A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

"Don’t kid yourself, Jimmy! If a cow ever got the chance, he’d eat you and everyone you care about!"

Here are some very bad, yet strangely common, arguments against vegetarianism:

1. “But other animals eat each other!”

2. “We’re at the top of the food chain!”

3. “How do you know plants don’t feel pain?”

I’m not saying there aren’t good arguments against it, but you have to wonder why the really bad ones come up so often.

3 responses to “"Don’t kid yourself, Jimmy! If a cow ever got the chance, he’d eat you and everyone you care about!"”

  1. Chip Frontz

    How about this “pro-vegetarian” argument:

    “I’m not a vegetarian because I love animals; I’m a vegetarian because I hate plants.”

    Reply
  2. Eric Lee

    All I’m saying is that you get super mega double props from me for your awesome Simpsons quotation! “Lisa the Vegetarian” is my all-time favourite episode 🙂

    I love — love! — that Troy McClure video.

    LISA: You can’t expect us to swallow that tripe?

    SKINNER: Now, courtesy of the meat counsil, please help yourself to this tripe!

    CLASSIC.

    Peace,

    Eric

    Reply
  3. Kevin Carson

    Actually, I think the first argument is a pretty good foil for the sort who complain of “speciesism.” Holding humans to a higher ethical standard, in itself, carries an implicit “speciesism”–doesn’t it?

    On a more juvenile level, I always wanted to get a bumper sticker reading “So was Hitler–think about THAT!”

    Reply

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