I think the criticizing of vegetarians is absolutely ridiculous and incredibly hypocritical these days, though. I'm absolutely positive that vegetarians experience the same crap that meat eaters complain about vegetarians about from meat eater. People make it a point to point out how people need meat to survive and jab that down the throats of vegetarians just as much as vegetarians, because from every person I've told that I'm a vegetarian, I experience some form of backlash against my choice to be so. Every other vegetarian I know of has similar experiences. It's really a two-way street in that regard, you're just looking at it from one side. I even associate that with those ignorant people who go around asking why people go gay.
I have never, ever met a person who criticized someone for being a vegetarian without being prompted first. I have a number of friends who are vegetarians and, as far as I know, they've never had this problem either. Moreover,
I don't criticize people for being vegetarian and I'm pretty much the most anti-animal "rights" person I know. Eat what you want to eat; it's your choice.
I do, however, criticize people for saying that eating meat is morally wrong. Why? Because
I eat meat, and that's implying that
I'm a bad person. I may have a bit of fun with people sometimes, but I'm never outright malicious and I do try to make things better for people in general (keyword: people).
While I haven't encountered any of them personally (thank goodness), PETA and friends are well known for going up to meat-eaters and outright criticizing them while they're eating. All of my friends, vegetarian or otherwise, agree: people like that are jerks. It's one thing to debate it with people interested in talking about it; it's another to bother people while they're eating with something they likely don't even agree with.
I should, however, state that while I don't agree with hunting animal on a dinner-per-night basis with you, yourself and nature, I don't make a fuss about it and I respect it much more than people who support the mass murder of animals in slaughterhouses. I also believe that if slaughterhouses were made of glass walls, most people would choose to eliminate meat from their diet.
That's entirely irrelevant: of course there are people out there who have problems seeing violent things. That has no bearing on how ethical the meat industry may or may not be. As for calling it "mass murder," that's deliberately creating an appeal to emotion; anybody's going to think "mass murder" is a bad thing. In the sense you're using it, I "mass murder" bacteria every time I go to the bathroom. That doesn't mean I've committed some sort of moral atrocity.
I have nothing but respect for vegetarians and vegans. They're making a stand for animal rights that I would make were it not for the fact that I like cheeseburgers too much. XD
It's when they're to the extreme that they judge me and use lame scare tactics to make me feel guilty about some fried chicken that they're crossing a line. >_>
Animals do not deserve rights any more than plants or bacteria deserve rights.
No it doesn't. It can see (kinda) but it's not aware.
Though, I should mention that I wasn't saying that they're not alive, as Vendak was. Just that their feelings aren't comparable to animals' feelings.
But it has auto-focus, surely it's aware of things!
Being "aware" means nothing. It just means you can sense and interact with things around you. There are any number of arbitrary inventions that could accomplish such a feat. As for "feelings," it's been established that plants do react to perceived "dangers." For instance, the flow of nutrients in their phloem increases, probably to move important things out of an area that may potentially be damaged. I don't see how that's any less "feeling" than an animal reacting to being poked by moving away.