Comment by zaphar | Hacker News Reader

Comment by zaphar | Hacker News Reader

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> Dude that is a really ignorant and insulting thing to say.

Why? We have it within our power to prevent that particular form of animal suffering. Give me enough money and political power and I could round up all the antelope and lions and keep em seperated. How is ignoring that form of animal suffering any different than ignoring animal farming?

> And here you demonstrate your limited grasp of evolution which a resort to a naturalistic fallacy.

I'll bite. How is it a fallacy? Fact: Humans are capable of digesting and processing meat. Fact: Humans have been eating meat for as long as we've been around. Fact: Humans get a number of nutrients in meat that are not easily found elsewhere in a form we can process.

>> Our metabolisms work best when we eat both in moderation. > Actually the research demonstrates otherwise.

Citation needed

> That is trivially true in a society where adding animal products to many foods is routine. If even 20% of the population was vegan it would be trivial to follow a vegan diet.

Because the market would provide? Either way you still have to work harder and be far more careful with what you eat in order to pull it off so my point still stands.

No where did I say it was impossible. Notice I said in moderation as well. You wouldn't have to eat a lot of meat to get the required nutrition.

"Either way you still have to work harder"

Since the production of meat uses up more resources (energy) than plant based food, I think your claim does not hold up.

It is easier to produce plant based food, so why should it be harder to buy plant based food?

I also doubt that you automatically eat healthy by simply adding meat to your diet.

>> Dude that is a really ignorant and insulting thing to say.

>Why?

You obviously have absolutely no idea of the range of reasons people have for being vegan do you? Here are a few

- Visceral disgust at the though of consuming animal flesh / produce

- The view that a vegan diet is healthier than a diet with meat. Also a view that meat products are a significant cause of many of our chronic diseases. Both of these views are well backed by a large amount of science for example 'the China Study'.

- The view that plant food is significantly more efficient to produce (5-10 times) and far less harmful for the environment than meat. This is true not just in term of calories but also for protein.

See : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_vegetarianism

- Religious beliefs

- The view that human control of animals represents a kind of slavery.

- The view that it is immoral for humans to knowingly and unnecessarily kill and/or cause pain to another being. The fact that humans are intelligent enough to have a choice and understand the consequences of their actions is the important thing. Many vegans feel especially strongly about factory farming which is often cruel in the extreme.

See : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics_of_eating_meat

So now do you see how ignorant your point about lions is? Veganism is primarily about humans relationship to animals not about animals relationships with each other.

> I'll bite. How is it a fallacy?

By definition, that's how. Look it up : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalistic_fallacy

> Citation needed

There are so many but I'll just stick with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Study cause I'm lazy.

> Because the market would provide?

Yes there would be numerous vegan options with the nutrient mix customized to suit vegan diets.

> Either way you still have to work harder and be far more careful with what you eat in order to pull it off so my point still stands.

You have to work pretty hard with a meat based diet to avoid the chronic diseases it can cause.

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