Responsible omnivore

You both like vegan, philosophy, and debate.

You: Hello. I'm Adam. I'm here to argue or just chat.

Stranger: Hey Adam, i'm up for either as well.

Stranger: What would you want to argue?

Stranger: I'm James

You: Various

You: Where are you from?

Stranger: UK

Stranger: Yourself?

You: US

You: Are you vegan?

Stranger: No i'm an omnivore

You: My argument is for people in the US

You: It's not universal

Stranger: Oh i see, what is the argument based on?

You: How our current ag system, in the States, promotes suffering for certain specific animals

You: such as dairy cows and esp Chickens

You: ~ from my research

You: My argument is based on suffering, not actual slaughter

Stranger: So the happiness of the animal before its slaughtered. I can understand the sentiment.

Stranger: Most people don't bother of thinking about the animal.

You: Well, I wouldn't use "happiness", per se

You: Instead, living conditions and certain practices

Stranger: Like the cramped and unsanitary conditions of a mass dairy farm?

Stranger: I am against that completely

You: Ok

You: What else do you argue about?

Stranger: Well i'm against bad practice especially when it lacks consideration for hygeine. A big problem that isn't really associated with suffering but more so hygeine here in the UK was something called the "smokies". Its a banned practice where the carcas of an animal with all its innards was smoked until it could be made into a stew, was prone to catching many diseases.

Stranger: I guess as you have said, it does vary region to region for what problems we have in our own countries.

You: Agreed.

Stranger: Is there any other specific practice you are against?

You: battery cages

Stranger: Yeah that is fairly archaic and only done for cost effectiveness, its true suffering for the chickens. In the UK at least, its becoming popular for people to pay higher prices given the incentive of 'free-range' eggs over the caged eggs.

Stranger: Intention is to decrease the sales and attempt to rid that form of egg production.

You: Yes, you surprise me

Stranger: I think its just a big trend now that people haven't really considered until they read into it.

You: Right!

Stranger: Most people like convenience until they're given information on what they are purchasing. As what has become apparent with smokers and the decrease of sales in the tobacco industry due to exposure to the negative effects of smoking. I think this will similarly happen in the agricultural industry with many practices.

Stranger: I think people will favour quality over quantity in the long run, its an optimistic thought but i think its reasonable.

Stranger: I wanted to ask, what is your stance on GMOs?

You: I read a book way back in secondary school. Was more informational than anything else

You: I think they're generally good

Stranger: I agree, i think its something done from our own ingenuity to utilise food the best we can. Its happened with a lot of what we eat. I do oppose the use of pesticides and other chemicals for growing crops as i think its lazy practice.

You: I haven't looked into it that far, but that sounds reasonable

Stranger: The problem with using pesticide is that the crops are often used to feed farm animals (cattle etc) and these animals in turn need antibiotics to be able to consume the crops.

Stranger: Its severely inefficient practice run by government with their monitoring systems for pesticide residue and such. Its all done in mass farming though.