The Point of Friction

The foundation of the PETA rep's argument was that since animals have the same capacity for pain as humans, they should have the same rights as humans. He even went so far as to involve words like "social contract" with a generally correct understanding of what they meant. Too bad he applied this concept to things that are not bound to any social contract... The foundation of the talk show host's argument was that meat tastes good, therefore I'm going to eat it. The discussion went everywhere: health benefits, dishonest business practices, animal and human physiology, survival of the fittest/natural order, social contracts, etc. I didn't catch the whole thing, but I thought the discussion was interesting.

Conclusion: I generally agreed with the PETA rep's arguments based on the stark reality of health benefits that come with a vegetarian diet (although I think his reasoning behind the whole animal cruelty issue is a bit... ridiculous), but I'm probably going to do what the talk show host said he was going to do. Because steak tastes good.

Here's the thing: animal rights and vegetarianism isn't the point here. This discussion reminded me of a debate I had with a friend a few years back about pacifism (which isn't even the point either!). There were a lot of good biblical arguments and rebuttals on both sides, both valid and correct, but in the end neither of our minds were changed. I was challenged by the debate, and it was an interesting exercise to think about the philosophical and religious implications and the responses of the military and government vs the individual to pacifism.

After all was said and done, if someone tried to kill/abduct/rape any of my friends, I would do my level best to put them in the hospital for a long time. That's just what I would do. None of the biblical imperatives for pacifism nor different arguments for original sin, nor the government's duty to punish wrongdoers would be going through my head in the heat of the moment. My thought process would be more like this:

Here's the point, hopefully illustrated by the above thought process. It doesn't matter what people argue for, it doesn't matter what they say they believe, it doesn't matter which side has the most compelling arguments. In the end all that matters is what we do with those beliefs. Beliefs are all well and good, but actions are what really matter. James says something along those lines in the Bible: