converting somebody into vegetarianism

[MuteWitness616]

so i had a argument with my girlfriend about animal cruelty and the meat industry. she loves animals very much but however she eats them...

I asked her why and she said because humans are animals and the circle of life and blah blah blah. She also mentioned how if she stopped eating animals, she would never ever make a difference and that the world we live in is only getting worst.


Then she brought up the subject of how most of the things in my room like clothes, cds, posters, books, etc.... are all made by unfortunate people who suffer making these items.

What can I tell her?

 

[Our Lady]

I'd get rid.

 

[lottie]

Make her eat her pets,
then get rid.

 

[Bluebirds]

Tazer her, then chop her up into little pieces and open up a butcher's shop. Ensuring you keep the breasts for those lonely nights/ Xmas.

My name is Dennis Neilsen and I'm here all week.

 

[billy scissors]

All this is making me hungry

 

[bagface]

abcdefg

 

[billy scissors]

i would contribute, but am just going to leave this thread alone as it will undoubtedly be taken over by f***heads like that ^

So no riveting contribution then? Shame

 

[troubleluvsme]

She should dump you.

 

[yesitis]

did you know about her meat eating when you first started seeing her or did you just never eat around each other? did you hold the same opinions on vegetarianism and animal rights and all that when the two of you got together or have you suddenly become more militant? did you get together thinking that you could just cope with the meat eating only to discover that it bothers you more than you imagine or did you enter this relationship thinking you could change her?

yeah, she should dump you.

 

[Flax]

That question comes up very often, which is a poor strategy of dismissing a problem by simply mentioning another completely unrelated problem, and hoping that it will make the original problem seem not so serious. One of the most used lines in this case is "with so many starving children in the world...".

The answer is very simple.

Let's say you buy an orange that happens to have come from a country that doesn't mind its farms employ and exploit children. The problem here has nothing to do with the consumption of oranges.

That's pretty much what computer companies have done for the past 10 years. 5 million people died in Congo because the minerals in our computers come from conflict zones, where people are murdered, women are raped and children are used as slaves. Again, the problem is not the consumption of electronics. The problem is that Apple, HP, Sony and others decided to look the other way and pretend those minerals had nothing to do with the violence in Congo. And there's no way an average consumer can look at a computer and know the story behind it.

In both those examples violence can taken out of the process if the companies change their policies.

Now look at the meat industry. The product is blood itself.

 

[Amy]

so i had a argument with my girlfriend about animal cruelty and the meat industry. she loves animals very much but however she eats them...

I asked her why and she said because humans are animals and the circle of life and blah blah blah. She also mentioned how if she stopped eating animals, she would never ever make a difference and that the world we live in is only getting worst.


Then she brought up the subject of how most of the things in my room like clothes, cds, posters, books, etc.... are all made by unfortunate people who suffer making these items.

What can I tell her?

Maybe you should just stop trying to dictate her lifestyle for her and let her choose for herself, before she leaves you.

 

[Amy]

Make her eat her pets,
then get rid.

You're mad.

 

[Our Lady]

What can I tell her?

Really, these people are silly sausages.

Don't buy into this 'lifestyle choice' nonsense. We only have free will so long as we don't infringe on that of another, which is what she is doing by eating animals.

If this girl is your age, and she's still not worked out that one for herself, then she's probably not worth the effort anyway.

 

[Dave]

Try to get her to eat animals that come from non-conflict areas.

Seriously, I don't know. I kind of think that hearing the message repeatedly can help, but on the other hand I think that it can just make people resist it. To me the videos of slaughterhouses, and the statistics about contaminated meat, the fact that so much meat has animal shit on it, that it's given hormones and antibiotics that enter your body when you eat it, are the things that are most convincing. If you can know that your chicken sandwich was produced in a way that a living thing was tortured and that in processing, shit was likely sprayed all over the meat when it was mechanically gutted, and you can still eat it and think it's good, and not care, I don't know what would convince you.

But it's very much like religion, in that talking about it, trying to convince someone is really tiresome. I have friends that do things I don't approve of but they are still my friends. It just depends on how much it bothers you, I guess.

 

[Anaesthesine]

It's pretty difficult to make someone a vegetarian - a person either has that much empathy or they don't. I think the best way to try to convince someone to go veg is to show them the films: Meet Your Meat is the classic, but there are many more. I saw a few on YouTube that finally convinced me to stop eating eggs a while ago. I don't know how anyone can see such things and still be a part of that system.

Most ethical vegetarians I know (myself included) don't eat meat because it's not in our nature to do so. We can't eat it. It's just a way of being in the world, and you have to have the discipline to act on your beliefs. All the ethical arguments in the world won't move someone who doesn't really care.

Good for you for making the case against eating meat; there are millions of great reasons to go vegetarian, but ultimately the only one that matters is the one for which there are no words.

Good luck to you.

 

[Mmmmmm]

Speaking as an omnivore, I'll say that you are doing is wrong. Not in your dietary choices but in imposing your moral values on someone else.

She is aware of the arguments in favour of not eating meat. At the same time, she is a natural born omnivore. Face it, vegetarianism is not our inherent state, so the choice to eschew meat is absolutely a moral one. A fine moral choice, but your moral choice.

What most of us meat eaters dislike most about so many vegetarians around here is their hard-headed drive to impose their moral values on us. I can tolerate vegetarians, Nazis I can't.

 

[Amy]

What most of us meat eaters dislike most about so many vegetarians around here is their hard-headed drive to impose their moral values on us. I can tolerate vegetarians, Nazis I can't.

Exactly.

 

[Amy]

Really, these people are silly sausages.

Don't buy into this 'lifestyle choice' nonsense. We only have free will so long as we don't infringe on that of another, which is what she is doing by eating animals.

If this girl is your age, and she's still not worked out that one for herself, then she's probably not worth the effort anyway.

Which is exactly what MuteWitness would be doing by trying to force his girlfriend into vegetarianism.

 

[Black Cloud]

Do you kiss her with meat on her breath?

 

[Anaesthesine]

What most of us meat eaters dislike most about so many vegetarians around here is their hard-headed drive to impose their moral values on us. I can tolerate vegetarians, Nazis I can't.

Which is exactly what MuteWitness would be doing by trying to force his girlfriend into vegetarianism.

I don't think MuteWitness is imposing his values on his girlfriend; he is not giving her an ultimatum, or forcing her to do anything. He said that he had an argument with her, and now he is asking for advice. If someone has strong ethical beliefs about something, it figures into the relationship. The two of them should discuss it.

Most vegetarians and vegans I know are in relationships with non-vegetarians. They've had this discussion and it's worked out just fine.