Originally Posted by
mi16
interesting thought that.
Say we all decide to follow suit and try veganism, what happens to the 59 billion animals that are farmed to supply the food-chain?
Does the farmer continue to nurture and raise his stock for the love of the beast and for no financial gain?
Does he turn them to the fields and let them get on with it, whilst walking off his farm with a shrug of the shoulder and say ach well?
Does he slaughter them, go bankrupt, sell the farm for a fraction of its previous worth and the the new owner / tenant does something else with his land?
I would bet on option 3, billions of animals will die and for no good reason.
I also fail to see what a vegan would want to replicate the experience of flesh eating?
Is oral sex off the menu for vegans also?
The set of circumstances that you provided depended on a sudden change to veganism. Although desirable, it would be pretty unachievable due to the level of ambivalence towards being kind to animals.
But lets entertain your argument for its own sake. I would say the farmer has no need to raise his stock even for the love of animals or profit if we all went vegan. A farmer certainly doesn't love his stock, he loves money. There'd certainly be no profit in it if nobody was buying his products. If he just left his fields to go unmanaged and the animals just lived there then they'd have a much happier life. If they were suffering in any way then any kind person would want to end the suffering in the absence of a natural predator. So there is no obstacle on ethical grounds to even the sudden cessation to eating animal products. It certainly wouldn't be the kinder option to keep eating animals and to perpeptuate the holocaust.
These animals were bred for captivity for which we do not have any reason for keeping them. They will go extinct, they are wholly unsuitable to live in the wild.
But what comes next? That is the big question. I am prepared to say that what comes next is an ecologist's dream. The carbon emissions of the planet will come down by up to 15-20% The natural flora and fauna will return to where fields of livestock used to eat. We would live in a national wildlife park which would be deeply rewarding. The earth will return to balance of the Cycle of Life.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
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