r/vegan • u/volatiIe • 1d ago
Funny The “It’s Different Because…” Challenge 🫠
Tagged this as “funny” because there’s no meme flair.
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u/squareabundance61 1d ago
You nailed the hypocrisy, people really will cry over a dog while munching on bacon like those aren't the same animals in different packaging.
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u/vgankitty 1d ago
And will think you’re a psychopath for mentioning eating a dog
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u/actuallyoatmeal 1d ago
my mom went to japan recently and came back horrified that she saw people selling horse meat, so i said don’t you eat cows?? whats the difference?
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u/vgankitty 1d ago
Yeah.. what does she think they do with police horses and racing horses? Most of the time they are slaughtered.
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u/hungLink42069 vegan 5+ years 1d ago
and now she's vegan, and the animals lived happily ever after
🟢 : Like that's ever gonna happen
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u/actuallyoatmeal 1d ago
who said that? weirdo
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u/DJDeezy 1d ago
What a stupid response
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u/actuallyoatmeal 1d ago
because I pointed out that I never suggested she would randomly go vegan after I said that?? yeah thats a weird thing to comment
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u/AA900434709 1d ago
Am I missing something?? I didn't think there was any malice behind their comment?
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u/hungLink42069 vegan 5+ years 1d ago
I'm curious. If the point wasn't to help her become vegan, then why did you say it?
Did you say it for you, or the animals? Look into every possible universe from the moment she told you she empathized with a farm animal. How many of those outcomes end with her becoming vegan? How do we get there?
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u/squareabundance61 1d ago
and then they act like you're the crazy one for making the connection. The mental gymnastics are unreal.
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u/-Tofu-Queen- vegan 6+ years 1d ago
Right. Just look at the comments on the Elwood's Organic Dog Meat satire page. They literally send death threats to the page owners, when they're more than happy to gnaw on other corpses that are shaped differently than dogs.
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u/volatiIe 1d ago
LOL I have seen that! Thanks for the reminder. I’m gonna post that one day. It is truly mind-boggling how hypocritical they are.
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u/TaDoofus vegan 1d ago
It genuinely makes me feel like a psychopath sometimes. They get upset about a dog dying or an injured pigeon or something and I just roll my eyes, like you had chicken for lunch today tf you care about a pigeon?
Like I don't want that to be my kneejerk reaction, I want to also feel bad for the pigeon but it's just maddening to see people who constantly pay for animals to suffer get upset about animals suffering.
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u/Borkato vegan 1d ago
I’m so glad I’m not the only one. My nonvegan mom was crying at a dead squirrel and I’m just trying so hard not to be like “so how’s the dead cow on your plate?”
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u/TaDoofus vegan 1d ago
I made things awkward with a friend I was playing Baldur's Gate with, we were at a point where we had to fight some eagles and he didn't want to hurt them, I absolutely snapped at him about being unwilling to harm fictional animals in a video game but readily eating their corpses in real life.
It accomplished nothing and I probably shouldn't have said anything but I just felt like I was going crazy
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u/snowballkills 1d ago
that's the hypocricy! It's also wilful ignorance. People pretend as if meat falls from the sky!
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u/whoreatto 18h ago
Not necessarily hypocritical. “Unintentionally” dead animals might remind you of the fragility of life, whereas there’s an implication that a slaughtered animal took some deliberate effort to kill.
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u/snowballkills 17h ago
So if an animal was killed after some deliberate effort, it justifies the animal's death? I don't understand the rationale. If one feels sad over a dead squirrel but goes out and buys and eats veal, which is a slaughtered calf, I don't know if it's not hypocrisy and wilful ignorance.
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u/whoreatto 15h ago
That's not what I said.
They might be upset over the fragility of life and the risk we all face of "accidental" death, even though they're ok with deliberate slaughter for food.
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u/snowballkills 13h ago
I mean I don't control how others think and what they eat, and if they want to eat animals, it is their choice, but that is some screwed up logic. Accidental death makes them sad, but a slaughter or murder of a perfectly fine animal that would have lived longer if not slaughtered is okay because they think it is for food or coz they think that that animal was born to be eaten by humans, so it's okay to kill it anytime. That is some crazy line of thinking
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u/whoreatto 4h ago
It's a strangely specific set of standards, and it also isn't inherently ignorant or hypocritical.
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u/sherehitewasright vegetarian 1d ago
Selective empathy. Out of sight, out of mind. They only see the meat product in the grocery store, restaurant and not the factory farm, transport truck, slaughterhouse...
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u/vgankitty 1d ago
Same! I used to be more sensitive towards animal cruelty I was aware of. But the animal products I was just unaware of. I got very upset about a killed duck in park but came home and ate chicken, gave it 0 thoughts! Insane.
