CreateDebate


Debate Info

30
84
yes no
Debate Score:114
Arguments:57
Total Votes:165
More Stats

Argument Ratio

side graph
 
 yes (19)
 
 no (38)

Debate Creator

healthfreak(16) pic



are vegetarians idiots or not

they actually do eat living things

yes

Side Score: 30
VS.

no

Side Score: 84
3 points

well, i actually don't think they're idiots. I just hate the Rainbow vegetarians, and since this side is empty, why the fuck not go on this side?

Are they morons? No. Do i give a shit about what they say? No. Do i wish they would STFU when they start bitching about "zomg, it's healthy" or "omg, how could you kill an animal?" FUCK YES, STFU YOU DIRTY HIPPIE.

otherwise, no, they're not idiots.

Side: yes
2 points

What are Rainbow vegetarians? And what do hippies have to do with vegetarians...and dirty ones at that?

Side: No
ThePyg(6738) Disputed
1 point

vegetarians who bitch and moan about oppression towards animals.

Side: yes
2 points

i agree w/ pyg. they arent stupid. i have many friends that are vegitarians. but they should keep their face shut and not try to convince everybody to not eat meat and that killing an animal is soooo cruel and everything.

Side: yes

If they are eating vegetarian for ethical reasons, meaning they think that it is mean to eat animals, I think that this is foolish! (I am not talking about religions not eating meat, but animal nuts.) It is perfectly natural for us to eat animal products, and now-a-days there are even cage free eggs and chicken you can buy in order to bypass this excuse to not eat animals.

Side: yes
jessald(1915) Disputed
2 points

Just because something is natural doesn't mean it's morally acceptable. For example, it's natural for people to kill each other.

Side: No
1 point

Well, I believe that they aren't idiots, but It's not like they're that different than us.

I do know one "Rainbow Vegetarian", That will NEVER stop trying to get me veg, but he's kind of a jerk.

Side: yes
1 point

It is very interesting to note that in the fossil history the explosive growth of the human brain (what defined us from other apes) which is also the fastest evolvement of any organ in the fossil history; that that growth is totally parallel to those proto-humans (apes) becoming predominantly meat eaters

Also; some recent studies show that vegitarian brains seem to be shrinking.... Im not kidding....check this out:

http://www.google.is/search?q=vegetarian+small+brains&ie;=utf-8&oe;=utf-8&aq;=t&rls;=org.mozilla:en- US:official&client;=firefox-a

Side: yes
1 point

My answer is Yes, Total idiots. The reasons are as follows:

It is in fact very bad for the environment.. A lot of vegans say that if we eat plants we move down on the food chain and this would be more beneficial.. but these people don't understand simple human physiology. You see, we are not herbivores and we cannot digest plants. Herbivores have four stomachs to break down plant material. We only eat a very small part of plants, the fruit. Which are the reproductive organs of plant.. that are being made only once a year. Eating vegetables and fruit is like raising a cow to only eat it's fetus every year, and just as efficient.

I personally hate he hypocrisy of vegans and vegetarians. It is a lot more damaging to the planet to grow all the vegetables and fruit to feed people then to grow animals. We eat the entire animal, and the animal eats the entire plant. Vegans only eat a small fraction of the plant.. a fraction that is being produced once a year.

Second argument, not eating meet weakens your muscles. There are a lot of things we get from eating meat, like proteins, creatine, carnitine and such. You need these things to do sports and maintain resistance to effort of any kind. You will NEVER EVER see a vegan body builder or a vegan sportsman. I't just not possible for them, and even if they do make a serious effort to get into sports, the non-vegans will kick vegan ass at any sport.

Third argument.. they don't want to harm animals.. This is total bullshit. Your very existence kills animals. The water you drink was purified by killing the animals in it, the plants you eat were spayed with pesticide to kill animals.

Just by growing your fruits and vegetables you just destroyed the natural habitat of hundreds of animals. Yes, we kill animals, but you push them to extinction. As i previously said, growing your plants to only eat the fruit takes a lot more space the raising animals. And second of all, all animals kill other animals. That's just natures way. That's how it's always been and that's how it will always be. You too will become one day food for the maggots.

