Why I am not a vegan

[Jade]

I feel less badly about cruelty to humans because of our collective culpability.

This right here is exactly what disturbs me about this thread. How about equality of compassion for all beings?

If we're talking about equal compassion across the board, then why aren't omnivores okay with eating humans? Dogs? Cats? Why are the same people who get upset about puppy mills the same people who will eat the remains of 20+ tortured animals in a week? I'm not calling you out specifically, but just framing what you've said that you directed at the vegans here in a way that I believe exposes some of the hypocrisy of your statement.

I'm pretty sure other than Diana's comment there has been very little of putting animals on pedestals above humans in this thread. In fact quite the contrary. Pretty sure the whole point is equal compassion for all beings. Diana may have some residual anger towards humans/herself for collective choices that have been made that she doesn't use animals to reflect, but don't we all??

And if you were talking about animals vs. vegetables, well, this one just doesn't fly for me. The day that you can pluck a ripe drumstick off of a chicken, which doesn't hinder the chicken in any way and in fact 2 legs grow back in its place and it continues to be a happy healthy chicken, while at the same time you are helping it propagate, that's the day that we can talk about how animals are as legitimate of a food source as plants. Doesn't mean I don't have compassion for them - in fact, the compassionate thing to do to a plant IS to harvest its fruit. If a plant fruits and drops its seeds on top of the parent plant, it has basically failed. Apples are bright red, sweet, and juicy, to draw animals to the fruit to help the species thrive. It's a symbiotic relationship instead of a predatory one.