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[jph139]

I mean, they were there because a building was on fire. Saying they rescued pigs is how you attemp to create a controversy over the farmer gifting the sausages these pigs were always destined to become 6 months after the fire was put out.

Sure. But if you tell someone that pigs were saved from a fire, they'll be happy, because they value the lives of pigs, and they would assume that the people saving them did as well.

As a society, we praise saving animals, because we value non-human lives.

However, as a society, we also treat animals as objects, so killing them and offering them as a reward is appropriate.

The dissonance is why people are uncomfortable. Living in a society that values animal life but also values killing animals to eat them requires a disconnect that most people don't like to see bridged.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

I guess if the saving of the animals was completely incidental to their firefighting efforts and never one of their goals then that's not quite as strange but I don't think the article specifies.

It probably was one of their goals, it's the farmer's property after all.

As a society, we praise saving animals, because we value non-human lives.

However, as a society, we also treat animals as objects, so killing them and offering them as a reward is appropriate.

The dissonance is why people are uncomfortable. Living in a society that values animal life but also values killing animals to eat them requires a disconnect that most people don't like to see bridged.

good opinion here

 

[Messofanego]

I'm sorry but I'm cackling right now. This is peak dark humour.

Same.

 

[Jarmel]

Thread makes me wonder if you dudes would eat other people if it was legal.

Not sure why they would. Long pork has a rough texture to it and it's very hard to cook properly.

 

[Elandyll]

I... Don't see the problem?

Granted the article makes it sound at first that the farmer thanked the rescuers by slaughtering the pigs on the spot after the rescue, and grinded them into sausages, but that's not what happened.

Reading the whole article, the pigs were saved from burning alive (a truly horrible fate), went on living for 6 months and were then killed (as humanely as possible I hope, and having visited a slaughterhouse myself I can attest it is very quick) and had the fate they were always going to have: become food.

Sending then said food to the firefighters was a tad dark, but the pigs would be sausages either way.

 

[daveo42]

Thread makes me wonder if you dudes would eat other people if it was legal.

Only free range people. They taste the best.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Doesn't bacon cause cancer? Well if it does, that would be a pretty fitting case of karma.

In the same sense that being alive causes cancer, yes. There is reason to believe that eating significant amounts of bacon makes you marginally more likely to get cancer.

If you work as a fire fighter, and are around burning buildings for any significant amount of time, I would hazard a guess that eating pork occasionally is fairly fair down your list of concerns.

 

[Sarek]

Same here, this was a bit disturbing.

Can someone explain to me why this is disturbing. Because a firefighter moved the piglets they shouldn't be eaten? At most they were eaten a few months, to a year earlier than they would have been anyway.

 

[Tezzeractor]

Odd question btw, but would you say the same thing about insects as food? Is that cruel too?

I don't think insects have a nervous system advanced enough to feel emotions or suffering.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Horse burgers are great. And so is "Conejo al ajillo".

Obviously the line is with omnivores and work animals. Animals that consume meat as a large portion of their diet taste odd and work animals like horses are gamey.

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

I'm sure believing this helps you get through the day.

I'm sure being smug about animal rights helps with yours.

 

[Jenov]

I don't really see a problem with it, besides some dark humor as result. The firefighters saved the family's barn and were gifted family raised pork (that was going to be slaughtered anyways) as a thanks. Probably tasted good. They said the pigs were given an extra 6 months of time too.

 

[andythinkpad]

The disregard for other creatures lives in here is a bit appalling.

But that's life. Even in 2017.

Dude, people, for the most part, root for the human team.

 

[psychowave]

That's kinda terrible.

 

[Rocketz]

It's kind of a strange situation, yeah. Like...why did those firefighters spend time and money saving them if they were going to get killed on the firefighter's behalf. Was it worth putting their own lives in danger to save their own lunch? Not bad but a weird end to the story.

Well the article says that farming is her livelihood and way of life and that 18 piglets and two sows survived the fire. From the amount of sausages they had in the picture that's not even a whole pigs worth so I'm sure she sold the rest to market.

 

[entremet]

Well, they served their purpose. Kinda wild, though.

 

[y2dvd]

Rescue in this case is like rescuing a falling chip from hitting the ground before eating it.

 

[jakonovski]

Dude, people, for the most part, root for the human team.

But only in the shallowest way, because eating meat in the long run is fairly strongly against the continued welfare of the human race.

 

[PdotMichael]

The average super market goer didn't rescue them, for once.

How does that make it dark?

 

[Gravy Boat]

 

[nampad]

Story sounds a bit crazy but after all, these pigs were raised to be eaten.

 

[MogCakes]

Would it taste as good as pork?

I haven't done any research on the taste of human meat. I don't really care to look haha.

