Why are you a vegetarian?
The term vegetarian can be defined as:
A person who does not eat or does not believe in eating meat, fish, fowl, or, in some cases, any food derived from animals, as eggs or cheese, but subsists on vegetables, fruits, nuts, grain, etc.
Most people these days who call themselves vegetarians consume some kind of animal product such as milk, cheese, eggs, honey, leather, fur, silk, fish, and chickens.
When I meet a vegetarian my first question is “Why are you a vegetarian?”
The answers most people give generally have something to do with their health, the planet’s health, and or they are an “animal lover”.
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My next question is “Do you consume any kind of animal products?”
This question usually generates a fairly long list.
I’m always saddened when they say they use animals being that it is fairly well documented that animal use by humans can be deadly.
Bad for the planet, and most importantly not a way any of us would want to be “loved”.
Regardless of what kind of animal use they partake in I explain that since we can easily survive without using animals, it is wrong to use them.
They usually come back with something they’ve heard from other “animal advocates” such as vegetarianism is a good first step.
No one dies for milk, cheese, and eggs, or any other of a bazillion different ways they have been armed to enable their continued exploitation of animals all the while feeling like they’re doing “some good”.
At this point I explain to them that what they’ve heard—for example how no one dies for milk, cheese, and eggs—is literally dead wrong.
Some folks are shocked by what I have to say, claiming they’ve never heard about such things while others get mad and suggest I’m lying or “grossly inflating the truth”.
The beauty of these conversations is that the vegetarian walks away with the idea that any form of animal use is unwarranted exploitation that needs to be abolished.
Moreover, they also learn the best way to help end animal exploitation is by going vegan and inspiring others to do the same.
The point here is that there are at the very least 70 billion animals every year enslaved, tortured, and murdered mostly because “they taste good” .
Counting on us to unashamedly tell their story to every one we know so that one day their senseless exploitation and oppression will be legally over.
Think, then Go Vegan!