The animal rights argument briefly goes as follows. Animals are able to feel pain, and in fact some animals, such as pigs, have a mentality that is on the level of small children. Because animals can feel pain we should not sacrifice their life in order to give us something to eat, just as we would never dream of killing people just to give us something to eat. In a society where the slaughter of animals is not necessary to provide adequate nutrition it is specie-ist to not consider the rights of animals simply based on the fact that they are not the same species as humans.
Animals that are raised in factory farms are also treated in horribly inhumane ways. Pigs are kept in pens that do not allow them to even turn around, and the floors are made of concrete. Calves are kept in cages so small that they cannot move because this will cause their meat to be tender, and therefore taste better when they are turned into veal.
Chickens are given so many hormones that they often times cannot stand up because their breasts are so large; their beaks are removed so that they cannot peck each other (even though the "pecking order" is essential to a group of chickens remaining in an orderly fashion), and they are kept in cages so small that they cannot move. Cows are milked through a cruel vacuum pumping system, and when it is time for slaughter they have their throats slit and are hung upside down, often times still alive, and sent across a factory. Factory farming commits atrocities that are hard to believe, yet they are allowed because the victims are simply animals.
Eating meat also increases your risk of all sorts of maladies, including heart disease and colon cancer, two very large killers of Americans. Animal products contain cholesterol, something that works to increase heart disease. Americans consume far too much protein, which is found in large quantities in meat, and it is still possible to get the adequate amount of protein from plant products.
Being a vegetarian is a choice that you can make that will help both your own body and the animals that you share this planet with, and it is much easier than you might think.
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