Confused ---

OK, this comes after a major barbecue that we had last weekend. Among all the usual, tonnes of meat and potatoes, corn, mushrooms, salad, beer and coca-cola, we also had a vegetarian friend among us. We of course did not eat him, but the reason why he became a vegetarian is interesting. His is an ethical objection to eating meat. He thinks for one, modern farming and animal rearing techniques are too cruel (in the West). Also, in countries like ours, we do have the practice of animal sacrifice, in the name of religion, but most of the time, it's for food. Lately I have read and heard a lot of objections about the animal sacrifice part of our culture in popular media Now, I respect this guys objection to eating meat and well, have nothing in particular to say against it, it does a number of moral questions for me.

Well, I'm confused on two levels. First, I'm not an anti-animal rights guy. I like animals as well as the next guy - maybe a little bit more. I am a dog person, I am the guy you see in the road with a bumper sticker that says "dog's rule". I am also a cat person to some extent. I maybe am the crazy persons who has a gut reaction against Michael Vick and thinks that this guy should be locked forever or maybe put through the same grueling things that he put his dogs through.

On the other hand, I love eating meat - not dog meat mind you, but any other kind. I like my meat medium rare and prefer to have at least a portion a day. I love my barbecues, steaks, dumplings, roasts, and I have even tried rabbit meat - and it does taste good. I have no qualms eating the cute bunny or the frolicking lamb or even Gau mata.

So does that make a hypocrite? Well, maybe not. I suppose it is not really my choice what I eat. One cannot really put morality on survival. Humans evolved this way. If you put a moral weight on food, then well, those who say that they do not eat meat because the worry about suffering of animals ar ethe hypocrites - they should not eat anything, all you eat has been a life form sometime or the other, they should not take medicine because it kills bacteria, which is a life form and also they should not swat the mosquito sucking their blood. It seems to me, that people often take the easy road of pontificating when what others do are a little different. (hah! the last paragraph is tripe - I started this a long time ago and as usual lost the original thread of my argument. If anyone bothers to read the shit that I put out here, any comments/expansions are most welcome)