ravi wrote:
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> why is it unbelievable? chimpanzee behaviour is quite well documented,
> yes? w.r.t hunting vs gathering, there are peer reviewed publications on
> that matter... should i hunt up links?
I'm aware of the research that shows over 75% of the calories in the diet of hunting cultures comes from the gathering activities of women. Of course those gathering activities include trapping small food animals, so the research shows the importance of women but not the importance of vegetarianism. (My memory of this is vague and I could be wrong.)
> bernard williams or any of the other serious critics (as opposed to the
> anti-PETA idiots with their bumper stickers), AFAIK, have not written
> anything to contradict singer and others' voluminuous documentation of
> animal abuse. as i noted that in itself should provide motivation for a
> vegetarian diet.
Most capitalist enterprise is grounded in immense suffering, human and/or animal. So? I honor organized boycotts for specific purposes. Otherwise my consumption decisions are grounded purely in personal convenience. If an organized boycott had even a minimal chance of limiting factory hog farms, I would honor that boycott. But until such a boycott is organized, I will go on happily eating bacon whenever I feel like it. And I will oppose efforts to impose moral criteria on individual consumption choices.
Have you read Cockburn's long essay on meat in NLR some years ago. It was an excellent discussion of these matters.
Carrol