CMV: We cannot justify eating meat for pleasure.

A challenge to Conclusion 1: If we were to collectively radically change our diet so we'd stop eating meat or eat only the minimum, a lot of people would suffer. The purchasing of meats is part of a status quo that keeps many people employed and gives them a place in society. If we were to switch to a largely agricultural diet, we would be eliminating more jobs than we could replace because farming does not require as much energy/resources as raising cattle and the grain that they consume.

In fact, let's extend your philosophy -- it's not okay to purchase meats because it promotes animal suffering, so it should also not be okay to purchase leathers, furs, silks, or wool. Don't buy dairy products, eggs, or honey. What kind of economic hole have you left? How many restaurants, grocery stores, clothing stores will close? Can you really replace the jobs lost in all these industries?

A challenge to Premise 4: Suffering is not morally bad. Pointless suffering is. Animals being killed for the purpose of being eaten as meat, be it for necessity or for pleasure, is not pointless. Killing an animal and then not using any part of its carcass for food or clothing would be pointless suffering. It would also be pointless if we had other accessible ways of cultivating meat like lab grown meat, but that is not the case yet.

/r/changemyview Thread