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Vegetarians
shmokes:
I hate PETA. I don't care if some of the things they say has truth. The fact that so much of what they officially do and say is shady or truth with a huge dose of spin makes them impossible to trust. They are one of those sources that any time they say something you think to yourself, "Wow....I wonder if that's really true."
Can you imagine if that was your reaction when you were watching CNN or reading the LA Times? "Wow.....the Pope died? I wonder if that's really true."
There aren't just extremists within PETA any more than there are extremists in the KKK; PETA is an extremist organization. The organization officially carries out campains such as making happy meal-style action figures of Ronald McDonald and friends, covered in blood, stabbing knives into cows and chickens and then PETA volunteers stand outside resaurants handing them to children as they walk out with their parents.
And they officially say retarded things, such as that the milk you buy in the store is 90% puss and only 10% milk. It's an outright lie.
Stingray:
--- Quote from: shmokes on April 21, 2005, 12:58:48 pm --- I could not give up cheese. It's too tasty. So that's just not possible. But I eat very little meat - almost never beef.
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This describes me pretty well. I eat almost no red meat. Some chicken, turkey & fish, and quite a lot of cheese.
--- Quote from: shmokes on April 21, 2005, 12:58:48 pm ---If you're going to go hardcore ethical you gotta go vegan.
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Thanks for bringing this up. My wife is in fact vegan and not vegetarian. She does not buy leather or eat any dairy. The only animal product that she will eat at all is eggs that we buy directly from the farm, and they are free-range chickens. They taste a lot better than the ones you can get at the grocery store anyway.
-S
Shape D.:
--- Quote from: shmokes on April 21, 2005, 01:06:23 pm ---The organization officially carries out campains such as making happy meal-style action figures of Ronald McDonald and friends, covered in blood, stabbing knives into cows and chickens and then PETA volunteers stand outside resaurants handing them to children as they walk out with their parents.
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I Fear for the saftey of anyone who hands something like that to one of my kids.
SirPeale:
--- Quote from: shmokes on April 21, 2005, 12:58:48 pm ---I am at least as concerned with the environmental impact of consuming meat as the inhumane conditions the animals are subjected to. Grazing reeks havoc on land and the big cattle and pig farms literally create mountains of steaming feces with no good way to dispose of it.
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Indeed. And the amount of water necessary. And the amount of land it takes to raise meat vs the same amout per pound of vegetation.
--- Quote ---This is mostly due to health choices and preferences. Ethics play a role, but a person who is a hardcore vegetarian for moral reasons is necessarily a hypocrit because that person is still wearing leather shoes and drinking milk and eating eggs and cheese, etc. -- all of which involve the slaughering and/or horrible living conditions for animals that apply to the creatures that go into our tummies.
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I still have my leather items, but I've owned them for years. I wouldn't toss them now, it wouldn't make any sense. I wouldn't buy any *new* leather items, but wouldn't have a problem with something from a thrift shop, or something I found. About a year ago I found a leather overcoat that was thrown away. Perfect condition. I don't feel bad about it because it doesn't contribute directly to the leather industry.
--- Quote ---Anyway, anyone not eating meats should really read up on combinations of vegetables that will give you complete proteins. Animal products are almost the only single food sources that deliver complete proteins (there are a couple of beans that will, I think). Different veggies have different partial protiens that can be combined to make complete ones. But you need to eat the foods together, or within a short time-frame, in order for your body to break them down and combine the partial protiens. If you do this you will get absolutely everything good, nutrition-wise, that meat has to offer, without all the bad stuff. If you don't, your health will likely suffer.
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According to what I've read on the matter, this is only partially true. Soy has all the essential amino acids. But there are plenty of other veggies that do the same. Broccoli, mushrooms (!), whole wheat, oatmeal, peanuts, peas, or nuts are good for it. And the fact is most Americans actually suffer from too much protein, not too little.
Animal protein is actually more difficult for your body, because first it has to break it down into the amino acids, then convert that to the proteins your body requires.
--- Quote ---Oh yeah....and don't use vegetable-based butter substitute, like margarine. Hydrogenated vegetable oils are filled with little assassins called trans fatty acids that are WAY worse than anything in butter. Lots of products contain it. Anything creamy that has no animal products, such as peanut butter (get the stuff with the oil on top that has to be mixed in -- it tastes much better anyway).
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Still eating butter - for now, anyway (like the cheese) but I can see myself cutting out the dairy in my diet fairly soon.
SirPeale:
--- Quote from: shmokes on April 21, 2005, 01:06:23 pm ---And they officially say retarded things, such as that the milk you buy in the store is 90% puss and only 10% milk. It's an outright lie.
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I haven't seen *those* figures, but the somatic cell content of milk is quite alarming. Not only that, but how they treat the cows that give the milk is disgusting. Repeated impregnations over a five year span, then when they can't get pregnant any more, or their production wanes, off to the slaughterhouse. Yeah, that's a life I want to live.