My friend said that if she was one of a group of starving people and it was a case of eat the rabbit or die she'd eat the rabbit. I asked why her life was worth more than the rabbit's. She couldn't answer me.
Are we just here to survive?
- Thread starter Sally
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What if say... There were beached edible fish that had died through lack of water, would you eat those to survive?
I'm assuming so as they're no longer living? Just curious
It wasn't so much about retaining one's vegan stance as putting the value of your own life above others, which as non-vegans we would do every day. For me that is why I am vegan, the realisation of how we are so arrogant about being head of the food chain that we think it is our right to take another's life to save ourselves just doesn't sit well with me anymore. Not to mention the dreadful methods we go to to keep supplies up. Dead of natural causes, I couldn't say if I'd eat it, but if there was no water, well I understand that dehydration kills quicker than starvation so I might not have to decide about the fish.
Lunakid
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That's very philosophic question.. Sometimes I feel life like surviving process, we are to earn money, to pay bills.. But I have also the feeling that there's something more that only this. I have the believe that we are more than just an animal so we shouldn't eat anyone. we make now lots of different food, so we can take care of animals
fzjohnson
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Hi. I could be wrong but I think your first question to your friend blurred the lines a little. Perhaps it's not "why is your life worth more than the rabbit's" but rather, "why is your will to survive SO strong you'd be willing to take another's life?"
Is this situation (not the beached fish one) any different to "why would you shoot back at someone firing a gun at you and your children/pets/loved ones?" ... Thankfully we don't have guns or such horrendous situations, but just for the exercise ... is it any different? Isn't this the real question? And if it is, then how did meat-eaters get tricked into ignoring that question every time they shopped at the supermarket? "Is your will to survive (in the supermarket chilled foods aisle ... I know, it seems ridiculous) so strong you would buy that chicken breast fillet?" ... or do you have other choices.
As vegans we know eating other animals is ludicrous. Sadly, so. "Will to survive" just doesn't enter into the picture in our Western Lifestyle of Plenty. It is ludicrously irrelevant. And I think it safe to say that most vegans are here because we've seen and felt the consequences.
Back to the scenario: I think ... I might be wrong ... the rabbit would live, not because I'm good at being a vegan, but because by the time I'd worked myself up to deciding I desperately needed to eat it to survive, I'd probably not have the energy to chase it (assuming it's still alive and free). Are they on a desert island or something?
PS: Your friend's next choice, after eating the rabbit, would be "who's next?" (she's with a group of people, after all ... that rabbit ain't going to make a big dish) !!!
Is this situation (not the beached fish one) any different to "why would you shoot back at someone firing a gun at you and your children/pets/loved ones?" ... Thankfully we don't have guns or such horrendous situations, but just for the exercise ... is it any different? Isn't this the real question? And if it is, then how did meat-eaters get tricked into ignoring that question every time they shopped at the supermarket? "Is your will to survive (in the supermarket chilled foods aisle ... I know, it seems ridiculous) so strong you would buy that chicken breast fillet?" ... or do you have other choices.
As vegans we know eating other animals is ludicrous. Sadly, so. "Will to survive" just doesn't enter into the picture in our Western Lifestyle of Plenty. It is ludicrously irrelevant. And I think it safe to say that most vegans are here because we've seen and felt the consequences.
Back to the scenario: I think ... I might be wrong ... the rabbit would live, not because I'm good at being a vegan, but because by the time I'd worked myself up to deciding I desperately needed to eat it to survive, I'd probably not have the energy to chase it (assuming it's still alive and free). Are they on a desert island or something?
PS: Your friend's next choice, after eating the rabbit, would be "who's next?" (she's with a group of people, after all ... that rabbit ain't going to make a big dish) !!!
I did suggest that she volunteered a leg or something she could live without to save the group. The details were vague. If you think about it too long it can get really grim. I think I'd want to be the first to go just to get out of the situation.
It reminded me of the Aesop's tale of the fox who got outrun by the rabbit and his excuse was that he was running for his supper, but the rabbit was running for its life.
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