So, after I posted a prior article on Anti-Vegetariansim, I received an alarming number of hits to "Things I've Noticed" from searches on terms having to do with being against vegetarianism. Some even searched on that stupid famous quote, "Vegetarian: Indian word for bad hunter." to get here.
I have a couple of good responses to that one...
"Hunter: English word for a person dumb enough to run around chasing food."
"Save a deer. Shoot a hunter."
+ Atul
Plants are so much cleaner than dead animals anyway.
Posted by: Sereena X | April 22, 2006 at 05:38 PM
Plants are living things, as well.
Posted by: person | June 27, 2006 at 05:59 PM
what is so bad about eating cows and chickens? there are a lot of them anyway. what are we suppose to eat? nothing but plants? human beings cannot completely surrive on just that. we would lack the intake of nutrients that we need from those animals. my bio teacher explained this to my class. eating animals is just the order of life. how do you think the earliest people survived? by eating plants? i dont think so, they had to hunt for their food. if they hadnt, they would have died and none of us would be here today. take some college level classes. you learn a lot.
Posted by: becky | December 16, 2006 at 11:15 PM
Humans are natural herbivores. Just look at the teeth. They are not sharp like a lion's teeth.
Why do you think people with cancer(s) and people that are not healthy are asked to go on a vegetarian or vegan diet? Because it is healthier.
Also, the way animals are treated is horrible. Plus, the fact that there are tumors and antibiotics are in your meat made me swich to a vegan diet. Also, there is poop or E. coli in 98% of meat.
Go to goeg.com for more info.
Posted by: Jenny | December 16, 2006 at 11:53 PM
Humans are natural herbivores. Just look at the teeth. They are not sharp like a lion's teeth.
Why do you think people with cancer(s) and people that are not healthy are asked to go on a vegetarian or vegan diet? Because it is healthier.
Also, the way animals are treated is horrible. Plus, the fact that there are tumors and antibiotics are in your meat made me swich to a vegan diet. Also, there is poop or E. coli in 98% of meat.
Go to goveg.com for more info.
Posted by: Jenny | December 16, 2006 at 11:54 PM
I just ran across this little post or whatever it is...and I wanted to say that we are animals too...didn't any of you take a science class? Animals eat animals. It's the natural way things work.
Posted by: Danielle | February 08, 2007 at 06:59 PM
It's true that we are animals, but I think you'll agree that we are unique animals. The only thing that separates man from beast is our ability to have compassion for other living things.
Also, is it natural for animals to keep other animals as pets? I think not. I don't expect you to eat your neighbors cat even though it is an edible animal. (By the way, human flesh is red meat too), I like to treat pets, farm animals, and wild animals with equal respect and that's my right.
It's amazing all the anti-vegetarian sentiment this post has gotten which only proves my original point. My post was not an anti-meat eating post. It was an anti-anti-vegetarianism post. But since people attack my way of life, I have to fight back.
Posted by: Atul | February 08, 2007 at 07:16 PM
Look, I know there are alot of you out there thinking, animals are ugly smelly and stupid, they are ony here to be eaten and killed. But even if you dont care about the animals and eat meat, if u are a decent person, then you must care about other dying people in the world. All the land used for pasture for the animals farmed to produce meat coud be used to grow vegetables which could feed so many more people then the little meat you get from each animal. Further more, chickens, cows, goats and many other farmed animals are fed the amount of grain each year which could be eaten by thousands of humans.
If you dont care about the animals, then think about this: there are dying people in the world who are dying of starvation, eating meat is a seriously innefficient way of distributing food and if we would all not eat meat and not farm animals, then food would be more abundant and would cost less, and less people would die of starvation.
Posted by: Benji | February 19, 2007 at 07:33 AM
i agree with many people below me, eating animals is just a natural process of life. humans can not live a healthy life without nutrients found in both meat and vegitables. in response to jenny's comment, humans are not natural herbivores we are omnivores meaning we are meant to eat both plants and animals, explaining why we have both pointed and flat teeth. in adition to this as a species we treat animals no worse than we treat eachother or any worse than animals treat eachother
Posted by: zach | February 24, 2007 at 01:44 PM
Hey Becky,
Humans aren't Herbivores, they're Omnivores, we have canine's & molars, so we do have the sharp teeth to eat meat. And do not confuse us with lions those are CARNIVORES. Jeez do some research.
And rodents get cancer almost more then humans and most of them are herbivores, like you'd hope us to be.
Posted by: Human | February 08, 2008 at 12:57 AM
I am a vegetarian, but I can see that their are many arguments against it. Vegetarians are usually deficient in amminoacids, iron, B12, Vitamin D and calcium. All of these essentials can be found in a balanced meat eating diet. Also, patients with cancer are asked NOT to go on a vegan or vegetarian diet, in response to Jenny, because it does not provide them with all of the nutrients that they need to SURVIVE. In addition to this, ancient human beings who ate meat had larger brains than those in vegetarian societies. Fish are low in fat and are rich in Omega 3 Fatty Acids, which are key to brain development. They actually build brain cells. They improve the immune system, lower cholesterol, decrease heart disease. If you eat no meat, you also have a MUCH HIGHER POTASIUM level, due to the fact that your body can not get rid of the excess potassium. This leads to HIGHER cholesterol. Yet all of the statements against vegetarianism should only be made in argument against vegetarianism in the case that a meat eater is prosecuted. We should not taunt people due to their religious, animal rights and health concerns. I am a vegetarian, not a vegan. I am a vegetarian and I can see all of these reasons. My justifications are religious reasons and animal rights. There are so many reasons against vegetarianism, but if you are a vegetarian, hold strong. There are people like me rooting for you.
