Interesting discussion thread

http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?5614-quot-We-have-great-respect-for-the-animals-we-kill-quot

I retrieved the following off a discussion board, someone had asked about the connection Native Americans had to the land, and how they killed animals-- and whether that was hypocritical even though they seemed to connected.  The following was a response.  I've also read, if you google native american and vegan -- you'll see articles on how actually many tribes were mainly vegetarian.  

 Atticus

The person brought up native Americans and how connected and grateful they were to the earth and all its creatures, yet they ate meat and hunted for their various needs.

If I would kill and eat you, do you think anyone who would say that I were connected and grateful to you/respected you? The Native Americans had a lot of rituals and ceremonies claiming that they had respect for other creatures, but unlike some Eastern ethnic groups/religions, who actually practiced what they preached, and did not kill animals for food, many of the Native Americans said one thing but lived in a way that clearly showed that they did not respect other living beings' right to live. The way Native Americans treated animals (and in many cases, humans) were more barbarian than lots of other ethnic groups we know of. Ie. they didn't just kill their enemies, they chopped their heads off afterwards and put it on exhibition, so to speak.

To write, say or sing that you you respect another being's right to live doesn't mean that you actually do it. If I respect you, I simply don't kill and eat you. If I kill you, I don't respect that you, and not I, should decide wether you should die or not. If you have decided that you want to live, and I kill you, I don't respect you, neither am I deeply connected to you, because if I were, I wouldn't end your life. 

All the Western cultures that has attacked, killed and exploited so called primitive cultures in other parts of the world throughout history has done it in the name of God their own religion/God. Prayers and religious ceremonies are often used in association with wars/killing of others, in all cultures, and Native Americans are no exception. 

I have the feeling that some brutal warrior tribes - in all cultures - 'insert' some rituals and ceremonies into their brutal actions, only as an attempt to try to hide how brutal their actions are, because deep down they know that what they do are against their own ethics. Maybe they're only trying to fool themselves, but manage to fool others as well. 

If you see a person or animal and kill him to satisfy your need for food or other products, you look at this creature as a 'product', just like factory farmers look at 'their' animals. Or - you look at it as a living creature and respect it until you are hungry or want it's body parts for other purposes, then that creature is just a 'product'. 

If a potential murderer see a rich man and kill him because he needs his money, he wouldn't get a way with explaining that the guy he killed didn't grow up in a 'human factory', or by telling the court that he lived a free life until he was shot. When it comes to humans, we know that killing is killing, and no person, Native American or not, would get away with theories about respecting the person, being connected with him or which rituals he had performed before he shot him. IMO, it's only habitual thinking that causes some humans to think that an Native American who kills an animal for food is doing something less unethical than a murderer who kills another human being for money, food or other selfish reasons.