Well hello.

[Hubert Farnham]

My name is Alex, I'm an atheist and a vegetarian.
And I think every atheist should be like me, because there is no moral/ethical/logical reason for murdering anyone for the sake of having meat on a plate.

Nice to meet you all :)

[Plu]

Welcome aboard, nice to meat you to :P

Also it's not for the sake of having meat on a plate, it's for the sake of being able to insert delicious meat into your mouth.

[Hubert Farnham]

Welcome aboard, nice to meat you to :P

Yeah, should've expected this one  

Also it's not for the sake of having meat on a plate, it's for the sake of being able to insert delicious meat into your mouth.

Leaving oral sex connotations of your comment aside :P, I'm pretty sure that a lot of imaginary friends' worshippers were also enjoying murdering people for the name of their gods.
So nah, the reason is not good enough.

[Hubert Farnham]

Ah, Plu, BTW, about your sig:

There is a pretty famous quote from Lyall Watson :"If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't."

[stromboli]

Welcome.

[Plu]

Ah, now we're going into the interesting discussion of what kind of reasons would be "good enough" to satisfy you.

For example, how can you justify eating those poor plants? :P

There is a pretty famous quote from Lyall Watson :"If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't."

Yeah I know that quote, love it :)

[Hubert Farnham]

Ah, now we're going into the interesting discussion of what kind of reasons would be "good enough" to satisfy you.

For example, how can you justify eating those poor plants? :P

Those poor plants are not really poor. Plants form an ecosystem where it actually gains when you take some of their representatives away, when you know when and how. Similar, but not the same (different system) with mushrooms.
For animals, the existence of each is the most important thing.

Hope I explained it clear enough, I'm a bit hungover

[Plu]

Actually if you let animals go wild without taking some of their representatives away, they just breed like mad and then destroy the entire ecosystem they're a part of. Which is not very pretty.

Also when you say "For animals, the existence of each is the most important thing", do you mean "to me, ..." or do you mean "for each animal, the existence of that animal"? They are two quite different things.

[Hubert Farnham]

....plus, of course, the obvious fact that plants don't have a nervous system and cannot feel anything, including their own existence.

[Plu]

....plus, of course, the obvious fact that plants don't have a nervous system and cannot feel anything, including their own existence.

So you're okay with eating insects?

[Hubert Farnham]

Actually if you let animals go wild without taking some of their representatives away, they just breed like mad and then destroy the entire ecosystem they're a part of. Which is not very pretty.

I don't remember animals destroying any ecosystems in a history of Earth.
All worked pretty fine, before human came.
Humans, yeah - they destroyed couple of ecosystems all right :)

BTW, humans breed much worse than animals. Especially lately, no birth control. Especially (BTW!) humans from poor populations.

Also when you say "For animals, the existence of each is the most important thing", do you mean "to me, ..." or do you mean "for each animal, the existence of that animal"? They are two quite different things.

For each animal - his existence.
To me, MY existence is the most important, I guess :)

[Hubert Farnham]

....plus, of course, the obvious fact that plants don't have a nervous system and cannot feel anything, including their own existence.

So you're okay with eating insects?

Nope, they DO have a nervous system. Some don't have a central one (brain), but the system exists.

[Jason78]

Ever picked fresh veg?  Green leaf volatiles are plant screams.

Welcome to the forum :D

[Jason78]

I don't remember animals destroying any ecosystems in a history of Earth.
All worked pretty fine, before human came.

Oxygen Catastrophe

Bugger.

[Plu]

I don't remember animals destroying any ecosystems in a history of Earth.
All worked pretty fine, before human came.

99% of all species that ever existed have gone extinct. All forms of life are great at destroying one another.
You just don't notice it because new ecosystems take the place of the old ones.