Suck it, Vegans!

[LMNO]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/science/22angi.html

The NYTimes argues that plants try to avoid being eaten just as much as animals do.

But before we cede the entire moral penthouse to "committed vegetarians" and "strong ethical vegans," we might consider that plants no more aspire to being stir-fried in a wok than a hog aspires to being peppercorn-studded in my Christmas clay pot. This is not meant as a trite argument or a chuckled aside. Plants are lively and seek to keep it that way. The more that scientists learn about the complexity of plants — their keen sensitivity to the environment, the speed with which they react to changes in the environment, and the extraordinary number of tricks that plants will rally to fight off attackers and solicit help from afar — the more impressed researchers become, and the less easily we can dismiss plants as so much fiberfill backdrop, passive sunlight collectors on which deer, antelope and vegans can conveniently graze.

"Plants are not static or silly," said Monika Hilker of the Institute of Biology at the Free University of Berlin. "They respond to tactile cues, they recognize different wavelengths of light, they listen to chemical signals, they can even talk" through chemical signals. Touch, sight, hearing, speech. "These are sensory modalities and abilities we normally think of as only being in animals," Dr. Hilker said.

[Salty]

I've seen *giggle* fruitarians argue this, or rather, that fruit is the only thing that seeks consumption by animals for seed propagation.

[maphdet]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/science/22angi.html

The NYTimes argues that plants try to avoid being eaten just as much as animals do.

But before we cede the entire moral penthouse to "committed vegetarians" and "strong ethical vegans," we might consider that plants no more aspire to being stir-fried in a wok than a hog aspires to being peppercorn-studded in my Christmas clay pot. This is not meant as a trite argument or a chuckled aside. Plants are lively and seek to keep it that way. The more that scientists learn about the complexity of plants — their keen sensitivity to the environment, the speed with which they react to changes in the environment, and the extraordinary number of tricks that plants will rally to fight off attackers and solicit help from afar — the more impressed researchers become, and the less easily we can dismiss plants as so much fiberfill backdrop, passive sunlight collectors on which deer, antelope and vegans can conveniently graze.

"Plants are not static or silly," said Monika Hilker of the Institute of Biology at the Free University of Berlin. "They respond to tactile cues, they recognize different wavelengths of light, they listen to chemical signals, they can even talk" through chemical signals. Touch, sight, hearing, speech. "These are sensory modalities and abilities we normally think of as only being in animals," Dr. Hilker said.

Well It's about time something was documented on it.

The only reason not to eat meat are health related.
*could not live w/out eating meats, fruits, plants, nuts, berries, and all the other crap I put in my mouth*

[LMNO]

Remind me again why it's unhealthy for omnivores to eat meat?

[Cain]

It isn't.

However, it is unhealthy for obese omnivores to eat fucking 12oz steaks every day.

[LMNO]

Good point.

[Cain]

I was unfortunate enough to have a late breakfast in a well known burger chain.  This point was vividly impressed on me by what I saw inside.

Never again 

[East Coast Hustle]

if you are one of those unfortunate dweebs who thinks that making dietary choices based on abstract moral principles somehow makes you morally superior to the guy over there who doesn't even CARE about the carbon footprint of his double bacon cheeseburger, the only real morally superior choice is to eat a diet based solely on foraging for carrion and deadfall.

[pumonca333]

I'm switching to only eating sentient beings that only eat vegetarians, I'm trying to get to the true top of the earthly food chain....There can be only one!

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

2/3rds of plants deserve it.

Also 3/3rds of  Vegans...

[Kai]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/science/22angi.html

The NYTimes argues that plants try to avoid being eaten just as much as animals do.

But before we cede the entire moral penthouse to "committed vegetarians" and "strong ethical vegans," we might consider that plants no more aspire to being stir-fried in a wok than a hog aspires to being peppercorn-studded in my Christmas clay pot. This is not meant as a trite argument or a chuckled aside. Plants are lively and seek to keep it that way. The more that scientists learn about the complexity of plants — their keen sensitivity to the environment, the speed with which they react to changes in the environment, and the extraordinary number of tricks that plants will rally to fight off attackers and solicit help from afar — the more impressed researchers become, and the less easily we can dismiss plants as so much fiberfill backdrop, passive sunlight collectors on which deer, antelope and vegans can conveniently graze.

"Plants are not static or silly," said Monika Hilker of the Institute of Biology at the Free University of Berlin. "They respond to tactile cues, they recognize different wavelengths of light, they listen to chemical signals, they can even talk" through chemical signals. Touch, sight, hearing, speech. "These are sensory modalities and abilities we normally think of as only being in animals," Dr. Hilker said.

I've been saying this for years.


And it IS about moral superiority ECH. I eat all the organisms, because it would be evil and rude to choose one over the other based on something as minor as "sentience". Plants are just as alive as the next thing.

Plus, the lineage Homo sapiens is evolutionarily omnivorous, and opportunistic. Merely checking the garbage piles of humans from 10,000+ years ago shows that.

I feel DAMN SUPERIOR. Especially to morally backwards vegans and vegetarians who base their eating habits on "not having a face".

[Nast]

It's a dumb bias that just because they're cute and cuddly and able to move around that "higher" organisms get special treatment. 

[Kai]

It's a dumb bias that just because they're cute and cuddly and able to move around that "higher" organisms get special treatment. 

Which is bullshit of course, because plants move around plenty. Phototaxis, gravitaxis, seed transportation, growth modes, carnivorous and other triggers, allopathic and other chemical defense systems, etc etc etc. Behavior is whatever an organism does, when and where and how and why they do it. Plants are no exception.

A Kudzu vine may move slower than a human but it will still drown a whole hillside of trees in a summer, or a house.

[Freeky]

I figure that since they're already dead, why not?

*Nom nom nom*

[Kai]