Myth #78: “But the plants you eat feel pain too.”
(also heard as “But plants have feelings too.”)
While there is growing evidence that plants are indeed more aware of their surroundings than once believed, they are almost certainly not sentient on the same level as animals. Yes, there is new research showing that plants can sense entrants into their immediate environment and react to the same, and yet this is not evidence for self-awareness, this is not evidence for the ability to experience pain or fear or suffering, and this is not evidence of plants being conscious in any manner similar to our cousins in the animal kingdom. Plants have no brains, no eyes, no hearts, no central nervous systems, no nerve endings, no limbic systems, no benzodiazepine (pain) receptors, do not release any endogenous opiates to alleviate pain when they are cut or harvested, and indeed do not even possess the capability to do so. As such, it is actually bordering on ludicrous to attempt to compare the “suffering” they experience when harvested to the very real (and flagrantly obvious) suffering animals experience when slaughtered.
Here’s an idea: if you truly feel that the suffering vegans inflict on plants is equivalent to the obvious suffering that eating meat & dairy products inflicts on animals, how about embracing the following simple challenge: Before every meal this week, you watch a 15 minute video showing exactly what goes on in an average slaughterhouse on any given day, and for the same length of time before every meal I’ll watch a video of a vegetable harvest … Deal? … No? … I thought not.
Just as important, how does you believing that it is equally immoral to eat plants* as to murder animals make causing animals to suffer suddenly acceptable? Nowhere in the realms of philosophy or ethics can the case be reasonably made that another’s person “doing wrong” excuses our own equal failing. Indeed, how can identifying a second wrong ever make the initial wrong Right? As such, even if vegans did somehow cause plants to “suffer”, this would in no way excuse meat-eaters or dairy-consumers from causing animals even greater pain & trauma … As such, it just goes to show you — no matter which way you slice it, slicing only vegetables & fruits is clearly the most cruelty-free way to go – if not the only way to do so.
Current status of this Myth: aerated
Justification it provides for eating animals: NONE
*If it is someday shown that plants do somehow “suffer” when harvested, then going vegan is again the superior alternative, as far more plants are “murdered” every day to feed heavily abused meat & dairy animals than are ever consumed by any plant-eating human … In addition, if you are truly worrying about the “suffering” causes to plants that are killed during harvest, I have personally found that it is relatively easy to live a life that is fully “kill-free” – sustaining myself deliciously & healthily on a diet that primarily consists of fruits & nuts & seeds & vegetables (and even respectfully reaped legumes, tubers & grains) that are harvested without harming their parent plant at all.
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