Reply #110: I hate threads like this, because [View All]

it puts me (and other people) at "moral odds" with people we usually highly admire.

I can listen to arguments based on practical foundations, like the environmental impact of eating a lot of meat. However, those arguments do not lend evidence to the notion that eating meat is morally wrong. They lend evidence only to the notion that eating meat to the extent that we do is unsustainable. If some unforeseen disaster wiped out half the world's human population tomorrow, and we were all forced to become small farmers again in order to survive, the environmental impact of eating meat would be practically gone. We would go back to having a handful of cows, chickens, and pigs, and occasionally fishing, and the Earth would be perfectly fine. The problem is not that we eat meat. The problem is that there are too damned many of us here eating meat, and it's hurting the planet. It's a problem of scale and sustainability, not morality.

I do not believe in objective standards of morality. If something offends your sense of right and wrong, then by all means don't do it. But do not take it upon yourself to try and "convert" me to your ideas of morality, because I think morality in general is a load of social-control bullshit. The only rule in my life that I adhere to (although imperfectly, like all other humans) is "try not to hurt other people". Beyond that--the pleasures of life are what make it worth living. I resent the hell out of the endless "moral rules" that try to turn every pleasurable thing into a taboo and/or a guilt trip, and I suspect that a lot of other people share that resentment.

That doesn't mean I enjoy inflicting pain on animals. Of course I don't. Only sicko insane people do. But it does mean that until organic, humane animal products are affordable to people like me, my choice is restricted to (1) Doing without one of the few things I can afford that gives me pleasure, or (2) Eating what's available and dealing with my own conscience on my own terms. My life stinks enough as it is. I refuse to give up yet another thing that I very much enjoy. Maybe that isn't a good enough reason for someone else, but it's good enough for me. I only have a short amount of time on this planet, and I don't believe in some eternal reward (or punishment) in the afterlife, so I'm going to enjoy what I can now. Yes, it's selfish. No, I am not going to waste my life wallowing in guilt over it.

It's not easy to post something like this here, because it's like inviting people to verbally crucify you over it, but I'm going to do it anyway.