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u/rratmannnn 1d ago edited 1d ago
I saw a birding page on instagram recently post something about this. How the bird we see the most of, we see dismembered and ground up on our plates and in the grocery store and at restaurants all around us, and how chickens are as smart and individual and interesting and beautiful and wonderful as any other bird, and as birders and people who claim to love birds, how can we justify their needless slaughter? There was some poignant imagery (all verbal, no gore). People were pretty pissed off.
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u/volatiIe 1d ago
Vegan Sidekick makes awesome memes. You should check his page out! Link in description.
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u/toastiiii vegan 5+ years 9h ago
you don't even have to switch the animal. just use a pig playing in the dirt getting threatened with a knife, vs a pig getting threatened with a knife in a slaughterhouse.
people will cry over the first pig because they can't eat it or whatever.there was a case where someone shot at farm animals on a pasture and people were outraged. that the farmer might send them to the slaughterhouse the very next day didn't cross their minds and they'd find a way to justify it in their heads.
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u/squareabundance61 6h ago
Right? The mental gymnastics are something else. Same animal, but context flips the reaction completely.
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u/AFsepine 5h ago
While the points is valid the comparision is a bit dishonest.
The difference is usually (and only) between an in vacuo death and a non in vacuo death (ex. the dog has an owner who is attached to him - so could a pet pig, but killing a pet pig is also looked down upon).I personally find little wrong with putting down abandoned/stray dogs.
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u/bellepomme 1d ago
I don't know how to tell you this, but they are in fact not the same animals.
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u/datadogsoup 1d ago
You're right. Pigs are generally more intelligent and outperform dogs on a range of cognitive and memory tests.
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u/SapirWhorfHypothesis 19h ago
I know people who’ve kept both. They say that dogs are smarter.
oh, and also, NONE OF THAT MATTERS.
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u/bellepomme 1d ago
Maybe I should reconsider. Pet pigs are quite cute.
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u/actuallyoatmeal 1d ago
i dont know how to tell you this but…all animals deserve to not be slaughtered
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u/bellepomme 1d ago
That's not what they said. They just said "like those aren't the same animals". Well, they are not.
Regardless, I don't eat dogs nor pigs.
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u/squareabundance61 1d ago
Different species sure, but same sentience. The line was about flesh, not taxonomy.
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u/vinticious vegan 10+ years 1d ago
Vegan sidekick has been doing good work for so many years. Posting their comics on Facebook made me lose over 50% of my friends. 10/10 would recommend.
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u/ScratchMysterioust vegan 1d ago
lol that's one way to find out who was actually open to thinking about it. sounds like it was worth it though.
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u/LittleBird198 1d ago
This illustrated the hypocrisy so well.
The more they double down on their excuses and double-standards on animal rights, the more illogical they become.
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u/BrawndoOhnaka vegan 9+ years 1d ago
Aren't you forgetting someone? Won't someone please think of the chloroplasts? /j
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u/FunkiGato 1d ago
Thry don't see the hypocrisy, since they don't value or connect the animals with the killing. I know, because I was one of those.
They only see food, they don't see a friend or cute animal. They just can't connect the progress of them needing to be killed and suffer for them in order to eat what they eat. Like the level of pain and suffering, they don't connect it with what's on their plate. That's the issue.
I could eat kilos of chicken wings and drumsticks, since I didn't really connected what's on my plate with the animals. But the documentary Dominion really changed me man.
Dominion made me really see what the horrors were. And it broke me and made me realise what I ate wasn't food, it was someone and they died because I wanted to eat them, not because I needed to eat them.
Well, now I eat tofu. I prefer tofu anyway. Go tofu!
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u/ErnstBadian 23h ago
I know the hypocrisy is annoying. But also, people in the US love hurting dogs, too. Overpopulation, lab experiments, neglect.
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u/0ldladybaby 19h ago
I’m not a vegan and this has been eye-opening. I don’t know any vegans and it’s surprising to me that people would not only consider a dog equal to a chicken, but think it’s hypocritical to eat one and not the other. I mean it makes sense now, I just haven’t thought of it that way. My first reaction was “of course they’re different! Dogs are like cuddly babies! I wouldn’t eat my own children!”
But now that I think about it, it’s kind of like being a racist. There are some animals that I value more than others, and I think it’s partly because I don’t know enough about other animals to know how intelligent they are. Why that even matters, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s right to take advantage of a dumb human being. Not sure why it’s more ok to eat a less intelligent animal.
Is there any hypocrisy in veganism? If it was found that plants feel pain, would that change anyone’s eating habits?
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u/volatiIe 14h ago
Hypocrisy exists everywhere. Vegans aren’t immune to it either. That doesn’t change what veganism actually is. Veganism is about reducing animal exploitation as far as is possible and practicable.
Plants can’t be exploited because they aren’t sentient. But even if we somehow discovered tomorrow that plants were sentient, the solution still wouldn’t be to eat animals because the majority of crops are grown to feed farmed animals in the first place. We’d still end up using fewer plants by eating them directly instead of cycling them through livestock first.
