To tell something about myself, I call myself a vegetarian, but to speak the truth, I am not. By meaning Vegetarian, I have a different understanding on who is called a vegetarian. I shall not totally kill another living being for my food and that’s my concept of a vegetarian. I drink milk which is an animal product, but I am not killing a cow for that sake. I have egg, but I don’t kill a hen for that sake? A few people may ask . . . an egg might be source of another chicken. But the egg that’s prepared in a poultry farm cannot have a chicken in it because the hen is made to lay egg scientifically. If one person is ready to have milk, but refuses to have egg, then that person is having some age-old opinions about eggs which were once sources of chicks. According to me Non-vegetarianism is nothing but killing another life for your food.
Even plants have lives. If you eat onion/potato/spinach, you are going to kill the whole plant to have it because those are the roots or sometimes the whole of a plant. But if you are not going to have them at that time, definitely its life span is going to end and the plant is going to die with very few days left. But that’s again similar to killing a hen for chicken because in both the cases you are killing a life before its lifespan is over. Still, we feel it is not wrong in killing a potato/spinach/onion plant for food but we feel something is wrong in killing a hen for chicken. What makes us think so? It’s the response that we get for the killing. When we kill a potato/onion plant, it does not respond with a sound/feel of pain. But a hen when being killed cries for its life. Or any animal that is killed for food cries for its life out of pain.
Now let’s discuss the actual question. How many plants and animals are killed for food? Do vegetarians kill the most number of plants? Or do non-vegetarians kill the most number of animals? Let’s take for a single meal in a vegetarian’s house, if the dishes are going to be potato fry, spinach pudding, and some onion sambar for 5 members. In 1 kg of potato we will have at least 10–12 separate potatoes, in 3 bunches of spinach we will have at least 150 separate full spinach plants, and 1 kg of onion will have 8–10 separate onions. So, a vegetarian kills 170 lives for a single meal. If a vegetarian is going to deny this fact, then the concept that plants have lives shall definitely be proved false. Can a Vegetarian deny this fact? Not at all; and this fact can never be denied.
On the other hand, in a non-vegetarian’s house, if the dishes are going to be chicken curry, mutton briyani, and egg masala for 5 members. To make chicken curry for 5 members, you will just need 2 full chickens (at the max), not more than 1 goat for a mutton briyani, and a few eggs for the egg masala and according to my concept egg is vegetarian. The number of lives killed by a non-vegetarian is at the max 3 for a single meal. Now if you compare this with the vegetarian’s case, a non-vegetarian actually kills less than a vegetarian. There are exceptions where there are so many vegetarians who have other vegetables which are just products from plants and the whole plant is not killed. But majority of vegetarians definitely have potatoes/onions/spinach and so I have taken this into consideration.
To conclude, there’s no point in calling him/her to be a pure vegetarian if potato/onion/spinach or any vegetable for that matter is going to involve the killing of the whole plant for food. If a person is going to be called a non-vegetarian because a non-vegetarian food is something related to flesh-eating, then there’s an argument for that too. What is a plant made of? A plant is also made of cells, tissues, and similar elements that make the flesh of a hen or a goat. May be the appearance is different. When you cut a mango fruit, the juice that you get is not something synthetic or something without life. Those tissues are also substances that had life before the mango fruit was plucked from the tree. The color of the blood might be different for plants, but that does not mean they don’t have blood.
Mass killing happens more in vegetarianism than in non-vegetarianism when taking into consideration the number of lives killed. So, a vegetarian may just be called a vegetarian because he/she is eating vegetables. But they cannot be considered to be non-flesh eaters because of being vegetarians. Vegetarians can no longer say that they are not killing for their food. In fact, they are the ones who kill the most number of lives than non-vegetarians. Hope you all got my point of argument. Comments on this invited because this topic will definitely have a lot of comments I guess. It is a topic that will have a lot of contradictions in opinions and view points. I am ready to face any argument for that matter and the great battle on vegetarianism vs. non-vegetarianism begins.
Even plants have lives. If you eat onion/potato/spinach, you are going to kill the whole plant to have it because those are the roots or sometimes the whole of a plant. But if you are not going to have them at that time, definitely its life span is going to end and the plant is going to die with very few days left. But that’s again similar to killing a hen for chicken because in both the cases you are killing a life before its lifespan is over. Still, we feel it is not wrong in killing a potato/spinach/onion plant for food but we feel something is wrong in killing a hen for chicken. What makes us think so? It’s the response that we get for the killing. When we kill a potato/onion plant, it does not respond with a sound/feel of pain. But a hen when being killed cries for its life. Or any animal that is killed for food cries for its life out of pain.
