So what if cavemen were carnivores!
With my deepest apologies to Beasley, another letter about the controversy between meat eaters and vegetarians simply because some assertions have to be corrected.
In Pike’s letter from some days ago he writes that in nature meat eating is the normal case and justifies as such that eating by humans is therefore natural, disregarding the evolution of mankind from cave dwellers to modern humans. More important, however is that one can’t compare the human brain with those of animals. We humans are capable of planning, solving problems by an intelligent process, are aware of our surroundings, ask questions about the universe, our existence in contrast to animals, which live purely by instinct.
So-called intelligent acts by animals, as Dawkins showed, are nothing but a hardcore wiring in animals’ genes to preserve their species. An essential characteristic of humans is our capability to judge acts, to distinguish between “good” and “bad”. We possess morality, something which animals lack. In general, humans consider torture an evil act. The evidence from videos available on the Internet is of such extent that the torture of animals before the actual killing is done is undeniable and a reason not to eat meat.
The farming of animals for consumption causes an enormous pollution by the exhaust of incredible amounts of methane gas. This problem will be aggravated by, I agree with Pike, a catastrophic increase in [the number of] humans and the lessening of being poor. This problem is a topic for caring environmentalists and will turn them into vegetarians. This problem doesn’t arise in agriculture, certainly not against the background of modern developments.
Last but not least, you have people like Bahrt, who are convinced that a vegetarian diet is healthier. Why there is such a fight between the parties is a riddle to me. As far as I know, people like Bahrt have never forbidden the consumption of meat. They only try to convince people on the basis of extensive research that their lifestyle is advantageous to their health. “To eat or not to eat” is a personal choice and the parties should respect each other’s lifestyle. Personally, I find the evidence in favour of the vegetarians but my main reason for drastically reducing my meat eating is the example given by Pola, the torturing of animals.
One consolation to Beasley: even in the doghouse you still can dream.
Egon