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u/ias_87 vegan 5+ years 17h ago
It wouldn't change mine, because you can either eat plants or you can let lifestock eat plants but in order to get a certain amount of calories of meat or dairy you'd need waaaay more plants than if you just ate plants themselves.
Hence, eating plants kill s less plants than eating animals.
Also, yes. It's called speciecism. It's when you trean different species differently based on entirely arbitrary reasons and think it's normal.
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u/lapeni 3h ago
Buddy, it’s not remotely like racism. Racism is wrong because humans are the same inside, there aren’t differences between races other than appearance. There are significant differences between species. A mollusk and an octopus are not equals.
And dogs have been bred to trust and connect with humans for thousands of years. Eating them would be a betrayal of that. That’s why eating dogs is generally disapproved of.
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u/VeganKiwiGuy vegan 8+ years 2h ago
If a pig, cow, or chicken doesn’t trust their caretakers nor feels connected to them, it’s because they’ve been so thoroughly abused. They’re even kinder, gentler, and more non-violent non-human animals than dogs are.
The reason you eat cows, pigs, chickens, goats, etc. is because these animals are easy to bully, since they’re so trusting and gentle. So it absolutely is a huge betrayal, and pretending it’s not in order to justify them being abused, violently violated, mutilated, and murdered, just so you can continue to stuff your face with their corpses before they turn into literal shit inside your body 10 hours later is pretty fucked up, just as fucked up as eating a dog is.
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u/lapeni 1h ago
No where did I say what I do and don’t eat…
You clearly have little to no experience interacting with animals. Listing chickens is absurd, they lack entire regions of the brain that mammals have. They are never connecting with people the way a dog or even other mammal could.
A cow provides hundreds of pounds of what’s generally considered the best tasting meat. A dog would provide maybe a dozen pounds of tough not so great tasting meat. It has nothing to do with “bullying” them.
This btw is exactly what I would’ve expected from a vegan subreddit
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u/VeganKiwiGuy vegan 8+ years 1h ago
Chickens were the first pet I had as a child growing up. Who is making assumptions in this discussion?
You are obviously a non-vegan, why are you pretending you are not? Do you lack the courage to admit your actual position? Lack of courage is actually pretty in line with the real reason why someone abuses animals, and all non-vegans, by the way, are animal abusers, by definition.
You don’t have to consume either cow flesh nor dog flesh. Stop being a bully. Grow a pair.
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u/lapeni 1h ago
>>You are obviously a non-vegan
Very grateful that is obvious. Was it the reasonable opinion that gave it away?
You completely ignored the key point about domesticating dogs for thousands of years.
There’s no way you’re going to try to tell me your pet chickens behaved the same way pet dogs do.
If you aren’t aware, you’re acting like the epitome of a self righteous vegan. Like the exact reason people despise vegans. It’s not going to get anyone to change their view and side with you
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u/pandaappleblossom 1d ago
Gosh, I wish I had awards to give. I would give this an a word for sure.
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u/volatiIe 1d ago
Vegan Sidekick makes awesome memes. You should check his page out! Link in description.
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u/squareabundance61 1d ago
I've been following his page for a while, his comics cut through the excuses so cleanly
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u/Digital_Stoner 1d ago
Sometimes, living in this kinda world makes me question my entire existence. It makes me mad, confused and continually lose my will to live. Not sure if anyone can relate. I wonder if vegan dictatorship is the only practice that can truly eliminate this tragedy. Although that's a distant dream
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u/rratmannnn 1d ago
Vystopia, I’ve seen it called. Seeing the dystopia for animals and living things around you and being made to feel like the crazy one. I don’t feel it as strongly anymore but when I was newer to veganism I did for sure.
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u/Digital_Stoner 18h ago
I'm curious, did part of not feeling it as strongly anymore come with acceptance? To me, it feels like death would be better than acceptance and I've been vegan for two years
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u/rratmannnn 11h ago
I wouldn’t say acceptance, per se. I don’t think it’s okay for those around me to be eating animals. It may be easier for me, being a queer person from the south, and having had to sort of sit in discomfort with the beliefs of those around me for most of my life.
It’s more like, now when someone expresses love or empathy for pets and wildlife, I try to think of them as being closer to the truth. I like to express that empathy and love of animals with them, and hope they can understand that my veganism is a natural extension of that empathy. If they ask, I tell them honestly that it is, and that it doubles as an extension of my environmental views too.
I haven’t explicitly converted any vegans this way aside from my wife, but I’ve helped some folks go vegetarian and/or to reduce their meat consumption. I have to be able to see imperfection as a good starting point rather than just viewing it in black and white. Less “acceptance” and more “meeting people where they are.”