Side: yes
1 point

Humans eat meat and always will.It's been like that since the beginning of time and I see no reason to stop the balance of that. Vegetarians need to stop trying to force people to go vegan. They need to just live their life and I live my life.

Side: yes
1 point

What's clever about stunting your growth and health?

Side: yes
0 points

umm ok well if it is because they feel it is wrong to the animals then that is stupid. No animals were ever killed just to kill them. There has never been free chickens and there hasent been free cows since the wild west. They are bread to be killed and eaten. Feed healthy diets to get good meat off of them. If they are doing it for the enviornment then that is even more stupid. No matter what they do tere is still going to be a need for meat. Which means cows. Ok so they release flatulance which produces methane a greenhouse gas i believe. So they may ask me what am i doing for the enviornment....Im eating the cows. Simple. There is always going to be cows and they are always going to fart. We fart too. I guess you all just dont get it..

Side: yes
1 point

You clearly don't understand the environmental reasons behind being a vegetarian, so let me enlighten you. In order to feed cows thousands of acres of rain forest are cut down every year in places like Brazil. What vegetarians (and in this case I guess it would be mostly vegans) understand is that eating lower on the food chain is better for the environment because you get your energy straight from plants, instead of from animals who ate plants. It's more efficient, and less crops have to be planted.

Side: No
MHSaunderz(35) Disputed
0 points

Plants being planted to replace the rainforest. It helps us and the environment to have plants growing. They release this new thing called Oxygen maybe you have heard of it. It helps us live. When we cut down the rainforests down we need to replace that somewhere. Plants that the cows eat. Cows that we eat. Simple process. We have always eaten cows forever. Why should we stop now? Cows eat grass. Reeeeeaaall expensive. I cant say i have ever seen a healty looking Vegetarian. If being all pale and flushed is healty and smart then i will live the rest of my life an unhealty moron.

Side: yes
-1 points

Vegetarians do not eat meat because they think its wrong to eat animals. Right?

But what about the other animal products?!?

If a vegetarian drinks milk or eats eggs they are 100% contradicting themselves.. vegans are the smart ones (the ones who do NOT eat soy)...

Side: yes
kirstie1126(480) Disputed
3 points

What is your problem with soy?

Side: No

Yeah, go vegans! (Although I know that's not even close to what you were saying, still! Yay! Veganism!) Vegetarians do contradict themselves, I agree. Especially since the dairy industry directly contributes to the meat industry.

Wait, but what's wrong with soy, now? Soy beans are quite clearly vegetables.

Side: No
-2 points
1 point

Hey Soc..she never said that milking a cow kills it...lol!

Side: yes
laurax(3) Disputed
-2 points
-1 points

i dont believe that they are idiots but i also belie that they are not the brightest people for saying no to the delicious wonders of meat YAY MEAT!!!!! but thats just my opinion

Side: yes
4 points

My girlfriend's a vegetarian, but not overbearing at all. She lets me eat meat, and she doesn't say anything to anyone who does eat meat... she just doesn't eat meat. It's odd, now that I think about it because it's simply not an issue.

Honestly, I think that it's something that we can all do, and would be better overall.

Side: Ahead of the curve

No. This doesn't make any sense. Vegetarians are people who simply have views that are different from the norm, and I think that they are different in a good way, different for the best. Sure, we've been eating each other for all of history, but there have been definite changes in the way we behave before, and very drastic ones as well.

Side: Ahead of the curve
3 points

Many people and cultures survive on varying levels of vegetarianism. Some for environmental or economic reasons, some for religious or belief reasons.

The human body can obtain all the nutrients necessary to survive from a variety of sources. It is by far more important to eat a diet with various fruits, vegetables, and grains than the opposite. In fact, there are serious health issues for those who eat mostly meat and too little other items.

Side: No

I take offense to the question (no I'm not a vegetarian but it's a dumb question).

