Common arguments against vegetarianism and replies

1 ”Meat is part of a natural diet!”

If meat had truely been natural for us to eat, why do we become sick by eating it raw? We are the only speicies on earth that prepare and cook our meals. Is that natural? It's true we are omnivores, but is natural necessariilly good? In nature we find murder, theft, rape and incest. And even if it was natural, don't we in all other cases consider ourself more than mere animals?

2 "Some essential substances you can only find in meat, for example protein and iron."

Percentwise there are more protein in soybeans than in red meat. There are lots of iron in all green vegetables, nuts, beans and cereals.

3 ”If everyone stopped eating meat, the world would be overrun with animals.”

We control the amount of animals born. The only chanse of making the world vegetarian is to do it person by person and that takes a while. The "supply" is decreased according to the demand. There will be no mass killing of animals, because everyone will not become vegetarian over night. One person does make a difference. Otherwise it wouldn't be as many vegetarians as it is today. Even a drop of the ocean is a part of the ocean.

4 ”As long as the animals don't suffer...”

If you ever seen a meat factory you know that the animals suffer their entire lives. There are also nothing called "unnecessary suffering". Just listen to the words. All suffering is unnecessary.

5 ”You have to burn rainforrests for soy production so you vegetarians can have food!”

Yes. But 80% of the soy produced on earth is for animal fodder. If this wasn't the case there wouldn't be as many soy farmers, hence not as much rainforrest shoveling.

6 ”But the lions eat meat! Why shouldn't we be allowed to eat meat?”

Because we have a choise. We don't NEED to eat meat. Lions are carnivores, however, and they can't eat vegetables. They cannot make good of the nutrients. We can.

7 "What if the vegetables can feel pain?!"

Then it's even MORE important not to eat meat. What do you think the animal fodder is made of? Yeah, vegetables. Vegetarianism is not about stopping all the suffering in the world. It's about minimizing it. You CAN stop hurting animals, so why not do it?

8 ”But it tastes good!”

But is it really reasonable that innocent animals is killed for it? Is your comfort REALLY that important that defenceless animals have to die for it? Would you be willing to live a miserable life in pain and torture just so someone else can have a good meal?

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Finally.

I'm a vegitarian, but i don't go telling the world to stop eating meat. I have a feeling this isn't going to go over well with a lot of people here.

PrettyOdd08 wrote: I'm a vegitarian, but i don't go telling the world to stop eating meat. I have a feeling this isn't going to go over well with a lot of people here.

Neither do I. I just answer peoples questions and prejudices.

KK will love you forever now.

The reason why we can't eat raw meat, is because we've grown out of it. When we were in ancient times we used our appendix (theory but I believe it) to digest the raw flesh. Then we found out that cooking it made it less tough so we could eat it easier and faster. We stopped using our appendix, so it has no use to us now.

I'm not saying that vegetarianism is bad, but animals can be omnivores and its natural.

Venfort wrote: 1 ”Meat is part of a natural diet!”

If meat had truely been natural for us to eat, why do we become sick by eating it raw? We are the only speicies on earth that prepare and cook our meals. Is that natural? It's true we are omnivores, but is natural necessariilly good? In nature we find murder, theft, rape and incest. And even if it was natural, don't we in all other cases consider ourself more than mere animals?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA stupidest argument ever.
People eat raw meat without getting sick. We've just evolved to be able to digest cooked meat easier.

Venfort wrote:
2 "Some essential substances you can only find in meat, for example protein and iron."

Percentwise there are more protein in soybeans than in red meat. There are lots of iron in all green vegetables, nuts, beans and cereals.

"beef contains ample quantities of haem iron, which is usually much more readily absorbed than the iron in plant products. Thus, a gram of iron in red meat actually represents a greater amount of available iron, compared to a gram of the mineral in leafy vegetables." So what I'm saying is, you get more iron out of red meat than you do out of the same quantity of green vegetables.

Venfort wrote:
3 ”If everyone stopped eating meat, the world would be overrun with animals.”

Stupid argument

Venfort wrote:
4 ”As long as the animals don't suffer...”

What?

Venfort wrote:
5 ”You have to burn rainforrests for soy production so you vegetarians can have food!”

