Vegetarians are Murderers Too

Plants may not have faces, but they are alive.

Opinion page by Duane Alan Hahn.

That's right, I said vegetarians are murderers. Just because you think that you're more advanced than plant life doesn't mean that plants do not feel, that they do not have lives worth living. You yank them out of the ground, you chop them up, you murder them in horrible ways and then you have the nerve to say bad things about meat eaters. You do not see the blood or hear the screams, so you think everything is fine. What would you do if aliens landed who looked like a larger, more evolved version of one of your favorite vegetables? If those aliens had no faces, would you try to eat them or would you leave them alone since they might be able to fight back?

And what about water? It could be called the blood or at least the lymph fluid of Mother Earth. That means that not only are you a murderer, but you're also a disgusting parasite sucking on Mother Earth's precious juices. Yes, you'll return it to the Earth, but only after you pollute it.

Don't misunderstand me, I'd rather be a vegetarian than a meat eater. I think a lifelong diet of mostly raw, fresh, clean fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds is what most humans should eat if they want to feel better and be healthier, but don't think that you're any better than meat eaters. If you want to be judged innocent by the universe, your only solution is to eat and drink nothing. If you don't think you can do that, if you're so spiritually unevolved that you require food and water, maybe you should accept the fact that you are a murderous leech and do your best to evolve to a new level, or failing that, try not to act so superior when you are around people who eat meat.

The Desire to Live

In case you didn't know, at least some plants have a desire to live. Various plants try to defend themselves against attack. Time-lapse footage of different plants also shows that they are constantly moving and doing amazing things like reaching and grabbing. It's a little scary to see just how alive they really are. Should you kill them just because their movements are too slow for you to notice?

Many people point out that plants do not have a nervous system, so they cannot possibly feel pain. OK, since plants have no discernible nervous system, how do they know that they grabbed onto anything? How do they know they are being attacked? Where does the 'fear' come from if they can't feel? There must be something there that most scientists are not seeing.

You've probably read that if you avoid meat and only eat plants, you're killing fewer plants since animals eat so much, but that still makes you a murderer. Meat eaters might be worse, but there is no way out of it, you're still a murderer. We all know that meat eaters are murderers. They murder plants and animals, but many vegetarians act like their hands are clean. You cannot eat without killing some kind of life form. Unless you stop eating, you will always be a murderer. The only way to have a clear conscience is to kill yourself or hurry up and evolve already.

Note

This page is only half serious, but really, if you want to do as little harm as possible to living plants, you should think about becoming a fruitarian. It seems eating unplucked fruits caught in nets below trees would do the least harm.