A lot of vegetarians are not just vegetarians because they don't want to kill living things; they are vegetarians because it's better for the environment.

Eating lower on the food chain helps the environment because you get more energy straight from plants then you do if an animal first eats the plants and then you eat the animal. Also in many nations, rain forests are cut down in order to grow food for animals and the environment suffers. The problem with this logic is that you then must become a vegan, because weather you kill the animal or not, it's still hurting the environment by producing milk, eggs etc...

Other vegetarians are worried about poor treatment of animals. They have a point because often farmers use corn to feed cows even though they can't digest it. This hurts the cows and makes them unhealthy. The good thing about organic meat is that you can usually be pretty sure that the animals were treated reasonably well.

I personally am against eating intelligent animals (dolphins, dogs, crows, some monkeys etc... and yes I know people usually don't eat these kind of animals). There is no way to test weather an organism has consciousness or not, but it more then likely is related intelligence so I would rather not eat animals that are smart enough to be aware of themselves.

Side: No

I semi-agree with your argument, but as a full vegan, I obviously don't agree with some of it, but I don't really think it's necessary to get into it. In general: yay, your argument!

But I'd like to point out that pigs, for one, are much much much much smarter than dogs. In fact, they're smarter than three-year-olds. So I think that makes them qualify as an "intelligent animal" in your point of view. Oh, and if you give a group of turkeys a ball, they'll make teams and play soccer with it. Not lying. Swear to god. These animals are so weird/cool/surprising.

Side: No

I had no idea pigs were that smart...if only bacon wasn't so delicious.

Side: No
yesiam(28) Disputed
1 point

"A lot of vegetarians are not just vegetarians because they don't want to kill living things"

Huh, interesting. And here all these years I thought plants WERE living things........

Side: yes
1 point

1. Plants can't feel pain, or think.

2. By eating plants you still end up killing less plants then by eating meat. This may be a difficult concept for you so I'll try to explain it as clearly as possible.

By eating lower on the food chain, you are eating more efficiently. You can eat plants which get their energy directly from the sun, or you can eat animals who get their energy from plants which in turn get their energy from the sun. Therefore, no matter what the overall effect is that the energy comes from plants. The difference is, by skipping the middle man, you get more bang for your buck (so to speak).

Therefore, if someone hypothetically did care equally about all living creatures (I'm not sure if there are people like this, but for the sake of argument let's say there are), they could minimize the amount of organisms killed by eating lower on the food chain (a.k.a. becoming a vegetarian).

Side: No
3 points

No they are not stupid just because they do not eat meat. Their views may seem stupid but hey I think that when you die you get 50 virgins seems ridiculous but there are some smart people that follow that belief to. Meat doesn't make you intelligent, but it sure doesn't hurt ;)

Side: No
3 points

I think vegetarians must be smarter than average, if they do it by choice. There's so much research that supports vegetarianism, you have to be willfully ignorant to not know it's better for your health, world hunger, the economy, deforestation, animal suffering, and global warming. Yes, it is that important.

Side: No
2 points

No of course not. They are just following a different lifestyle than a lot of people; there is nothing wrong with that. If a person is a vegetarian for the environment, for health, or for animal rights it is their choice and a noble one at that.

I agree the title of the debate seems rather insulting and ignorant.

Side: No
2 points

I'm a vegetarian. I love animals. However, that is not why I am a vegetarian. I abstain from meat because I do not personally enjoy it. I was raised that no matter what was put on your plate you ate it all and were grateful. Nowadays, however, I've realized that my dislike for meat grew to the point that I had to force myself to eat it. So, I quit. Cold Turkey (no pun intended) I stopped eating meat and now I love food!! I don't just eat "rabbit food" either. I enjoy veggie burgers because I prefer the way they are crisp and not to juicy and I love egg rolls and Chinese food. My husband is a steak and potatoes kind of guy. I cook meat for him every night and have never, not once tried to "convert" him to vegetarianism. This thread was most likely made by someone out of ignorance to the fact that not all vegetarians are doing it for the cute animals or for the environment. Some of us were just kind of wired this way:)

Side: No
1 point

I'm a vegetarian because I think factory farming is an abomination.

http://www.createdebate.com/debate/show/ Factory_farming_needs_to_be_reformed

Side: No

Another good point Jess...that is something I do know from another debate and Jess clued me in to the facts which I read here on-line through different sources. Factory farming IS an abomination.

