Originally posted by yourdeadgroom
Why is that sad? Don't assume your views are right. It's been shown that plants feel pain. Although, like you I do view the two as different (and I'm not arguing, just sayin, 'sall )
Of course I'm going to assume my views are right. This isn't just a casual thing for me, it's something I truly believe in. It doesn't make sense to believe in something that I don't think is right.
But assuming I'm right has absolutely nothing to do with feeling sad. I feel incredibly sad that humans can kill and torture millions of animals without a second thought, or even wondering if what they're doing is wrong. Are you telling me I shouldn't feel sad just because my feelings don't equate with the common views of society? That I shouldn't feel sad about death and pain?
I don't go up to meat eaters in restaurants and tell them they're wrong, and I don't even tell my friends they should stop eating meat. But the subject was raised here and I'm responding with how I feel. As I said earlier, I can't tell people what to think or feel, but if I believe their opinions result in pain and death, then I have every right to say it makes me sad.
As for the energy thing - if people are conscious of what they eat, including lots of fruits and vegetables, and mixing grains and legumes, they should end up with more energy not less. (That's what I've read on the subject, and it's backed up by my own experience.)
In relation to plants: Plants display little (I'm not saying none here, so don't bother bombarding me with exceptions) awareness of the outside world, other than to send their roots in the direction of gravity, and their shoots away from it, and responding to temperature and light. They move around a little in one place, but they can move from one place to another on their own, and they can't look me in the eye.
Animals display a vast awareness of the world and other creatures in it. They move around on their own, they have clear, non-chemical ways of communicating, and they can look me in the eye.
To me that's a big difference. Test's that try to prove a plant's concept of pain and its awareness of the outer world are dealing with very abstract concepts that don't really translate to a human understanding of the world. I must eat something, so I leave the abstract ideas to the researchers, and I chose to eat what can't look me in the eye.
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