
Why Are There So Few Vegetarians? - lelf
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animals-and-us/201109/why-are-there-so-few-vegetarians
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stegosaurus
Cognitive dissonance is required in order to make it through life, and
figuring out where to apply it is very difficult.

I personally became vegetarian not because I changed my mind about the
morality of eating meat, but because I started to actually try to be a good
person.

It really is not easy, though. Try to go through your day, thinking about all
of the impacts of things you do. Your car burning oil, your purchasing
decisions enabling megacorporations to take over, your rent propping up a rich
person, and so on.

Life just isn't possible if you try to 'do no evil'. So we make up reasons why
things are OK, we get lazy, or we just don't think about it beyond the
directly terrible acts.

For me, being vegetarian was something that required very little change in my
life. You just pick up tofu or other substitutes and go on as usual. Much
easier than say, abstaining from capitalism.

~~~
inscrutablemike
> Life just isn't possible if you try to 'do no evil'.

Shouldn't that indicate something about the validity of one's view of
morality?

~~~
stegosaurus
Not really. It indicates something about the society you live in.

Imagine that you are born into a tribe that sacrifices children once annually.
You have to do it, you can't get around it without suicide.

Your view on the 'evilness' of an activity you are effectively forced to
perform is no more or less valid.

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kazinator
Suppose you are a true vegetarian: not one who thinks that flying and swimming
creatures aren't animals, or that fish don't have faces.

Well, how long must you have been one to actually count as one? If you last
ate meat 12 months ago, are you a vegetarian today? Or does it have to be five
years ago? Ten?

Depending on how we set this cutoff, we get more or fewer "vegetarians".

How about if we look into the future? If you're one week from relapsing into
meat eating, are you a vegetarian today? What if you're five months away from
downing a hot dog? Or how about five years away from enjoying a juicy, char-
broiled steak?

~~~
gnoway
I think it's the intent and commitment that defines it. Someone who does not,
as a rule, consume meat or animal products is vegeterian. I think that's true
if they do it for one day or a thousand, and IMO it's also true if they
occasionally consume an animal product due to necessity or ignorance or
mislabeling.

By contrast, ~80% of my food intake right now is Soylent. I could make that
100% if I wanted, and I suppose that would qualify me as vegeterian; Soylent
contains no animal byproducts. But I don't consider myself vegeterian and
never will.

Edit: I tend to look at this like a religion. Can someone be Christian if they
aren't in church every time the door is open? Do they have to follow every
rule and think correctly and so forth 100% of the time? I think most people
would say no.

~~~
kazinator
"A day" seems like a rather generous lower bound on commitment, I would say.
That may not even be long enough for your digestive tract to clear of all
traces of meat. :)

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riot504
Because meat is amazing!

~~~
maxharris
Bacon tastes _good_. Pork chops taste _good_.

New York strip? Prime rib? Bacon cheeseburgers? Portillo's Italian sausage
with hot peppers? Yes please!

Chicken and fish can be amazing (I'm thinking about drumsticks and spicy tuna
handrolls as I write this), even though it doesn't exactly count as meat in my
mind.

I tried to be a vegetarian once when I was about 17. I had made it for the
better part of a year, and then Thanksgiving rolled around. I managed to make
it through dinner, but after dessert I saw a glistening leftover drumstick in
the kitchen. Right then and there I decided to give up.

If you love eating meat as much as I do, there is little point in living a
life of self-denial.

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PebblesHD
The tone of this article seems to make out like vegetarianism isn't merely one
of many valid dietary choices. The author seems to be under the impression
that in some years all people will be vegetarian/vegan and non vegetarians
will be the minority, which simply isn't likely.

~~~
icanhackit
_The author seems to be under the impression that in some years all people
will be vegetarian /vegan and non vegetarians will be the minority, which
simply isn't likely._

Food of the Gods - Arthur C Clarke

It’s only fair to warn you, Mr. Chairman, that much of my evidence will be
highly nauseating; it involves aspects of human nature that are very seldom
discussed in public, and certainly not before a congressional committee. But I
am afraid that they have to be faced,; there are times when the veil of
hypocrisy has to be ripped away, and this is one them. You and I, gentlemen,
have descended from a long line of carnivores. I see from you expressions that
most of you don’t recognize the term. Well, that’s not surprising-it comes
from a language that has been obsolete for two thousand years. Perhaps I had
better avoid euphemisms and be brutally frank, even if I have to use words
that are never heard in polite society. I apologize in advance to anyone I may
offend. Until a few centuries ago, the favorite food of almost all men was
meat-the flesh of once living animals. I’m not trying to turn your stomachs;
this is a simple statement of fact, which you can check in any history book…
Why, certainly, Mr. Chairman, I’m quite prepared to wait until Senator Irving
feels better. We professionals sometimes forget how laymen may react to
statements like that. At the same time, I must warn the committee that there
is very much worse to come. If any of you gentlemen are at all squeamish, I
suggest you follow the senator before it’s to late… Well, if I may continue.
Until modern times, all food fell into two categories. Most of it was produced
from plants-cereals, fruits, plankton, algae and other forms of vegetation.
It’s hard for us to realize that the vast majority of our ancestors were
farmers, winning food from the land or sea by primitive and often back
breaking techniques; but that is the truth. The second type of food, if I may
return to this unpleasant subject, was meat, produced from a relatively small
number of animals. You may be familiar with some of them-cows, pigs, sheep,
whales. Most people-I am sorry to stress this, but the fact is beyond dispute-
preferred meat to any other food, though only the wealthiest were able to
indulge this appetite. To most of mankind, meat was a rare and occasional
delicacy in a diet that was more than ninety-percent vegetable. [...]

Full text:
[https://books.google.com.au/books?id=hbAqAAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT75&o...](https://books.google.com.au/books?id=hbAqAAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT75&ots=Fyo9gNkRJC&dq=arthur%20c%20clarke%20food%20of%20the%20gods&pg=PT75#v=onepage&q=arthur%20c%20clarke%20food%20of%20the%20gods&f=false)

About:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Food_of_the_Gods_%28short_s...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Food_of_the_Gods_%28short_story%29)

~~~
PebblesHD
Fascinating, I've made a good few pages in so far, worth the read.

------
valdiorn
I think Mitchell and Webb had the perfect answer to that question:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63NNuG-6-hQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63NNuG-6-hQ)

Also, I'm afraid to say it is articles and opinions like this that make me
instantly weary of people who identify as vegans. The holier-than-thou moral
superiority that is obvious from reading that article is disgusting. So I like
meat, that's how we were made. It's delicious and nutritious and nobody has
any damn right to judge me for that, and if you insist on judging nonetheless,
you are not worth my respect or attention.

Be a vegetarian or a vegan if you want, just don't rub it in my face and try
to make me feel bad because I don't agree with your perceived moral
superiority.

~~~
aminorex
That's a very weak argument: A cannibal could say as much, and I would find it
completely unmoving.

