Animal Lover

Is it possible to be a true animal lover and eat meat? I personally think it is a contradiction. I was talking recently with a friend, she said she loved her dogs, and every other animal in the world. But, she is not vegetarian or vegan. I thought how is that possible? I don't recall actually loving something and then destroying it. To my understanding this cannot be possible, to love something is to care for it. When I said something like that to her, she looked a bit sad, as if she had realised that she had been making a huge mistake all these years. I do not doubt she had thought she was an animal lover, but I think she had been incredibly absent minded. I am vegetarian, and have been for thirteen years, but like this friend, I do not write on facebook every week how much I love animals, and all the while cook some every night for dinner. If you truly love animals, and not just your own dogs or cats, then surely you would not eat them. Is this not a simple fact? Animals deserve the same treatment as humans, if you disagree, I would love to hear your rationale. Because I cannot make any sense of this so called "love". Please don't think I am aggressive in my stance, I am not, I do not want to fight with anyone over this, I am trying to understand this contradiction, where one can be part of a slaughter, and yet still claim to be a lover of this animal.

peace and blessing to all

updated by @tim5: 04/23/19 09:24:34AM

i'm battling with this myself! I have been a pescatarian for well over a year. I would definatley count myself as an animal lover. However as far as the meat providing animals go pigs, cows, sheep ect. I wouldnt say I love them, of course I am fond of them, and extremely thankful for what they provide. Food, milk, warm wool ect. Its odd isnt it that they are animals but there are some that we love more than others. Is it weird that I would find it more difficult to hear that a deer had been killed for meat than a cow? part of the reason I stopped eating meet was after researching into the killing of animals through large scale commercial abattoir 's and the horrific circumstances in which there are led to slaughter.

I'm still trying to figure all this out I guess too.

i know just how you feel and have been veg for 28 to 30 years im not sure even

i truly believe eating meat desensatizes you there are harmones released at death that maybe a factor i mean these hormones are released are from absolute terror and making them a part of your diet has to reduce your sensativity to the horrors of being slaughtered skinned alive or bled to death

i remember my best freind (also life long vegatarian since birth) had a cute as hell baby pot belly pig and the vegatarians in the room would be all like aww thats the cutest most lovable thing i ever saw and the meat eatters would be like yum i bet hed taste good

i think they can be animal loves in the connections they make with particular animals but then not associate the meat on their plates with a living being with a face

check out these images

theres thousands more examples and these are what inspired me to make this group early this morning

http://ww3.dreadlockssite.com/groups/animal-friends

predator and prey can be freinds on an individual level

but when people believe they are suposed to eat meat they suspend emotions and think of it as sustenance only

one thing youd know if you ever owned a snake is to never try feeding them when not hungry (or if you do remove it quickly if they dont eat) a snake will make freinds with a mouse put in as food very quickly and will refuse to eat it even if starving

snakes have no choice but to eat meat they are designed for it but will refuse to eat a prey they bonded with

people (meat eaters) dont alow a emotional bond with animals meant to be food

one vegatarian blog i read years ago stuck with me

a guy was eating a chicken..kfc drumstick to be exact and petting his cat wich he loved more then anything

he started to notice how the cats leg bones felt exactly the same as the chicken bone in his hand

untill then hed never made the connection that an animal you love is so simular to one you eat withoit even thinking about it

he puked and never touched meat again

i think it takes thinking about the issue to realixze the connection ..to realizr that the animals that you love and are so sure love you back are no diferent from those that were never shown love and does only l]\knowing fear and abuse

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

well said

its very strange that you get social disaproval

i mean why is it people disapprove of eating healthy and being kind?

the only thing i can think of is meat industry has pr firms that pay out the ass to plant a certain message into movies cartoons tv shows (not to mention commercials) that vegetarians are the most shameful thing to have in the family i mean how many shows have you seen where someones dating a vegetarian and the parents are practically ready to disown them like they are subversive terrorists or something other times they are portrayed as weak passive and pathetic

then you have the flip side commercials for meat showing rowdy beefy guys flipping over cars grunting farting and overemphasizing their "manliness'

its all geared towards creating the image that vegetarians should be shunned and the last thing you should ever want to be

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

About the worst thing I ever did in the eyes of the other men in my family was to become vegetarian, stop drinking alcohol and be obviously spiritual (talking about spiritual matters etc). I some how lost my manhood, and thankfully it never returned. Most of society has a very strange view of these matters. Probably a very guilty conscience is at play.

peace

how can you not love animals like this?

these lil critters are so freaking adorable and have such personalities and are so loving and freindly

yet they kill thousands at a time to make coats

can you imagine how heartless you must be to slaughter these guys?

let alone wear their skins

This iframe is not allowedThis iframe is not allowed

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

It is a contradiction. And it is called speciesism. People like those usually hate hearing that someone ate a dog, but are okay with eating a cow or whatever animal is on the 'approved' menu.

This is going to sound cruel, but I find people who claim they love animals and eat them similar to people who claim they love someone and then go and beat the sh*t out of their 'beloved' one.

In a world where people are out of the food chain and have a mind that can think on a very high level, there is no justification for continuing the suffering of non-human animals. People who make excuses for countinuing to exploit non-human animals are either oblivious to the fact that killing an animal is murder and that animals are someone and not something, or they are just refusing to say that they don't give a f*ck about someone else's suffering. Good thing is, the ignorance can be helped. I actually had a friend go vegan recently because I sent her some videos and talked to her. She had her mind on going vegetarian, but after some discussion, she went full vegan.

There are certainley some very good points raised here! Many of them I agree with specisim makes sense to me I've never heard of it before. Certainly social culture and religious practice must come into this as well for example not eating pork, eating kosher meat or the addiction to fast food meat based products.

Eating meat is a strange contradiction. But a habit that has been passed down through generations and cultures for millennia. Personally for me I stopped eating meat as soon did my husband as we felt we we're eating far too much of it. When you hear lines like "It's not a meal unless it's got meat in it"

Environmental fragility has to challenge this idea. Fact is as I know we all know humanity consumes far to much in a a brutual, commercial almost like a world domination type of way massive corporate meat plants, abbotoirs, to value meat and supermarkert consumerism.

And most of us here care very much about the planet, natural environment and the animal kingdom. And Congratulations to you that have the knowledge, dicipline and dedication to be vegan. The planet is surely a better place for it. I'm certainly not going to rule it out and its something I may do in the future. Pescatarian is where im a right now. Its a journey isn't it much like growing dreads. finding yourself, your beliefs, the way to interact with the world and each other, and making new connections. I'm seeing this as a process. To try and look past what is currently a cultural norm and expectation. We have the ability to create a new culture and educate and open peoples eyes as we take our own journey.

The Native Americans honored all life and they hunted. They would say a prayer over all of their kills to send the soul to the spiritual hunting grounds. They had complete respect for the animal and thought of it as a gift. They actually saw and touched the animals that fed them where as now people buy meat in little plastic wrapped containers sitting on the shelf.

Respect is not actually love I guess...but it is pretty damned close.

well they woyld also shed a tear too this is true

its that connection thats lost now when people these days eat meat it doesnt even cross their minds that uits a living creature

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
updated by @soaring-eagle: 07/22/15 07:33:19AM