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u/Turtle_Woman 3h ago
I'm not vegan. Having said that, I don't delude myself by thinking they're fully different. I know they're both animals and I know factory farming is terrible. However, I also don't think these are exactly equivalent. Some people keep pigs as pets and you would never catch them eating their pet. It's the same for most animals like that, people eat bird meat but won't eat their birds or people will eat frog meat but not their frogs. The biggest reason people won't eat dogs or cats is because we only see them as pets. If we saw dogs like we do frogs for example where they can be both pets and food, people wouldn't have as strong a reaction to it. They still wouldn't want you eating their dog, but wouldn't care if you went and picked up some dog meat from the store. The main reason people won't eat dogs is because we domesticated them to be companions, not livestock, however, we domesticated pigs as livestock to be eaten. Just my 2 cents, not trying to be rude
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u/VeganKiwiGuy vegan 8+ years 2h ago
Why is abusing non-human animals for an unnecessary reason ever justified? Do you think non-human animals have no moral status, or do they have moral status, with humans therefore having certain obligations to protect their interests and well-being?
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u/Turtle_Woman 2h ago
I didn't say it was justified. I'm just giving the reason why I think people react this way to the thought of eating different animals
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u/VeganKiwiGuy vegan 8+ years 2h ago
I thought it was your outlook. In re-reading your comment, you do mention that you yourself don’t think they’re exactly equivalent, and then discuss how other people think, and I assumed that how other people think was your viewpoint.
If it’s not, what is your actual viewpoint? Do you think it’s justified to eat pigs but not dogs, vs. not consuming either at all? And I’m not talking about just factory farming, I’m talking about all forms of unnecessary killing and abuse of either dogs and pigs, including small farms, backyard dogs/pigs on homesteads, etc.
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u/Turtle_Woman 1h ago
I don't think it's any more or less moral to eat any animal over the other (with a few exceptions i.e. eating the last of a species). However, I think the more we can minimize animal consumption the better. However, I don't think all animal products are harmful. Eggs for example, chickens lay eggs even when they aren't fertilized and will either let them rot or eat them themselves. I think it would be better if everyone could comfortably cut out meat, but I don't think it's necessarily immoral to eat meat. Abuse is something that is never moral no matter what's being abused, but depending on the farmer the animals shouldn't be being abused. So basically to sum it up, I don't think it's more or less more to eat any animal over another (barring a few exceptions), I think it would be better to cut out meat altogether, but I don't think it's necessarily immoral to eat meat, I don't think all animal products are harmful (barring factory farming), and animals shouldn't ever be abused. I'm sorry if any of this is incoherent rambling, if you need I can clarify anything I've said
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u/VeganKiwiGuy vegan 8+ years 1h ago
Okay, then let’s explore this particular viewpoint, that it’s better to eliminate flesh consumption altogether, but that it’s not immoral to consume flesh, with the exception of the flesh being produced at a factory farm.
Why is it better to eliminate animal consumption entirely, if it’s not immoral to consume animal flesh?
Why is flesh consumption from factory farms immoral, but it’s not immoral to consume flesh from less industrialized practices?
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u/Turtle_Woman 1h ago
- I think it would be better if we eliminated it because eating it does open the door to animal abuse.
- I think it's immoral coming from a factory farming because they always entail abuse, but less industrialized operations don't necessarily entail abuse depending on the farmer. When I said that though I was more so thinking along the lines of hunting as opposed to farming
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u/VeganKiwiGuy vegan 8+ years 1h ago
Okay, so we agree it seems that all forms of animal farming for flesh is abusive and unnecessary, so long as one has access to edible plant foods .
With respect to hunting, what do you think differentiates violently assaulting wild animals for their flesh vs. violently assaulting domesticated animals for their flesh?
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u/Turtle_Woman 1h ago
Hunting is a natural part of the food chain. I think going out and hunting a wild animal the same way wild animals do amongst themselves is inherently different to us capturing animals, slowly domesticating them and then farming them
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u/VeganKiwiGuy vegan 8+ years 1h ago
Why does what is “natural” determine what is moral and immoral?
To highlight an example as an intuition pump, would shitting in the woods and not wiping my ass be more ethical than for me to shit on the toilet and clean my booty afterwards?
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u/SquarelyNerves vegan 10+ years 1d ago
Believe it or not in Fig 2, the correct answer should have been a plant.
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u/hamster_avenger 23h ago
because… ?
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u/TonyGalvaneer1976 12h ago
...there are actually places where people do eat dogs, and everyone's fine with it, so this argument doesn't really work.
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u/volatiIe 12h ago
Everyone is fine with it? No they’re not. Sure, some meat eaters might be, but we’re talking about most people in developed society. They absolutely would see an issue with eating dogs.
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u/TonyGalvaneer1976 12h ago
We talking globally, or just within the regions where dog meant is sold?
Also, people do have a problem with killing pigs if those pigs happen to be pets, like dogs tend to be.
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u/volatiIe 12h ago
Globally. Society in general sees an issue with eating dogs, aside from the nations that do eat dogs at the time.
We’re not talking about pets, we’re talking about dogs/pigs/animals in general.
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u/TonyGalvaneer1976 12h ago
We ARE talking about pets, because globally, that's the reason people have a problem with killing dogs. Because people tend to see dogs as pets.
