So Morrissey was right: Meat is murder - premeditated extinction of an innocent, driven by wants rather than need.MountainPro said:If we can draw a line then it should be down to the reasons for murder. Take survival for instance, we kill animals in order to eat and live. In prehistoric times this was murder for survival. If you get into a situation where you are in a life or death situation, during war, in prison riot or similar then you have a lawless state where you may be killed unless you kill your assailant.
These may be classed by some people as murder. But to most rational thinkers, murder is pre-meditated and driven by emotion, not need. Murder is carried out by people who want to kill, not people who need to kill.
The latest execution was not a matter of need. He was no threat to anyone.
This is where i draw the line.
Surely going to war is premeditated too - one knows that one might have to kill someone, and the reason is political, not survival. If survival was the issue one might choose to stay as far away from the enemy as possible.
(Obviously there are differences between offence and defence in this scenario, but I'm thinking more of the most recent US escapades).
Personally, I'm anti-death penalty. However, I'm also anti-spending-loads-of-cash-on-prisoners. It's about time someone invented the secure cardboard box.