The meat industry is objectively immoral
I'll preface this by saying I am not vegan. Or even vegetarian. I do try to buy free rage chicken when I can but I am a meat eater. I would like to be vegan in the future, but I don't think anyone is a bad person for eating meat. I would be a hypocrite. Instead I am simply stating that the animal industry in the state it is is, objectively, immoral.
I am not against killing animals, excluding very intelligent ones like humans or dolphins or monkeys etc. , but I am against the lives animals lead before their deaths in farms as we have them now. I consider myself utilitarian and I don't think the horrible conditions we raise animals in are right. I'm not sure how unpopular my opinions are but I have seen far too many nonsensical arguments against veganism lately and so I will refute some.
- Animals kill each other. A lion wouldn't hesitate to kill you for example. So, we can kill animals. Such is life!
Animals also rape other animals. Just because something is natural doesn't mean it is right. Why should we base our morality on what some other species do? There are many things to base your morality on but this is one of the worst in my opinion. Animals also kill members of their own species at times, does that mean we must do the same? It is natural for humans to eat meat I suppose but it is also natural for us to murder and rape, though those are far worse examples.
- Animals aren't human, so harm done to them doesn't matter.
I think we can agree that almost all other animals aren't as intelligent as we are. I am not trying to brag but I think humans are superior to most of them, including the very intelligent ones like monkeys and dolphins. I just don't know why that means we shouldn't stop their suffering. A severely mentally and physically disabled human's pain and suffering is still pain and suffering. Why should it be different just because an animal is a different species?
Don't say I am dehumanising the disabled in comparing them to animals. I don't think it is an insult to be an animal, considering we all are human and so by definition animals. They are human and so their emotions and thoughts are still worth listening to, their lives are still worth saving, and I don't know why I even need to say this but of course having disabilities doesn't make you any less of a person.
The only reason people argue animals are lesser is because they, compared to us, are less abled, though. And, in the same vein, they are animals and so their emotions and thoughts are still worth listening to, their lives are still worth saving, and I don't know why I even need to say this but of being less able doesn't make you any less of an animal. A sentient, living, breathing organism that can feel pain and hurt and discomfort.
I admit that when it comes down to it I will always prioritise a human over an animal, simply because we are more sapient. But it doesn't always 'come down to it'. Not everyone is able to sustain a vegan lifestyle now or maybe ever and I respect that. But the industry itself? It makes suffering and that is bad.
- It isn't healthy.
Well, of course you'd need to pay more attention to what you eat, but there are plenty of alternatives to meat, and while in this current society they are expensive at times there have been many vegetarian and vegan societies that managed just fine with the resources they had. And a vegan diet is even healthier in some ways if you manage to achieve a good balance of things.
- It isn't even better for the environment.
Well, not now, but it could be. All these things are relative.
- We wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for meat! It made our brains bigger.
Why should that influence what we do now? Now it isn't like we need to evolve more. I don't think there is any sense to carry on eating meat just to pay homage to our roots.
I will edit this in response to any new arguments I see in the comments.