Win at all costs

Vegan vs. Carnivore

Howdy how’s it going, chief?
Some people hold the belief
that all beings are equally rated,
and all life is equally sacred

If you adopt this point of view
then antibiotics are taboo
(according to the above terms)
because it basically mass kills germs.

Others think it’s pretty neat
to take one’s life and eat one’s meat.
Cows and chickens, it’s pretty straight,
all should end up on our plate.

But where’s the limit? There’s a thought:
What’s OK to eat? What’s not?
Why stop at munching a cow?
Why not cats? Dogs? Humans? Wow…

Is killing for meat really fine?
Where will I draw my own line?
Animals are in real pain…
should I just accept them being slain?

And what about insects like ants?
What about eating only plants?
Can I live just on plants? Just sayin’…
And who said plants cannot feel pain?

————

Here are some more comics about veganism:
If Everyone was Vegan.
Becoming a Vegan.

————

I totally understand the logic of vegetarians. Livestock animals are indeed suffering in the harsh conditions used for growing livestock animals in the industrial world. I’m an omnivore myself (I hate the term “carnivore” because it’s inaccurate. After all, I eat meat products as well as plants). Still, it’s hard for me to argue for one side or the other. To my understanding, the boundaries that vegetarians and meat eaters set are totally arbitrary. If you think meat should be part of a human diet, and if you believe that all animals (humans included) are in this world to either eat or be eaten, then why stop at cow meat? Why not eat dogs? Cats? Humans? Because after all, it’s customary in some cultures.
On the other side, if you’re vegetarian and you believe that all life is sacred, why eat plants? Plants are just as living as animals. They have DNA, they reproduce. Studies show they can signal distress. The fact that they’re a different form of life doesn’t make them less living than us. And what about bacteria? As the comic suggests, every antibiotic you take is like a mass genocide for millions of living bacteria. If you think their life is worth less than the life of a cow, then you believe in a hierarchy of life. And in that case, you cannot argue with someone who says that that the life of a cow is worth less than that of, say, a human.
As mentioned before, to me it’s all arbitrary boundaries. I choose to eat meat, but I might as well choose not to, and it would make the same sense to me.
Think I’m wrong? Think I’m right? Let me know in the comments, especially if you have some interesting reading material that would you think would convince me or the readers of the comic to go one way or the other (keep the discussion polite please, rude comments will be removed).

10 Comments

  1. Diane

    I discovered your website and your art through Bored Panda and I just wanted to thank you, because it’s really cool to have someone you don’t even know being able to draw what’s in your own mind. So THANK YOU.
    xoxoxo

  2. Matthias

    Idan, I just found out about your work today and I absolutely love everything about it: The comics themselves, the bonus panels, the mouse-over text, the poems… and the fact that you actually care and elaborate on the topics you depict.

    My two cents on the topic at hand: I draw the line between what is actually necessary to avoid danger for myself (starving, disease) and what is for my mere enjoyment (taste, entertainment). I think it’s okay to eat plants because I have to eat something in order not to starve. It’s okay to take antibiotics when my health depends on it. There is no such justification for eating meat when there are other options available. Trapped on a remote island, however, it would be a different story 😉

    Greetings from Germany. Keep up the great work!

    1. Hey Matthias, thanks for joining and thanks for sharing your point of view. I like the distinction that you made between necessity and enjoyment, I think many people can relate to that, especially when it comes to our enjoyment at the expense of the suffering of other creatures.
      Out of curiosity: Did you choose to be vegetarian because of the terrible conditions they keep livestock animals these days? Or do you think it’s morally wrong to eat meat no matter what? For example, there’s technology today which already allows “growing meat” artificially in labs. Once it becomes cheap enough, would you eat that kind of meat?

      Thanks again

  3. Matthias

    It was a gradual development, but yes, the terrible condition of livestock animals was kind of the initial point. I first decided to quit eating cheap, mass-produced meat. Then any meat from captive animals. Then any meat from small animals, because I figured it would be “less wrong” to kill a large animal that feeds not only me, but also a bunch of other people. At some point I realized that I had to fully live up to my ethical principles and completely cease creating any demand for meat.
    But my approach is very pragmatic, so yes, I would totally eat artificial meat. In fact, I can hardly wait for that to happen!

      1. Matthias

        Let me just add one more thing. The fact that I commented on this particular comic may imply that I’m browsing the internet for meat-related stuff in order to convince other people of vegetarism, like some stereotypical SJW constantly looking for stuff to get mad about. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, I love the dark humor in your comics, especially when you use it to expose the absurdities of today’s political correct society with a voice of reason, without ever overstepping the boundaries of good taste.
        You’ve gotten yourself a new fan today!

        1. Thanks Matthias for your kind words.

          It’s not easy, especially these days, to discuss certain topics without stepping on some toes. I try not to, as most of the times the intention with such cartoons is not to justify a certain point of view, and certainly not to anger anyone, but rather to give a slightly different perspective. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, but that’s part of the job.

          Anyway, thanks for following, hope you have fun! 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.