Rules: This is a very specific contest. Don’t tell us why you like meat, why organic trumps local or why your food is yours to choose. Just tell us why it’s ethical to eat meat.
Guidelines: Send written entries of no more than 600 words to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Entries are due by April 8; no late submissions will be considered.
The Prize: The best essay or essays will be published in an upcoming issue of The New York Times.
As of 7:25pm, there are 552 online comments on the website above—if you have the winning essay, you may want it printed with a pseudonym
The judges are indeed
some of the most influential thinkers to question or condemn the eating of meat
Hm, ethical? It seems the best you can do is to argue that it is not an ethical question. I don’t see how eating meat can be “morally good”, if that’s what they’re asking.
I think we are almost at that point where trying to argue that eating meat is ethical is beginning to sound as unreasonable as claiming that smoking is cool.
Maybe I’m missing the point, but I don’t think anyone is claiming that eating meat is ethical as a positive statement, as in it is something everyone should strive to do. I think the idea is to show that it is not unethical.
Setting aside issues of how we grow and process meat, I would be hard-pressed to agree with anyone claiming it to be unethical. Comparing it to smoking is just silly.
Well, I wasn’t comparing smoking with eating meat per se, but rather the type of reasoning to help us come up with an argument to justify either of them. Smoking is dangerous and eating meat hurts animals no matter what kind of an excuse we can think of to help us feel that it may be okay to do it.
Well, I wasn’t comparing smoking with eating meat per se, but rather the type of reasoning to help us come up with an argument to justify either of them. Smoking is dangerous and eating meat hurts animals no matter what kind of an excuse we can think of to help us feel that it may be okay to do it.
I think that’s true - the difference being that smokers (primarily) hurt themselves, save the increased healthcare costs we all pay. Most of us seem not to care that we cause so much pain to non-humans. I’m with Singer on this one.
I know smoking is not the topic here, but I think I pay enough in taxes on cigarettes to afford to get sick one day and not having to feel guilty about it.
I know smoking is not the topic here, but I think I pay enough in taxes on cigarettes to afford to get sick one day and not having to feel guilty about it.
Occasional days off aren’t what I was referring to. LINK
I know smoking is not the topic here, but I think I pay enough in taxes on cigarettes to afford to get sick one day and not having to feel guilty about it.
Occasional days off aren’t what I was referring to. LINK
Maybe I’m missing the point, but I don’t think anyone is claiming that eating meat is ethical as a positive statement, as in it is something everyone should strive to do. I think the idea is to show that it is not unethical.
Is there a difference between “not unethical” and “not an ethical question”? I couldn’t think of an example
To eat a balanced diet is ethical. If that balanced diet consists of fruits, vegetables, fish, and meat, it is ethical. We have been hunter gatherers since the beginning of our species and meat has been part of our diet since. In fact a case can be made that meat was a part of our evolution into homo sapiens and therefore the argument cannot be based on ethics at all.
I agree with Write. A balanced diet for humans consists of meat and or fish for protein. As to ethical behavior, those farms in which animals are warehoused should be eliminated. The biggest problem we face is in the cattle industry where a great deal of land is needed and grain to feed them. Also, if I’m not mistaken the methane problem is adding to global warming. As to smoking, there is no second hand cheeseburger I have to worry about at Mcfatties. Smokers have areas in which to enjoy their nicotine as long as it’s away from me and mine. Personally I’d like to see smoking go the way of the dinosaur but that’s in the future. Banning it would be a real problem (see prohibition).
I know smoking is not the topic here, but I think I pay enough in taxes on cigarettes to afford to get sick one day and not having to feel guilty about it.
Occasional days off aren’t what I was referring to. LINK
Neither was I.
Sorry, that’s how I interpreted getting “sick one day.” My bad I suppose, but I’m still confused.
Maybe I’m missing the point, but I don’t think anyone is claiming that eating meat is ethical as a positive statement, as in it is something everyone should strive to do. I think the idea is to show that it is not unethical.
Is there a difference between “not unethical” and “not an ethical question”? I couldn’t think of an example
I know smoking is not the topic here, but I think I pay enough in taxes on cigarettes to afford to get sick one day and not having to feel guilty about it.
Occasional days off aren’t what I was referring to. LINK
Neither was I.
Sorry, that’s how I interpreted getting “sick one day.” My bad I suppose, but I’m still confused.
What I meant was that the tax money I spend on cigarettes should be enough to cover the treatment of my lung cancer.
