PETA Is Not the Enemy.

[athena]

172. That's too bad that your vegan friends are insensitive.

Not knowing any vegans, I can't say anything about them. My vegetarian friends were very sensitive about my choices when I was still an omnivore. My husband and I follow a totally plant-based diet, for the purposes of boycotting the factory farming industry and reducing our environmental footprint. We go out with omnivores all the time and don't have a problem if they eat meat. If they ask us why we don't eat animal products, we try to explain it to them as gently as possible (because it's hard to go into details when people are eating). However, I think it's important for omnivores to be sensitive, as well, and not make a big deal out of eating animals. It's kind of hard to watch someone eating a chicken when you have read a lot about the chicken-farming industry.

I do wish more people would reduce their consumption of animal products. It would reduce environmental degradation as well as the risk of a pandemic. I'm not sure why it's OK to be against smoking and SUVs, but not OK to be against the factory-farm industry. Why are we supposed to pretend that there is nothing wrong with supporting the factory-farm industry, and that it's perfectly OK to eat factory-farmed animal products?