Arguement/Counter-Arguement

i thought it would be useful for all of us to have an arguement and counter argument thread. it could help us sharpen our debating skills, provide links and sources, and counter the reasons meat eaters always throw at us for eating meat.

here is my contribution:

arguement: our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, chimps and gorillas, hunt and eat meat. so we are made for eating meat.

counter:chimps eat meat out of necessity. they hunt during the dry months when their natural food supply of fruits are in shortage. and the amount of flesh they eat (including insects) is almost insignificant to their diet. meat makes up about 3% or 4% of a chimps diet, while the other 96% to 97% is fruits, leaves, berries, etc.

since the amount of meat a chimp eats is so small and insignificant, it is reasonable to say that they do it because they need to. if they did it because they wanted to and liked it, or it was a natural part of their diet, they would do it a lot more wouldn't they?

humans have evolved to the level where our diet is not determined by the seasons. we can get fruits and vegetables year round, even in the dead of winter. we never have a shortage of vegetarian selections. if humans only ate meat when they had to, they would never eat meat. if chimps and other primates had the same knowledge, they would probably leave off eating meat as well.

sources:

http://www.ecologos.org/chimphunt.htm

http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~stanford/chimphunt.html