Burn rain forests? Stupid argument

Venfort wrote:
6 ”But the lions eat meat! Why shouldn't we be allowed to eat meat?”

we're omnivores

Venfort wrote:
7 "What if the vegetables can feel pain?!"

Stupid argument.

Venfort wrote:
8 ”But it tastes good!”

Really stupid argument. Of course meat tastes good.

Im quite the opposite of vegetarian..
Seriously, grow some fucking balls and eat a cow. If you honestly think that you are doing ANYTHING at all, then you're sadly mistaken. Your arguing is all in vain.
Brb, imma go eat a steak.

Guess what, scientific fact that the body requires protein. Protein that comes from meat not from man made pills. The only argument that they can use that is valid, is the treatment. Which with animal safety laws is done quick and painlessly. The garbage that PETA spews from its website is from other countries, and dated material and facts from the 90's.

Xenomorph wrote: Guess what, scientific fact that the body requires protein. Protein that comes from meat not from man made pills. The only argument that they can use that is valid, is the treatment. Which with animal safety laws is done quick and painlessly. The garbage that PETA spews from its website is from other countries, and dated material and facts from the 90's.

Synthesized (or "fake") is nowhere near as good as the original. go figure, it's fake, it doesn't do the same thing. It only prolongs the feeling or need for it, since it is a close match.
That goes for everything really.

Also, PETA has done more harm than any good. (We have a topic on that somewhere)

I like the replies you have for most of the questions,except number one.
Anyway,I really see no point in argueing about the subject.
Vegetarians won't eat meat and meat eaters will eat meat,except the few
time that one will change because of another's arguemeant.
I think that the best way to convert someone to being a vegetarian is to just show them through your own well being and show them that you can be just as healthy and have just as good food as oposed to not being a vegetarian.
Rarely will someone give up thei opinions in a debate for the other's.

Snow:
But still. Natural is not necessarily good.

Kittens:
Yes, most of the arguments are stupid, but I hear them all the time. Does that mean people generally are stupid? Yes it does. Anyway. Same argument as above. Natural is not always good. As for the iron argument; in the way we over consume in todays society, where obesity is one of the biggest threats to public health, do you really say it's -necessary- for us to eat meat because of that reason?

Restrickted:
Wow! You're so tough and cool! Teach me to just like you! -.-

Xeno:
Did you even read the thing? Beans have more and better protein than meat.

Nexus:
Excuse my french, but PETA can go fuck themselves. Lying hipocritical bastards are what they are.

Shadows:
Yes, humans aren't as rational as we like to believe. But there's always some. Me being one.

RestriCKted wrote: Im quite the opposite of vegetarian..
Seriously, grow some fucking balls and eat a cow. If you honestly think that you are doing ANYTHING at all, then you're sadly mistaken. Your arguing is all in vain.
Brb, imma go eat a steak.

that is the best thing i've read all day!
i totally agree--i have a steak sandwich for dinner. Sounds good eh??

EmoMunchkin wrote:

RestriCKted wrote: Im quite the opposite of vegetarian..
Seriously, grow some fucking balls and eat a cow. If you honestly think that you are doing ANYTHING at all, then you're sadly mistaken. Your arguing is all in vain.
Brb, imma go eat a steak.

that is the best thing i've read all day!
i totally agree--i have a steak sandwich for dinner. Sounds good eh??

You don't read much, do you?

Venfort wrote: Yes, humans aren't as rational as we like to believe. But there's always some. Me being one.

This is a good example of why I generally try to avoid vegetarians and- or vegans: a blunt holier-than-thou attitude. The only thing you'll achieve with such a mentality is more people refusing to join your cause, let alone hear you out. If you want people to convert, why don't you try another type of approach?

For example, a better suited answer for the last question would be something along the lines of: People usually like the seasonings used to add flavor to the meat, not the muscle itself. If you've ever tried eating completely unseasoned meat after a small absence from meat, you'll quickly notice that there is nothing special about it - because the taste is actually very bland and boring. And then go on and develop this answer more; something that I'm too tired to do.

You could've also addressed the issue with people having the belief that a vegan lifestyle is an expensive one.

What all this amounts to, in the end, is a personal choice: you either eat meat or you don't. There should be no questioning of this choice people make, in my opinion.