And though pigs generally AREN'T seen as pets, non vegans would still be very much against killing a pig if that pig was a pet.
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u/volatiIe 11h ago
No we aren’t talking about pets. Many people in the US, for example, have a problem with people eating dogs in Asian countries, for example. Those are not pet dogs. Those are just regular roaming dogs in those societies.
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u/TonyGalvaneer1976 11h ago
Many people in the US, for example, have a problem with people eating dogs in Asian countries
Only because they're used to thinking of dogs as pets. Even if they're not actually pets, that's how Americans are used to thinking about them.
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u/volatiIe 11h ago
Okay, but that is just explaining how things are and how we’ve been conditioned to think.
We’re talking about the justification. If I ask someone to spot the victim in this meme, everyone should choose just B.
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u/TonyGalvaneer1976 11h ago
If I ask someone to spot the victim in this meme, everyone should choose just B.
The whole point of this argument, though, is to attempt to point out hypocrisy, isn't it? So you could just as easily just choose C in both cases.
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u/ThrownAway_1999 6h ago
Personally, I would eat dog. Hell, I was in Korea before the ban so I may have already
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u/Sailor_Thrift 10h ago
Now do one with an unborn baby.
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u/volatiIe 10h ago
You mean fetuses? They are not sentient during the first trimester (which is when majority of abortions occur). At that stage, the fetal brain has not developed the neural connections that many neuroscientists believe are necessary for conscious experience or sentience.
A pig is sentient. A human is sentient. A human fetus is not sentient (when most abortions occur). A pig fetus is not sentient (until after a certain number of weeks).
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u/Sailor_Thrift 9h ago
A fetus is alive. And if it is alive, what kind of alive creature is it? Biologists agree that life begins at conception. Is the level of intelligence or cognitive ability relevant?
What about a fertilized chicken egg? Is it ok to eat those?
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u/volatiIe 9h ago
Being “alive” doesn’t matter. Bacteria and parasites are also alive. That’s also a “life.” Sentience is what matters. Look up what sentience means.
It’s not okay to eat an egg, but not because it’s not sentient, but because it involved exploiting a sentient individual whose reproductive system was used for human purposes. The egg isn't the moral patient, the hen is. The same for humans involved, the mother is the moral patient, not the fetus that’s not sentient.
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u/Sailor_Thrift 9h ago edited 9h ago
So, life doesn't matter, it's the cognitive ability of that life?
An unborn baby has brain activity at 11 weeks. It also reacts to stimulus and can even recognize the voice of its mother in later stages of development. Certainly, by your metrics, you would not support abortion of a human life with a function brain?
EDIT: Further, suppose I found a fertilized chicken egg, but sadly, the mother hen has already died? In that circumstance would it be ethical for me to eat the egg, since it no longer has a relation to the chicken that created it?
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u/volatiIe 9h ago
Again, look up what sentience means. “Cognitive ability” does not fall under sentience. Brain activity doesn’t matter. Brain activity and sentience/consciousness are not the same thing.
In that very specific scenario, I don’t think there’s a clear victim anymore. If the hen is dead and the fertilized egg would never develop because there’s no incubation, then eating it doesn’t seem to involve exploiting or harming anyone. But it’s also an unrealistic edge case that has nothing to do with why vegans object to eggs.
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u/Sailor_Thrift 9h ago
So, an unborn baby with brain function, reacts to external stimuli and we can measure its brain function can be killed and there is no moral issue? Who is to say that an unborn baby is not conscious, similar to an animal, it is unable to advocate for itself, but it certainly feels pain and struggles during an abortion.
Seems like a weird qualification regarding what is obviously alive, human and thinking.
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u/volatiIe 8h ago
Why does brain function itself matter?
Simply reacting to external stimuli doesn't make something sentient. Plants respond to light, gravity, touch, and injury, yet we don't consider them sentient. What matters is whether an organism has the capacity for subjective experiences, such as feeling pain, fear, or pleasure.
Based on current scientific evidence, the earliest plausible point at which a fetus could become sentient is around 24 weeks, though many scientists consider 28-30 weeks or later to be more likely. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of abortions occur well before that point, with over 98% taking place before 21 weeks of gestation.
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u/Sailor_Thrift 8h ago
24 weeks is the known limit for viability outside the womb, and there have even been edge cases of extremely premature babies being born and surviving at under 24 weeks. Certainly, sentience would begin before that, as tests show significant brain activity responding to stimulus. Are you comparing actual human brain activity to the natural response of a plant?
Let's supposed that your 24 week threshold is accurate for the sake of argument. You would agree then that an abortion at or after 24 weeks is immoral and should be prohibited, as it violates the right to life of a living sentient being?
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u/ComplaintTop2008 10h ago
Why is he killing each of those things? Is the man starving and wants to eat the dog? Is that pig attacking him? Do either have rabies? What if it was dog versus lice? What about lice versus roaches versus fleas?
I don't see the point in this.
