The Vegetarian Torture

[TIEdup14]

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Vegetarianism is NOT a culture. It's a dietary choice, no more, no less.

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I'm guessing you're not a vegetarian.

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Of course it's a culture. One of its primary requirements is that you adopt a smary, morally superior attitude over the barbaric masses who eat meat. What fun is it abstaining from something if you can't lord it over everyone else? No TV, sex, pork, meat, etc., entire civilizations have been built on less. If that isn't culture, what is?

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[CallMeIshmael]

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Of course it's a culture. One of its primary requirements is that you adopt a smary, morally superior attitude over the barbaric masses who eat meat. What fun is it abstaining from something if you can't lord it over everyone else? No TV, sex, pork, meat, etc., entire civilizations have been built on less. If that isn't culture, what is?

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FWIW, the abstaining from pork thing is different from the rest, IMO. Abstaining from pork is generally the result of religious belief. And, the reason religons tell their believers not to eat pork is (most likely) because not eating pork was evolutionarily favoured when modern religions were developing.

[Jacques]

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What religion states that being a vegetarian is a must???

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Being vegeterian is a must for Hindu's from the Brahman caste. That's a fairly small percentage of Hindus.

[MaxPower]

Elaine,

Let's say that I don't eat meat myself for health reasons or simply because I don't want to harm an animal in order to have a meal, yet I have no objection to other people eating meat?

Am I participating in animal torture?

[Madtown]

[Evan]

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Relax, Evan, you'll never be invited to dinner at my house.

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Okay, is being an omnivore a culture or not?

[MrMon]

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Of course it's a culture. One of its primary requirements is that you adopt a smary, morally superior attitude over the barbaric masses who eat meat. What fun is it abstaining from something if you can't lord it over everyone else? No TV, sex, pork, meat, etc., entire civilizations have been built on less. If that isn't culture, what is?

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FWIW, the abstaining from pork thing is different from the rest, IMO. Abstaining from pork is generally the result of religious belief. And, the reason religons tell their believers not to eat pork is (most likely) because not eating pork was evolutionarily favoured when modern religions were developing.

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Nice try, but that doesn't really work. Not eating pork was simply a cultural choice. The Egyptians thought pigs were disgusting and refused to eat them, though they tried to eat everything else. Given that three of the world's major religions got their start in the Middle East, it's not surprising that the two most rooted there, Judaism and Islam carry over this bias. Christianity, though founded there, really grew in Europe, where there was no bias against pork.

Hindus used to eat beef as well, especially Brahmins, but to mention this today can really get you into trouble among the Hindu fundamentalists. All dietary restriction probably start out as local culinary choices, which merges into tradition, which merges into religion.

Given enough time, I'm sure an isolated group of children could learn to turn broccoli into the earthly manifestation of Evil itself.

[CallMeIshmael]

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Nice try, but that doesn't really work.

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Yes it does.

And this theory is taught in sociobiology classes.


EDIT: "Not eating pork was simply a cultural choice" doesnt imply that the choice wasnt made with evolutionary origins.

[MrMon]

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Nice try, but that doesn't really work.

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Yes it does.

And this theory is taught in sociobiology classes.

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That doesn't make it in fact correct. If there is an evolutionary advantage to not eating it, explain the rise of Chinese civilization, where consumption of pork was introduced? The Chinese developed a far more advanced civilization far quicker than did the Middle East, so one could argue that consumption of pork was superior to non-consumption, unless one is arguing from purely a Western bias, in which case there is probably some bias towards showing the superiority of Western cultural rules.

[CallMeIshmael]

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That doesn't make it in fact correct. If there is an evolutionary advantage to not eating it, explain the rise of Chinese civilization, where consumption of pork was introduced? The Chinese developed a far more advanced civilization far quicker than did the Middle East

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Hmm.... I wonder why an advanced civilization can eat a product that requires cooking whereas a less advanced one cant...