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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that meat eaters...

410 replies

hashbrownsandwich · 04/10/2021 11:26

Should be comfortable to slaughter animals if they are happy to eat them?

The 'cheap chicken' threads have got me onto this and I'm at home with covid so be gentle!

My own personal background is that I am vegetarian and have been since I was 7. Own decision. I cook meat for my children and my husband because I believe, like i was given, it's a choice that can be made for themselves.

My husband is from farming background and has proactively raised and slaughtered animals. His conscience is entirely clear because he very much has the farmer mindset of raise the animal, give them a good life, dispatch and consume.

It's coming up to 'Turkey time' on the family farm and with the so called shortages forecast this year, I've found myself having more conversations with colleagues about the food chain/supply etc.

We live in an affluent area and we have lots of farm shops, butchers etc. However, I'm shocked that most people I know have said while they couldn't give up meat, they also wouldn't be happy to raise animals for slaughter themselves or to witness their slaughter.

So AIBU to to believe, if you're going to eat meat, it's your moral duty to be ok with animal slaughter?

Just to say, what I've tried in a long winded way above is that i'm not a preachy veggie and I'm not vegan.

OP posts:
HangingOver · 04/10/2021 11:45

Although by extension, this also requires Vegans to be prepared to do all that is done in protecting fruit, vegetable and grain/pulse crops from animals and insects

I throw snails in the compost heap, does that count Grin

Miliao · 04/10/2021 11:45

I don’t think I could work as a sewage plant operator, does that mean I shouldn’t poo in my own loo?

00100001 · 04/10/2021 11:46

@Dizzylizzy40

Completely agree, i have always thought if people had to kill animals for their dinner themselves there would be a lot more vegetarians
No there wouldn't, because it would just be part of normal everyday life, as it has been for centuries, if not millennia...
JasonMomoasgirlfriend · 04/10/2021 11:46

If be fine to kill the chicken or cow.

So am I ok to eat meat still? Do I pass the test?

FluffyBooBoo · 04/10/2021 11:46

I think people that cook meat should be comfortable to slaughter animals if they are happy to cook them.

After all, if they didn't cook it, other people wouldn't eat it.

Suitcaseseverywhere · 04/10/2021 11:46

If there wasn’t meat in the shops, I’d go and get trained and kill and butcher my own.

Especially if I needed to feed my kids.

I have killed and plucked a chicken when I was younger (my granny had chickens)

00100001 · 04/10/2021 11:47

@Learnthroughplay3

I have never understood why most people love their pet who has a brain heart feelings but can eat other animals bacause its the norm
same reason that people say they want to save the rainforests, yet use paper, buy things made of wood, eat palm oil, drive cars, use gas boilers etc.
Porcupineintherough · 04/10/2021 11:48

@Learnthroughplay3

I have never understood why most people love their pet who has a brain heart feelings but can eat other animals bacause its the norm
That literally makes no sense at all. I bet you love your kids but dont send every spare penny you earn to stop other kids starving in Somalia or South Sudan. Or you might visit your mum but not feel a duty to a lonely old lady living on the next street. Out emotional attachments are relative.
SoupDragon · 04/10/2021 11:48

So AIBU to to believe, if you're going to eat meat, it's your moral duty to be ok with animal slaughter?

Surely if you are happy to cook meat for your family, you should also be OK with animal slaughter. I would expand your opening statement to include people who are happy to cook meat.

00100001 · 04/10/2021 11:50

@FluffyBooBoo

I think people that cook meat should be comfortable to slaughter animals if they are happy to cook them.

After all, if they didn't cook it, other people wouldn't eat it.

