this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2024
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My two-sided opinion is that as a defence for veganism/vegetarianism, animal suffering is inconsequential. I used to use the example of flies. Would you hurt a fly? If you would, then what gives you grounds to claim that the lives of any "higher-order functioning" animal is more valuable.
My opinion on this became two sided when i learnt that most insects don't experience pain the same way most mammals do.
I'm not vegan, I'm just trying to eat less meat, but I see this discourse pop up from time to time in vegan communities.
A similar argument is often made regarding what would happen to vegetarians if they learned that plants can feel pain. This is often posed as a hypothetical, but I've heard that some studies suggests plants and fungi especially may be aware of when they're being eaten. Whether or not that equates to pain, I don't think a consensus has been reached.
But for the sake of argument, let's say that plants do feel pain while you eat them. If your ethos is to reduce overall suffering in the food chain, then it's still logical to abstain from meat. Livestock living a vegetarian life eat a lot of plants.
You might alternatively come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as ethical consumption. An extreme position you might take is that the best way to reduce suffering is to remove yourself from the food chain. If you starve yourself, you'll be consuming less, your greenhouse emissions become zero, and you lessen your impact on social services and infrastructure that is often strained to the breaking point.
Obviously, the solution is not to just kill yourself. But advocating for more ethical consumption seems like a noble cause.
Fools.
We all know plants are vorarephiles. Those plants are in a state of euphoria.