“10/22/2009, 5:04pm EST”
That's phall-acious!
A lot of people try to make a moral argument in favor of eating meat by appealing to human biology or human evolution. They’ll say humans are biological omnivores, that eating meat is just a fulfillment of our biological nature. (Never mind the animals’ suffering and loss.)
To be clear, this is an absolutely fallacious rationale. It would be like saying: “I have a phallus; therefore I am morally entitled to fuck you (irrespective of anything else).” Or: “I have fingernails; therefore I am morally entitled to scratch your eyes out (irrespective of anything else).”
That said, even if narrow appeals to biology weren’t entirely inadequate in this case, the actual biological facts tell a completely different story (via fuckyeahanimalrights and goveg):
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Meat-eaters: have claws
Herbivores: no claws
Humans: no claws -
Meat-eaters: have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue
Herbivores: perspire through skin pores
Humans: perspire through skin pores -
Meat-eaters: have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding
Herbivores: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding
Humans: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding -
Meat-eaters: have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly
Herbivores: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.
Humans: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length. -
Meat-eaters: have strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest meat
Herbivores: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater
Humans: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater -
Meat-eaters: salivary glands in mouth not needed to pre-digest grains and fruits.
Herbivores: well-developed salivary glands which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits
Humans: well-developed salivary glands, which are necessary to pre-digest, grains and fruits -
Meat-eaters: have acid saliva with no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Herbivores: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Humans: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Based on a chart by A.D. Andrews, Fit Food for Men, (Chicago: American Hygiene Society, 1970)
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