So... a 5yo wants to make a chicken sandwich... they have to be the one to kill the chicken?
BeastOfBODMAS · 04/10/2021 11:50

@HangingOver exactly! A full day out in the elements line catching a suitably sustainable fish or beans on toast and a nice sit down? Grin

SparryG · 04/10/2021 11:50

I am comfortable with farmers or whoever to kill animals for me to buy then eat. I get what you are saying but its pretty pointless. I suspect most meat eaters are happily ignorant and if they had to kill their food first probably would be reluctant. But then again if we didn't have shops selling food I don't suspect any of us would turn our noses up, we would get on with hunting and gathering. Do u see what I mean?!

lughnasadh · 04/10/2021 11:51

I'd happily raise, be fond of, and kill anything I wanted to eat.

Unless we're all given a plot of the extortionately expensive British land to keep those animals on though, it would be tricky.

I'd probably be arrested if I rolled up to an abatoir and started after the cow I wanted.

JasonMomoasgirlfriend · 04/10/2021 11:52

@Learnthroughplay3

I have never understood why most people love their pet who has a brain heart feelings but can eat other animals bacause its the norm
Well you answered it already. Because it's the norm. 🤷 I'm not attached to a chicken that's been farmed for slaughter. I would be attached to a dog that lives with me and that I have to feed to keep alive and walk and play and get fusses from. Etc
LBOCS2 · 04/10/2021 11:52

@Learnthroughplay3

I have never understood why most people love their pet who has a brain heart feelings but can eat other animals bacause its the norm

It's a big assumption to make that people wouldn't do that in extremis. Come the zompoc and our guinea pigs are the first things on the barbecue 🤷🏼‍♀️ we have the luxury of keeping animals as pets because we have an abundance of food; if the situation changed then I suspect people's attitudes to pets would too.

JasonMomoasgirlfriend · 04/10/2021 11:53

@SoupDragon

So AIBU to to believe, if you're going to eat meat, it's your moral duty to be ok with animal slaughter?

Surely if you are happy to cook meat for your family, you should also be OK with animal slaughter. I would expand your opening statement to include people who are happy to cook meat.

What meat eater doesn't cook meat?
mustlovegin · 04/10/2021 11:53

Nobody and nothing will guilt trip me (or my family) into not eating meat OP (if that's what you are trying to do)

HangingOver · 04/10/2021 11:54

BeastOfBODMAS you're speaking my language. Followed by some of those nice chocolate cakes made by Oggs.

Plus I get to call the neighbor's cat a "bloody furry murderer" with a clear conscience whenever she brings me a mouse. Grin

StrychnineInTheSandwiches · 04/10/2021 11:54

So... a 5yo wants to make a chicken sandwich... they have to be the one to kill the chicken?

When my dad was 5 he used to be sent out to kill a chicken for the dinner. He said he'd trot out with his knife (1940s childhood!), grab the chicken, pull its head back and cut it's throat. And wouldn't think twice about it. He's in his 80s now and has definitely softened and become more squeamish and wouldn't have the stomach to do it now.

HangingOver · 04/10/2021 11:55

What meat eater doesn't cook meat?

Labrador?

Charlotte2020 · 04/10/2021 11:55

Sounding a bit preachy. Would you watch footage of the modern slavery/ sweatshops that make your clothes and tech?
I fully admit I eat meat- but try to buy the best welfare standards I can.

EllieSattler · 04/10/2021 11:55

This is a daft argument really. It didn't stop people eating meat though the ages. People would get used to it pretty fast. I would do it if I had to, but I'd rather not, much like I'd rather not perform brain surgery but would accept it if I needed it.

Wazzzzzzzup · 04/10/2021 11:56

@Learnthroughplay3

I have never understood why most people love their pet who has a brain heart feelings but can eat other animals bacause its the norm
It's different when is your pet. Kind of like when it's your spouse you care a lot, but you don't really give a fuck about other' spouses. Because they are not yours and be with you all the time and have connection.

We never named our animals bread for meat (and fur, rabbits).

knittingaddict · 04/10/2021 11:56

No one has to pass some kind of test devised by you to eat what the hell they like, so I'll be declining thank you.

daisyjgrey · 04/10/2021 11:56

Yes, this is why my partner is veggie and I'm not. We have different background and different experiences.

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