Just because someone eats meat doesn't mean they don't care about animals and it sure as hell doesn't mean they're a bad person. My fiance and most of my family are all meat eaters & they're lovely people so such up please. I'm veggie and I'll cook meat with meals for anyone any day of the week because that's love, not judging someone based on their diet. Diets are extremely sensitive to a lot of people so we really need to be more mindful as a community and just be happy because someone is eating.
To be super clear here, If somebody consumes either the flesh, milk, eggs, honey or any other byproducts of the animals when it is possible and practicable to avoid doing so, then no, they do not care about animals in their actions. The same is true for any action which is paying for/supporting any form of animal exploitation.
You cannot both claim care for non human animals while also supporting and paying for their needless exploitation, abuse and slaughter when its at all avoidable. You cannot claim to care for those that you actively exploit, harm and slaughter. The notion that you can is just fundamentally oxymoronic. You either care for non human animals and are vegan i.e your doing your best as far as is possible and practicable to avoid animal exploitation. Which is something anyone with moral agency can do. Or you do not care for non human animals and choose to support said exploitation, abuse and slaughter. This reality may sound harsh, but we shouldn't be treating adults with moral agency with kiddy gloves here by pretending that its fine to claim to hold one moral position while acting in direct opposition to that moral position. Especially when those actions are paying for/supporting such horrific injustice.
“it sure as hell doesn’t mean they’re a bad person.”
Nobody is saying that you are automatically a bad person if you choose to support this injustice when its avoidable, most vegans weren't always vegan and unfortunately we live in a society where many people are not aware of the full extent of what they are paying for. Carnism is a deeply ingrained belief system which results in many otherwise good people committing deeply unethical and violent actions. People who would never kill an animal themselves pay for pigs to be burned inside out in gas chambers, male chicks to be ground up alive, baby animals to be bludgeoned to death, animals to be mutilated without pain relief, babies to be stolen from mothers and so on and so on. This doesn't make you a bad person, but if you do support/pay for this injustice when you can at all avoid doing so (which the vast majority can fully do) then yes, those actions are bad.
“I’m veggie and I’ll cook meat with meals for anyone any day of the week because that’s love,”
That's not love, that's actively supporting injustice and violence against the defenceless. I think you may view these actions as okay because assumedly, you consume eggs, honey, dairy etc, and support other forms of animal exploitation as you say your veggie, not vegan. This may be showing love towards other humans, but it sure as hell isn't showing love to the non human animals who's butchered flesh you are cooking. It is actively supporting the brutal exploitation and slaughter of defenceless animals. Would you be so happy to cook up the flesh of a butchered dog or cat for others? That must also be showing love then. It must also be showing love to attend your friends dogfighting ring. Or to skin up a fox your friend wants to make clothing from. All needless acts of violent animal exploitation done for personal pleasure, weather that be taste, or other forms of pleasure.
“not judging someone based on their diet.“
It seems like you still view the consumption of animal flesh, milk, eggs or honey as a personal dietary choice, It isn't since it stops being a matter of personal dietary choice when those most affected by said choices are other sentient beings being exploited and slaughtered as a result. And in the case of choosing to consume animal flesh, milk, eggs or honey when it’s possible and practicable to avoid doing so, it’s a fact that other sentient beings are being directly and needlessly victimized by being bred, kept captive, exploited, and brutally slaughtered for that choice. Peanut butter or marmite, a banana or apple, these are personal dietary choices. Choosing to abuse, oppress, and kill other sentient beings when it’s possible and practicable to avoid doing so, are not. So If you choose to consume these “products” when its at all avoidable, then yes, those dietary choices are absolutely rightfully open to moral judgment and advocacy from others on behalf of the victims of those choices.
“Diets are extremely sensitive to a lot of people so we really need to be more mindful as a community and just be happy because someone is eating. “
If we are talking about eating disorders then of course, that's another matter, and @acti-veg has a great article about veganism and eating disorders here. But anyone with moral agency should absolutely be doing their personal best “as far as is possible and practicable” to avoid violence and exploitation against other sentient beings. And if somebody who has the ability to avoid eating, say a pig flesh sandwich, chooses to buy and consume it then no I will not be happy because they are eating it. Just like I wouldn't be happy to see someone beating a dog or wearing a fur coat, or supporting any other form of injustice, be it towards non human or human animals. Convenience doesn't justify animals being brutally abused and slaughtered, and telling others to be “more mindful” of others choices to needlessly brutalise and slaughter others is simply bananas. We definitely need to be more mindful, we need to be more mindful of the victims of animal exploitation who are completely being erased in this OP.
~ Land of hope and glory (a documentary set in the UK)
~ Dominion (another documentary wet in Australia)
~ @acti-veg has an amazing new book out here which is free to download which I would highly recommend!
~ From Dr Melanie Joy
~ Testimonies from many former “humane” farmers here
~ Two videos on welfarism here and here.
~ Why go vegan instead of vegetarian?
