.

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  • [–] 0 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Emotional bond or no, I don't have it me to walk up to a (random or raised) animal and slit its throat. Especially when it's raised by me.

    If it was a matter of life or death - that's a different topic. Right now, there's no reason to eat animal meat, except for "yummy".

    The meat industry has done a "marvelous" job of disconnecring "killing" with "consuming meat". No, I don't feel like I'm killing the animal, because I'm not doing it.

    I'm eating meat because it's "yummy". But that wasn't what I said in the original comment. I said if I had to choose (which I currently don't have to do). And I said I couldn't kill an animal with my own hands, just because it's tasty, because I'm not a psycho.

    Apparently, I don't have a issue when a psycho does it and delivers me the meat, of an animal I have never seen before.

    I wish it wasn't this way, and I'm trying to reduce my meat consumption (and I have, by a lot). But we don't live in an ideal world.

    Same with climate change. You know that people are already dying because of it. I'm nor directly killing the people, but they are dying because of it. And me being "comfortable" adds to climate change (even if it's a minute addition, just like eating a Big Mac is a minute part of the killed animal)

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    I didn't say you killed the animals, I said people who eat meat are responsible for the deaths of the animals they consume. That's just a fact. If people didn't purchase tasty meat to consume, other "Psychos" wouldn't raise them for others to consume. I understand that it's much easier to let someone else 'do the dirty work', believe me I know.

    As for people who kill their own meat (or your meat) being 'psychos' I can tell you that it's obviously not the case. Hunting culture grew from the time when it was necessary to hunt to provide for your family, and that is the spirit that it's carried out in today. People don't hunt because they think it's great fun to murder innocent creatures. It's about providing for your family, friends, and community. I just saw a post on Facebook from my ex-BIL and he was talking about a buck he just got while hunting. It was a post thanking 'the lord' for the provisions.

    It's just a way of life in rural America. We don't do it to be cruel, we do it as a way to not have to rely solely on supermarkets to provide for ourselves. If we ever do have a 'Y2K' style situation (and let's be honest- that isn't a crazy idea) knowing how to catch, clean, and cook wild game would be a valuable and sought after skill. A lot of poor people in rural areas do depend on hunting and fishing to supplement their diets.

    Most hunters are (directly or indirectly) conservationists as well. It's in their best interest to maintain a healthy and flourishing population of animals (not just game animals- web of life and all that). Hunting is strictly regulated by the state to ensure that the animals don't become overpopulated or over hunted.

    Overpopulation would quickly become a huge problem (not just for humans, but for the environment and the animals themselves) if it's not well regulated. In fact the South has a massive problem on their hands with wild boar atm. They are an invasive species so it's not quite the same thing, deer for example will become overpopulated very quickly.

    We have (to our detriment) eliminated most or in a lot of case all natural predators for larger game animals like deer, so in order to be good stewards of the environment we have to have another way of controlling their populations. I can't really think of a better way to do it than have people in the community do 'the work' for free (in fact they pay for the privilege) and filling their bellies at the same time- while also reducing our dependence on factory farms.

    The analogy to climate change doesn't really work. It's not really individuals who are the problem there, it's the choices giant corporations and government makes in the name of profits that are the real issue. Most people if given a choice between a lifestyle that is sustainable and responsible would choose to do so, we are just given so little choice in that regard. Not eating meat is a choice that, especially nowadays, anyone could easily accomplish.

    If a new meat product showed up in grocery stores called 'Long Pork' that was the tastiest meat ever, but people found out that it was human flesh- would you consider the people who continued to eat the meat to be complicit in the murder of said 'livestock'? Especially if you knew for a fact that if everyone stopped eating it- the murders would stop?

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