Who's Sam Arcot?

[Sam Arcot]

Hello! I am Sam Arcot. I live in Hyderabad, in India with the name Abdul Samad. I come from a descend of Prophet Mohammed's companion (not very sure about this) and until recently(one year ago) had a strong belief in Islam. My belief was so strong that whenever I found someone offending my religion, I would retaliate. From my very childhood, I was taught that Allah is the creator of all and he does as he pleases. But he is kind and merciful. I saw my father beheading goats on the occasion of Eid. For some reason I was very fond of animals. Whenever I found any stray cats in the street, I along with my cousin would feed it with milk or whatever was available. As I grew up, the responsibility of cutting goats on the Eid was thrown on me. I was convinced that this is the law of God. That the goats are meant to be cut and eaten. So as an obstinate believer, I was given the knife to behead two goats. My hand was shaking but I had to do it. If not me someone else would! I pushed the knife on its throat but not correctly. The goat stood up against me and ran away. He was caught by the butcher who then did it more correctly. This incident became one of the most painful of my memories. No matter how many more evils I do, this should remain the greatest of them.
But as the time passed by, my curious nature made me scrutinize my religion. I did a deep study of it and found it false! I realized that religions were created to control human societies, for their betterment of course. They were created for a particular time for a particular people. At the age of 20, I now find myself surrounded by people who do not concede to reasoning. They are preposterous and want me to remain so. I am thinking of abandoning my community but if I do then there would be no turning back. And where am I to go? In India, we have Hindus who abhor people who are not born Hindus. I thought of coaxing the people who are close to me but it is a slow and dangerous process! Hence, I decided I would blend into them and pretend to be a Muslim. That is what I am doing now. Thankfully, I found a free thinker society in my city via facebook. I haven't met them but they seem nice and supportive. I am a fan of Christopher Hitchens!
So, Who's Arcot? Arcot is the truth of Abdul Samad. He remains under the shadows but shall come to aid of any atheist or agnostic when needed! Visit my blog http://samarcot.weebly.com/blog. Ignore the grammar and read this article I wrote back when I was an agnostic http://samarcot.weebly.com/blog/the-talking-tree

[brimstoneSalad]

Hi Sam,

What a great introduction!

How old are you, are you out of the house yet? Do you think you might have a chance to move to another country, or another region where nobody knows you? Sometimes moving as a student can open the door to get out of the country entirely.

Don't automatically assume Hindus will hate you if you're an apostate from Islam; I know some are very particular about that, but in a larger city (if you can afford to move to one) younger people are less caught up in that nonsense, and more secular (their parents might hate you, but who cares?). There are even larger atheist and free thinking populations in the cities, and they won't care who you were born as

If you manage to leave your family, are you hoping to go vegetarian?

[TheVeganAtheist]

Welcome Sam Arcot, thank you for joining the forum. Great intro. What are your thoughts on veganism?

[Twizelby]

great intro! We look forward to hearing more from you.

[Sam Arcot]

Hello! I am 20 year old and currently doing my computer science engineering. No, I am not out of my house. My mother is partially supportive in my cause. She knows that I do not believe anymore but at the end of the day, she demands that I do at least one prayer. I am planning to do my masters in USA, where most of my relatives stay (extremist Islamist most of them). I had a very good circle of friends when I was in my school. They were Hindus by birth but were totally agnostics. But back then I was a staunch believer. And now they have parted away with that in mind. My social circle in now very very limited. I have managed to convince one my friends into Atheism and failed on others. I guess the only best move left is to fly off!
I am not very sure about veganism. I do feel pitiful for their merciless slaughter and wish to do something against it but... I am now a dire meat eater. I think it will take me a lot of time or might be even impossible to change my diet. And isn't it only natural? We are an omnivorous specie!

[thebestofenergy]

And isn't it only natural? We are an omnivorous specie!

First off, welcome to the forum!
What you used is an appeal to nature logical fallacy https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/appeal-to-nature
Just because it's natural, doesn't mean it's ideal. We were also living in caves and in tribes, but it doesn't mean we need to keep doing so
We are omnivores, but it doesn't matter. We can live a perfectly healthy life on a vegan diet, and we have the choice to do so. It's unnecessary to slaughter billions of innocent sentient beings for our selfishness, and it also causes heavy harm to the environment.

[Sam Arcot]

That sounds true but what about the cattle? We have adopted animals like the hen and cows for so long that they have become totally dependent on us. If we let them in the wild, they will perish as they have become slow, dumb and defenseless. And if still left in the farms, their growing numbers will have no check! I think we have come too far with them. At some period of time, hens could actually fly and cows defend themselves! Now thanks to our ancestors for turning them into nothing but dumb bags of flesh through the course of evolution.

[thebestofenergy]

That sounds true but what about the cattle? We have adopted animals like the hen and cows for so long that they have become totally dependent on us. If we let them in the wild, they will perish as they have become slow, dumb and defenseless.

It would be way more preferable to let them extinct instead of what we're currently doing. Marine and land animals that are killed every year count up to hundreds of billions.
We can't keep this up, it's an unsustainable way for food production in the future (and unethical, aswell).

[Volenta]

First of all, welcome! But I'm going to jump right in.

You told us how bad you felt with the goats incidents. Don't you think it's just are wrong to pay someone else to do it for you, out of sight and out of mind? If it's something you yourself have this much trouble with, do you think you can justify it by letting someone else do it for you?

If we let them in the wild, they will perish as they have become slow, dumb and defenseless.

If you stop eating them, farmers aren't putting them into the wild. What would happen is that the supply goes down (meaning: there would be less animals in suffering), that's because the demand goes down because you're not supporting it any longer. Because we humans regulate and are fully in control of the amount of animals that are grown up, it's easy for the farmers to make less of them.

***

You're living in India you say, I'm really interested in how vegetarianism and veganism is socially accepted there. It's a country with a lot of vegetarians (mostly because of religious reasons I presume), so I wonder how much you notice this fact in the society.

[brimstoneSalad]

Hi Sam,

That's great to hear that you'll get to go to the U.S.

You'll find a lot more acceptance there.
I'm glad your mother is pretty accepting too- relatively speaking, at least.

I'm sure if you contact your old friends and tell them, they'll be pleased to hear it.

I am not very sure about veganism. I do feel pitiful for their merciless slaughter and wish to do something against it but... I am now a dire meat eater. I think it will take me a lot of time or might be even impossible to change my diet.

It could take some time to adjust- it's just like quitting smoking, or any other addiction. For some people it's harder than others, but it's definitely worth doing. Both your health, and your conscience will benefit in the end.

And isn't it only natural? We are an omnivorous specie!

Many things are natural. But not all natural things are right.

A common example is rape- which is also natural. You can look at the physiology of the human penis, which is not necessary for consensual copulation (compare to many species of birds) but only necessary for rape, and say "Look, evolution designed us to rape, therefore it's right to do that!"

But, it's not right.
Although of course we are 'naturally' omnivores, that means we can eat vegetables or meat- it gives us a choice. People can actually be more healthy eating only vegetables- so why should we eat meat?

As others said, farms only have a lot of animals because the farmers breed them. If they stop breeding them, the animals will be far fewer every year.

Unlike some, I don't think cows and chickens should go totally extinct, but I think if nobody ate them, then we would just keep a few on some kind of wildlife preserve, so people can visit and remember our human history, and how we used to eat animals.
I agree, however, that if we have to choose between extinction and torture and slavery, being doomed to suffer an early death and never have freedom, then extinction is more kind.