I just had a revelation about PETA

[Rainman]

Actually, humans are really the only creature on the earth that actually wastes their food instead of using it productivly. If you think of all the times people have let leftovers rot in their fridge, all the companies that throw out food instead of letting it be used by, say, poor people; and other kinds of waste. It's also a waste too that people become obese though the overindulgence of food. We see it everyday that people always buy more food than they can possibly eat.

It's our priviledge as a wealthy society to be able throw out food so I wouldn't complain about that. It's not thoughtless waste by us that is causing world hunger, but a lot of factors that are largely out of our control. If your worried about poor people join a charity, but don't complain about something you should be thankful for.

[Beldaran]

Like Rainman said, we don't acquire food by stealing it from starving countries. We produce it because we have a successful productive economy. We produce it with our land, with technology such as chemistry, mechanical engineering, farm tools, capitalism, markets, etc. We produced these technologies as well. We did not take them from anyone.

If poor countries are starving, that says absolutely nothing about us, and everything about their dysfunctional political systems.

[AtmaWeapon]

There's a number of people starving to death in the world right now so large that it basically makes the amount of overweight people insignificant. On top of this, people are being beaten, oppressed, persecuted, and denied the most basic of human rights that we hold dear.

When this number is overshadowed by the number of people who are dying due to their severe obesity, I will begin to care about animal rights.

[Jigglysaint]

I still don't like the idea of wasting food. Anyway, the topic is about PETA and their percieved moral problems eating meat. It is actually better eating meat because to support the size of the USA alone, you'd need way more land to grow food. The other problem is that meat is a compact source of nutrients, while your grains and veggies don't have enough protien in order to meet the demands the population has.

If we had a million less people the country needed to support, maybe a third of them could get away without touching a single animal product, except for the fact that it alone will cause nutritional deficiencies.

[{DSG}DarkRaven]

Jigs makes a good point about land use. It would take a lot more land to raise crops as opposed to meat. And that would inevitably lead to more drastically genetically engineered plants, for higher yields, hardier plants, etc. And anyone who's read about the dangers of man-made crops should know that they're much more dangerous than even man-made cows, so to speak. A genetically engineered bovine hardly threatens the entire global ecosystem if it escapes the farm. Super Wheat/Rice/Corn/Etc., on the other hand, does.

[Rainman]

Animals still require a lot of crops to feed them so the land advantage probably isn't as great as you make it. "Super Wheat/Rice/Corn" is probably the only way we'll be able to get enough food to feed the world. You can only increase meat yields so much.

[AtmaWeapon]

Animals still require a lot of crops to feed them so the land advantage probably isn't as great as you make it. "Super Wheat/Rice/Corn" is probably the only way we'll be able to get enough food to feed the world. You can only increase meat yields so much.

I was just thinking maybe the solution to the problem is easier than we think. Like what if we genetically engineered cows that had nothing but flesh and a digestive system to create it... it would be one big giant meatball and would definitely be much more efficient than cows!

[Jigglysaint]

I was just thinking maybe the solution to the problem is easier than we think. Like what if we genetically engineered cows that had nothing but flesh and a digestive system to create it... it would be one big giant meatball and would definitely be much more efficient than cows!

It would, if we could do it. Unfortunatly we just arn't that advanced enough to create organic machines in that way just yet.

[MottZilla]

You should treat animals (well certain animals atleast) with some respect. Generally ones kept as pets in my opinion, as they are the owner's responsibility as they are not wild animals. It isn't right to let people abuse animals that are supposed to be in their care. However, wild animals... Really the only concern would be preserving species or an ecosystem.

Anyways, about vegan people, ew. I certainly enjoy a nice steak, pork chop, hamburger, etc. If I stop eating them, that means I'm dead. I could not survive on fucking fruits and vegtables or whatever the hell they think you should eat. I don't see what's so cruel to raise cows and pigs and then slaughter them to harness the meat. It's not like some sicko is tormenting them. They are rather humanely killed. Also, considering cows aren't exactly proven to be very intelligent and aren't educated, what's the big deal? Today, they ate and shit. Tomorrow, they'll eat and shit. Yesterday they ate and shit. What's the cow gonna miss when it dies?

So there's no reason to be cruel, and certainly not bad to have someone on the look out. But at the same time, it's a fact of life. I certainly would agree you can't be healthy without eating meat. It's part of the human race.

[Glitch]

Do we have any vegans/vegetarians on these boards?