Hypocrisy Vs Discrimination, you be the judge :)

So, I got back from a ten day trip in Ecuador last thursday. I have a odd question, though I don't believe it's too "out there" myself.

In Ecuador, they eat guinea pigs. Not like an everyday thing, but I don't think it's uncommon either.

Now, I have been a vegetarian for 5 and a half years, yet when I made the argument to the meat eating members of the group I was with that there was nothing wrong with eating guinea pig after they had enjoyed a plate of spaghetti with what was presumably beef meatballs, I was called a hypocrite.

I argued back that there was no hypocrisy, but that refusing to eat one animal because it is "cute and furry" is discrimination and that as long as it's done humanely, there is no reason why some animals should be considered "off-limits" while others are not, simply based on appearance.

As animal rights activists and, hopefully some, meat-eaters out there, what are your opinions on the subject?

 

I believe eating any animal is simply barbaric, yet changing ourselves is tough enough, while changing someone else is completely impossible unless they are open to change. To call you a hypocrite is nonsense, since you would be amazed at the things people regularly eat in most foreign countries and it is never about the way an animal looks, it is about their own simple survival.

 

I have not eaten meat since 1970, altho I have worked jobs cooking for others where I had to prepare meat dishes (cutting up dead chickens or mashing my hands into ground beef - I guess the blood was literally on my hands)

However, since being a vegetarian I have more respect for hunters. They know where "meat" comes from. They know that to get "meat" you don't just get a plastic wrapped piece of it at the supermarket. They know it was a warm living being before they ended its life.

As to this thread, I have been very critical of selective meat eaters who are aghast that some cultures eat dogs or cute little guinea pigs (actually it might be capybaras in South America - larger animals.)

My dad used to shoot rabbits and squirrels for food - why would that be different than a guinea pig.

I've read news articles where everyone was up in arms because old race horses were being shipped off somewhere and eaten. Yet, we slaughter millions of bovines for the same purpose. Is the horse more noble or something? Is his death less brutal?

Yeah, it is a hypocritical mindset that says it is OK to kill one animal and not another.

 

yep...

I eat lots of meat, and I find it extremely hypocritical when people fight for cute animals and don't bother with the ugly ones.

 

I think it is discrimination, and hypocrisy on their part, thinking that eating beef is fine, but eating guinea pigs is considered "wrong". I am a meat eater, but I wouldnt eat cat, for example. Does this make me a hypocrite? Perhaps so, but for me, its the conditions animals are kept in, and the way they are killed which I have the real problem with. The Chinese are the only ones that I know of that kill cats for food. And the way they are killed is completely barbaric. Some cultures class certain animals as sacred (The cow in India, for example), and wouldnt eat them, for any reason. So maybe the cat is sacred to me, I dont know. I would probably eat human meat before Id eat cat, so that probably says a lot. I wouldnt eat a cat even if it had been looked after beforehand, and killed humanely. But the way they are kept and killed is horrific, therefore, I would be within my rights to challenge anyone who ate them. But, I think it is hypocritical of any meat eater to tell someone else they're bad for eating a certain kind of meat, just because it comes from an animal they happen to revere.

 

I believe every animal is equal to one another, regardless of being cute or not. By eating pork or beef, you're no better than the people eating domesticated dog or guinea pig (or vise versa).
That being said, I think the cultures that eat the "cute animals" are on the same level American meat eaters are.