Hypothetical Question

Would you eat meat etc if each time you did a million people instantly turned permanently vegan?

  • Yes

    Votes: 5 50.0%
  • No

    Votes: 2 20.0%
  • Unsure

    Votes: 3 30.0%

  • Total voters
    10

maxvegan1988

Newcomer
Joined
Jul 25, 2022
Reaction score
24
Age
36
Location
London
Lifestyle
  1. Vegan
A vegan friend recently asked me this hypothetical question

Would you eat a meal of any animal product if it meant that each time you did, a million people would instantly become permanently vegan?
 
Without hesitation. I hope none of us would place our vegan purity over the elimination of animal suffering on that scale.

Now I'm asking myself what I WOULDN'T do to turn a million people vegan...things got dark :joy:
 
That depends on a few things - will they be permanently vegan but resent it being forced on them? I wouldn't want someone to do that to me, so I have reservations about the hypothetical situation. A meat-eater could ask the same question, but reverse the criteria, and I bet a lot of us would resent it if it were done to us. I understand the implications of people not becoming vegan, but do we really want to force it upon people? Of course I would rather that everyone be vegan, for many reasons, but I'm not sure that I like the way the hypothetical question goes about getting there.

But, assuming that people would become vegan in the hypothetical situation and just love it and thank me for it, one would have to eat around 7,800 animal-based meals to turn the current global population vegan. I hope we're hungry for meat.

But, it's just a hypothetical question. So nothing much lost.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lou and silva
Let me rephrase the question a little.
Would you eat an animal based meal (that involved murder and suffering), if every time you did, it instantly turned a million people permanently vegan and therefore preventing millions of murders and mass scale suffering (regardless of their desire to or not)?

It would be pointless for them being converted only if they were already willing because if that was the case then they'd already be vegan.

So with that in mind. I personally don't agree with murder or suffering of sentient beings but if it meant the greater good for the greater number (in this case non human animals), I'd do it in a heartbeat. I'd obviously go back to being vegan once the world had turned vegan. In fact I'd eat lots of small non vegan meals per day just to quicken the process.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FlandersOD and Lou
Let me rephrase the question a little.
Would you eat an animal based meal (that involved murder and suffering), if every time you did, it instantly turned a million people permanently vegan and therefore preventing millions of murders and mass scale suffering (regardless of their desire to or not)?

It would be pointless for them being converted only if they were already willing because if that was the case then they'd already be vegan.

So with that in mind. I personally don't agree with murder or suffering of sentient beings but if it meant the greater good for the greater number (in this case non human animals), I'd do it in a heartbeat. I'd obviously go back to being vegan once the world had turned vegan. In fact I'd eat lots of small non vegan meals per day just to quicken the process.
Well if they went vegan without any desire to do so maybe every time you ate that meaty meal millions of animals dropped dead of unknown causes, forcing those people to give up meat 🤔 .
 
I don't know if willingness necessarily implies conversion. Many willing people probably don't become vegan because of peer pressure, spousal or family pressure, or just the fear of "seeming different." At a work meeting a few years ago, I ordered a "vegan breakfast." The admin called out the orders and, when he arrived at mine, he gave me a look I'll never forget and barked at me "are you VEGAN?!!?" in a very unkind, mocking manner. All in front of numerous co-workers and managers. Other people see that and don't want to submit themselves to the same treatment. In some circles, being vegan still carries a significant stigma. I know, I've experienced it more than once.

I would also be careful with utilitarian ethics. It can be used to justify lots of nasty things, such as "10% of the population enslaved for the greater good of the other 90%." "Greater good for the greater number" can turn into a slippery slope pretty quickly. There are better ways to justify veganism, such as the dimunition of suffering. But I do agree that the world would be better if everyone were vegan, so don't get me wrong on that. I'm on the vegan side, but I think making everyone vegan is a very complicated question. Plus, again, it's only hypothetical. I'm just sharing my thoughts, I'm not trying to be difficult.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PTree15 and silva
I don't know if willingness necessarily implies conversion. Many willing people probably don't become vegan because of peer pressure, spousal or family pressure, or just the fear of "seeming different." At a work meeting a few years ago, I ordered a "vegan breakfast." The admin called out the orders and, when he arrived at mine, he gave me a look I'll never forget and barked at me "are you VEGAN?!!?" in a very unkind, mocking manner. All in front of numerous co-workers and managers. Other people see that and don't want to submit themselves to the same treatment. In some circles, being vegan still carries a significant stigma. I know, I've experienced it more than once.

I would also be careful with utilitarian ethics. It can be used to justify lots of nasty things, such as "10% of the population enslaved for the greater good of the other 90%." "Greater good for the greater number" can turn into a slippery slope pretty quickly. There are better ways to justify veganism, such as the dimunition of suffering. But I do agree that the world would be better if everyone were vegan, so don't get me wrong on that. I'm on the vegan side, but I think making everyone vegan is a very complicated question. Plus, again, it's only hypothetical. I'm just sharing my thoughts, I'm not trying to be difficult.
I agree that utilitarian ethics can be used to 'justify' horrific evils but I am only applying it to this case. So eating meat/fish that has already been killed and packaged or dairy that has caused suffering. I would be responsible for buying into the system by means of supply and demand but as an individual it wouldn't make much difference and would only last for a couple of years at most, after which the world would be vegan and due to the fall in demand , meat and dairy would become de normalised and hopefully governments would make it illegal too. Just like murder of humans is deviant behaviour and recognised as a crime in most countries.
 
I hate this question. If you don't want to eat the meat then you're the bad guy. I wouldn't believe them.
"eat meat once for me and I'll go vegan forever"... Uh sure. My vote's no. Then once you fall for it, "aha, gotcha dumb vegan or should I say ex vegan?? Hahaha"
 
  • Agree
Reactions: silva
I hate this question. If you don't want to eat the meat then you're the bad guy. I wouldn't believe them.
"eat meat once for me and I'll go vegan"... Uh sure. My vote's no.
Right? As if there wouldn't be a twist no one could foresee. 🙄
You eat meat, it's poisoned......:rofl:
Hypothetically of course
 
Mathematically speaking it would only take about 8000 vegans to eat meat once and the entire world would be permanently vegan, if one million converted each time. It's a no-brainer. It would be worth it hands down!

*
 
  • Like
Reactions: tlc1976 and Sax
Being vegan is a choice you make every day so I would expect them to revert at some point unless they're committed
 
  • Agree
Reactions: silva
Mathematically speaking it would only take about 8000 vegans to eat meat once and the entire world would be permanently vegan, if one million converted each time. It's a no-brainer. It would be worth it hands down!

*
Yes exactly. Since it says each “time” and not day or whatever, I would do it as many small meals or snacks a day. And hopefully others on the bandwagon would do the same. The more people do it, the less demand for meat and the industry would eventually cripple.