Dr. NeoMeaty or Veggie?
What are your feelings about eating meat?
I’m indifferent about meat consumption, and that indifference tilts more towards the anti-meat region when it shifts due to health reasons.
Although there’s a lot of sociopolitical issues about meat consumption in recent years in regards to how it is affecting the climate due to greenhouse gases like methane belched by cows, this has not sufficiently informed a pro or anti-meat stance for me because it has only fueled marketing of neo-dietary options.
There are the vegetarian groups spearheading anti-meat campaigns and citing animal cruelty as their moral code for going against meat eating. This creates a dilemma that puts both the vegetarian community and the meat eating community in a bind, and both sides conveniently ignore it.
The argument is that animals have consciousness and perhaps intelligence, and this is true. If they have all the characteristics of living things as taught in the elementary integrated science, then this claim is viable. And since animals are members of the ecosystem, they possess these qualities which are essential for their functioning.
How vegetarians see this consciousness is limited to mammals only. Thinking this way allows some vegetarians to conveniently consume seafoods.
But are fishes, crabs and shrimps without consciousness and intelligence? Certainly not, and this is the meat eater’s defense!
Meat lovers passionately argue that these sea creatures are conscious and intelligent too. They also add that plants are conscious and intelligent living beings as well. This argument allows meat lovers to conveniently carry on with their more obvious permissible carnivorism.
So the question is, should we stop eating every living thing, animals or plants? If yes, are lab grown equivalents therefore pacifying enough for our moral astuteness? In preserving the consciousness and intelligence in other living species, do we return to eating ourselves or other humans?
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Most importantly, what is the expected end to the argument for other living species being worthy of equal living dignity as humans? “
Perhaps having an answer to this question can be the thing that gets to determine the direction in which my opinion tips.
Now, if we step out of the fantastic idealism around other species being conscious and intelligent, and step into real life, we may be able to address more immediate realities.
Meat lovers, Vegetarians, Water drinkers (and water is a conscious and intelligent being too!), air breathers…have you ever hit a deer or had a deer scare on your commute before?
I have. The damage was colossal. My insurance company increased my monthly premium to more than double of what I was paying before that incidence. Most people who have had this experience have reported it negatively.
Because of how much deers are costing insurance companies and individuals, the government decided that deers can be hunted for sport to reduce their damage to lives and vehicles.
But are deers not considered conscious and intelligent too? Don’t bother with answering this one. It is obvious at this point that deers (lions, bears, sharks, etc) are not intelligent enough to avoid causing harm to humans.
All I’m saying is that ecosystem regulation is necessary. Imagine a world overgrown with living plants of all sorts? Unimaginable, right? Because that’s a whole forest right there.
Now, imagine a world full of all sorts of animals reproducing endlessly? Nightmare, yeah? Nightmare!
Finally, imagine waters overflowing with crabs, oysters, fishes of all sorts washing ashore…no beach, literally, no!
Before trying to convince me for or against any of the sociopolitical dietary divides, you must first of all explain to me what humanity aims to accomplish by putting up the argument for the consciousness of living species as the reason why they shouldn’t be eaten by humans.