The Least Harm Principle Suggests that Humans Should Eat Beef, Lamb, Dairy, not a Vegan Diet

wildlife damage control ^ | ? | WDC

[freepatriot32]

Take that p.e.t.a. :)

the sounds you hear in the distance are liberal vegetarians heads exploding after reading this article and trying to think up a counter argument

the only thing I can say to them is

HA HA

[Trampled by Lambs]

Animals have morals? Tell that to my dog when he's licking his private parts in public...

[Prof Engineer]

Mmmm. Cooked dead cow coming right up!

[Domestic Church]

Pot Roast forever!!!

[RightWhale]

he concludes that humans have a moral obligation to consume a vegan (use no animal products) diet

Should be:
he concludes that animals have a moral obligation to consume a vegan (use no animal products) diet

There, now it's state-of-the-art moral philosophy.

[Ditter]

I tried to read this but I was afraid my head would explode. Someone is worried about the field mice being killed? Please tell me that is not true.

[FateAmenableToChange]

If all of that land was used to produce a plant-based diet, and if 10 animals of the field are killed per ha per year, then 10 x 120 million = 1200 million or 1.2 billion would be killed to produce a vegan diet.

Liberals couldn't. Someone with a basic knowledge of farming could. There are 120 million hectares farmed in the US annually because it takes roughly 10 times the amount of forage land to produce a pound of beef as it does an equivalent pound of plant protein (mmmm. soybeans. [drooling sound]) This ratio varies significantly depending on the animal (emu and ostrich - both of which are very tasty - require approximately 3 times the amount of land to produce a pound of tasty flesh as the equivalent pound of plant protein (mmmm. wheat gluten. [drooling sound, sudden choking as sticky gluten blocks air ducts])). The vegan's theory is that by eliminating meat and meat byproducts from our economy, we will vastly reduce the amount of land necessary for agriculture. With less land being cultivated, less little fieldmice getting their heads chopped off by the disk.

The problem with the argument over all is that the numbers of dead critters from any form of agriculture is vastly greater than a mere 1.2 billion or .9 billion fieldmice. Compared to the number of insects and microbia (as long as we're talking about animal rights, why stop only with things that possess central nervous systems?) that are killed even by the "best" agricultural methods, the cows, chickens, emus, ostriches, bison, pigs, cats, and other edibles remain a miniscule portion of the total number of deaths.

The bottom line is that animals are tasty.

[CommerceComet]

Isn't the design of the human digestive tract enough to prove that humans should be eating meat? It is clearly that of an omnivore which means that meat should be part of our diet. Just like nutrition education has taught for decades, a balanced diet is the key. (Says the guy who is currently eating a nectarine while dreaming of a steak dinner tonight.)

[freepatriot32]

sorry to be ther bearer of bad news but its true heck there is a religion in india called the janes that are so vegan the wont cut thier hair with scissors in case there is any lice or fleas in it that wil l get killed they pull all of thier hair out one strand at a time until they are completely bald

[dogbyte12]

Bambi, it's what's for dinner.

[marktwain]

Yes, it is true. Buy why stop at field mice? Why not worry about frogs and toads and butterflies and mosquitos and flies and protozoa? Hmmmm.

It is obvious that these folks are not willing to take their pronouncements to obvious conclusions.

[pyx]

In conclusion, applying the Least Harm Principle as proposed by Regan would actually argue that we are morally obligated to move to a ruminant-based diet rather than a vegan diet.

hehehehe ... How come animal "rights" thingys don't consider insects in their protests ? Maybe because a grub or a beetle isn't cute, furry and cuddly like a baby seal.

[Brian Allen]

<< Animals have morals? Tell that to my dog when he's licking his private parts in public... >>

Orrrrrrrrrrrrgh.

That's not fair.

It's not Doggy's fault.

