There are some debates which have continued among mankind for as long as
anyone can remember. People cling firmly to their viewpoints, refusing to
change because they believe they are right.
  One of these is the controversy regarding smoking. Everbody knows by now
that smoking is nothing but bad for your health, yet people still do it. Not
only are they hurting themselves, but the people around them who must breathe
their smoke. It says a great deal about society as it exists today, when
people willfully abuse themselves and those around them just for the sake of
pleasure. In my opinion, people who smoke should not be eligible for lung
transplants, just as drinkers should be refused liver transplants. After all,
they have deliberately and knowingly wrought their own health problems.
  With so many people still smoking, it's little wonder that an even more
hotly-debated health topic still exists: Meat-eating versus vegetarianism.
  Here, the question is not just health versus enjoyment; There is the
additional question of which diet is healthier. Vegetarians say that eathing
meat does more harm than good, while carnivores insist that meat contains
nutrients you can't get anywhere else, and is an essential component of any
healthy diet.
  Unfortunately, the problem here is too often one of simple ignornace. Many
people are not even aware of what exactly is supposed to be in meat that you
can't get anywhere else, and even if they did, they probably wouldn't realize
that most of those nutrients can be gotten very easily from certain fruits
and vegetables.
  Most fruits and veggies are abundant in vitamins and minerals. In fact,
there isn't a health-critical vitamin or mineral you could name which isn't
available from some kind of plant.
  But what about other nutrients? In particular, what about protein? After
all, carnivores love to point out that meat is rich in protein.
  Well, protein can be gotten from vegetables too. There's also a lot of it
in nuts. And while it's true that meat-eaters tend to get more protein than
vegetarians, it's also true that most people who regularly eat meat get about
twice as much protein as they really need for good health.
  There's also the issue of our teeth. Carnivores point out that humans have
omnivorous teeth specifically so we can eat meat. That must mean that nature
intended for us to eat meat, right?
  Well, no. It means we *can* eat meat. It doesn't mean we have to.
Nutritionists generally agree that it really is possible to have a healthy,
balanced diet without ever eating meat. To be sure, vegetarians need to watch
what they eat. They need to organize their diet so they get enough of
everything. It does take a bit of planning. But it is possible.
  One of my earliest rants was about what sets humans apart from animals.
What really makes humans different is the power of choice. They have the
ability to overcome basic impulse. Unlike other creatures capable of eating
meat, humans can decide whether they will or not. Meat-eating, killing for
food, is a bestial act, one which exists farther below on the evolutionary
scale. It's little wonder that the most hard-core meat eaters are often more
brutally animalistic in their behaviour. Flesh as food changes people, it
makes them more savage, much as the taste of blood drives some animals wild.
  Indeed, meat is an addiction just like smoking. It's not often thought as
one, but those who've regularly eaten meat for a long time have developed a
taste for it, and have trouble giving it up. And also like smoking, it says
something about a person.
  A civilized human does not need to kill for food. However, if they believe
in doing so, then by extension, it should be normal and acceptable to eat
those people as food too, right? This is a concept I call "Darwinian
vegetarianism". Wild animals, without the capacity to consider their actions,
cannot have their dietary habits held against them. But if a human willfully
decides that killing for food is acceptable, then they should be considered
open targets for the same. After all, their concept of nature dictates that
this is natural.