Philosophical Vegan Forum

I have been vegetarian for over a year now, and i've been thinking about a few things lately.
1. If you're on a date with a meat-eater, would you pay for the bill if she orders a meal that contains meat?
2. If you have children, do you not allow them to eat meat, or do you let them decide what diet they want to have on their own?
Edit: I am a vegetarian so finding meals at restaurants usually isn't too difficult. And it is still my belief that the man pays for dinner, even if that is old fashioned

1. Dinners always on me!
2. I'm not sure if I will have kids, but I'd give them a Vegan diet. When they know how to make their own decisions, I'll ask him/her if they want to switch and why this is a vegan family. I dunno, I never had kids.
Anyways, welcome to the forum, uh, hope to see more from ya' soon!

1. I wouldn't date a meat-eater.
2. I'm not going to have children.

Problem solved!

1. This was always an issue for me when I was single. I would usually pay because I live in a developing country where very few women can afford to pay for a restaurant meal. I always felt like shit about it and probably wouldn't pay if I were with a woman who could afford to pay for her own food. In any case, if she ordered meat I knew it wouldn't last many days.
2. If I ever have kids I would adopt, and if so I would feed them a vegan diet at home and request that friend's parents only serve her vegan food. I wouldn't forbid my kid to eat whatever she wants but for sure I would show my disappointment if she ate anything non vegan.

1. I'll avoid dinner dates.
2. Educate them so they can form their own decision, just like with the god question. Until they are old enough to make such a decision I will feed them vegan food, and I will never buy meat/dairy/eggs for them, like I would not buy alcohol for them.

1. I would prefer to eat in a veg*n restaurant, because it can be hard to find a meat restaurant that also sells vegan meals. But I don't really have a problem with paying the bill. I would also like to add that this tradition of a man always paying for food is kind of obsolete...
2. I'm also not so sure about having kids. But I would (when old enough) let them decide on their own whether they want to eat meat or not. I'll try to provide them with the thinking tools, but it's ultimately their own decision. Forcing your ideals onto your kids is probably working counterproductive.

Soycrates wrote:1. I wouldn't date a meat-eater.

Why not?

Btf123 wrote: 1. If you're on a date with a meat-eater, would you pay for the bill if she orders a meal that contains meat?

Go to a vegan restaurant, or cook her a vegan meal. Picnics are a good option.

I never have this problem. If I'm going out with somebody, they're either already veg. or I will have convinced them to go veg before the eating things part of the date.

I usually find that either somebody is open minded, rational, and cares about others, and thus is easy to convince within a few minutes of conversation, or not in which case I'm not really interested in continuing the date.

They could also be lying, but non-the-less they won't order meat.

Btf123 wrote: 2. If you have children, do you not allow them to eat meat, or do you let them decide what diet they want to have on their own?

I wouldn't have kids with a meat-eater. That's asking for conflict over child raising.

Feed them veg at home, and make friends with other local veg families for play dates, etc. If you live in a place with few vegetarians and vegans, then move to raise your children in a more friendly environment.

brimstoneSalad wrote:I usually find that either somebody is open minded, rational, and cares about others, and thus is easy to convince within a few minutes of conversation, or not in which case I'm not really interested in continuing the date.

How do you generally go about this conversation?

miniboes wrote: How do you generally go about this conversation?

Broach the subject indirectly by appealing to emotion.

Ask them if they have or have had any pets, talk about them. Ask if they love animals. They will usually say yes. Ask if they're vegetarian. Be surprised and confused when they say 'no'. Ask why. Refute every point given with more questions (Socratic method), make sure you have the internet available to look up videos and such to ask what they think about it.
As much as you can, don't tell, just focus on asking a lot of questions.

These people are already interested in looking good in front of you, they don't want to look like idiots.
Whenever they're pressed, give them a way out by making suggestions. "I'm sure you never realized that before, since you're a good person you never would have done that if you'd known" etc. Compliment them whenever possible.

If they're at all reasonable, they'll come around in a few minutes. Maybe half an hour. Then introduce them to some amazing vegan food.

Volenta wrote:

Soycrates wrote:1. I wouldn't date a meat-eater.

Why not?

Why should I? I wouldn't date someone who held negatively opposing views to any of my other major interests or hobbies. I wouldn't date someone where one of their views would make it really hard for us to get along, or live together. In the same way I'd never date someone who didn't support the right to abortions, or someone who thought that video games are stupid and a waste of time, or someone who didn't respect, understand, or enjoy philosophy to some degree. I wouldn't date someone who decided that pizza was so unhealthy that we should never eat it, or that "there are no atheists in foxholes", or someone who hasn't read a book since high school. These are just preferences, and preferences aren't bizarre or rare - everybody has some kind of preference.

Simply put, I don't feel desperate enough to have to date someone who actively chooses to harm animals. People act less surprised when I say I wouldn't date a hunter, but basically it's the same thing.