Why I am not a vegan

[anagogy]

A personal attack is when the person directs their comments AT someone in particular, and the comments are ABOUT THE PERSON, instead of about the topic.

If you go back and re-read all the meat threads, you will see that it is almost always the meat-eaters who make the PERSONAL comments ABOUT the vegetarians/vegans as PEOPLE, whereas the vegetarians/vegans' comments are about the TOPIC.

That is the difference.

I think commenting on, or pointing out, a particular style or mode of behavior of someone, is not exactly concomitant with personally attacking that person.  And that is the mostly what I've ever seen in those threads you refer to.  For example, if I said, "John Doe is acting crazy."  Is that a personal attack?  I wouldn't personally interpret it that way.  A person is not their behavior, it is simply an expression of the person.  Certainly, it says something about that person, and the person choosing to interpret it that way, but it doesn't necessarily define them as a individual.  Now if I said, "John Doe *is* a crazy person." That might actually constitute a personal attack, because I'm referring to him, the person, like it is his identity or something.

But like I said, I haven't personally seen many examples of that kind of attack.  I think most people take offense way too quickly (both sides of the argument -- I personally can't stand how "politically correct" everything seems like it has to be in today's world just to talk to someone before they cry foul).  I can argue very aggressively, but it doesn't mean I harbor a negative opinion about a person, I just make counterpoints to what I perceive as the same degree of intensity as the opposing viewpoint.  And I think that is true of a lot of people here.  Mirrors within mirrors.