[165] in Vegetarian_Support_Group
plants vs animals killing
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (lmtancre@MIT.EDU)
Thu Sep 8 03:45:13 1994
From: lmtancre@MIT.EDU
To: vsg@MIT.EDU
Date: Thu, 08 Sep 1994 03:44:54 EDT
Well, the one argument that should be able to put an end to
this conversation when it is unwelcome (ie when it is obviously just an
obnoxious redneck thing) is one that peter singer offered as a preface
to his real (ethical) answer in Animal Liberation. And that is simply
that vegetarians kill *less* plants than meat-eaters do, because of the
high vegetable to meat "conversion" ratio (ie takes 16 lbs of wheat, or
whatever the figure is, to produce 1 lb of beef). Therefore, if one is
concerned about plant life (and one plans to eat and survive), less
plant killing is done via vegetarianism.
personally, i think it is ok to kill plants b/c [everything i know leads
me to believe that] they dont object (i.e. "care", not "vocalize
dissention"), whereas animals (according to everything i know of them)
do. singer mentions something about the fact that plants do not have
the ability to move away from predators, suggesting that they do not
have this need. (its been awhile since i read it so dont quote him on
it)
my favorite veggie quote of all time is [by Somebody Kellogg, of cereal
fame im pretty sure]:
"If it has eyes or runs away, don't eat it."