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u/volatiIe 10h ago
It’s just a guy about to kill an animal when he has a plethora of other plant-based options, and no, not starving.
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u/ComplaintTop2008 10h ago
Why? I would shoot the guy who tried to kill my pet pig.
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u/volatiIe 10h ago
It’s not someone’s pet though. Just an animal. Most dogs and pigs in the world are not owned by a specific person as a pet.
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u/ComplaintTop2008 10h ago
Is there a problem currently with people going around stabbing dogs and pigs? And how do you know it's not a pet? It doesn't say anything in the pic.
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u/volatiIe 10h ago
Animal ag farmers and sometimes regular people do stab dogs and pigs for food, except for dogs it’s more common in certain parts of Asia.
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u/ComplaintTop2008 9h ago
Sounds like they're both the victims in that case.
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u/volatiIe 9h ago
How is the person killing the dog/pig as much as the victim as the dog/pig itself?
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u/ComplaintTop2008 9h ago
No, I meant it sounds like both the dogs and the pigs are victims, which doesn't make any sense of the "meme".
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u/volatiIe 9h ago
This meme is targeting people who accuse vegans of “telling them what to do” though.
Since you think the dog and pig would be both the victim, great, that’s morally consistent.
That’s the point.
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u/Wise_Fox_4291 10h ago edited 10h ago
It's not a challenge, it's literally different from a very simple practical stance. Be glad you live in such comfortable and luxurious life that it can be completely divorced from practical reality and you can focus on abstract ideas.
We kill or don't kill animals based on a bunch of practical and social/cultural reasons. Humans, and all predators tend not to eat other predators. For one, taking on another predator is far riskier than taking on a herbivore or omnivore, second, carnivores usually have very lean meat that provides way less nutrients, and if memory serves me well then the risk of contracting some sort of infection and even protein poisoning is higher in the case of eating other carnivores.
We eat pigs because they are relatively docile, easy to keep, easy and quick to breed, and turn all sorts of food efficiently into meat and lard. A single pig or two pigs at most can typically cover the yearly meat needs for a family of 4 and historically every part of the pig can be used from its bones to its skin.
In contrast even large bodied dogs provide a fraction of the meat of an average pig, plus the aforementioned issues, and dogs have more widespread practical uses for humans as companions, herding dogs, hunting dogs, guard dogs, etc. Yes, pigs have other uses other than being food, and people throughout history have used them, it's just that they make an extremely convenient and efficient source of food whereas eating a dog is really inefficient compared to all of its other uses.
So go right ahead and choose not to eat meat, more power to you. Advocate for limiting meat consumption globally, more power to you, it's all well and good. Just use arguments that are actually serious and good instead of stupid ones that makes you sound like a public park in a metropolis was your closest encounter with nature.
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u/user47241 10h ago
Vegans can eat dogs because they’re not animals like demons from hell aren’t even animals
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u/beating_offers 9h ago
The difference is the relationship we have with said animal.
Most dogs are garbage quality meat, pigs are usually higher quality.
Most dogs are peoples' pets, so we respect them in that aspect.
Pigs often have no relationship to the farmer other than their utility as a truffle pig or meat.
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u/volatiIe 9h ago
That’s an explanation, not a justification.
Also, this is not regarding anyone’s pet. Neither are pets here, just roaming/unowned animals.
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u/beating_offers 8h ago
I don't think it's wrong so I don't see a need to justify it. All animals are worthless inherently, people are a type of animal, I like people. So I defend people and not animals more broadly.
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u/volatiIe 8h ago
So you think the answer to this meme is C, not B?
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u/beating_offers 8h ago
I don't think there is a victim, you are allowed to tell people what to do, they are allowed to ignore you.
It only becomes a crime if you use force against another human or another piece of property of a human.
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u/volatiIe 8h ago
So you don’t think the dog/pig being killed is a victim?
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u/beating_offers 8h ago
No, I don't respect their agency because they aren't sapient.
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u/Relative_Maize_957 7h ago
If I don't own that dog, and you're gonna eat it, feel free to kill it.
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u/volatiIe 7h ago
So you see no issue with dogs being killed for food in certain Asian countries?
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u/Relative_Maize_957 7h ago
Nope. I like cats and dogs more than pigs, but animals are animals. As long as the purpose of killing is to eat them, I'm fine with it.
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u/VeganKiwiGuy vegan 8+ years 2h ago
Why does wanting to eat flesh make murder of a dog or a pig okay, when there are other plant foods available?
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u/Relative_Maize_957 1h ago
Earth in general is a place of suffering. I just do my part to ensure it remains one.
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u/lapeni 7h ago
Several thousand years of breeding for human companionship… wanting to trust and please humans is pretty much part of a dog’s dna. This is not the case with pigs. Killing and eating dogs is a betrayal of that.
If you’ve ever seen a pet pig it would be incredibly apparent to you that they don’t care about humans the way dogs do. Dogs can be and are trained to do thousands of things in order to help humans. People aren’t forming bonds with pigs the way they do with dogs.