 

[Dash_Riprock]

Sounds delicious

.

 

[Elandyll]

Just a thought. Genuinely curious too, not just "for lolz".

What is Vegans' stance on animals eating animals?

Is that unethical as well?

I'm not even talking about carnivores, but omnivores, like bears. Should we be upset at bears (or others) when they vary their diet with some side meat?

 

[AtomskEater]

As sad as it sounds, ultimately it was going to be their fate. At least they didn't go to waste like they would have been if they died in the fire.

I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say this is outrageous when I'll eat pork with my next meal.

This is pretty much where I'm at. Kinda dark, but at the end of the day they were always slated to be killed and eaten so might as well go to the guys who saved them from dying in a fire.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

If you're at all disturbed by this it sounds like it's time to become a vegan.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Just a thought. Genuinely curious too, not just "for lolz".

What is Vegans' stance on animals eating animals?

Is that unethical as well?

I'm not even talking about carnivores, but omnivores, like bears. Should we be upset at bears (or others) when they vary their diet with some side meat?

I'd presume it's because we typically hold humans to a higher moral standard then animals

 

[Camwi]

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) said the piglets were "no better off" for escaping the fire.

Yes, they would've been no better off if they had been burned alive.

That PETA spokesperson is a fucking idiot.

 

[stupei]

Same here, this was a bit disturbing.

That's because they chose to frame it that way so that a pleasant story about how a farmer generously repaid firefighters for helping them can be made to sound shocking and horrific.

Actual story: firefighters save property that would have cost a business a massive source of income. As a thank you, the farmers gift the firefighters with some of what they saved after it reaches the natural point at which it is financially viable.

Even the use of "piglets" feels likely to be misleading as they were served as food a full six months later, presumably at the age of maturity when they would usually be slaughtered for food.

If they had saved any other crop on the farm from being burned and the farmers gifted them with that produce, nobody would blink. Obviously there's a difference between a vegetable and an animal, but as a meat eater I would feel pretty hypocritical to be horrified that a pig raised on a farm for slaughter was eaten.

 

[TheLostBigBoss]

What curve would that be? We don't eat dogs or cats because it isn't in the culture of North Americans, and many pet owners value their pets as much as they would their other loved ones. Seems pretty subjective.



Dismissing it doesn't make it go away!

Well, I wouldn't eat whales or dolphins for example. We've bred dogs to literally be obedient children who love us unconditionally, so eating then is kinda a dick move as well, regardless of intelligence. Of course, the process of eating dog or cats in Asia is completely different, because people steal pets and such to sell and be butchered, which is removing a human connection that someone has to the animal. Of course, you can do the same with pigs, they are smarter than dogs iirc. I've mentioned in the past my own misgivings with eating pork because of that, which I have eased back on, as well as red meat for environmental reasons.

It basically just comes down to moral consistency imo. If you eat meat you need to accept things like mass production of food, and support laws and legislation that attempts to give the animals dying for our food a somewhat decent quality of life. If you value animal lives equal, or at least high enough that eating them is morally reprehensible to you, that's fine too. Just don't say things that are innacurate or blatantly stupid to support it, like somehow meat eaters would want to eat people if it was legal.

 

[Surfinn]

Just a thought. Genuinely curious too, not just "for lolz".

What is Vegans' stance on animals eating animals?

Is that unethical as well?

I'm not even talking about carnivores, but omnivores, like bears. Should we be upset at bears (or others) when they vary their diet with some side meat?

You're talking about apples and oranges. People often (even accidentally) use this strawman in arguments.

The way I understand veganism (I was one for a year, now am a vegetarian) is that people who CAN choose to change their diet can do so in a healthy and ethically responsible manner, that benefits animals AND humans. Some people are unlucky enough to just make due with what they have and do NOT have that choice.

I've heard it all. Somebody's Trumper dad told me (after a few drinks) YOU WOULD EAT MEAT IF STRANDED ON AN ISLAND WITH ONLY CHICKEN. Well.. of course I would, because I'd HAVE to in order to survive. But that's not what veganism/vegetarianism is about.

 

[D i Z]

Sounds about right to me. I bet the firefighters appreciated it.

 

[Goodlife]

I love sausage more than I could ever describe, but I don't know that I could really eat an animal that I knew and cared for while it was alive.

While I completely understand that they were bred for slaughter, serving them to the people who "saved" them is a little bit weird to me. They were saved only to be slaughtered, and they were slaughtered only to have the meat donated instead of bringing a profit. Makes the whole thing feel like an exercise in futility.

The fire fighters were there to save the barn.

 

[lightchris]

Just a thought. Genuinely curious too, not just "for lolz".

What is Vegans' stance on animals eating animals?

Is that unethical as well?

