I have thought about it a hell of a lot too (and constantly think about it!) and mostly come to the same conclusions.
I used to be a vegetarian, but stopped because I felt that it was inherently hypocritical. I don't feel that *eating meat* is wrong, only abusing animals in the way that we often do with our modern farming practices. Plus the dairy industry as you rightly say, is just as bad, and I feel that the only morally consistent choice would be to become vegan, and I simply could not do that. I felt that by not eating meat I was drawing a very artbitrary line in the sand and not really doing anything to relieve animal suffering.
These days I do eat meat, but only a little. I'd like to say that all the meat I eat is ethically sourced free range from happy animals etc. etc. but of course, that means buying whole joints that you cook with for the most part, and because Richard is vegetarian, I basically just don't eat meat at home or cook with it at all. So most of the meat I eat is in sandwiches at lunch time and stuff like that where it's harder to know where it's come from. I do buy those sandwiches from M&S though, because they (claim) to have high standards of animal welfare. I will always favour meat and milk from animals that I perceive to have been better treated.
I'm completely against killing animals solely for their skin. I wear leather shoes because I believe those are made mostly from the by-products of the meat industry, although it's difficult to find out for sure (and also because my feet go red and swell up if I wear plastic shoes on a daily basis). I would never wear leather clothes though, because as far as I know this generally comes from animals reared specifically for their skin. But again it's difficult to know where the leather has really come for.
When we bought a new sofa recently, it came from a guy who handmade it to our specification. The sofa itself is upholstered in fabric, but has indian ox leather on the base. The guy offered to do the whole lot in fabric, which is what I would have preferred, but Richard decided to go for the leather because "it looked nicer". I'm sure that such large cuts of such specialised leather must have come from animals reared for their skin, so I have never been able to understand why a vegetarian would make that choice, but as he was paying, I guess it was up to him.
When it comes to killing animals for food -- I know that it would upset me greatly to do so, but I'm fairly sure that in a hunger situation I could do it. If I had to kill every piece of meat I ate, then I guess I would probably eat a lot less. But then I eat very little anyway.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-04-08 01:34 pm (UTC)I used to be a vegetarian, but stopped because I felt that it was inherently hypocritical. I don't feel that *eating meat* is wrong, only abusing animals in the way that we often do with our modern farming practices. Plus the dairy industry as you rightly say, is just as bad, and I feel that the only morally consistent choice would be to become vegan, and I simply could not do that. I felt that by not eating meat I was drawing a very artbitrary line in the sand and not really doing anything to relieve animal suffering.
These days I do eat meat, but only a little. I'd like to say that all the meat I eat is ethically sourced free range from happy animals etc. etc. but of course, that means buying whole joints that you cook with for the most part, and because Richard is vegetarian, I basically just don't eat meat at home or cook with it at all. So most of the meat I eat is in sandwiches at lunch time and stuff like that where it's harder to know where it's come from. I do buy those sandwiches from M&S though, because they (claim) to have high standards of animal welfare. I will always favour meat and milk from animals that I perceive to have been better treated.
I'm completely against killing animals solely for their skin. I wear leather shoes because I believe those are made mostly from the by-products of the meat industry, although it's difficult to find out for sure (and also because my feet go red and swell up if I wear plastic shoes on a daily basis). I would never wear leather clothes though, because as far as I know this generally comes from animals reared specifically for their skin. But again it's difficult to know where the leather has really come for.
When we bought a new sofa recently, it came from a guy who handmade it to our specification. The sofa itself is upholstered in fabric, but has indian ox leather on the base. The guy offered to do the whole lot in fabric, which is what I would have preferred, but Richard decided to go for the leather because "it looked nicer". I'm sure that such large cuts of such specialised leather must have come from animals reared for their skin, so I have never been able to understand why a vegetarian would make that choice, but as he was paying, I guess it was up to him.
When it comes to killing animals for food -- I know that it would upset me greatly to do so, but I'm fairly sure that in a hunger situation I could do it. If I had to kill every piece of meat I ate, then I guess I would probably eat a lot less. But then I eat very little anyway.