Broccoli vs. Animals | Hacker News Reader

Broccoli vs. Animals

vegetus.org

9 pointsdsego25 comments

Yes. It's also okay to kill animals. Why? Because it's natural. Why is it natural? Because every single animal kills either plants or animals.

And while we as a species can use our brains to resist eating animals, we can't resist eating both fauna and flora.

> It's also okay to kill animals. Why? Because it's natural.

I'm not sure if you're mocking the naturalistic fallacy or committing to it.

The problem of a higher order they have is the underlying axiom of decreasing total suffering. We lack information to asses the full consequences of our actions and so any morality based on the ultimate results will be unworkable.

>We lack information to asses the full consequences of our actions and so any morality based on the ultimate results will be unworkable.

So then what should we do? If any morality based on our small understanding of suffering is largely unknowable, then why should it be immoral to eat animals? Furthermore, is this a question of knowing, or is it universal? Is it alright for tribesmen to kill animals if they haven't even considered the animal's suffering?

Following the same logic you could replace the word animals with "people" in your counter argument and you'll see where that gets you. Our morality has evolved since prehistoric times and continues to do so in the face of challenges such as this (and many more). An example of a move towards more ethical food practices would be something like this: Since a pig is as smart as a three-year-old human, perhaps it might be a little more ethical to treat that pig humanely while it is alive even--if we do end up eating it. So lets move towards more humane treatment of livestock.

> Following the same logic you could replace the word animals with "people" in your counter argument and you'll see where that gets you

It doesn't get you anywhere useful. It gets you back to the original argument of whether people are an exceptional animal.

Why should naturalness inform morality?

In addition, why should naturalness (historical human diet in this case) influence or subvert judgments about health effects and sustainability?

It shouldn't. But this isn't a moral issue. Both flora and fauna are living organisms. You must eat one or both of them to survive. Deciding which one's inherent value precedes the other is offensive, and illogical. Both are edible, ergo, everybody will eat a combination of the two. Are you saying my combo (both), is less moral than yours perhaps (flora only)? If so, I simply disagree. That's all.

I eat animals, but I'm not convinced by your argument. We're omnivores, so it wouldn't be unnatural for us to survive on plants. In fact, there are cultures that do just that.

We're just animals trying to survive when you ignore the fact that we have advanced brains. Us as animals require an omnivorous diet (please link to these vegetarian cultures please), or we would die of heart failure due to B12 deficiency.

And while I understand that this is an appeal to nature. It doesn't matter whether this is good or bad; it's necessary. Anybody making the claim that it isn't is ignoring collateral mentioned in the article, and is really just leaning on one side of two different, but albeit very important classes of organisms. I'd prefer to treat them fairly. Eat them both!

> And while we as a species can use our brains to resist eating animals, we can't resist eating both fauna and flora.

I don't know what that means. You contradicted yourself. Vegetarians exist, and many of them are not tempted to eat meat; many are disgusted by the thought of eating meat (more psychologically than because of taste).

He's saying you can't resist eating both animal and plant. (You can, and it leads to starvation.)

My mistake, that's not contradictory, but I still don't understand the argument. To me it looks like this:

Break down some necessary activity into a dichotomy where one option is neutral/good, and the other option is undesirable according to some people. It's invalid to claim that the undesirable action is actually ok simply because you have to pick one or the other. Instead, you have to make an argument specifically against the neutral/good option.

But, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature

Since we are omnivorous and not carnivorous, this has become a moral issue.

But we're also not herbivorous. And like the web page illustrates, our understanding of flora is lacking.

I personally think sustenance is a health not a moral issue. I believe certain organisms must die in order for us to thrive. This means eliminating certain germs, certain bacteria, certain dangerous plants, and certain delicious animals/plants.

And while we can eliminate eating meat directly, I think the article makes a good point about collateral damage.

We already have drastically altered our environment with farming, which is a much bigger effect than what our normal hunting would have.

Anyway, i think the solution to the moral issue at hand will be artificial in vitro meat.

There's another moral dimension about whether we kill the animals ourselves or get someone else to do it, and if we're happy for industrial systems to produce food.

> It's also okay to kill animals.

It depends on the animal and how you kill it.

Those borders change for different people. Some people are happy to throw lobsters in pans of boiling water; others use a sharp knife through the head; others refuse to eat lobster.

Many people don't want to eat dogs, and that opinion gets stronger if you keep the dog in a small cage for its life and then beat it slowly to death.

I think Poe's law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poes_law) is in full effect here. I can't say whether this is cleverly formulated sarcasm, or a real opinion.

I'm an omnivore, but I also believe in reforming the farming industry to minimize suffering to below levels for the average natural death in the wild (being torn apart by other animals, dying in pain of a crushed leg, infection, etc). In doing that, raising animals in a safe healthy manner and then killing them humanely is logically more humane than not.

I don't have any problem with eating meat, but I do think everyone who does so should hunt at least once. It's too easy to get divorced from the reality of eating meat if you just buy it packaged from the store.

The reality of hunting is far from the reality of most animal farming.

True enough. I don't mean that though; I just mean the acts of killing, field dressing, butchering, and eating an animal. If you've never done it yourself, it's easy to gloss over the fact that that stuff happens.

While there were a couple of interesting ideas mentioned... the article mostly sounded like the author was arguing with himself. It's pretty easy to let your favourite side win in that case.

Killing plants == cutting hair

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