RomanDavis comments on A sense of logic - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (269)
"What's the worst argument you can think of?"
Since you asked... Some people told me I shouldn't be vegetarian because I kill plants.
And my reaction to such arguments is the surprise of learning that the human mind really is that broken. I used to be under the impression that as intelligence rises, the ability to spot certain fallacies should be reached before the ability to ride the long bus.
I don't feel any pain, but sometimes I feel like I'm SUPPOSED to get an ice cream headache from the overwhelming stupidity.
I've always wanted to ask a vegetarian this.
Do you reject eating meat for humanitarian reasons? If so, would you eat oysters? They have no brain. They're still alive, but so is corn.
There's an article arguing in favour of that position, from a vegan perspective: http://www.slate.com/id/2248998/
(I'm a vegetarian and I agree with that, though I personally do not eat oysters mainly because I find it icky. But I don't have any ethical objection to it.)
I frickin love oysters. Try them some time.
I describe myself as a vegetarian for humanitarian reasons, and have no ethical problem with eating oysters for exactly the reason you describe.
Though, I guess that means I'm not technically a vegetarian. My policy is to choose my food so as to avoid causing unnecessary suffering to animals. Is there a good word for that?
I reject eating meat for humanitarian reasons. I don't eat oysters because 1) I've taken "the animal kingdom" as a Schelling point to avoid a slippery slope into eating shellfish and fish, and 2) even when I did eat meat I thought oysters were gross.
Considering this subject was an early part of my rationalist education.