This weekend I got into a rather passionate debate with some friends of friends about animal rights. One of them was pretty educated about the evils of factory farming, and said that she didn’t eat much meat because she had to know where it came from. Her husband on the other hand, didn’t know much about factory farming at all, though he was curious about what I had to say and was a good, respectful listener.
After a lot of back and forth about how animals are treated, how ethical meat consumption is, and why I’m vegan, we ended up with them stating that animals wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for humans to eat them – as in, they were put on this earth specifically for us to use as we see fit. I said that I think animals exist for their own purposes, not for ours. They exist to be pigs and cows and chickens and zebras and elephants. I asked them why lions exist, since we don’t eat them (okay, maybe some humans eat lions, but I don’t think many).
“To eat zebras”, they replied.
“Um, ok, why do dogs exist?”
“To be our companions and protectors.”
“So why do humans exist?”
“To eat animals.”
“Wait – so everything on this earth exists to either eat other animals or to be
Here's my l'il doggy, just being his doggy self!
eaten by them? Or apparently, in the case of dogs, to be our buddies?”
They didn’t really have an answer to that.
It is kind of weird to think that we’re all just here to eat each other, isn’t it? I mean, to be fair, I don’t know why the hell we’re all here either, but I certainly do not think it’s to eat or be eaten.
They also tried to tell me that veganism is no better because of all the animals that are killed in the process of harvesting vegetables and grains. UGH. I am so tired of hearing that one. Let’s walk through this: yes, small animals and insects are killed in modern agriculture in the planting and harvesting of various crops. Those crops are then largely fed to “food animals”, which are then slaughtered and fed to humans. So, logically speaking, we could kill significantly fewer animals by simply harvesting those crops and eating them directly, could we not? And isn’t that better from an animal rights perspective than the alternative? Yes, yes it is. Plus, I don’t claim to be perfect – I step on ants and insects all the time, I’m sure. I hit them with my car. I live my life trying to do the least harm possible, but I can’t claim I’ve done no harm to animals.
It gets exhausting fielding these same questions again and again to people, and yet I have to remind myself that I once thought that way, and if no one had ever explained things to me, I’d still be eating the standard American diet – SAD! Do I think this couple is going to be vegan now? Heck no, but at least I tried to explain my perspective to them, to show them that not everyone thinks that animals are here just for our selfish human purposes. Maybe eventually it will sink in, maybe it won’t, but I did what I could!
So, friends, why do we humans exist anyway?
i get this ALL THE TIME too. usually from quick witted men who don’t really give me the chance to respond satisfactorily. i always think of what i want to say AFTER the conversation is over.
but i’m with you. it only takes me watching my free range pet chickens sunbathing and taking dirt baths, my dog rolling in the grass and my cats resting in the window to see that their lives are truly their OWN. they have complex worlds that go far beyond eating and being eaten.
why do we exist… that’s a pretty big one. i can only speculate. anyway, i love reading posts like these. i am so fascinated with the social aspects of being vegan. and since i am very anti-social, i rarely have interactions like these. sounds like you held your own, and maybe the folks you spoke with are thinking twice about how they perceive things. all you can do is plant the seed.
~wendy
http://conradvisionquest.wordpress.com/
The argument that really twists my knickers is that plants are sentient so eating plants is just as evil as eating non-human animals. I mean, really. Plants have no central nervous system, hence no sentience but it’s a comforting argument for those who simply cannot justify their carcass-eating ways.
By his own logic, humans must exist to feed tigers and grizzly bears, as these animals do on occasion eat us.
“, I don’t know why the hell we’re all here either, but I certainly do not think it’s to eat or be eaten.”
I have no idea why we are here
but I have opinion with unjustifiable answers.
People justify all the things they do. We’ve been brought up seeing eggs as lovely golden things for cakes rather than some poor hen being forced to produce them ad infinitum rather than have chicks and raise them as she should. We forget that there would be no veal if it were not for the need for milk. Apart from the eating the pet industry is selling so many poor little guys into lives of terrible pain and thankful death. Well said to you, and all those lovely people like you who are brave enough to share these things. Humans should stop thinking that their existance is so important. We’re a pretty appalling species.