Veganism - life loving or cruelty free ?

LifeLovingFoods

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  1. Vegan
This morning on Twitter i read a Tweet that said something like "..Animal meat was meant to be eaten but i disagree with animal farms.. '' . By the time i wanted to find it again to comment directly it was too far away in Cyberspace :) In any case it did get me thinking as to if we do not eat meat mainly because the meat we would eat was produced in a cruel manner or is it because we don't want to take life away for our food consumption.

So i ended up face to face with 3 key questions in my mind.

One path was what if it is possible to produce ' cruelty free meats '.

Another do we consider animal life to be different than plant life and why?

And finally are we not eating meat for Life Loving reasons or for anti-cruelty reasons?

What if we could raise animals with as much love and attention as we do our pets? What if we are then able to take away animal life in a very compassionate manner? In other words lets assume we could reduce the cruelty in the animal food industry to ridiculously low levels and to a point that would make animal food products to be ' cruelty-free' produce. In that case would it be suitable as food for Vegans or at least for a majority of them?

The other question is about plant life and in how does it differ from animal life. I am not speaking about the obvious details of the difference in the manifestation of the life form but rather at the basic level of life energy. Is there a difference between the basic ' life ' element in plants and the ' life ' element in animals. If yes then what is it? If not ( meaning life as a basic element is the same ) then what are those differing elements in the manifestation of life that change the cruelty impact enough to make it acceptable for plants and not in the case of animals.

And the final question is to better understand if we as Vegans are not eating meats and meat products because of Life Loving reasons ( again why animal life and not plant life ) or because of non-cruelty reasons? Is it because we value life very much and consider preserving it to be a valorous choice of action or is it that we resent cruelty so much and do not wish to partake of it?

I for my part am Vegan for the Life Loving reasons as it fits more coherently in my overall attitude about life in general and i consider eating plants a necessary exception but have not made a decision on the question of life as a basic element yet.

The cruelty issue is in a certain sense very subjective and so to establish levels and norms is difficult. Furthermore cruelty and suffering being associated with certain self-benefits of redemption on one hand and on misconceived interpretations on the other make it more a subject for discord than for agreement.

On this one the sharing can be of all forms, technical, philosophical, ideological, personal .... even plant and animal :-D

#vgnizm @vgnizm VGnizm.com
 
I think (and I think the majority of serious/ethical/strict vegans would agree) that either-

--The "life loving" element is more important.
OR
--The two elements are indistinguishable, since any animals kept for food will in practice suffer some cruelty in their lives, and that the act of taking a life for food is in itself cruel.

If we could find a way to raise animals for food and treat them very well, that will still leave fundamental questions about animal rights include the right to live free and not be used as property, and the question of the act of killing for food. So, I think most vegans would not agree with it (of course, it would still not fit with the definition of veganism in any case).
 
Is it because we value life very much and consider preserving it to be a valorous choice of action or is it that we resent cruelty so much and do not wish to partake of it?

#vgnizm @vgnizm VGnizm.com

If you hold the knife over the chicken's throat and ask me the question then, I'd say value of life is the more fundamental argument. So, for animals already alive, I think that is the case. But a vote for veganism is in fact a vote to not bring more farm animals into existence. In that sense, it's a vote for a less cruel world. Many vegans fail to realise it but veganism saves very few farm animals but should mean more opportunities to live (or a better standard of life) for either humans or wild animals.