Hi coug,
They have found that every hormone or neurotransmitter has some close analog in the plant kingdom, including seratonin and dopamine-like compounds. Despite the evolutionary evidence for a continuum, some people come to the conclusion that the suffering occurs at some levels of evolutionary development and not at others, and some come to the conclusion that it is a continuum (our camp). I don't think either is absolutely right or wrong. Just different.
The general set membership probably has more to do with analog versus digital thinking. I'm primarily analog (food is a slab of some living thing, some smarter than others). Others are digital and everything is binarily divisible (meat, not meat). Both viewpoints have their limitations, so ironically, I think I need to hold both. Anyway, that's where I landed.
I've been eating "low on the food chain" for years, and my preferred meal out tends to be vegetable, crustacean and fowl. I rarely order mammal meat of any kind but, it isn't for the reasons some people do, and its not for reasons others think. I eat very little meat at home of any kind. It's simply about a sense of place, sustainability and balance. You and I seem to see eye to eye here.
Every individual has to come to that place, but the law provides the hard stop. I don't think anyone is entitled to certain kinds of bush meat for many reasons. I'd be against legal human meat for much the same reasons, regardless of its source, but they would be much more strongly held. The logic behind the choice is always the same. How strongly do I identify with that food item. The more I can identify with a food item personally, the more uncomfortable I would be eating it on a regular basis. Some fungi are really closer to being animal, so for a very strict moral vegetarian, I'd shoo them away from eating fungus. |
