A hypothetical question is a type of inquiry that presents a scenario or situation that is imagined or theoretical rather than based on real events so, would you eat meat for £1,000,000?
People enjoy asking hypothetical questions to start an interesting conversation. They can seem harmless enough, being hypothetical they involve situations that will never happen. They can, however, expose something in the answer that reveals how a person really feels. When this comes to veganism these questions can challenge a person's commitment to veganism, is this simply a lifestyle choice, or something that they believe in. Living vegan is driven by a commitment to ethical principles, hypothetical scenarios can challenge these principles, prompting individuals to contemplate whether they would compromise their vegan choices for a significant reward.
The Questions
I think every vegan has heard the desert island/pig question:
If you and a pig were stranded on a deserted island, would you eat the pig?
When I was last asked this question I asked the questioner, "What am I doing on the island? Why am I there with a pig? Did we row a boat there together or did the pig live there and I was visiting?" That shut the conversation down pretty quickly. A better response would have been, I'll eat whatever the pig has been eating, but this relies on the pig having survived on the island for a while. If we've arrived on the island together they may be nothing for either of us to eat, in which case we're both in trouble, but, no I'm not eating the pig.
A question that I've been asked only once, as far as I remember, is: would you eat meat if no one was watching? The easy answer to that one is no. When I went vegan no one was watching, since then my resolve has only strengthened. This is like being asked if I miss eating meat, which is something that I have been asked. I don't miss eating meat at all, the smell of meat is not tempting in any way, I don't ever want to eat meat again. Then there's the no one is watching part of the question. This suggests that you will only do the right thing, whatever that may mean in a given situation, if someone is there to see you. Does this mean that you are only vegan when other people are around and you hope that nobody ever looks in your freezer to see what you eat when you are alone? Do you not steal from shops because there are cameras and security guards? Do you not kill someone that you don't like because getting away with it would be impossible. I'm not vegan for other people, either to impress them or to appear superior. I'm vegan because I believe that no one should have to suffer or die for me to eat, to be able to wear clothes, to live, but also that it is healthier to not eat animals. For me, this includes making choices like not driving when I can walk, checking that a jumper isn't made form wool before buying it and reading ingredients on food labels, not buying things with animal products in the list.
Would you eat meat for £1,000,000? Nope. Maybe this question is easy for me because I have a choice. If I were, for example, a homeless vegan, no job, no money, no home and I were offered the money to eat a burger, my answer would most likely be different. The entire situation is hypothetical and not based in reality at all, why anyone be so interested in breaking my veganism that they would give me £1,000,000? What would they gain, I don't know, its all nuts.
Now for a really nutty question, if you were a survivor of a plane crash would you eat the people that died? Ok, so the plane has crashed and I'm stuck, at least for now. I've eaten all of the little packets of nuts and pretzels and now I'm hungry. I look around and right there are some people that didn't make it, what do I do? Assuming there is nothing else to eat, maybe we crashed on the side of a rocky mountain without even a blade of grass to eat, I'm guessing I'd make do with what was around me, if you know what I mean. Now taking this question to the next level, what about if you and a goat were the survivors of a plane crash would you eat the goat? This is me and the pig again, but, this time I know that we arrived together. Am I eating the goat, nope, me and my mate will enjoy our last days together, hopefully we're rescued and live happily ever after.
What are the weirdest hypothetical questions that you've ever asked, leave a comment or drop us an email with your stories.