Vegetarians are smarter than you. Vegans... notsomuch.

[36D]

Originally Posted by DaveNJ

It's harder to afford the types of foods necessary to keep up protein with a vegetarian diet if you're living paycheck to paycheck, or on welfare. Soy, tofu, these kind of things cost more than a simple Big Mac. If you don't have any income to buy vegetarian food, guess what, you don't go vegetarian. It's wonderful that be_leaves did it at 12 except that back then I doubt he was paying for it. I see no moral quandary with consuming animals: they're here, I have canines, it's delicious. No need to be extra cruel to them, but people need meat to live unless they stick to a diet full of alternatives to animal amino acids. The fact is, it's harder for poorer people to avoid eating meat, skewing any data drawn from the poll. And IQ doesn't even translate to intelligence anyway. I know people with IQ's higher than myself who fail out of classes I get A's in because they simply can't handle the material.

Wait a second, who said vegetarians have to be healthy? Yes, in order to be a 'good' vegetarian one needs to get his or her fair share of protein (thank you, KATG, for giving us herbivores Suck a Dick Wednesday!), vitamins, iron, etc., but to say that someone would be limited to being an omnivore because of a lack of money is not true. Yes, it can be expensive to be a 'good' vegetarian. But not all vegetarians are good and it is also expensive to be a 'good' meat-eater. Somehow I don't think that McDonald's hamburgers cut it on the health-o-meter. Expensive meat is better for you. Expensive soy products are better for you. Salads are cheap. Bean burritos are cheap. In fact, vegetarian options at restaurants are almost always cheaper than meat dishes. I understand what you're trying to say, but you really can't go on the idea that you have to be somewhat well-off just to be a vegetarian.