[ChatGTP]

Alan Watts used to say, it's ok to eat plants and animals, as long as when you cook them, you make something beautiful out of them to respect their sacrifice. It's the least you can do.

I feel there is some truth to this. Eventually, your body will be consumed by insects.

[rafaelero]

I don't think those beings that were killed care about that.

[samatman]

They no longer care about things, being dead. Care is for the living.

[oh_sigh]

The mindset is for your own benefit, not the dead thing you're eating.

[ChatGTP]

Well it's an inescapable fact that anything alive is going to die, and likely be eaten.

Basically all animals, and even plants (living creatures too) are going to die horrible deaths, being ripped apart by predators etc. We too, will likely be food for worms.

The point he is trying to make is to celebrate the life of whatever you're eating by at least making something special out of it an enjoying it rather than turning it into fast food junk which pointlessly ends up in the trash after 10 minutes in the burger warmer or whatever.

[rafaelero]

It's a weird way to celebrate a life when you do it after killing it for your own pleasure. We should aim at minimizing pain, not at creating feel-good rituals for our meals.

[ChatGTP]

What do you suggest people eat then? Air?

The context was, even killing plants is wrong, so we should cook and enjoy those to the best of our ability.

You can say "plants aren't self-aware" or something, but there's no way out of it. Plants might even be home for insects or other creatures which die when you take the plants. Plants are living organisms and you shorten a beetroots life when you tug it out of the ground.

I think the point still stands. Be grateful for each meal and do your best to enjoy and savor it. It's not about "celebrating killing" you injected that into it. It's about showing respect.

[rafaelero]

Minimizing pain means eating less animals with developed nervous systems and more plants.

[sph]

You can make all the rationalisations you want and operate however you see fit, but Homo Sapiens Sapiens is an omnivorous apex predator of the highest order.

Meat eating and tool use, borne out of the need to maximise the amount of calorie-dense food available are the reason we are here today discussing the finer points of vegetarianism.

Instead of being a blind zealot, I try to understand that life is a series of paradoxes and compromises. Balancing the fact that meat is good for me while minimising suffering for any plant and animal that crosses my path does feel more human than altogether discarding evolution, our DNA and place in the ecosystem for a wishy-washy ideology that only exists for people leading rich and comfortable lives.

Vegetarianism is a fine and commendable personal choice, as long as it doesn't devolve in proselytism.

[dewbrite]

IIRC Alan Watts believed that were are all one being, living every life in sequence, at different points in time. So you would at some point be the same chicken you slaughtered.

It's been many years, though, since I listened to him. And I was usually focused on other things. That may have been just a supposition on another point.