AutomaticMan

Hey, sorry it's taken so long for my response.

I certainly am not suggesting killing animals for "sport," as I find that horrendous. I also do not support factory farming. Still, I find it completely unnecessary and undesirable to rely solely on farming until a famine occurs. Meat provides an alternative food source and diversification of the human diet. That said, excessively killing is wrong, and any treatment which causes human desensitization to killing is extremely dangerous.

Hey, just wanted to let you know I didn't forget about our discussion, a few things have popped up (school, internet service being down for a week, and more). I'll try to start it where we left off this weekend, maybe post up a new thread.

It's completely fair for you to criticize my stance, and I appreciate the question. I object to human notions of superiority, as humans are animals and we feel pain just as any other advanced organism, for the same purpose: to warn us of a danger to our preservation. I object to animals being born and "raised" specifically for them to meet their deaths for human consumption. Slaughterhouses are not natural, therefore hardcore animal-haters lose when they argue that it's something along the lines of "survival of the fittest," which only applies to intraspecific interactions anyway.

In a nutshell, my point is that animals are deserving of respect, should not be raised solely for human consumption and should not be killed for mere "pleasure." At the same time, humans are also animals, and as omnivores, human meat-eating is not only natural, but quite necessary, under current conditions, for survival for many people in the world, and also to maximize healthy development (clean meat, not industrialized bullshit). I have problems with factory farming, which is not a natural process. Besting an animal in its habitat is natural, so hunting and fishing are more or less fair in terms of the process, not necessarily physical equipment (e.g., arms and thumbs, perhaps) or technology, obviously. Keep in mind I certainly do not support extreme hunting rates and extreme fishing rates because at that point it's basically a psychological necessity to degrade the life of the organisms, since killing occurs so often.

If you'd like, post a topic about it, I'll explain more.