Can a teenager who only eats the meat his/her parents make them eat, be considered vegetarian?

Based on what I have read, vegetarianism/veganism is NOT a diet but a lifestyle choice based on respect for animals. That if one abstains from meat for health reasons, but would eat it if it was not for the fat and cholesterol then they are not a vegetarian, but one who eats a vegetarian diet. Likewise if some one is too poor to purchase meats, but would gladly do so if they had the money (this is true for many in the third world) then they are not a vegetarian.

If we accept the above is true would it also be fair to say that when a vegetarian claims her toddler son is a vegan/vegetarian, then her statement is equally false? If a four year old is only given vegetarian food, the child has not made a choice. He can only become a vegetarian upon being offered meat and deciding not to eat it. Agree, disagree?

Every so often someone will post a hypothetical directed to vegetarians of the sort, if you were in a shipwreck and floating in a life raft and your only possible source of food was fish, would you eat the fish or starve? Universally people respond that yes, they would eat the fish instead of starve to death, but that the hypo has little bearing on their day to day decision to abstain from meat. But let鈥檚 assume such a situation did occur to someone who had become a vegetarian 10 years prior. And the vegetarian eat the fish, and then upon being rescued four weeks later resumed his abstention from meat. Ten years after that he tells someone he has been a vegetarian continuously for 20 years. Is he lying? Did he remain a vegetarian during the shipwrecked period or did he cease to be one?

The shipwreck hypo is truly a rare event. The next hypo is not.

Who's parents would be so inconsiderate of their child's feelings? I would be supper ticked off if someone forced me to eat meat! This child is a vegetarian. If one is too poor to afford meat I wouldn't classify him/her as vegetarian. This person doesn't have the frame of mind of a vegetarian. If given the option to eat meat he/she would. I also wouldn't consider a 4 year old a vegetarian because at such a young age a choice hasn't been made. Being a vegetarian is a choice and frame of mind. It isn't an issue of circumstance.

I agree... I think that in a situation like that the teenager should be considered a vegetarian! And it's sad because it is true that some parents are like that... we've seen kids here complaining about it!

So...having a vegetarian diet does NOT make you a vegetarian? You must have the intent to be a vegetarian as well? And, intent ALONE is enough to make you a vegetarian???

This is really interesting. I don't know the answer, but you've smarked my interest in finding out.

Anything you eat is a part of your diet so vegetarianism IS a diet and a lifestyle. Vegetarianism can be adopted as a lifestyle for several other reasons besides the respect for animals. The definition for the term says nothing about choice.

If a four year old child is fed meat and eats it, you are saying that he is not an omnivore because he was not given the choice?? Silly.

You are a vegetarian is you do not eat meat, fish, poultry nor slaughter by-products.

There is no need to make it any more complicated than that.

If you eat meat, no matter how, you are not vegetarian.

As for all the hypothetical extremes scenarios, they don't prove or tell us anything.

eg: Would you sleep with a stranger for $1
No, how about $1,000, or $1M, or $100M
If you end up saying yes to some random super-large figure, does that make you a prostitute ?

Do you stop becoming a prostitute if the offer is withdrawn, or do you remain a prostitute but just with a very high charge ?

See, non of it helps in any way.

As for the 10 year veggie, eat fish, 10 year veggie. What would be wrong with saying "I started being veggie 20 years a go but ate fish once 10 years ago when i was trapped". Its the truth, why wrap it up.

A couple of examples on intent:

If i intent to kill someone but never actually get around to it because I'm too busy, am i still a murderer because of the intent ?

and the second:

I intented to be a good person but i actually killed 50 people. Does that still make me a good person because i "intended" it that way.

and a third

"we didnt intend to kill 250,000 iraqs"
Does that mean we didn't kill them, i don't think so.

Intent is not enough

Very little of what you say makes sense and if you are trying to make a point you would be better off doing it directly rather than these hypothetical situations

Why do you keep using phrases like "universal say yes", "presumably", "if we accept", "assuming thats right/you agree"......you've just gone down a hole without taking us with you. we might disagree with your very first assumption and then the rest falls apart

A "4 year old child who is fed only veggy" is an omnivore that is fed a vegetarian diet. humans are not carnivores, omnivores or herbivores depending on our diet. Humans are all omnivores. C, O and H are species categories of diet, not food choices.

Your original question is sort of awkward. Unless his parents hold a gun to his head, HE makes the choice what he eats. (And even with the gun I would refuse to eat a dead animal part)

The four year old is a vegetarian. You have a serious problem with setting up status quos fairly. I could just as easily say that a child raised eating meat has not made the CHOICE to eat meat, and is therefore not a meat eater.

Secondly, the guy eating fish would still be a vegetarian. The definition of vegan and vegetarian is someone who excludes animal products (or just meat) from their lifestyle WHENEVER possible. If the dude was going to die unless he ate fish, most would agree that that is a situation where it's NOT possible, if he wishes to live.

You're a meat eater, no???

I believe the argument you are making is whether or not "intent" to be vegetarian is enough if one has no control over the "non-veggie" forces in his/her life?

If that is what you arguing--- I would say "Yes".

Good questions and will likely prove the black & white fanatics on here some trouble. It will be interesting to see how "Free Range Mikey" (Mike H.) weighs in on this one....LMAO.

I mean if they don't want to eat meat, and their parents make them eat it.. that would be a passatarian,,,,,,, or a doormataterian ,, I think,,

and yes the sodatarian diet, gave me nothing but hemorrhoids,

I just stopped eating all together, so now what am I Wolfy? huh?

OK,, I am still drinking my red bull

I am a caffeterian,,,,,,lol

I was an atheist from the age of 8. I was forced to go to church on Sundays and attend a christian school until I was 17 years old. Was I a christian because I was forced to adopt the traditions of a belief system that wasn't mine?

If you define being veg*n as a belief system then it doesn't matter that the veg*n is forced to eat meat. What matters is if they resist and how they resist. Your hypothetical teenager is obviously trying to resist as much as they can reasonably be expected to, so they are a veg*n.

Maybe he will end up like most teenagers and get a job at MacDonalds. Then he can afford to buy vegetarian food.

technically a vegetarian is one who does not eat any meat of any kind, so no, even if he wants to be a veggie more than anything he still isnt one. for example, if youve always wanted to try and fly by jumping off a building but your parents dont let you then you still arent a bird.

i have no idea where that example came from but you get the idea

Not all vegetarians embrace the lifestyle, some just don't eat meat and it can be a diet. Some really don't care about animals. I read about a celebrity who ate a vegetarian diet, but used real mink for her false eye lashes.

The guy in the ship wreck could still claim to be a vegetarian. After all, is it fair to refer to those people who were in the plane crash that had to stay alive by eating other people as cannibals or don't they resume being omnivores (assuming they are/weren't vegetarians) when the ordeal was over? If the people too poor to buy meat do eat meat when possible then no they aren't but if they never eat meat then yes they are vegetarians or vegans. The teen girl is, sadly, not a vegetarian. The child is still a vegetarian whether he chooses or not if he doesn't consume any meat.

i would say yes