The Beef about Meat | Teen Ink

The Beef about Meat

May 25, 2023
By JohnChess BRONZE, Manchester, Connecticut
JohnChess BRONZE, Manchester, Connecticut
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

It is a lovely evening and you are ready to eat your favorite meal. You sit down and see a juicy hamburger sitting there waiting to be eaten. Before you take a bite you realize the horrifying truth that you are about to eat another animal. Eating meat is a topic that is discussed around the world. There are those who think it is unethical to eat meat and others don’t really mind it. It seems evident that it is unethical because we are taking another thing's life, right? 

With the recent movements of vegans protesting and spreading the message that eating meat is bad for you and the environment. Eating meat has a long history and our ancestors have been eating meat to survive so why is it a problem now?

The main problem with eating meat is the process of killing an animal to eat it, this is one of the reasons many people become vegan. Regardless of whether people are vegan or not it will not stop the production of meat on shelves. Vegan alternatives have been made for those that miss the taste of meat with the idea that they are saving animals' lives by eating plant-based meats. One thing vegans tend to think is that they are saving the environment by not eating meat to reduce pollution associated with meat production. Although this is true and they are trying to save the environment by not killing animals, what they fail to realize is that their food is still transported using fossil fuels and it is known that fossil fuels are not good for the environment. How else will you get your avocados from Mexico? 

The question that Fearless Eating asks is “If the world’s supply of fossil fuels were to run out tomorrow, what would you eat?”. This question is a really good question at challenging vegans who do it to save the animals. Almost all foods that are bought in supermarkets are transported using fossil fuels. It is in our ancestry to eat meat and we had to eat meat to survive. For those who live in places that don’t have as much tillable soil as we do in America, it is necessary to eat meat to survive. 

Eating meat is justifiable but is it truly ethical? With the many reasons people for having to eat meat there is still the question of the ethicality of eating meat. For the process of eating meat, you must take another sentient being's life which is very unsettling for many. We are a part of the food chain and many other animals eat other animals. If we shouldn’t kill them because they are living things like we are, why are they allowed to eat the meat of other animals? It is ethical to eat meat because it is for the same reason it is justifiable. We have for many years needed it to survive so there really shouldn’t be a reason to change. Even if people stop eating meat there will still be many others for those who don’t have farmlands and can’t afford to buy from places like supermarkets. I have personally experienced this as I have been to Laos, My family in Laos would rarely get to go and buy from a supermarket because of the prices. We raised our own animals and had our own garden to survive. We would have to sell our own crops and meat to make money for survival. Without animals, my family in Laos would most likely not be able to survive living because they would simply not have enough food for everyone to survive.

The big question of the ethics of eating meat really matters to how the person views it. Some people think it is morally okay to eat meat because we have needed it to survive for so many years. Those that are able to kill the animals themselves see it as completely ethical while others that eat meat would never kill an animal. People can make their own choices and some choose not to eat meat while others do. I find it completely normal to kill animals to eat them and others find it horrifying. I can see why people don’t eat meat but I would much rather enjoy my cheeseburger.


The author's comments:

Vegans and meat eaters have argued online and in real life. I wrote this to share my opinion as a meat eater and maybe let vegans know about my view as many other may have the same.


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