> Most vegetarians are so because they want suffering to be minimised.
I don't get that at all. I think there are at least three distinct "kinds" of vegetarians:
- Political
"Eating meat is wrong"
- Health
"Eating meat is unhealthy"
- Posturing/borderline eating disorder
Kind of like LUGs.
So I'm not sure there's such as group as "most vegetarians" ...
>> I don't recall the argument that meat was a necessity being put
>> forth. When did I miss that?
>
> It has been in the general argument against the vegetarian position.
Strawman. The "general argument" (if there is one) is not that eating meat is *necessary* but rather that it's "normal" and "common" ... so it's not like it's sociopathic to do so. Like: we're here, we eat animals, get used to it.
>>> In the practice of industrial animal farming we in fact hold
>>> microbial life in higher esteem over bovine.
>>
>> So I suppose that vegetarians would be okay with meat that's
>> produced using non-industrial methods? I mentioned this before, but
>> Niman Ranch is just one of a group of folks who know that tasty meat
>> doesn't come from factories.
>
> Which vegetarians?
Exactly the ones you claimed to speak for above :-)
Regardless, I hold porcine life in higher esteem over most humans. And in death I celebrate it by eating it respectfully.
/jordan