"You do yourself no favor among either blacks or Jews by comparing them to
animals."
Blacks and Jews are animals, as are AngloSaxons, as are Germans, as are
Gypsies, etc etc etc.
As far as whether the masses can eat fine without meat, there's plenty of
documentation that a balanced vegetarian diet is quite healthy. If you channel
the grain and resources put into rearing of "meat" animals into feeding people
healthy vegetarian diets, there wouldn't be a problem. In fact, shutting down
these operations would be of vast ecological significance! It would end the
welfare protectionism of cattle ranchers on public lands, free up enormous
amounts of water, etc etc etc.
Why would I "save a bullet" for you? I have no intentions of killing anybody.
You may have noticed that I am against the taking of animal life.
"The aforementioned antiabortionists are, as well as creationists, sexists,
racists and homophobes. Passion does not magically proffer truth on those who
possess it."
I can't believe that we are identifying passion solely with creationists,
sexists, racists, homophobes, and antiabortionists! This shows a particular
lack of imagination! While passion doesn't "magically proffer truth", it
doesn't disqualify it either!!! Are we supposed to be completely dispassionate
about these issues? Would we want to be??
You say "Exactly the Antiabortion position. Your only difference with them is
where you draw your line, and you can't point to any god that makes your line
position right and theirs wrong (though, unlike you, they try)." But this is a
straw man, because the law takes the same position. The law says that if you
take another person's life, it's no longer a question of style. So is every
judge, legislator, citizen in support of the ethical intervention into murder
equivalent to antiabortionists? The law at present obviously makes a line
between human and nonhuman animals ; however, even that consensus is at the
present time in flux, as these very debates indicate. However, like the law, I
am addressing myself to fully developed, viable animal-persons. You--and the
antiabortionists-- are the one bringing in not fully developed, unviable
lifeforms.
"The antiabortionists would disagree with you on which is more valuable, but
in you both devalue born humans in relation to your "pet" obsession."
I'm not devalueing born humans! Born humans can and have survived and thrived
on vegetarian diets, and it's certainly valueing humans to see that they can
be noble creatures who value other life forms as wanting ethical
consideration.
One of the nice things about The Sexual Politics of Meat is the way it points
out that treatment of "meat" animals is a feminist issue, noting the
overwhelming exploitation of female animals, the way they are raped, their
choice deprived,etc.
