In Reply to: you really think so? posted by Simon on February 02, 1997 at 18:32:17:
> > What is the problem [with vegetarians] ?
> > It just leaves more meat for the rest of us......> Is that true?
> Vegetarianism is a threat to the meat industry and
> to the meat consumer. That is why it is being fought
> and discredited. There is lots of big money involved
> in the meat industry and those with vested interests
> will fight hard to keep things as they have been in the past.1) It is not a "threat".
No one is stopping you eating meat. As things stand at
the moment, meat marketing and government subsidy keep
the price of meat artificially low. If you priced meat
on the actual environmental cost, people would eat far
less of the stuff, simply due to the cost. Would you
say that you had a right to despoil the planet for cut
price meat? Add to that the fact that farmers use very
cheap-and-unhealthy methods to maximise profits, which
results in the spread of diseases like BSE. A reduction
in the amount of meat you consumed would benefit you
far in excess of the defecits. And if you are actually
prepared to go out and kill and prepare the meat you
would eat, then no-one can stop you.2. It's never been "discredited".
However hard people have tried, a vegetarian lifestyle
has never been found wanting by those who practise it.
The worst that society has been able to do is ridicule
it and portray veggies as vaguely Communist "cranks".
Hardly a binding argument.3. Big money?
As to the future, the world is rapidly reaching the
point where Western culture cannot be maintained. And
among the first casualties will be the amount of meat
eaten. There might well be a lot of big money, but all
of it will not stop the forces of change. Sooner or
later, the meat industry is going to collapse. For the
sake of excessive suffering, I'd rather it was sooner.Gideon.
:-)
None.