Speech

Frank Zappa had said this: A mind is like a parachute.
It doesn't work if it is
not open. Before I begin, I beseech you to have an open mind and not let bias
hinder your thought process. Additionally, even if my speech does not seem
germane for the time being, I can assure you that it is pertinent to the topic at
hand or at least it will be.
With that said, Id like to being by stating the fact that roughly 56 billion land
animals are killed every year; trillions, including the sea animals for no
reasons other than taste and convenience. Let me ask you a few questions:
does taste justify enslavement, torturing, and brutally killing of sentient
beings? Does convenience justify it? Does our momentary pleasure of eating
meat outweigh the lives of innocent beings that can feel, communicate, and
think the way we can? If not, what do you think is the difference between
humans and non-human animals that makes it ok for us to treat other animals
the way we treat them? Is it intelligence, is it necessity, is it might? What is it?
If it is intelligence, would it be ok for me to rape, torture, and murder a human
being whose cognitive abilities were transferred into a cow? Same with the
mentally disabled? Infants?
Is might makes right a sound justification for killing animals needlessly? If
you think might makes right, you should not have any problem with the jewish
holocaust. Because after all, Hitler had the might to kill jews and he did so
because he could.
Do you really think there is such a thing as humane slaughter? Exactly what is
your definition of humane? Besides psychological and physical abuse, torture,
dismemberment and murder, what else do you think happens to animals inside
of a slaughterhouse? Do you think they get belly rubs? And if you think there
is such a thing as humane slaughter, Im curious, do you also think there is
humane rape? Humane child molestation? Humane slavery? How about
humane holocaust?
More than 9 out of 10 slaughterhouses do not practice humane slaughter and
all the animals are enslaved in tiny cages where they suffer until they are
slaughtered. A lot of animals do not die of old age, such as pigs and some are
killed immediately after birth such as male calves that are taken away from
their mothers and male chicks that are blended a few days after birth while
they are still alive.
A lot of them definitely do not live good lives either. Even if they did, would
that justify killing them? Let me give you a simple analogy. I take a girl out on
a date and I treat her very nicely. I take her out to a 5 star restaurant and
during the date she keeps telling me that shes having a good time. Towards
the end of our date, I take her to a nice hotel where I drug her and rape her.
Surely you wouldnt say my raping her is justified because I treated her very
nicely until the rape? And surely you wouldnt say it was ok for me to rape her
because she didnt know about it?
There must be a logical and a necessary reason, right? People might say things
like we need protein, meat is good for us, we are omnivores, so eating meat is
necessary, we are at top of the food chain and lions eat meat, so we should
too! But is any of that a sound argument? Unfortunately, there is not a single
justifiable reason for the people like you and me living in civilized countries
where they have access to fruits and vegetables and other plant options to
continue to contribute to the meat and the dairy industries.
First of all, protein is found in literally every single food source except for
jello; strictly for plants, protein is found in grains, legumes, lentils, fruits,
vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
Next, meat is definitely not good for us as it contains trans fats, saturated fat,
and cholesterol the last two of which could significantly raise your cholesterol
level and increase your risks of a heart disease along with a myriad of other
diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, stroke, and hypertension being some of
them.
Next, The Academy of nutrition and dietetics, which is the United States
biggest nutrition organization comprised of 100,000 credentialed practitioners,
published stance on vegan and vegetarian diets in 2015 when they said,
Vegetarian and vegan diets are healthful, may prevent and treat chronic
diseases, and are better for the environment. Even after this, if you think meat
is necessary, if you, with zero nutrition education, are claiming that you know
more than 100,000 registered dietitians, you are just being completely insane.
Lastly, we are at the top of the food chain and lions eat other animals, too!
While both are true, why should being at the top of the food chain dictate what
we eat when eating meat is unhealthy and unnecessary? Furthermore, lions
though argument is just flat out idiotic since lions do other things too, such as
killing their own neighbors and raping them. So, why would we imitate one
thing but not the others?
There are two other big justifications people give in favor of animal
consumption: culture and habit.
Just like taste and convenience, culture does not and should not dictate
morality. After all, if you claim that it does or that it should, youre in favor of
slavery, rape in certain cultures, and other detestable things indigenous tribes
do.
Next, habit cannot make something innately wrong right. If I had a habit of
assaulting others, I wouldnt ever say it is justified because it is my habit.
Consumption of animals does not only affect animals by the way. It also
affects humans. Root cause of world hunger meat eating societies. 65% of
the worlds grains are set aside every year to feed 56 billion land animals that
are killed every year on this planet. And trillions of sea animals. We got fish
farms nowadays. Instead of using those crops for seven billion people.
And again, environmental pollution, air pollution, water pollution,

deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions The number one cause is animal
agriculture.
In addition, the slaughterhouse workers are affected as well. A lot of the

workers who are involved in killing the animals often end up with PTSDs that
war veterans get and the crime rates of the workers are higher and it doesnt
take a geniuss brain to figure out why thats the case; violence is violence
whether it is done to humans or animals.
At the end of the day, some people will still say things like I just like meat
like my chemistry professor. But the thing is, does your liking something and
therefore doing it somehow justify your actions? Rapists rape because they
like it, child molesters molest children because they like it, and the list goes
on. Surely, you wouldnt even think for a second the actions of those criminals
are justified, so why is yours? Furthermore, do you really think millions of
people who have become vegetarians and vegans do not enjoy what they eat?
Surely, you cannot believe that the majority of them forcefully feed
themselves what they hate to eat every day.
All Im proposing is that we do our best to reduce suffering. Period. If you
know of any other way to effectively reduce the suffering of animals that is
MORE effective than boycotting the product and speaking out against
exploitation, by all means lets hear it. Otherwise, your arguments are nothing
more than excuses for why you want to continue eating meat.
Philosophically, I believe it is our ethical imperative to reduce suffering
whenever and wherever reasonably possible. I recognize it's not possible to
totally eliminate suffering, but the important thing to me is that the effort is
made. Each person must decide for him or herself how much effort they wish
to expend towards this goal. I feel strongly that abstinence from animal
exploitation (veganism) is the most reasonable, simple, safe, and effective act
each person can undertake. I really don't need to say anymore beyond this.
Let me end my speech with a quotation by Martin Luther King, Jr.: Nothing in
all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious
stupidity.
Let us make decisions that arent hindered by bias and be the change we wish
to see in the world.

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Frank Zappa had said this: A mind is like a parachute.

And again, environmental pollution, air pollution, water pollution,

In addition, the slaughterhouse workers are affected as well. A lot of the

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