Stuart: I just wanted to know if the mere act of killing them was to be considered inhumane...... DDN:
1) The "mere act" is inhumane at least to the degree that it is unecessary. So, yes, if pigs were treated like gods up to the moment of death and then killed instantly in the middle of a wet dream because I was too stubborn to eat something that grew out of the ground in great abundance and was more healthful, then I would say that there is a degree of inhumanity at work here.
2) But clearly the situation we're discussing is not anywhere near this pretty, so I question the relevance (and sincerity) of your inquiry.
3) Besides, no claim was being made on the absolute measure of how humane or inhumane eating meat is but, instead, how inhumane eating meat is RELATIVE to eating vegetables. So, again, yes, the mere act of killing a pig (or causing one to be killed via consumer choice) is less humane than eating some spinach (unless of course you bludgeoned some starving children over the head to steal the spinach you are eating - but that sort of thing is not typical of spinach production and consumption).
Stuart: ....Your litany of atrocities is quite athropomorphic though. Your brain arrived at the conclusion that an animal suffers as you would under the same conditions?.......
DDN: Of COURSE they don't suffer exactly as I would. Neither would YOU unless your nervous system were identical to my own down to the last neuron which it obviously is not. But this wouldn't allow me to rationalize torturing you and I would hope you'd feel the same way about me. I don't require that any mammal (Stuart included) register exactly the same brainwaves as I would when in pain in order for me to exercise compassion. It is enough for me that it screams, grimaces, and convulses when it is electricuted, butchered, or preparing for the same. Yes, I'm ASSUMING that this means it is having an unpleasant experience - so what. Morallity mandates that such judgement calls be made and that they be made to the best of our abilities - that means using your head, your heart, your stomach, and any other tools of perception god has provided you. Or, you could sit around all day and wait for the scientific study to be released that proves you need to get up and take a crap. Doesn't sound like much of a life to me.
Stuart: .....I think not!
DDN: We know Stu....we know.
None.
