If either of my two dear brothers are reading this, I'm sure their eyes are rolling. Especially Mark's, as he sometimes has an uncanny inability to objectively consider opposing viewpoints. (yep, I said it.) I thought of them while I was sitting in the GMB at this debate and had flashbacks of my younger years when, in the winter months, I would open the garage door to be greeted by one of Bambi's relatives sliced and hanging from some apparatus.
Now that I've painted that glorious picture for you, I'll get to the debate info. It was actually really interesting. Debaters discussed not only ethical treatment of animals, but also went beyond the official title topic and covered health issues, environmental effects and financial issues surrounding the production of meat. One speaker stated that it takes 20 times more fossil fuels to support a meat eating diet as opposed to a vegetarian diet. Another guy commented on the amount of corn and grain grown specifically for feeding livestock, his point being that this amount of grain could feed a large amount of the hungry. There were also some amusingly interesting comments on greenhouse gases from farm animal feces. I was more interested in hearing these types of discussions that I was in hearing about killing a cute and cuddly animal. Yikes, that sounds insensitive of me! I guess what I mean is that there is more to the meat-eating arguments than the actual killing animals bit. Although I'm not a meat eater, I did agree with the opponents on a couple of issues.
The debaters were good for the most part, but one or two just had crap arguments IMO - and got confused looks from both the proponents and the opponents! However, as I've said before, bravo for getting up there in a room full of critics and having a go at it.
At the risk of inviting sarcastic comments (you know who you are), what are your thoughts on this?
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