Nature

To wrap up this extended series on food, I'll summarize most of it in the form of advice: Eat what you feel is right for you. The more you learn and think about food the more you'll enjoy it. Anyone who tells you what you should or shouldn't eat is moralizing and meddling. Eating has no right or wrong. In the time I've written this series I've eaten more vegetables than ever. Now that I started using the Vitamixer my mom left me, when a friend who is a personal trainer came over and I told him I bought kale for the first time, we decided to buy and blend $50 worth of fruits and vegetables. We bought red kale, green kale, broccoli, apples, cilantro,…

Following up my series on liberating ourselves from moralists, meddlers, and others who want to impose their subjective values on us in the name of objective truth in the realm of food, let's continue with anatomy, the next on my list of a few days ago. This reason makes little sense to me, but I hear it regularly. People who eat meat point out things like that most predators have eyes that face forward and so do we, so we should eat meat. Or that we have a long digestive tract or can't produce vitamin B12 so we should eat meat. People who don't eat meat point out some comparable physical characteristic that they use to say others should or shouldn't eat meat. I like…

Following up my series on liberating ourselves from moralists, meddlers, and others who want to impose their subjective values on us in the name of objective truth in the realm of food, let's continue with religion, the next on my list of a few days ago. I expect this would-be reason to be a non-issue for obvious reasons. Well, first, I don't belong to any religion that has any rules requiring or forbidding eating meat, so religion doesn't apply to me as a reason to eat meat or not. I think most people get that their belonging to a religion doesn't impose rules on other people. They mostly understand some semblance of tolerance for others following their religions, even if they feel compelled to impose…

Following up my series on liberating ourselves from moralists, meddlers, and others who want to impose their subjective values on us in the name of objective truth in the realm of food, let's continue with feeling closer to nature, the next on my list of a few days ago. I can keep this post as brief as yesterday. Both meat eaters and non-meat eaters claim their eating habits bring them closer to nature. Hunters claim hunting feels primal and puts them in tune with nature and the animals they hunt. Fishers claim similar feelings. Likewise, people who don't eat meat claim avoiding meat makes them feel bonded with all of nature and to feel more compassion for living creatures. If you've read my series on…

Following up my series on liberating ourselves from moralists, meddlers, and others who want to impose their subjective values on us in the name of objective truth in the realm of food, let's continue with animal cruelty, the next on my list of a few days ago. I'll keep this brief. Once an animal is born, it has to die. Killing it for meat doesn't mean it feels more pain. In fact, killing it intentionally can create the opportunity for it to feel less pain than it would have felt if it died not by human hands. If not for humans, some predator or parasite would likely kill it, and likely more painfully. I don't eat meat, but I don't accept that a human killing…

Following up my series on liberating ourselves from moralists, meddlers, and others who want to impose their subjective values on us in the name of objective truth in the realm of food, let's continue with animal rights, the next on my list of a few days ago. I confess I don't know much about animal rights, so I won't say much today. I distinguish between reasons not to eat meat based in animal rights from reasons based in animal cruelty. The former seems to propose a set of rules for people to follow. The latter seems based on an individual's personal feelings. As I understand animal rights, people don't suggest giving animals legal rights, like to sue or vote. I understand the concept of animals…

Following up my series on liberating ourselves from moralists, meddlers, and others who want to impose their subjective values on us in the name of objective truth in the realm of food, let's continue with environmental reasons since I listed it next on my list a few days ago. People who don't eat meat often point out that eating meat pollutes the environment significantly more than not eating meat. As far as I know the data overwhelmingly supports this conclusion. I've heard people who eat meat argue that eating meat pollutes less, but I've never heard one of their arguments hold water in the least. They generally forget or neglect something obvious like that animals eat food too. I'm open to hearing something I missed,…

Following up yesterday's post on liberating ourselves from moralists, meddlers, and others who want to impose their subjective values on us in the name of objective truth, let's start with health since I listed it as the first non-issue two days ago. First, nobody chooses what they eat solely for health, so claiming to eat meat or not as a wholesale policy based on health is a red herring. Next, let's look at what I claim is a typical example of someone claiming health as a foundation for eating meat or not. This example goes one way, but it ones in the other direction go the same. In graduate school I knew a guy who claimed eating meat was necessary for life. We had a…

People spout tremendous nonsense on why people should or shouldn't eat meat. My next several posts will point out flaws in their reasoning. I think in the echo chambers of their minds, people come to believe their reasons for eating or not eating meat are grounded in absolute truth. Or they only talk with people who agree with them, while arguing positionally with people who don't, a recipe for confirming and firming one's beliefs more firmly, no matter how wrong they are. I speak, of course, from now-humble experience, having spewed nonsense myself, trying to convince others of the unhealthiness of eating meat. No more. I don't claim to know what's right, but I can tell you some things that are wrong. My goal is…

Yesterday I mentioned I didn't eat meat for two categories of reasons: taste and intellectual reasons. Today I'll cover my intellectual reasons. Intellectual You know what? None. Now that I think of it, no intellectual reasons motivate my eating habits. Everything I think of that seems not based in taste, when I peel away at it, turns out based in taste. I expect your reasons ultimately are based in taste too. You can tell your reasons aren't objective because other people disagree with you. I mean, maybe you're right and they're wrong, but they say the same about you, so I'll stick with my conclusion. See my next few posts on non-issues to see why I don't find your reason objectively true. Non-issues Here are…

Why I don't eat meat differs from why I stopped eating meat, though the reasons overlap in matters of taste. As I mentioned, I lived over half my life since I stopped eating meat and, as you might expect, my reasons changed. The main reasons for the changes were realizing that I found no objective reason for eating meat or not. I've looked and they all turn out subjective. People have suggested lots of reasons for eating meat or not and none of them have been objective either. All reasons boil down to matters of taste and belief. If people disagree on their reasons, the reasons probably aren't based in objective truth. People claim their reasons are objective, but I don't find someone saying they…