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AIBU?

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Original poster

To believe that eating meat should be illegal?

533 replies

BySpoonyBlueScroller · 10/02/2025 09:34

The environmental damage and animal cruelty outweighs the cultural or personal benefits. AIBU to think it’s time to outlaw meat production?

OP posts:
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7
ILiedToJimmyNail · 10/02/2025 09:56

Ha ha ha ha. No. As long as there are people, and animals, this will never, ever happen.

username299 · 10/02/2025 09:56

People would have to give a toss about something other than themselves. Animals are treated appallingly, in cramped, unhygienic conditions, pumped full of drugs and then slaughtered. Yes we're a nation of animal lovers.

People would have to care about the planet or think beyond their need for an SUV and disposable goods and clothes.

Ultimately people would have to think about others; we buy goods that are cheap because they're made by children and people without human rights.

Get people to give a crap and you might have a chance.

Fluffyyellowball · 10/02/2025 09:56

Oh don't be bloody ridiculous!
Have you any idea what would happen to the biodiversity in the world if we suddenly had no need for farm animals? Not to even mention the economic crisis it would cause and the mass unemployment.
There would be an instant health crisis because there would be en enormous demand for vegetables, grains and fruit just so that people could get their nutritional needs and it may not be sustainable.
People in countries that find it very hard to grow these foods and who rely on meat would probably starve.
Have you really thought this through?

DalzielOrNoDalzielAndDontPascoe · 10/02/2025 09:55

pointythings · 10/02/2025 09:49

Morrisey isn't an example for anyone to follow.

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Was it true or just apocryphal - that Morrissey is a vegetarian who is extremely preachy forthright on his views, whilst Johnny Marr was actually a vegan all along but just got on quietly with his own ethical choices?!

Goody2ShoesAndTheFilthyBeast · 10/02/2025 09:55

You're allowed to believe what you want.
It'll never happen though.

Miaowzabella · 10/02/2025 09:55

No. Human beings evolved as meat eaters, that's why we have the dentition and the digestive systems that we do.

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 10/02/2025 09:55

TemporaryPosition · 10/02/2025 09:46

Is this what Morrissey meant when he compared meat eaters to pedophiles? That it doesn't matter how much suffering is caused by someone's actions, the pleasure trumps all? Its certainly provocative

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I don't disagree with his underlying point, but I think it's only really relevant to the way meat is farmed and consumed in developed countries. When times are hard people immediately resume hunting small game themselves, fishing, hunting with dogs etc, and it's still a huge part of how most of the developing world feeds itself.

So while I agree with him that the choice to eat farmed meat when you have alternatives is a base form of cruelty, I also contend that eating meat is perfectly natural and normal, and it's self-evident that if you remove the farmed/shop option a great many people just continue to eat self-sourced meat in any case.

There is nothing inherently morally wrong with humans eating meat, the questionable part is humans choosing to eat farmed meat.

TemporaryPosition · 10/02/2025 09:55

user2848502016 · 10/02/2025 09:53

So what are you going to do with all the land that now won't have sheep or cattle on it and can't be used for anything else because it's not good enough quality for growing crops?
Where will we get our food from then?

What % of your meat consumption comes from farms like this?

DiscoBaIIs · 10/02/2025 09:54

user2848502016 · 10/02/2025 09:53

So what are you going to do with all the land that now won't have sheep or cattle on it and can't be used for anything else because it's not good enough quality for growing crops?
Where will we get our food from then?

Why do we have to DO anything with it? Why can't it just BE?

TemporaryPosition · 10/02/2025 09:54

Minnie59 · 10/02/2025 09:52

😂

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I'm game

user2848502016 · 10/02/2025 09:53

So what are you going to do with all the land that now won't have sheep or cattle on it and can't be used for anything else because it's not good enough quality for growing crops?
Where will we get our food from then?

Original poster
BySpoonyBlueScroller · 10/02/2025 09:53

Abra1t · 10/02/2025 09:47

What food would you grow instead on the parts of land in Britain where you can’t grow crops but livestock can be reared? I’m looking out at fields where it’s too hilly for arable but sheep and cattle graze.

Plenty of alternatives! We could restore native forests, rewild areas for biodiversity, or grow hardy crops suited to rough terrain. Not every inch of land needs to be used for food production - especially when so much is already wasted.

OP posts:
TemporaryPosition · 10/02/2025 09:53

shellyleppard · 10/02/2025 09:50

How would it be enforced though??? Police scrutinising every time you go shopping) eat a meal?

I don't think it would be available in the shops or restaurants?

Its like saying that gun laws would be unenforceable because the only way would be to have police on patrol in case anyone approaches the counter in a gun shop. There wouldn't be wide availability

Minnie59 · 10/02/2025 09:53

No way.I can't stop eating meat.Love the taste of it.

OwlInTheOak · 10/02/2025 09:53

We are omnivores so obviously not. Would you recommend killing all carnivores too?

DalzielOrNoDalzielAndDontPascoe · 10/02/2025 09:52

It's all very well looking to ban things that are bad for the environment that don't affect tou personally.

I haven't flown anywhere for 27 years, and have no great desire to do so anytime soon, so maybe I should personally campaign for that to be banned?

People who don't want or can't have children could campaign for them to be banned too.

In fact, every one of us is emitting CO2 every single time we breathe, so maybe we should strictly obey the Georgia Guidestones and put our money where our mouths are, if we truly care about the environment?!

Minnie59 · 10/02/2025 09:52

RocketPanda · 10/02/2025 09:47

Absolutely and also clothes and shoes and electricity and internet.

😂

DiscoBaIIs · 10/02/2025 09:52

shellyleppard · 10/02/2025 09:50

How would it be enforced though??? Police scrutinising every time you go shopping) eat a meal?

It wouldn't be in the shops.

I guess it would be harder to police people setting traps for bunnies in their garden though. Maybe.

SmallTownLife · 10/02/2025 09:51

shellyleppard · 10/02/2025 09:50

How would it be enforced though??? Police scrutinising every time you go shopping) eat a meal?

I presume OP means it wouldn’t be for sale in shops/restaurants if it was illegal.

5128gap · 10/02/2025 09:51

Starlightstarbright4 · 10/02/2025 09:44

Nope I think we should ban vegans preaching how we should eat .

I know, right! If only the thread title had been clear what the OP wanted to talk about, we could at least have have avoided it.

DiscoBaIIs · 10/02/2025 09:51

DalzielOrNoDalzielAndDontPascoe · 10/02/2025 09:46

And what about actual carnivores - animals that genuinely eat nothing but meat? No more lions or tigers and others?

Cats would cease to exist if owners were no longer allowed to feed them meat and they were banned from hunting wild animals themselves. Dogs wouldn't be very happy either.

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And?

TemporaryPosition · 10/02/2025 09:51

Abra1t · 10/02/2025 09:47

What food would you grow instead on the parts of land in Britain where you can’t grow crops but livestock can be reared? I’m looking out at fields where it’s too hilly for arable but sheep and cattle graze.

I think its possible to draw a distinction between low welfare industrially farmed meat and hill farmed sheep and cattle who only make up a tiny fraction of what we eat today in the UK

ThatsNotMyTeen · 10/02/2025 09:51

No thanks

Nor dairy. No desire to consume these vile plant milks

RocketPanda · 10/02/2025 09:50

Also houses are very bad for the environment. We should live in caves or hollowed out trees. Although the trees might be a bit iffy if we are naked. The splinters could get in places.

shellyleppard · 10/02/2025 09:50

How would it be enforced though??? Police scrutinising every time you go shopping) eat a meal?