Going Vegan

We"re all busy, Pro. Glad you could make it back to the debate. At this moment, your profile states that you are male, so you"ll want to change that if you want people to refer to you as a female. I"m assuming you believe in the Bible and God since you listed in your profile you are Catholic. "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." King James Bible (KJB) Genesis 9:3 "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." KJB 1 Timothy 1,3-5 The above scriptures from a work that many religions around the world deem the word of God proclaims that animals were created for human use and consumption. Timothy also stated that abstaining from meat would be comparable to forbidding to marry or giving heed to seducing spirits. The video you posted did show some gruesome footage. I couldn"t work at a slaughterhouse, and I couldn"t be a surgeon simply because I am disgusted by cutting flesh and blood. The people who do slaughter animals are very important to the rest of us who use animal products for food, clothing, and other products. Regarding the health benefits of a vegan diet, I agree that eating a lot of meat is less healthy than eating a little meat. However, it is true that eating fruits and vegetables alone is not sufficient for the body to get the good Omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12 it needs. These nutrients are needed to survive as a human, and supplementation is usually needed to get a sufficient amount. http://en.wikipedia.org... Therefore, until recently (when supplementation products were created), people could not really become vegan and get the nutrients they needed. Pro"s second argument about being kind is valid. However, we as humans can enjoy a better quality of life by utilizing animals that share this planet with us. For example the use of down feathers, if well cared for, retain its loft up to three times longer than do most synthetics. http://en.wikipedia.org... Even in an advanced age of technology, products coming from animals are cheaper to produce and can function better than the synthetic replacements. Pro argued that "meat production uses up a lot of land and water." "A lot" is a very relative term. In fact, I can argue that pro uses a lot of land and water. Use of a resource is good if the outcome brings benefit. Dairies and ranchers raise cows and use the necessary resources so they can sell milk and meat that most people want to buy and use. The value of that outcome really depends on what someone is willing to pay for it. Vegans do not value the animal products, so they will not pay for it. However, restaurants sell plates of seafood and meat anywhere from less than a dollar on into the thousands of dollars. People value animal products, and so the resources used to create the valued productd are not wasted. By saying that cows shouldn"t be raised because they pack the dirt with their hooves simply shows that Pro is a hypocrite unless she can fly. Every time you walk on the grass, you pack it and make it less likely for water to be absorbed. When you build a house and put in a sidewalk, a patio, and a driveway, you are preventing all rain from absorbing into the ground in those locations. The argument about methane is moot as this argument is not about greenhouse gases or what that does. That subject should be argued in a separate topic. There are no sources pointing to manure getting into groundwater and why that might be a problem. I agree that fruits and vegetables are delicious, but so are meat, milk, fish, and poultry. Yes, there are vegan versions of familiar foods, but they are specialty foods, which increases the cost of production. If you want a vegan mayonnaise replacement, it will cost you. If you want a meat replacement, it will cost more than regular meat most of the time. Only when vegan practices become widespread will the market follow suit and be able to produce animal product replacements in higher quantities for the greater discount. If you"re part of a destitute family or in a third world country, veganism is out of the question. Anything that can be consumed will be consumed in those cases. Conflict will be a major part of life for vegans. If family members aren"t all vegans, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, going out to eat, and family get-togethers will all include moments of conflict about eating habits. Like I proposed in my earlier argument, veganism is like a religion. The vegan lifestyle will be debated just like religious beliefs are debated in families. For example, a common vegan story is similar to this one: "Some members of my family had strong objections to me removing dairy products from my diet, believing I"d be socially ostracised. This caused a regular conflict at meal times, especially since I wasn"t cooking my own food for dinner, so whoever was cooking would have to prepare a vegan meal as well as a carnivorous one." http://rohanmitchell.com... Family is about love, but it"s also about sharing common beliefs and goals. When someone changes a major part of their life so it is not sharable and extra food needs to be prepared for one person, it can become a stage for conflict. Pro has failed to prove her point about why veganism is a better lifestyle than all other eating lifestyles. She failed to provide a second round argument, and she failed to rebut my initial argument about the animosity ethical vegans have toward others who leave their group. There are plenty of reasons why not to go vegan including the extra expenses due to lack of mass production of non-animal products, the religious manner in which ethical vegans conduct themselves and excommunicate the apostates from their group, and the social awkwardness and conflict veganism creates when eating with non-vegan people - especially family.