Now let’s discuss the actual question. How many plants and animals are killed for food? Do vegetarians kill the most number of plants? Or do non-vegetarians kill the most number of animals? Let’s take for a single meal in a vegetarian’s house, if the dishes are going to be potato fry, spinach pudding, and some onion sambar for 5 members. In 1 kg of potato we will have at least 10–12 separate potatoes, in 3 bunches of spinach we will have at least 150 separate full spinach plants, and 1 kg of onion will have 8–10 separate onions. So, a vegetarian kills 170 lives for a single meal. If a vegetarian is going to deny this fact, then the concept that plants have lives shall definitely be proved false. Can a Vegetarian deny this fact? Not at all; and this fact can never be denied.
On the other hand, in a non-vegetarian’s house, if the dishes are going to be chicken curry, mutton briyani, and egg masala for 5 members. To make chicken curry for 5 members, you will just need 2 full chickens (at the max), not more than 1 goat for a mutton briyani, and a few eggs for the egg masala and according to my concept egg is vegetarian. The number of lives killed by a non-vegetarian is at the max 3 for a single meal. Now if you compare this with the vegetarian’s case, a non-vegetarian actually kills less than a vegetarian. There are exceptions where there are so many vegetarians who have other vegetables which are just products from plants and the whole plant is not killed. But majority of vegetarians definitely have potatoes/onions/spinach and so I have taken this into consideration.
To conclude, there’s no point in calling him/her to be a pure vegetarian if potato/onion/spinach or any vegetable for that matter is going to involve the killing of the whole plant for food. If a person is going to be called a non-vegetarian because a non-vegetarian food is something related to flesh-eating, then there’s an argument for that too. What is a plant made of? A plant is also made of cells, tissues, and similar elements that make the flesh of a hen or a goat. May be the appearance is different. When you cut a mango fruit, the juice that you get is not something synthetic or something without life. Those tissues are also substances that had life before the mango fruit was plucked from the tree. The color of the blood might be different for plants, but that does not mean they don’t have blood.
Mass killing happens more in vegetarianism than in non-vegetarianism when taking into consideration the number of lives killed. So, a vegetarian may just be called a vegetarian because he/she is eating vegetables. But they cannot be considered to be non-flesh eaters because of being vegetarians. Vegetarians can no longer say that they are not killing for their food. In fact, they are the ones who kill the most number of lives than non-vegetarians. Hope you all got my point of argument. Comments on this invited because this topic will definitely have a lot of comments I guess. It is a topic that will have a lot of contradictions in opinions and view points. I am ready to face any argument for that matter and the great battle on vegetarianism vs. non-vegetarianism begins.
3 comments:
romba pesita... so i have too much to comment. but i will just answer short.
Calling Egg is convenient denial. Can't accept you are non-vegetarian and yet you eat egg..
What ever u blame. If you call egg Vegetarian. Then I am gonna call beer a cool drink.
But nothing is going to change the 'fact' egg is a source of flesh and beer is alcoholic.
It going to die and u use it ?
so is a goat or a hen...
so do we...
We just have to accept some facts. You eat a lot of plants and eggs. and no moving creature.
I eat lot of plants, eggs and non veg at weekends.. May be some eat non-veg all year long...
Its all the convienient denial of truth that we all kill. But to see it from other side. We are being an active part of the ecosystem.
Just live it. The way u are taught. They way u feel is right. Dont think much. Coz. it is not that worth it...
Hey dude,
You don't seem to understand the point I had been emphasizing. Vegetarians think that non-vegetarians are killing a lot of living beings and creatures for food and they even consider it a sin. My argument is vegetarians are killing more lives than the non-vegetarians. I mean to say there is something fundamentally wrong the concept of vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism.
If killing lives is the basic concept of vegetarianism vs. non-vegetarianism, then vegetarians are the ones who kill more. If eating flesh is the concept of vegetarianism vs. non-vegetarianism, then what are plants made of?
That's my argument and I hope you got it.
Hey arun,
the concept of mass killing in vegeterainism is now a kind of universal fact
Non-vegetarians are considerd to be more brutal becos they habve meat
In fact, I agrree with yu that more mass killings happen in vegeterainism and vegeterians should stop demoralising non-vegetarians
But I would be against a non vegetarian if he kills and eats a rare species like the white leopard or so..
anyhow..this was overall a good post and keep writing
Post a Comment