Militant Vegans – why?

Every week, we have friends to dinner.  And every week, we go to them for dinner.  So what? I hear you say.  Well, the friends in question are vegetarians.

It’s not easy, but every week I manage to come up with a meal that we can all eat.  Usually, this means doing two separate main items – one meat, one not.
Conversely, my friends will cook meat for us when we go there.

We work around each other, as any decent people would.

Which is why I’m so annoyed at the militant vegans.
They choose not to consume animal products.  Fine.   That’s their choice, and I will support it. (By consume, I mean eat, use, or wear.)
But they also insist that nobody else should consume them either.

Why?

You have made a choice – but why do you think you have the right to force that choice on others?

I’ve seen the TV reports, I’ve read the news, and I’ve done my research.  I’ve heard the emotive terms you use, like slavery and rape.
I have cooked and eaten meat-free meals.  I respect the views of my friends, and try to accommodate them.  And I love animals.  Really, I do.  I have bottle-fed lambs with a grin on my face; I have watched, spellbound, as a calf was born;  I have known pet pigs.  Animals are wonderful things.

But I also love a nice steak, or a lamb chop.  Hunters chicken (chicken with cheese and bacon, basically) is a joy.  I like milk in my tea and coffee, I like cream on my cakes, and I enjoy leather shoes.

All of those are my choices.  And yes, I would still enjoy them if I was the one who did the killing – though I wouldn’t relish the act, and would want it to be quick, I am not a hypocrite, and am willing to do my own ‘dirty work’ if needed.

Respect my right to choose, and you can stop reading.  The rest of this post is aimed at those who cannot give that respect…

Now.  Reasons why your choice is illogical.

What do you expect us to eat?  The only choice is laboratory grown nutrient paste.

Yes, it IS.  Because you make the distinction between animal and vegetable is irrelevant.  I’ve read the counter arguments to this, and they really don’t hold water.

Plants are living things, too.  Plants have feelings.  They react to outside stimuli.  They procreate. They will even move, over time.  They can ‘think’ after a fashion, too.
So why is it okay to raise them in captivity, murder them, and consume their bodies, but not okay with animals?

Second, have you ever given a seconds thought to the repercussions should your argument succeed?

If you ‘win’, millions will die.  Without milk, eggs, cheese, meat, etc., everybody will be forced to eat plants.  By a rough calculation, plant products account for around 25% of our food chain.  Now, think for a second.  Where is the other 75% going to come from?
If we don’t consume animal life, as you want, there will not be enough food to go around.  Millions will starve.

Not your problem.  Better a human should suffer than an animal.  Right?

Which is where I start to laugh.

Because what will happen to the animals?  Without the financial incentive to keep them alive, farmers will kill them.
We can’t let them stay on the farms, because they would be consuming OUR food.
Why let them eat grass when the land could be used for crops?
Yes, there is scrubland that can’t be farmed – but the only way to utilise that for the released animals is by spending money on fences.  Will YOU pay for them?

Will you, personally, take responsibility for the welfare of all the animals that are no longer of use to us?
And that doesn’t just mean the ones that get released, it means their offspring, too, for eternity.

Or do you expect US to pay for YOUR conceits?  That’s good.  Starve us, strip us of clothing, make us drink our coffee black and have fry-ups made of bread, mushroom, and tomato (the only one of which I eat is the bread) and then make us pay for what you’ve taken away!

No, the only place you would find cows, sheep, chickens, etc. would be in a ZOO.

At one fell stroke, you would create a whole new line of endangered species – among which would be mankind.

If you have a solution, let me know.  But it has to be a solution that allows me and mine to enjoy our meals, while guaranteeing sufficient food for all and allowing the animals to live out their lives.  Oh, and you need to explain where the money will come from, and why the ones who pay will be happy to do so.

Somehow, I doubt that anybody has a workable solution, though.

One final point.
You chose to come here and read this.  You chose to keep reading it.  You have come into my space, which is the one place in the world where my opinions are what matter.
Please note, I did not force you to come here.   I did not, in any way, try to push my choice on you.

Because that is wrong.



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