It can be really scary sometimes, when we hear all of these statements against our cause, but know that we are there for each other.
Posted by: Anil | March 02, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Btw I'm in grade 7
Posted by: Anil | March 02, 2008 at 10:07 AM
Vegetarian and meat eating diets can both be healthy but any diet without water is deadly and if we continue to water grain to feed animals (that we also have to water) we are going run out. Take your pick.
Posted by: Sheila Kelly | November 02, 2008 at 02:34 PM
About the "omnivore" argument: what does it matter? We live in the modern age. It is possible to live and be healthy, whether you eat meat or not. "That's the way its always been" is perhaps the stupidest argument anyone can invoke on any given topic, not just vegetarianism.
Posted by: Michael | November 28, 2008 at 05:54 PM
It's just not true that we "have" to have meat to survive and thrive. I've been veg for almost 24 years....no meat. I am more than fine. We can get all of our needs met with plant foods...I and millions of others are living proof of that.
Meat eating is not the "natural order of things" for humans. We are different from animals...we have consciousness and wisdom to make ethical choices. If we abrograte our responsibility to this we are being no more than animals! So, be a human being...have compassion, wisdom...be veg for all the hundreds of reasons to do so. That is the way of the whole human being.
Posted by: Soliel | January 31, 2009 at 03:16 PM
You are all idiots. If we are omnivores then why are vegetarians and vegans so much healthier? Meat causes or contributes to strokes, cancer, and heart disease. Anyway, if you refuse saving hundreds of innocent animals just to avoid a deficiecy, then you are really stupid and self centered. Vegetarianism is better for you, the environment, and the animals, plus contributes to higher IQs.
Posted by: Becca | March 14, 2009 at 08:15 PM
To Becca: Insults would certainly never convince me to be Vegetarian.
One thing that I noticed about some Vegetarians, including some that have commented here, is that they often go on about how "Vegetarianism is the natural way to be". In particular, one of the first comments conveyed this viewpoint. But when someone answered the claim (that included something about human teeth Vs. lion teeth)that naturally, human beings are actually omnivores (as we have sharp AND flat teeth), all of a sudden, the importance of what is "natural" was tossed out the window with a few "So whats" and all of a sudden, the argument was about "reason", "thinking" and "compassion".
Anyway, I am not vegetarian because I don't want to be. I don't care if others choose to be, however. I don't believe in persecuting vegetarians, though I will point out that plenty of vegetarians have been known to persecute meat eaters as well. As for myself, I hate being on a meatless diet, and will never do so again. I tried vegetarianism when I was in my early 20s. I absolutely hated it. I won't do it again. I do not believe that its "unethical" for human beings to kill animals for food, I do not believe that it "lacks compassion" to eat animals, I do not believe that Vegetarians are always healthier than those who eat meat, I do not believe that vegetarians are immune to heart disease, cholesterol or strokes. There are PLENTY of VERY fattening, VERY high cholesterol and high calorie plant and fruit based foods. Sugar isn't meat. Vegetable oil isn't meat. Mustard isn't meat. People can eat very healthily as vegetarians AND as meat-eaters, contrary to what certain people in both camps may think. They can also eat very unhealthily as vegetarians and as meat eaters.
And by the way, calling each other's arguments "dumb" and "stupid" will not help anything.
The author of the original article stated in a comment that he did not write the article to be "anti-meat eating", though I couldn't help but notice the last two quotes.
"Hunter: English word for a person dumb enough to run around chasing food."
"Save a deer. Shoot a hunter."
And the whole "When my way of life is attacked, I have to fight back" thing is a bit melodramatic, in my humble opinion.
Anyway, I hope everyone finds happiness with whatever way of life they have chosen. Live and let live, people.
Posted by: Bryan | July 20, 2009 at 04:50 AM
I'm a 14-year-old who's never eaten meat in her life (my mother raised me as a vegetarian). Countless people, adults and children, have questioned how I get my nutrients, because I'm a big-boned, five foot-nine inch, one hundred forty-pound teen, which is massive for my age. My answer? I eat lots of protein, in soy, beans and milk. Any nutrient you can get in meat you can get in plants.
Some arguments for vegetarianism that I've observed over the years:
1) While we do have canines, we have a great deal more herbivorous molars. The canines could also be recognized as teeth needed to slice through tough vegetation.
2) People tell me that because we are animals, it's natural that we should consume other animals. Others flame vegetarianism because they consider humans on a completely separate, higher level. Combining these theories: if we are animals, yet so advanced in our mentality, shouldn't we rise above what nature has prescribed for us, and care for the animals of the world?
3) The trophic levels of nature indicate that as organisms travel up the food chain, they lose their energy level. Therefore, you could feed a much higher amount of people with grain than with beef.
There are many others, but those are three that popped off the top of my head.
Of course, there could be a bias in my argument, since I'm Pagan and believe that all animals are connected through a spirit of universal life and therefore equal.
Posted by: Emo | December 12, 2010 at 08:02 PM