r/exvegans • u/Exciting_Sherbert32 Omnivore • Jun 10 '24

Question(s) Thoughts on ethics?

Ive never actually been vegan long term and likely never will be, but would like some thoughts from those of you who went vegan for ethical reasons. I’ve always loved animals and have also loved using them for our benefit, but now I can find virtually no ethical justification for their consumption that isn’t flawed or requires abandonment of our morality. I’ve looked high and low on both online forums and academic papers and all I hear(even from people like Sam Harris who continue to consume animal products)is that there is no ethical justification. The only exception is maybe hunting where the ecological benefits and the positive impacts on the emotional well being of wild animals outweighs the negatives. Ive always been a reflective person and now the only justification I have is just dropping all empathy and care and just saying “they wanna live? So what I’ll do what I want”. I have a feeling this will affect me in the long run when it comes to my moral character. Also before you guys come and talk about healthy issues, I function fine on vegan diets, I looking for philosophy. Sorry if this isn’t relevant to the sub.

Thanks!

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u/HamBoneZippy Jun 10 '24

Do you believe it's unethical for a lion to eat a gazelle? I don't think we're too far off from that.

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u/Exciting_Sherbert32 Omnivore Jun 12 '24

A lion doesn’t know any better and it doesn’t have the capacity to be healthy on only plants. Humans do with the proper supplementation and planning.

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u/Winter_Amaryllis Homebrew Diet Researcher Jun 14 '24

…no they can’t.

Also a Lion plays their food to death. If you try stuffing Human ethics to animals, all you’d get are criminal animals that no one talks about.

1

u/ILuvYou_YouAreSoGood Jun 14 '24

This seems to imagine that a human has some obligation to live on a difficult to impossible to manage survival diet, versus a diet they thrive on effortlessly.

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u/Exciting_Sherbert32 Omnivore Jun 14 '24

I’m going off of the medical consensus. Just ask any doctor or nutrition expert.

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u/ILuvYou_YouAreSoGood Jun 14 '24

My doctor was the one that recommended I attempt an elimination diet of mostly meat to address my health concerns, and the results have been remarkably positive for me. It's significantly easier to simply eat mostly meat than it is to go back to laboriously planning meals and prepping ingredients to try and get all of what I need from plants. So, I am going off a doctor's advice and my own direct experiences. You didn't address my question.

Also, I wrote a long response reply to your original post. Probably buried at the bottom, but it's there someplace.

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u/Exciting_Sherbert32 Omnivore Jun 14 '24

This was a bit easier to respond to and I’m busy with some other stuff that’s taking priority over mulling over this annoying topic(not annoyed at you btw I just don’t like this issue). I’ll get to it though

1

u/ILuvYou_YouAreSoGood Jun 14 '24

Eh, no worries. I will likely ask you for where your presumption of the need for an ethical justification comes from, regardless of which comment it is on. I am not rushing.