Except pigs are food. Everything is food for something, just ask Robert Pickton. Vegans are malnourished snowflakes.
"Snowflakes"... because only weak and emotionally incontinent people have empathy, yes?
As for "malnourished":
"It is the position of the
American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or
vegan diets, are
healthful,
nutritionally adequate, and
may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes... Studies of vegetarians indicate that they often have
lower mortality rates from several chronic degenerative diseases than do nonvegetarians "
Human beings living in Western society are not food to anyone. We are above the food chain, full stop. We have separated ourselves from the natural and harmonious balance of life in death in favor of factory farming. There's nothing natural about factory farming.
That sign was obviously intended for humans, not pythons. Pigs are not food for
humans, as we've given up our spot in the food chain in exchange for comfort and security. We can no longer morally justifiably kill a pig for food, because we no longer need to do so to survive. If you agree with the moral principle of utilitarianism, I can say that in killing a pig for food, you're no longer preventing an equal or greater amount of suffering (as you would be if the consequence of not killing that pig was your starvation). As the ADA has proved, one can be healthy without eating animals- so the only reason one would continue to eat meat is because they like the taste.
Then, the only question is this: which is of more value- your taste buds/your transient sensory pleasure or an animal's life?
Yes, animals don't seem to have as much scope or awareness as we do. It's not necessary to attribute "human emotions" to animals if that happens to be your qualm. No, animals likely don't have the capacity to philosophize like we do... but they suffer the same. They feel pain, just like we do. I think that's all that's important.