Animals eat other animals. They have been doing it for ages now. It is entirely natural to consume the flesh of animals that you have to power to consume. It's the food chain. There is nothing inherently wrong with killing and eating any other animal.

You may argue that that means there's nothing wrong with any other animal killing me. Naturally speaking, there isn't. OK, so I may not be able to defend myself against against a number of animals, but I can try. And if I have weapons, all the better. Survival of the fittest has seen humankind develop to be able to defend itself and to hunt. Other creatures also evolve to defend themselves. The nature of things is to survive, at any costs.

What if a human wants to kill another human? That's murder, right? Well, right. Because often, that's not a natural impulse necessary for survival. If I want someone to die just because I want them to die, then I'm judging them. If I kill someone who is trying to kill me, then that's considered self defence. That's a natural survival instinct.

I do see torturing animals as wrong. Killing them for food, that's OK. Killing them for sport is just being cruel for personal enjoyment. Battery conditions are cruel.

The bottom line is, killing for food is natural. We may be able to survive without eating meat, but you can survive without a lot of things. We are able to live without eating meat, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's morally better to do so. We haven't evolved beyond other animals. We're still like them. We strive for survival. We may be able to have morals, and you may consider it morally bad to eat meat, but I don't.

I'm not trying to persuade any vegetarians to eat meat. If you don't want to, that's fine. I respect that. I just want other people to respect my wishes to eat meat.

Matthew