I wouldn't try to change someone's mind if they were vegetarian or vegan, we all have our own preferences and moral structures. I do not think it's immoral to eat fish, or meat. Animals eat other animals, that's the food chain, and we're a part of it.
If someone wants to protest certain farming practices, I'm all for it. But who draws the line where at which species are okay to eat and which aren't, is cultural and personal, not a case of morality.
Do you still eat beef, lamb, chicken?
I love my fish, I get attached and name most of them, I'm sad when one passes away. But I don't think of them the same way I do my dog, my parrot, or viewed other mammals or birds I've kept. They interact and bond with us in a way that most fish just don't. I like when my mollies come and take food from my fingers, but I don't fool myself that they love me or have any attachment to me at all, I'm just the food dispenser.
I don't think of the fish as being "worth less than" a dog or cat, I treat mine as well as I possibly can, provide the best I can for them to thrive, but keeping them is more a hobby than them as individual pets - creating a mini ecosystem and being attached to them as individuals or as a school, admiring them for what they are, but not forming a two way bond in the same way that I have with my dog, does that make sense?
The idea of some species having more worth than others is old fashioned and seems to be rooted in pre-scientific thinking, where animals were ranked on a ladder of 'smartest, most useful' with humans at the very top. We meddled with nature a lot, arrogantly assuming that wiping out certain lesser lifeforms wouldn't have a knock on effect on the entire ecosystem. The apex predator isn't more valuable or essential than the insects or the plant life lower on the food chain - all are essential parts that make the whole system work. I'm scared of spiders despite my best efforts not to be, but they're still a valuable part of a balanced ecosystem, and amazing creatures in their own right.
I'd be horrified if someone in my country (England) ate a dog. The cultural taboo is strong, and I have a strong attachment to dogs. But I'm not judging people in other countries who don't have the same views for eating dog, or horse, or snake even. I don't want to see dogs being farmed for meat (images I have seen, I wish I hadn't) but I recognise that my feelings about it aren't rational, that cows, sheep, pigs and chickens are also capable of being pets, have some levels of intelligence and social bonds, yet I eat their meat.
Unless someone is vegan, I find it hard to accept judging someone on what kind of meat they consume, while still consuming meat themselves, just a different kind. It's all or nothing, in my mind, otherwise it's just hypocrisy.
If someone wants to protest certain farming practices, I'm all for it. But who draws the line where at which species are okay to eat and which aren't, is cultural and personal, not a case of morality.
Do you still eat beef, lamb, chicken?
I love my fish, I get attached and name most of them, I'm sad when one passes away. But I don't think of them the same way I do my dog, my parrot, or viewed other mammals or birds I've kept. They interact and bond with us in a way that most fish just don't. I like when my mollies come and take food from my fingers, but I don't fool myself that they love me or have any attachment to me at all, I'm just the food dispenser.
I don't think of the fish as being "worth less than" a dog or cat, I treat mine as well as I possibly can, provide the best I can for them to thrive, but keeping them is more a hobby than them as individual pets - creating a mini ecosystem and being attached to them as individuals or as a school, admiring them for what they are, but not forming a two way bond in the same way that I have with my dog, does that make sense?
The idea of some species having more worth than others is old fashioned and seems to be rooted in pre-scientific thinking, where animals were ranked on a ladder of 'smartest, most useful' with humans at the very top. We meddled with nature a lot, arrogantly assuming that wiping out certain lesser lifeforms wouldn't have a knock on effect on the entire ecosystem. The apex predator isn't more valuable or essential than the insects or the plant life lower on the food chain - all are essential parts that make the whole system work. I'm scared of spiders despite my best efforts not to be, but they're still a valuable part of a balanced ecosystem, and amazing creatures in their own right.
I'd be horrified if someone in my country (England) ate a dog. The cultural taboo is strong, and I have a strong attachment to dogs. But I'm not judging people in other countries who don't have the same views for eating dog, or horse, or snake even. I don't want to see dogs being farmed for meat (images I have seen, I wish I hadn't) but I recognise that my feelings about it aren't rational, that cows, sheep, pigs and chickens are also capable of being pets, have some levels of intelligence and social bonds, yet I eat their meat.
Unless someone is vegan, I find it hard to accept judging someone on what kind of meat they consume, while still consuming meat themselves, just a different kind. It's all or nothing, in my mind, otherwise it's just hypocrisy.