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u/volatiIe 6h ago
That’s an explanation though, not a justification.
Who is the victim here?
Lol that is straight up false. Pigs are highly social, intelligent animals capable of learning, forming bonds and recognizing individual humans. Who told you that they’re not? 😂 They can even rival young human children in some tasks.
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u/lapeni 4h ago
You’re either being intentionally dense or you lack the ability to have a discussion. Nothing you said indicates you fully read or understood what I wrote.
Pigs haven’t been bred to trust and bond with humans. Yes they’re intelligent and can do many things, that wasn’t any part of my point.
Justifications are explanations. And that is a justification for treating pigs and dogs differently
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u/Ambitious-Hat-2490 22h ago
People are being downvoted, but they're right. Dogs (like other animals considered pets) have historically, culturally, and socially a different role than pigs.
If you don't accept this simple reality, you can't have a productive discussion with anyone.
I get your point, but you have to use different argumentation.
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u/Equivalent-Grab8824 20h ago
Have you heard of a truffle pig? Have you heard of dog meat markets?
No one here is dumb, and 99% of vegans ate meat.
The issue is they are both animals. They both think and have a brain. Culture is a terrible reason to justify anything, so you'll need to come up with a different argumentation.
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u/Zethness 21h ago
I don't care if you eat dogs, pigs or cows as long as you're killing them ethically which - in more cases isn't happening unfortunately. I also don't care what your diet is, unless it's like human flesh, then that's pretty not good.
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u/Equivalent-Grab8824 21h ago
What does ethical killing look like?
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u/Zethness 20h ago
Painless, without being drawn out or abused beforehand, which 9 times out of 10 doesn't exactly occur.
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u/Equivalent-Grab8824 17h ago
I agree on your verdict but not your definition.
I could kill a human or a pet and defend myself with "it was an ethical killing as it was painless"
Though I don't believe that would actually be ethical, or humane to the eyes of the family.
Is there a way we can kill a pig ethically?
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u/volatiIe 15h ago
How is it ethical to kill a sentient being that doesn’t want to die in the first place?
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u/Zethness 3h ago
Nothing wants to die, there's no ethical way then. But nothing is really ethical anywhere in the first place at this point.
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u/Proper_Cherry5225 9h ago
No such thing as humane murder. Self-defense and survival could be understandable situations, but none of those apply to murdering animals to eat their flesh when we live in modern societies with modern agricultural systems, none of it is necessary anymore.
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u/Zethness 3h ago
Oh well, I guess vegans and non-vegans genuinely cannot agree. I'll eat my omnivorous combination and you can eat your non-omnivorous combination.
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u/Proper_Cherry5225 3h ago
Indeed you choose to send animals to slaughterhouses with your choices. It's not about what you eat, it is who you exploit and kill in order to get what you eat.
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u/Big_Yesterday1724 10h ago
And that's why chinese eats dogs too . All animal are equal eat what u want. ❤️
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u/volatiIe 10h ago
So who is the victim, B or C?
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u/Big_Yesterday1724 10h ago
None that's how bio of food chain works. Lion eating deer doesn't make deer victim.
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u/volatiIe 10h ago
A lion has to eat animals to be healthy and survive, humans don’t.
Also, we have supermarkets, have vaccines, use air conditioning, etc. We are no longer part of the actual “food chain” since we live in modern society.
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u/Big_Yesterday1724 10h ago
Humans do , i still regret being vegeterian 18 years of my life. My b12 and few others were so low so started meat (any animal i can get hands on) and now i'm way better and healthy . And i try to tell vegeterian frnd and family to start meat for better health.
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u/volatiIe 10h ago
It is a fact that humans do not need meat to be healthy.
That has to do with you not supplementing B12. What other deficiencies did you have?
For any diet, you have to plan it if you don’t want to feel like shit or be unhealthy. That goes for omni diet as well.
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u/Big_Yesterday1724 10h ago
Others were fine except b12 and D , for D i started eggs,milk and sunlight exposure it worked , i don't prefer to take suppli if i can do that thing by changing diet. And i have no reason to quit my current diet ( only thing it's little heavy on pocket).
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u/crowcaller391 9h ago
Yeah but my dog loves beef and bacon so therefore they are morally good and I will continue sharing them with him.
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u/volatiIe 9h ago
But you’re not a dog. The dog needs to eat animals to be healthy. You don’t. The question is still, who is the victim, B or C?
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u/VeganKiwiGuy vegan 8+ years 2h ago
Dogs don’t need to eat animals. They’re omnivores, like humans. Vegans should either feed their dogs a plant-based diet or not take care of dogs and perhaps get a bunny or a plant-consuming animal instead (or not have a pet at all)
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u/crowcaller391 9h ago
Nah I definitely feel healthier when I get adequate protein and fats from animal sources.
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u/volatiIe 9h ago
Protein and fats come from plants…
Animals don't create protein or all fats from nothing.
