There is nothing wrong with eating meat (the substance) itself.
I used to eat meat.
The issue is the cruel and destructive process of the factory farm industry, which supplies most of the meat humans consume.
We are not hunter gatherers anymore, humans living in the 'modern world' don't need to kill non-human animals to survive.
Now we breed, torture and kill millions and millions of non-human animals and in the process destroy our biosphere [0]
So is it logical to continue this practice when we know it's destructive on multiple levels, i.e. on a human, animal and environmental level?
The HN community is made up of logical thinkers, so my assumption is that it should be quite simple for this community to make this cognitive leap and see how irrational it is to continue to support the large scale meat industry.
And from a humane perspective - if we can choose not to support cruelty - why wouldn't we?
Damian Mander - ex special forces guy and founder of International Anti-Poaching Foundation put it best in my view though: https://youtu.be/BUMGBwgGYWw?t=100
I'm also a big fan of Ethan Brown - founder of Beyond Meat. He realized people won't easily give up traditions and one way to shift people away from animal meat is to provide something that's as good or better than animal meat.
Would you eat meat that wasn't derived from animals?
So your decision to pay into a system of severe abuse of animals and environmental destruction pivots on "well, others aren't doing anything about it"?
Every individual choice matters: the market demand is elastic: purchasing less reduces production.
Please educate yourself about the moral problems surrounding meat consumption, don't just say "well, I'll do what others are doing" - because you know, that was the algorithm that maintained the numerous problematic practices in the past (that were eventually overturned).
I don’t understand how you got “I eat meat because other people do” out of what I said. I eat meat because I enjoy both cooking and eating it. If I were the only person on earth who ate meat, I’d still eat it.
You say that you don't think the US will stop eating meat. That seems entirely irrelevant unless you care about what others do.
Importantly, you say "There is no argument you can make that will change my eating habits." which is so closed-minded, I don't know what to say. Are you really unable to fathom a single reason that could make you change your behavior? Are you saying you're 100% informed about the meat industry and thus there is no more new information that you could learn (since you know it all)?
Are you comfortable in full honesty stating that the pleasure of eating meat is enough of a reason for you to pay money to people who thanks to your money torture animals?
