The Hopeful Herbivore

So, I got in a couple debates about this: Meatless Mondays . Okay, it was on Facebook, so it was more snide remarks and disregard, followed by me being blocked, rather than an actual logical debate.. but I digress. There's a page on Facebook that calls themselves " The Abolitionist Approach to Animal Rights." And as it's Monday, they posted a picture about how nobody should ever endorse or advocate for Meatless Monday, because it gives the false impression that eating meat is worse than eating dairy or eggs. Let me say up front.. I get it. I'm passionate about this issue as well. I desperately wish that everyone would just go vegan. I wish we could outlaw factory farming. I wish a lot of things about animal welfare; and my behaviors and lobbying all match up with that. But I'm also a realist. The reality is that most vegans didn't suddenly become vegans. They started with Meatless Monday, Weekday Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Vegetarian, or some other name ...

In recent weeks, I've had a few discussions (both online and off), about the comparison between human life and all other living beings. Basically, I get a lot of flack for 'humanizing' animals. Yes, I mourn for them. I physically feel pangs of empathy for them. I think it is just as heartbreaking when they die, when they're abused, when they're separated from their young. I can't rationalize their existence in any other way. But I'm not humanizing them . I'm equalizing all . I realize that my view isn't necessarily the most popular one.. But I'm hoping that if I lay it all out in one post, it will be easier to understand where I'm coming from, even if one chooses to still not agree. At any rate, the discussions that came up in the last couple weeks were in relation to animal testing, the school shooting in Newtown, and then the President eating meat while stating how we need to address and reduce violence in our country. I know ...