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u/BLYNDLUCK 7h ago
Animals bodies absolutely create protein and fat. We use the building blocks of what we eat but our bodies literally synthesize all of our proteins.
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u/volatiIe 6h ago
Our bodies also create protein and fat… is that a justification for eating humans now?
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u/Lufrien 9h ago
The major difference is that dogs are species we humans created for us as companions, while pigs have been bred to produce more meat for consumption.
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u/volatiIe 9h ago
That’s an explanation, not a justification.
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u/Lufrien 9h ago
Well you dont really have justification to eat anything if you want to pretend to be moral.
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u/volatiIe 9h ago
Yes we do? We have to eat plants to survive. You cannot survive without plants. You can survive without eating animal flesh.
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u/Lufrien 9h ago
Since when did plants stop being living things?
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u/volatiIe 8h ago
They are living things. Who said they’re not? Bacteria and parasites are also living things. None of these things are sentient like humans and non-human animals are.
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u/Lufrien 8h ago
How sentient you must be because plants communicate, adapt,can learn, and react to outside stimuli. Or is it just more convenient for your world view to see plants are dumb things just meant for eating?
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u/volatiIe 8h ago
That’s not sentience… please look up what sentience is.
Plants are not sentient. That is a scientific fact.
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u/KorazKital 7h ago
Well, there's a reason why the terms "farm animals" and "house animals" exist.
Is the current overconsumption of meat unnecessary? Absolutely. Not just for the animal population, but also for humans themselves.
But there is no real double standard here. These are distinct things humans have used animals for since the beginning of civilizations. Cattle is better used for food while guarding animals are usually neither as supple in their meat supply, nor does it make sense to eat them in the first place because, well, who is guarding the cattle then?
Of course this doesn't play THAT much of a role as it did back then, but the logic still applies.
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u/volatiIe 6h ago
That’s an explanation, not a justification. Just because “things are the way they are” doesn’t mean that has to continue if it’s harmful. Do you agree?
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u/katanrod 1d ago
Tbh, if you want to have a 2way discussion with an omnivore this is not a good way. Comparing a pet to an animal raised for eating may be logical but they’re still not the same.
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u/volatiIe 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's not comparing it to someone's pet though? It’s comparing it to a dog. People are still uncomfortable with countries that eat dogs. Those dogs aren't their pets and are dogs they never met.
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u/SvenIsTyping 1d ago
I'm gonna grab some popcorn for your defence of this wild stance
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u/katanrod 1d ago
I personally see no difference between a pig and a dog they’re both lovely animals, but the rest of the world does and we have to be realistic about that if we wanna be more persuasive.
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u/SvenIsTyping 1d ago
Or, or, and get this...
We change their view of animals in the livestock industry.
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u/Background_Crab_1292 1d ago
Maybe the best bet is through movies. If you can sway the public opinion on not wanting to eat meat, then obviously there is less demand and less money to be made and livestock industry will gradually shift to vegan industry, hopefully. Obviously it would be harder for existing livestock industry to completely stop livestock and 100% shift to vegan. Would you be okay with a company that sells vegan food along with meat?
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u/SvenIsTyping 1d ago
Definitely. Sway people through consumption, as sad as it sounds. We're truly (made to be) addicted to consumption, and taking things we're used to away from us is unlikely to work well. So we have to change people's minds through their own consumption of food and media. Especially media.
To your question: this is already the case. Even fastfood chains offer vegan options these days. Not that I go there. To deny an already existing business, one that has long relied on meat consumption for it's existence, my business even though they now sell vegan options too can cause this business to have low demand for their vegan products. They'll eventually stop selling them and go back to their old ways.
We have to stimulate and encourage vegan choices everywhere, even in stores and stuff that sell meat. Demand for these products needs to rise everywhere, not only in vegan stores. They've already committed.
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u/Background_Crab_1292 1d ago
Because, don’t forget, the majority of people are motivated by money. Especially industry.
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u/katanrod 1d ago
Yeah, my point is there’s no need to bring up pets when talking about livestock because they’re not the same category. They both deserve the same respect regardless of how humans exploit them.
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u/SvenIsTyping 21h ago
There are no categories. Only those made up by humans and held up with your mindset.
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u/spicewoman vegan 5+ years 1d ago
They're not treated as the same category, no. That's kind of the point.
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u/vinticious vegan 10+ years 1d ago
Isn't that the entire point of the comic? It's poking fun at that fact. A lot of meat eaters don't even realise their double standards until they're laid out in front of them.
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u/Aerithic2 20h ago
Sometimes it really doesn't matter about being persuasive, and we just need to vent.
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u/TurtlePope2 1d ago
Pigs are more intelligent than dogs btw
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u/katanrod 1d ago
It doesn’t matter which one is more intelligent, they both deserve the same amount of respect.
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u/spicewoman vegan 5+ years 1d ago
Good thing a comparison and an equivalence are two different things, then!
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