I'm not even talking about carnivores, but omnivores, like bears. Should we be upset at bears (or others) when they vary their diet with some side meat?

Not a vegan, but obviously the argument is that animals are not unethical (because they are not aware to that degree), whereas humans have choice (at least in the civilized world).

 

[dci260]

Just a thought. Genuinely curious too, not just "for lolz".

What is Vegans' stance on animals eating animals?

Is that unethical as well?

I'm not even talking about carnivores, but omnivores, like bears. Should we be upset at bears (or others) when they vary their diet with some side meat?

Personally, I believe that as humans we should hold ourselves to higher standards. We know better, they don't. Otherwise, we might as well just eat eachother if we are well prepared and/or taste good.

 

[MogCakes]

If you're at all disturbed by this it sounds like it's time to become a vegan.

I think it's more that people see the irony in being saved only to be fed to your saviors.

 

[Raiden]

Doesn't bacon cause cancer? Well if it does, that would be a pretty fitting case of karma.

Cancer for firefighters? Okay

 

[Voidwolf]

Hahahaha.


People saying the pigs would have been better off dying in the fire. Jeez. What else can be done with the pigs. People gotta eat.

 

[KHarvey16]

Sure. But if you tell someone that pigs were saved from a fire, they'll be happy, because they value the lives of pigs, and they would assume that the people saving them did as well.

As a society, we praise saving animals, because we value non-human lives.

However, as a society, we also treat animals as objects, so killing them and offering them as a reward is appropriate.

The dissonance is why people are uncomfortable. Living in a society that values animal life but also values killing animals to eat them requires a disconnect that most people don't like to see bridged.

This is really just an excuse for not having to think and reason this through for the two or three seconds it should take. I get why people react emotionally, but the point is they shouldn't.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

That's because they chose to frame it that way so that a pleasant story about how a farmer generously repaid firefighters for helping them can be made to sound shocking and horrific.

Actual story: firefighters save property that would have cost a business a massive source of income. As a thank you, the farmers gift the firefighters with some of what they saved after it reaches the natural point at which it is financially viable.

Even the use of "piglets" feels likely to be misleading as they were served as food a full six months later, presumably at the age of maturity when they would usually be slaughtered for food.

If they had saved any other crop on the farm from being burned and the farmers gifted them with that produce, nobody would blink. Obviously there's a difference between a vegetable and an animal, but as a meat eater I would feel pretty hypocritical to be horrified that a pig raised on a farm for slaughter was eaten.

Pretty much, on the surface it is certainly aiming at an specific gut reaction.

 

[Common Knowledge]

Hey guys, if you were stranded on an island with your friend, both starving, and your friend died, would you eat your friend?

 

[ClosingADoor]

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) said the piglets were "no better off" for escaping the fire.

I'm pretty sure burning alive is worse then being killed quickly, but that might just be me I guess.

 

[Gravy Boat]

Hey guys, if you were stranded on an island with your friend, both starving, and your friend died, would you eat your friend?

Which friend?

 

[Kieli]

Doesn't bacon cause cancer? Well if it does, that would be a pretty fitting case of karma.

Doesn't living cause cancer?

 

[KHarvey16]

Hey guys, if you were stranded on an island with your friend, both starving, and your friend died, would you eat your friend?

We'd discuss it and I'd do whatever they agreed to.

 

[TheLostBigBoss]

Hey guys, if you were stranded on an island with your friend, both starving, and your friend died, would you eat your friend?

Well, I always told my best friend I was blessed to have him in my life.

 

[Arcteryx]

Fuck PETA for stealing and killing a little girl's dog.

WTF

That's on a whole 'nother level of fuck PETA

 

[Common Knowledge]

Which friend?

The slightly assholish-one.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

Hey guys, if you were stranded on an island with your friend, both starving, and your friend died, would you eat your friend?

Maybe, it is something that humans do, and have been forced to do. It will be foolish to believe our personalities are stronger predictors of behavior than external factors. So I wouldn't know until I'm there.

 

[WiiredShawn]

Just a thought. Genuinely curious too, not just "for lolz".

What is Vegans' stance on animals eating animals?

Is that unethical as well?

I'm not even talking about carnivores, but omnivores, like bears. Should we be upset at bears (or others) when they vary their diet with some side meat?

I'm not a vegan, but I imagine it's something like "Animals eat according to instinct. Humans can make a choice." And fairly enough - ethics is fundamentally about the exercise of choice and its relation to morality. Humans can choose to cultivate and consume non-animal food sources, and animals cannot.

As for this story... it is weird. There's a detachment involved with eating animals that seems directly opposed to literally saving them from death. Like, "Oh, hey, I saved this pig! I'm glad I did, because its meats are delicious!"