Myth # 71 : " But killing animals is part of the Circle of Life ."
Myth # 71 : " But killing animals is part of the Circle of Life ."
It is indeed true that obligate carnivores & “ true omnivores ” do kill other animals , and it is also true that they do so only when they need to in order to survive … Of course , the latter of these truths does not apply to the vast majority of humans on the planet at this time ( certainly not a single one of you currently reading this book ). We humans have no carnivorous instincts , we humans are not natural animal-killers , and we humans are most certainly not by nature carrion feeders . And yet these are precisely the niches that meateaters have chosen to occupy in their human-imagined & human-biased " cycle of life ". As such , it proves to be most ironic that what non-vegans call " natural " is actually about as unnatural as it gets .
Indeed , we need to be very careful about using " the natural cycle of life " to justify our choices , for the same reasoning could also be used to justify rape , slavery , murder , war , genocide and any of the other human vices that are an unfortunate part of our human legacy . What comes “ naturally ” to us does not automatically qualify as good or ethical ( or in this case even beneficial ). So if we are going to talk about what is “ natural ”, then we need to be very careful – indeed , very Care-full . Do we really want to continue to make excuses for our barbaric past ? Do we really want to advocate being “ only human ” when we have the ability to become fully Humane ? Is it really in our inherent nature to imprison others who are weaker or less intelligent or less aggressive than we are ? Is that all that we can ever hope to become ?
Well to all those questions I answer with a definitive NO ! I say that free will is also natural , and I say that with the choices we freely make comes a responsibility to weigh the negative and positive impacts of those choices . And I say we can choose differently – I say that we can be more than “ only human ” – I say that we can become a noble Force of Compassion instead of only a destructive cancer of consumption … And quite fortunately , there are already millions of vegans around the world ( with more & more of awakening every minute ) proving me right every single day .
Current status of this Myth : Terminated Justification it provides for eating animals : NONE
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