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From: royt@gatech.CSNET (Roy M Turner)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Vegetarians
Message-ID: <2374@gatech.CSNET>
Date: Sun, 5-Jan-86 11:41:50 EST
Article-I.D.: gatech.2374
Posted: Sun Jan  5 11:41:50 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 6-Jan-86 03:47:40 EST
References: <75900002@hpfclg.UUCP  <325@uwai.UUCP  <326@uwai.UUCP <328@uwai.UUCP>
Reply-To: royt@gatech.UUCP (Roy M Turner)
Organization: School of Information and Computer Science, Georgia Tech, Atlanta
Lines: 32

In article <328@uwai.UUCP> honavar@uwai.UUCP (Vasant Honavar) writes:
>
>    Some more sound reasons for being vegetarian:
>                    .
>                    .
>                    .
>    	NOW DO YOU STILL WANT TO EAT MEAT ?
>    


Yes, I do...for the same reason a vegetarian might want to eat okra, say--a
vegetable that I particularly detest--to him/her, it tastes good.  I happen
to like the taste of the flesh of dead animals (o ghoul that I am).

One point that seems to have been missed in this discussion is the role of
some animals in converting plant material that humans can't digest into
protein that we can. Cattle can digest grass (okay, okay, so the bacteria in
their various and sudry stomachs and their intestine actually do the trick),
and we can digest cows.  As was pointed out, not a lot of beef we buy in the
supermarket came from cattle that were strictly grazing critters; but in a
world where hunger is a problem, there is a niche for grazing cattle in
meeting humans' food needs.  Likewise for chickens (and after watching the
chickens feed at my grandparents' farm, I know *I* don't want to try and
digest the things they eat...<yucko> (-: ), fish, sheep, etc. 

I'll continue to eat meat, maybe offering silent thanks to the animal before
tossing it on the grill to load up with nitrosamines. (why avoid those
particular carcinogens?  I live in a metropolitan area and persist in
breathing the air and drinking the water, silly me (-: )  Seriously, though,
I may have to become a vegetarian soon due to economics--meat is expensive.
So you vegetarians have a powerful ally in the economy--and no, don't post
followup articles stating the obvious; I realize *why* meat is expensive.