Side: No

...and for this answer, I get down-voted? Get a clue you minor being.

Side: No
0 points

I read a Newsweek article just this morning about how animal rights legislation is becoming more mainstream. Good to hear!

Supporting Evidence: Animal Rights is Now a Mainstream Movement (www.newsweek.com)
Side: No
1 point

Oi murderers!! Let's us be -- ok?!

Its weird tho cuz I thought you could be jailed for that...

Side: Absolutely not you fcking idiots
laurax(3) Disputed
-1 points

WHAT about milk?!

Heres a few facts on why cow's milk is so unsafe:

1. Diary products contain no fiber or complex carbohydrates

2. Milk is saturated with fat and cholesterol

3. Milk is contaminated with cow’s blood, pus, pesticides, and hormones

4. Dairy is linked with allergies, constipation, obesity, heart disease and cancer

5. Cow’s milk can cause anemia in children

6. Dairy can result in insulin-dependent diabetes in the later years of life

7. Diary products actually cause osteoporosis. Chinese women who consume calcium from plant sources have lesser incidents of bone fractures in old age

8. Milk has no iron, however it also blocks its absorption

9. Milk has less protein than most vegetables

10. Milk does not cure peptic ulcer disease. It only offers temporary relief of pain. In the long run milk causes acidity and further destroys the stomach lining

11. Milk is carcinogenic. It contains a factor called as IGF-1. All cancer studies show that when IGF-1 rises in the body one gets cancer.

AND DON'T THINK THAT MILK IS HIGH IN CALCIUM!

Guess what it may say it contains calcium, but the protein in milk inhibits calcium absorption!

& what about the cow's?

1. Cows live for about 25 years and produce milk for about nine years. The stress of the factory farm leads to disease, lameness and reproductive problems and most cows die or are sent to the slaughterhouse in four years.

2. In the farm, the cows are hooked by their udders to electronic machines and cows are subject to constant electric shocks. This leads to mastitis.

3. They spend their entire lives standing on concrete floors and living conditions are abysmal.

4. Cows are genetically manipulated given antibiotics and hormones so that their milk yield increases. Many are also given gentically modified feed which has been shown to result in infertility, and the effects of this on humans is virtually unstudied.

5. To see that cows produce milk, they are impregnated. Female calves are either slaughtered or added to the diary herd. The male calves are killed for veal, which is considered to be a meat delicacy.

STOP DRINKING THE FREAKING FRANKENMILK!

Vegetarians are idiots because they are for animals but yet they still eat dairy.. which is an oxymoron.

Side: yes
jessald(1915) Disputed
2 points

"1. Diary products contain no fiber or complex carbohydrates"

This does not make them unsafe.

"2. Milk is saturated with fat and cholesterol"

Skim milk isn't.

"3. Milk is contaminated with cow’s blood, pus, pesticides, and hormones"

Only trace amounts -- not enough to harm you. It's regulated by the FDA.

----

I could go on, but you haven't even cited any sources for these "facts", so I won't bother.

"Vegetarians are idiots because they are for animals but yet they still eat dairy.. which is an oxymoron."

Well, they've taken a step in the right direction. Killing ten people is better then killing a hundred.

Side: No
1 point

Cow's milk is made for baby cows, not humans in the first place. Kinda like feeding dog food to your cat.

Side: yes
kirstie1126(480) Disputed
1 point

I am sorry, but you have no source for this information, and in fact most of it is wrong! I have been studying nutrition for many years now, and have my PhD in Nutritional Sciences, and never did we discuss any of these topics other than how they are often myths that are spread as urban legends. Speaking in these sorts of absolutes and spreading fear like this is just not rational!

