Animals vs. Humans; the meat debate

When you tell someone that you don't eat meat, let alone that you refrain from animal products entirely, the results vary but they tend to be on a similar level:

• But, why?
• Don't you miss things? Like bacon?
• I could NEVER do that!
• ...Why though?
• What do you eat?
• WHY

My answer to the most popular question (in case you didn't get it, it's 'why'), is, "Why not?" Like, why aren't  you vegan? Meat-eaters tend to get confused about why I'm vegan, but I am genuinely confused as to why they're not.

I've also been asked several times, "Why vegan? Why not just vegetarian?" Asking me why I'm not vegetarian is akin to asking a half-full animal shelter why they don't take in more animals. There is plenty of room for more animals, but because that shelter would need to have more responsibility, more compassion, they should just stop halfway?

There are many reasons why veganism is worth it, not just for the individual, but for the animals they're saving, the planet, the environment, other  people etc, and I could chock-a-block this post with all of these reasons but as someone with a short attention span, I don't expect anyone else to keep up with me after the fiftieth paragraph!

Therefore, I will quickly cover something that's pretty straight-forward - why do we treat animals as lesser beings?

I'm about to answer that question for you, with counter-arguments.

~

Some people hate this word, but as it's brought up in the book I'm going to reference, I'm gonna go ahead and say it: thinking less of animals because they're not human is a form of what some would call 'speciesism'.

The following quotes are taken from 50 Philosophy Ideas (You Really Need To Know) by Ben Dupré (page 106). I chose this book because these are the exact same questions that I've been asking myself/the world.

Speciesism is described here as: '[A] basic lack of respect for the dignity and needs of animals other than humans, no more defensible than discrimination on the basis of gender or race.'


This is a bit of a touchy thing to bring up - sexism and racism - but before you immediately write this off, the basis  of the idea is the same: changing the way you treat someone/something based on something that is a part of them, something that you deem inferior.

But hold up SJ, you may say, there's no way you can compare a human being to an animal, they're a completely different species, completely separate from us, no parallels.

I will get to that.

Should we only  be looking out for our fellow man? Why not look out for humans and  animals? Dupré says that lions for example favour other lions over say, warthogs...'so why shouldn't humans show a similar partiality?'

Because, some may say:

1. 'humans have a higher level of intelligence than animals (or at least the potential to do so);
2. predation is natural (animals in nature eat other animals);
3. animals are specially bred to be eaten/used in experiments (and wouldn't exist otherwise);
4. we need to eat meat (although millions of apparently healthy people don't);
5. animals lack souls (but are we certain that humans do have them?);'

He read your mind, right? But then he counters a couple of these thoughts:

1. '[I]f we decide it is superior intellect that counts, would we use this criterion to justify using a child or a mentally retarded person with a level of intelligence below that of a chimpanzee in a scientific experiment?'
2. '[I]f we decide that it is "nature's way", we soon find that there are many things that animals (including humans) naturally do that we might not wish to encourage: sometimes male lions follow their nature in killing a rival's offspring, but such behavior would generally be frowned upon in humans.'
3. I don't understand why this is an argument. All this says to me is, "If these animals didn't exist, they wouldn't be treated horribly and killed." Not existing v.s. a lifetime of captivity, pain, and death; that's a tough one.
4. No we don't. Many people have used the 'humans have canines like carnivores in the wild' argument so I'll get rid of that first off by linking to this short post and this picture for an easy comparison (I dare you to rip apart an animal with your little canines). What's in meat that isn't in vegan food? This lovely lady goes into it perfectly; stand-out quote: 'No medical condition requires someone to eat meat when there’s a plethora of edible plant life available; all of our nutrients can be easily gained through plant life.'
5. I'm not going to get into 'souls' because I'm not someone who believes in souls, animals or humans. Just like I don't agree with the idea that God put animals on the earth to be eaten.

This is only one side of it all - morality/animal rights aside, there are several reasons why a vegan diet is beneficial, reasons which will be covered another time but until then, Google is your friend.