There is nothing wrong with eating meat aslong as you use the whole animal and gave it a good life (Not those modern meat factories most famers are these days). Ppl should be thankfull that the animal is feeding them, but what can you expect from big companies like McDonalds. They treat thier people and the costumers like cattle, one can only imagine how they treat thier cattle then .
It can be called "painless" because if you shoot the animal in the head, death occurs either instantly or very very quickly. Compare that with e.g. letting it bleed to death, or electrocuting it. The nervous system is not instantaneous - it's fairly fast (at least in "higher" animals that have myelinated nerve sheaths; yes I DO know biology I have the British equivalent of a diploma in it). So given a myelinated nerve, the optimum rate of transmission is 1 metre per second, given that it's NOT an electric current that travels along a nerve no matter what people think. If we assume that death from a gunshot to the head occurs in half a second (I don't actually know, not many people come back to tell researchers about it), then death occurs before the nerve signal can reach the brain - like how if someone is shot with a high-calibre rifle, they never hear the sound of the shot because the sound travels a LOT slower than the bullet.
Thanks for your response, and for bringing your extensive knowledge of Biology into the equation. I respect your intelligence; we need people like yourself. However, the truth of the matter is that this kind of argument is still being used as a justification for murder. A shot in the back of the head is still so, and I think it's folly to discount the pain felt by being strapped down, or held in place, having legs broken so as to not run away, or even shot more than once because the first bullet didn't "hit the right nerve" so to speak. It happens ALL the time. Not to mention pain felt from swollen udders, constant pregnancy, clipped beaks, and trimmed wings and tails. According to what you say, a shot to the head would only be more humane if death occurred instantly. Sorry, but there is nothing painless about an animal that is killed for food. Or fun. That's neither here nor there, since it's still happening, and will continue to. And a side note on the idea of humane practises, since it has been brought up. Minimum effort, maximum efficiency. I highly doubt that a cow would be shot in the head to be more "humane." Peace your way.
Yeah I totally agree - there's no excuse for killing an animal, not even "but it tastes good!" Humans (apparently) taste like pork, we don't eat them, do we? BUT, people won't give up their burgers this instant, so I think shooting is the "lesser of two evils" (even though there's more than two). What we need are COMPETENT marksmen who can actually hit the brain or upper spinal column on the FIRST shot, not the 12th. Farmer Cletus ain't gonna hit the brain first time, assuming he knows one end of a cow from the other.
"Farmer Cletus" does not shoot his cattle, he sells them at auction or directly to a feed lot or meat packing company. I have nothing against vegans or vegetarians, but I am an omnivore. I eat meat, not just because it "tastes good", but because it is what I, as a human, was meant to include in my diet. I would not expect a bear(omnivore), primate(omnivore) or any other animal to give up its desire for meat. If we are to say that we are no different from the animals, we must accept who we are, meat and plant eaters. I do agree ,however, that as self aware beings, we should get our meat in the most humane way possible. That is what separates us from the lower animals. We are self aware and can understand the pain and suffering of our fellow creatures. If you do not eat meat, I salute you in your most humane and thoughtful choice. I will act human in the most humane way I can, but I will not give up meat.
True as omnivores our digestive systems are set up to digest both meat and vegetables, but as humans we have free will - the choice whether to eat meat or not. I'm in no way, shape or form a proponent of the veggie-terrorism antics of the likes of PETA, I much prefer reasoned debate to rhetoric about "MEAT IS MURDER" and throwing buckets of blood on people. Incidentally, is that real blood they throw? If it is that's pretty fucking hypocritical.
Well I eat meat and wear leather. The reason that I wear leather is because it is a perfectly well bio degradable product. Alot better then that plastic stuff. If I throw my jacket away, then in 100 years it will be gone. If my mom throws here PLastic jacket awaythen in 100 years it will still be there. Plus another reason for me to choose leather over artificial stuff is that the cows get killed anyway. To throw away a perfect product to cloth man and woman is just sickening. It is insulting to nature and the cow who gave his life for your food. We should be thankfull to atleast use all of it and not just throw it away like Barbarians (Well that equation is a bit wrong since Barbarians hehe did usually use the whole animal haha). I respect vegans and vegitarians, but I do expect the same to respect back. PPL like Peta sicken me to the bone. They use violence and other tactics to get thier point across (Everybody who uses violence to get a point acress is disgusting in my point of view wether it is PETA or the Gun Grazy Right Wing ppl. Terrorists of every manner is disgusting to me). Alot of pro animal rights attack Muslims and Jews about Halal and Kosher meat. But alteast they thank the animal before slaughter. They found a way to kill it as fast and painless as posible (back in those days atleast hehe with no rifles and things like that heh)without using poisons and other chemical shit and both religions say that the ANimal should have had a good life and that you should be very thankfull for it to give its ultimate sacrifice for your food. I think that is alot better then the Meat Factorys ppl get thier meat from these days. Just Bam Dead, Bam Dead, Bam Dead. That is disgusting and wrong to me. Furhtermore I gues PETA uses Human blood heheh to quote Southpark "Peta doesn't care about People!" hahaha (joking Quoth the Raven just joking ).
I sincerely hope that it is NOT real blood, as that would be very hypocritical indeed. Free will and choice will lead people where ever they want to go and if that is excluding certain things from their diet that is fine by me. What would be good is that if all the meat etc was farmed ethically and responsibly. People can help in that process by only buying localy farmed organic meat and poultry. Trouble is most only want to buy the cheap stuff.
Well I just think ppl should be thankfull to the animal and maybe think a moment of the animal before they start eating. The animal gave his life for you, surely he deserves that atleast. I agree with ppl that say you should only buy local food, the problem is current laws in the Netherlands forbid butchers just taking cattle from farmers and make thier own meat. These days everything has to go trough such a huge slaughterhouse or meat factory and that sickens me a little. But what we can get from local farmers we do get. My dads dad was a bit of a right wing religious man (Owned a few houses and worked hard to get there from almost nothing) but he always told my dad to support local economies and the little guy (since he was once a little guy himself) to go to farmers to get stuff instead of the big chains. Now we still get our patatoes, eggs, veggies, etc from local small farmers and somehow it often taste better too. Eggs for isntance. Since the chicken are fed a more balanced diet (instead of the same stuff each and everyday) the eggs themselfs taste alot better. But you won't see me much at the McDonalds (Well I have a friend from Denmark that likes to gothere, so when he is staying over we sometimes go there) or Burger King or any other big chain of food stores. Not only because of the Animal and ppl mistreatment, but because I was raised to support local economies. They need our support, if we don't theyll die out because there is no way in heck that the can compete with MacDonalds or Burger king in price. Often they respect thier animals and try to give them a good life, or try to give you quality incase of other products. While McDonalds is just cheap mass production with no regards to the animals and ppl involved so that they can save costs. Oh dear I'm typing too much again hehe .
