Why I'm Not Vegetarian

Not vegetarian? Isn't that hypocritical? Is that not holding two contradictory beliefs at the same time?

Many people who support the ideas of Deep Ecology are vegans or vegetarians. But there are also many who are not vegetarian but passionate meat eaters, myself included.

This takes some people by surprise. After all shouldn't a compassionate movement that advocates the rights of all life refrain from eating animals?

Not so. Human beings are an animal, the equal of all other animals on earth. We have just as much of a right to eat meat as a tiger or wolf does.

One of the classic vegan arguments is that we have superior intelligence. With our consciousness and our intellect we should know better than to eat another animal's flesh. The fact that tigers eat meat is because of their animal instincts, they claim.

image by tambako

I don't buy into that argument. That line of thinking suggests that to be an animal with animal instincts is somehow wrong. 

And that being human, supposedly evolved beyond animal instincts is somehow more compassionate. As if animals would be like us if they could be.

If a tiger suddenly gained the consciousness of a human I do not think that it would suddenly dawn on him that it was wrong to eat other animals. I don't think that a conscious tiger, devoid of its animal instincts, would decide to become a vegetarian.

In the circle of life everything eats and everything is eaten. Most humans are not eaten alive by other creatures. Most of us have our dead bodies consumed by a variety of insects, worms and microorganisms that make us decompose.

I Don't Support Intensive Farming

I know a lot of people who are vegan or vegetarian because they don't like the way modern farming treats the livestock. I completely agree with them. I'm not vegetarian but I still think the treatment of animals in modern farms is disgusting. 

We try and produce as much food as possible from as little space with no thought to the welfare of the animals.

But that doesn't mean I'm against meat on principle. Modern farming techniques for vegan foods aren't always eco-friendly either. Large numbers of rodents and other small mammals make their homes in wheat fields. Most of the are killed by machinery during the wheat harvest. This is a fact that most vegans aren't actually aware of.

Many people suggest that boycotting meat, because of the intensive farming practices, is better for the environment and will lower CO2 levels etc. I don't disagree with them. But the issue goes far deeper than choosing vegan food over animal products.

Intensive industrial crop farming is also bad for people and bad for the planet. What we need is a complete overhaul of our priorities and values from a much more basic level than the question of whether we should eat meat.

That's Not To Say That Everyone Must Be A Meat Eater

The problem I have with lots of vegans and vegetarians is that just because they don't eat meat they think everybody shouldn't eat meat.

I am a firm believer in Daniel Quinn's tenet that there is no one right way to live. Nobody can say that it is right for all humans to be omnivores or that all humans should be herbivores. It is impossible to justify and doesn't need to be justified.

Each person can adhere to their own dietary preferences. I'm not suggesting you should eat meat if you don't want to. I'm just letting you know why I'm not vegetarian, not vegan and why I eat meat.

Recommended Articles for Further Reading:

• Deep Ecology And Animal Rights

Related Articles From Deep Ecology Hub:

• About The Paleo Diet
• We Think Evolutionary Law Doesn't Apply To Us