Side: No
dcool15(107) Disputed
-1 points

i dont like opposing arguments but you may have put up a good one not many of your so-called facts are true next time google them and find them on a reliable site i do think that milk is healthy and i also believe that all meat and dairy products can be healthy in the right increments and i purchase horizon organic milk which have no harmful chemicals.

Side: not idiots but uninformed i guess

If they eat in a healthy manner, I think that it is fine! (I knew a vegetarian who lived pretty much on french fries and ice cream, this is not a healthy diet.)

Side: No

That's what I like to call a "junkitarian."

50characterssssssssss

Side: No

I don't want to take sides on this one because I don't know enough about the subject to argue it....But one thing I do know...STOP the name calling...no one here is an idiot or a moron...win the point by arguing it properly not name calling!

Side: no
1 point

Maybe we should try eating insects instead of cows. Lots of people enjoy grasshoppers, and caterpillars. Especially in Africa, Japan and Southeast Asia. All those people can’t be wrong or is our Western culture too squeamish.

It is well known that insects have a higher nutritional value then red meat. So lets give it try and keep both sides happy.

Side: No

Your debate description makes you an "idiot," if anyone is, although I'm not a fan of the defensive name-calling. How is eating plants anything close to the same as eating animals?

From what I'm gathering from your debate title and description, you actually recognize that there's something wrong with eating meat and you're getting defensive. By calling vegetarians "idiots," you're trying to make them out to be something bad so you feel better than they are. And the description is an attack that you must know is pointless and overdone, so you're trying to make vegetarians seem "just as bad" as you are (not saying you're bad). Interesting... do we have a closet animal rights activist here?

;)

Side: No
1 point

Im 12 and ive been a vegetarian for over a year now, i may be nutty about animals and think its cruel to eat them, but i dont pressure people to not eat meat. And i think the world will be much more peaceful if some more people converted to vegetarians. Btw, im not a hippy :L

Side: No
1 point

Im not a vegetarian, but i mean they are people and most people are idiots. So why does it even assume that JUST vegetarians are idiots if they are a person and they deside to live without meat. It's his/her lifestyle they want to live. Rainbow vegetarians is just a lable lifeless people like you give them. they have names. learn them.

Side: No
1 point

I don't think this has anything to do with somebody's overall intelligence.A person may be a vegetarian and be an idiot,or they may be a vegetarian and be smart,regardless of whether vegetarianism as a lifestyle is smart or silly.

But their usual arguments are ethical,and when it comes to arguments of this type,there is no absolute criteria to judge whether someone's right or not.

All the nutritional,evolutional etc arguments they may put forth seem ambiguous at best.

Personally,I think most vegetarians(except from these who have to avoid meat for health reasons) do it because of some sentiment of guilt,and for the cult appeal (to 'belong' somewhere and to hold a position,to define oneself)

Side: No
1 point

NO! Vegetarians are not stupid. i am personally a vegetarian and I find nothing wrong with being one. I personally don't believe killing animals just so u can have a meal, is right. And most defitnely the way they kill animals is even worse. You find this okay in your book than whatever. Thats your opinion, do you see me calling you stupid. i think not! SO SHUT UP! And whoever made this debate is stupid as hell, just go fall in a ditch or something

Side: Absolutely not you fcking idiots
1 point

I am vegetarian, but it is not because I think killing animals is bad. Killing animals is the way nature is, but the way they are killed and the conditions they live in bother me. They are pumped with hormones and antibiotics and sit in their own feces practically their whole live. Most of them are fed a corn mixture, which they can't digest, because it makes the meat taste "better."

Concerning nutrition and health, you can get everything you need from plants except B12 which you can take a supplement for. I play basketball and tennis and track and I perform just fine being vegetarian. I have quite a bit of muscle and I am much more healthy than a lot of people.

I respect people who choose not to be vegetarian. I know how it feels to love meat (I used to love meat too), but I think I feel better and happier not eating meat.

Side: no