it's funny how more than 90% of all Americans eat meat but the grand majority of those people don't actually have the guts to kill and gut an animal for it's meat, they expect other people to do it for them, it shows how dependent people are on other people for things like that without even realizing it. talk about ironic.

I've thought about that myself. I could bring myself to kill and prep an animal if necessary. But if not necessary, I choose to not bother with it. Perhaps I could stand to kill/scale a fish, but that'd be about it.

Yeah. People want to think that meat magically appears in a styrofoam tray wrapped in plastic. I have actually heard people say that they don't want to know about it. I think it's a big sign of what's wrong with our society. We avoid empathy for other living things, the reality of nature and our bodies, and the difference between processed and unprocessed food. Some people are so sanitized that they can't experience anything or allow kids to either. I believe this actually makes us less respectful and compassionate. Despite the apparent effort otherwise I think it is self-defeating in the long run.

I put my money where my mouth is. I was involved with the killing and butchering of a goat once, and I would do it again. Did the goat understand when I thanked it before a bullet went through its head? Highly doubtful. We talked later about how we could see when it gave up. The guy who pulled the trigger didn't want to miss. Immediate death was, we hoped, more merciful than a wound that doesn't kill and then a second, fatal hit. So that goat struggled against his ties for a while, then stopped. But I choose sustenance over suicide. And he lived a much better life than any creature bred in a CAFO, where most of our meat in USA comes from. Since learning about those, I have reduced my consumption. There is research into growing meat replacements in a lab. It's all about the taste for me and I will be happy if we can stop clearcutting rainforests and wasting water.

By the way, we are now learning that plants experience pain too. They don't have faces and we don't see them walk around, but they feel. I for one am very interested to hear more about this and to what degree plants can be considered sentient.