Why I am not a vegan

[Monica]

So implying someone is acting zealotous (as omnivores in this thread have implied) is mean, but implying someone is basically equivalent to being a murderer (as vegans in this thread have implied) because they eat meat isn't mean?  Don't you see how that interpretation is a tad bit hypocritical?

For the record, I have never called any meat-eater a murderer. I have used the term murder only in analogies, usually in response to people saying that animals chose to be tortured and killed. My analogy was to point out that this logic doesn't work, because humans choose (on some level) to be raped and murdered too, but that doesn't mean it's ok for STO entities to murder and rape humans, right?

The reason I have never said that animals are being murdered is that the term murder usually refers to the illegal killing of humans only. Soldiers kill other humans in war, but that isn't murder, in the legal sense. There is a broader definition of murder that does indeed apply to the killing of animals:

5. to kill or slaughter inhumanly or barbarously.

from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/murder?s=t

So, actually, I could say that 'meat' animals are being murdered and it would be accurate. Nevertheless, I have avoided using that term because 'the illegal killing of a human' is the more common definition.

I have, however, used the terms torture, rape, and kill in direct reference to animals, and I do mean those literally. Dairy cows are repeatedly raped, literally. The farmer puts on a plastic glove and literally sticks his arm all the way up her vagina, to artificially inseminate her. Rape means sexual violation. The farmer doesn't have to put his own penis in her vagina for it to be rape. He is violating her, and that is rape.

As soon as her calf is born, he taken away, and put in a tiny, dark stall, and kept anemic, all to make his flesh taste more tender. That's called veal. The milk that his mother's body produced to feed him is, instead, taken from her and fed to humans instead. Then the process is repeated. Dairy calves have to have babies in order to produce milk, so they are kept perpetually pregnant or lactating.

So yes, cows are literally raped. And, factory-farmed cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys are literally tortured for most of their lives. Those lucky enough to be raised on 'humane' farms aren't tortured, but many of them are still mistreated, and all of them are still killed against their will. Former farmers and ranchers have testified that there is No such thing as 'humane' meat.

These are all FACTS. None of these facts have ever been stated in the form of 'meat eaters are murderers and rapists OF ANIMALS' but that is the logical implication, obviously.

Notice that I specifically said OF ANIMALS. No one has ever stated or even implied that meat-eaters are murdering or raping humans. Only animals. So why is anyone offended? We're only talking about animals here. Animals don't matter, right? So why not murder and rape them? Why get offended if someone implies that that is what's happening, when animals are raised and killed for meat and dairy? After all, it is literally TRUE, so what's the big deal?

Here's the key though: If it is OK to rape, kill and eat animals, since they are 'just 2D' then why would it be offensive to say that one is murdering and raping animals?

I mean really, think about it. The meat-eaters have been arguing that it's ok to eat meat because animals are just like plants, just 2D. Some have said they aren't sentient, others have said it's ok to rape, torture, kill and eat them because they 'chose' it, etc. So if those things are true, then what's the big deal? Why would anyone be offended if we simply say it like it is?

So on the one hand, the meat-eaters are arguing that it's ok to rape, torture, and kill animals, but then on the other hand they get offended if we use those words? If animals are just lowly 2D entities, like blades of grass, then why does it matter?

You can't have it both ways. You can't, on the one hand, argue that animals are the same as lettuces, and then on the other, be offended if we imply that meat-eaters are murdering and raping animals. Would you be offended if we said you were murdering and raping lettuces? No, that would be absurd! But if lettuces and cows are exactly the same, then what's the big deal how we describe the process of turning them into 'food'?

I invite you to think about that.

Why do you interpret it as being mean?  Why are you choosing to feel bad over what was said?  Do you think their intent was to be mean to you?

I don't feel bad at all about what was said. It bothered me in the early days, but I quit letting it bother me years ago. But there is a big difference: Many of the meat-eaters have repeatedly attacked US as people, with various insults regarding us personally, whereas we haven't done that to any of you.

We have merely stated the FACTS about the process of how animals get turned into meat and dairy. They don't do so willingly. It's a bloody mess. It's extremely cruel and violent. Those are facts. Interpret those words as you wish, but they're facts.

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