[He's only licking them because he CAN]

[Renfield]

Most of the farm animals we eat (pigs, chickens, beef, etc) are either raised entirely on farm-raised grain (chicken, hogs) or are at least finished on grain in a feedlot (cattle, some lamb). You really have to go out of your way to find beef that was produced entirely on grass. So the argument presented above is largely specious. Your diet will involve killing of ground-nesting birds, etc, no matter which path you choose. However, you could do as I do, and supplement your diet with significant quantities of venison, canada goose, striper, etc....and know that no meadowlark eggs or earthworms were harmed in the process.

[pyx]

There's always room for all God's creatures ...
right next to the mashed potatoes and gravy.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[Revolting cat!]

Yeah, I mean how would you like to refer to pork legislation as succotash legislation, or Congressional pork as Congressional tofu, huh?

[GladesGuru]

Given that hunting season (bow season, to be specific) starts this weekend, the likelihood is that Bambi is going to be dinner. Not to mention Porky, the local wild hog.

But since I have two papers due in DC Tuesday, I'll have to stick to plain old cow. Life's rough in this Grove of the Academe.

[palmer]

Sounds like the Bloom County cartoon where they start with vegetarianism and end up hanging from trees lest they step on any bugs.

[freepatriot32]

LoL

true story when my brother was six years old my dad hit a deer with his truck and got him right on the head and broke the deers nose.So he put it on the back of the truck and brought it home to clean it and cook it up.He pulled in about 10 seconds before my mom and brother did so my dad went and put down the gate of the truck and out plops the deers head and the first thing my brother saw was the blood RED nose of this deer.Now keep in mind this is about the 8 or 9th of december. As soon as my brother saw that he ran down the street shouting as loud as he could MY DAD KILLED RUDOLPH MY DAD KILLED RUDOLPH.He was doing that for a full minute before they caught him and got him back home and my dad spent almost all the rest of that night explaining what happend until he THOUGHT my brother believed him.So a couple of days later we all went out to the mall for christmas shopping and what do all malls have in december? thats right SANTA. My brother sees this and goes right up to him not bothering to wait in line shouts at the top of his lung. MY DAD KILLED RUDOLPH TUESDAY NIGHT SO THIS YEAR IF THERE IS ANY FOG YOU WONT BE ABLE DELIVER ANY PRESENTS BECAUSE RUDOLPH IS DEAD AND MY DAD KILLED HIM. So this santa started sputtering and mumbling about how rudolph isnt missing.It cant be the rudolph and all the children in the line are just screaming and crying there eyes out and my dad was getting the most evil looks form al l the parents that were trying to settle thier children down and sants stood up in his slay announcing that rudolph isnt missing.

We didnt see if any of the kids believed him because the security gaurds were escorting us off the premises at that time and the whole way back home my brother was saying.I hope your happy you ruined christmas for everyone you jerk. I was doing my best not to laugh my butt off and so was my mom. My dad was just gritting his teeth and trying not to get another migraine while he was again explaining how that wasnt rudolph and so christmas day comes along and this little creep got about 5 times the amount of christmas presents as i did that year. Along with a handwritten note from "SANTA" saying that the deer my dad killed not only wasnt rudolph but was actually rudolphs evil twin brother who was terribly jaealous of him and he was out on the road that night laying traps for santas sleigh. So that no one would get presents that year and if my dad wouldnt have killed him santa would have had to cancel christmas that year and maybe a couple of more. So my dad was a hero and not a jerk and he single handedly saved christmas worldwide for the millions of children in all countrys and the best thing my brother could do to thank my dad for saving christmas was to clean up his room once a week and go ahead and eat the venison steaks that my dad made out of evil rudolph.Wich is something my brother refused to do he would actually leave the house when the steaks were cooking for the full 2 weeks before christmas and wouldnt come back inside until dinner was over when my softy mom would make him a non rudolph meal so he wouldnt starve. But after christmas when he was practically ordered to by santa himself he had no problem eatingit after that it was a very interesting christmas season that year