Okay, here we go...
I respect your opinion Janne, but I also have to pay attention to the facts as I perceive them. So I'm going to respond, but I'm not really arguing with you. See my post in the "Anything Else" section for a more complete statement of my position on the carnivore vs. vegan vs. McDonald's war. (If anyone with a stronger science background wants to jump in, please feel free. I'm willing to accept the possibility that I'm totally wrong here. I'm going to do a little research this weekend just to see if I can back up any of the following.): Humans are not omnivores. You probably know that humans are apes
: physically, our stomache is built to handle fruitbased food.
I'm not a biologist, but I did take some biology courses, and I'm reasonably sure that I saw a classification of humans (and other primates) as omnivorous. This is not to say that meat is the best thing for us to eat, but we can. In army survival school, one of the things they tell the recruits is "You can eat anything a monkey can eat." The subsequent list, along with roots, leaves, etc., included insects, grubs etc. While technically not meat, those things aren't vegetables either. I'm pretty sure that if we were pure herbivores it would be impossible for us to digest meat at all. (Again, I realize that meat isn't the best food, but I think we probably do a better job metabolizing it than a cow would.)
: Have you ever wondered why gorillas and chimpanzees have those sharp
: teeth also, but they are vegetarian by nature because their instincts
: tell them so! Humans and apes have no claws to tear a preys stomache
: open. Our hands are not too practical for killing prey, but very
: useful in collecting fruit from trees. A child doesnt instinctively
: chase moving objects like f.e kittens do. Think !
Hmm...maybe apes are vegetarian by nature. But that doesn't necessarily mean that humans are. I believe humans do have an instinctive desire to eat meat, or most of us wouldn't salivate when we smell a steak cooking. Admittedly, cooking food is a uniquely human activity, but I'll bet our prehistoric ancestors ate meat raw just like any other carnivore before they harnessed fire. (I just wonder how it occurred to one of them to throw the meat into it.) And please don't try to tell me that I've been brainwashed into thinking I like meat. A child may not have instinctive predatory reflexes like a kitten, but in my experience it isn't too difficult to get one to eat a hamburger.
On the subject of how well adapted our hands are to killing, I know that primates have been observed using primitive tools, in some cases utilizing slender reeds or twigs to fish termites out of rotting logs to eat. It's not much of a leap to perceive human development of clubs, spears, bows and arrows, etc. as an extension of this tool-building behavior, in service to hunting animals (oh, and each other, too). Basically, we don't need claws to bring down prey, because by virtue of our evolved dexterity we can build a gun and shoot the gazelle at a distance.
Now, I'm not saying that's a good thing, it's just the way it is. One of the great milestones of human development is when we went from hunter/gatherers to an agrarian society capable of raising crops. That gave us spare time to develop writing, architecture and professional wrestling. But it didn't turn us into vegetarians. Humans have supposedly overcome a lot of baser instincts in the quest for civilization, but it doesn't seem to take much prodding to get us to revert to fairly animalistic behavior. It takes a conscious decision and some effort for most people to become vegetarians, just as it takes a conscious effort on some people's parts to refrain from clubbing the guy who cut them off in the line at the supermarket. It's good that people can make that choice, but it's not necessarily part of our evolution. That's culture, not nature.
And once again, just so we're clear on this: I have enormous respect and admiration for vegetarians and people who value the rights of animals. Unneccessary cruelty in the raising and slaughtering of animals for human consumption is repugnant, and should be stopped. To that end, the demand for meat must be reduced. But there's a difference between changing one's dietary habits based on a moral judgement or health concerns and claiming that eating meat is somehow unnatural.
