I don't know what you mean by crusading and religious like intolerance. Michael, consider the issue of projection here. While for you firmly advocating for veganism might have stemmed from a place of some sort of superiority complex, this is not the case for me, nor for I believe most vegans out there. I personally do this out of compassion, and when I get emotional, it is out of compassion. It is not because I want to make myself feel superior to others, when I talk down to people in terms of this moral problem, it will be in the same way you would talk down to someone who pays for children to be tortured and killed. When we are talking about health, we have to have a holistic picture of health. Human health and enjoyment is important, but so is that of any other creature. Their health should be as much concern to us, if we view them as an extention of our selves, as that of our children.   Whenever there is a new extention of self, a change in societal behavior requires moralistic attitudes. Sure, you could have called the abolitionists crusaders, you could have pointed to them and judged their religious-like intolerance in the name of moral superiority. All of this you could have done, and from your very point of view, it must have been valid to do so. But who would this have helped? Who would it have helped if I had told the soldiers who were fighting the nazi's that they were showing religious-like intolerance and were crusading for the sake of moral superiority? How would this have helped anyone? Please consider this question deeply Michael. Some vegans might be crusading and might be showing religious-like intolerance in the name of moral superiority. But then, what would you describe yourself us? Someone who is deliberately, in fully conscious of the consequences of his actions, paying for his own brothers and sisters to be subjugated, to be treated like property, to be raped, enslaved and murdered, all for his own comfort. Michael,
Let us say that refusing to pay for the enslavement and killing of your brothers and sisters makes you more intolerant. What is the answer to this? Is it to go back to paying for the enslavement and killing of your brothers and sisters, or is it fixing the deeper issue, the intolerance itself? My issue here is not simply your behavior, but your very perception of what animals are. They are your brothers and sisters, they are literally like mentally handicapped people. They are not different whatsoever, other than in bodyshape. They are children. But you cannot see this, and this is why you look at those who are so disturbed by their suffering in the way you do.   People who hunt serial killers, rapists and murderers are crusading and religious like, in the name of moral superiority, in your own eyes. But consider that they do what they do, that their judgment is so harsh, precisely because they have so much compassion for those who are suffering. If you do not recognize, you will not understand them. The world will change infront of your eyes, and the increasing sensitivity of people on this earth you will confuse for lack of sensitivity.   Simply ask yourself this, if it was humans in place of the animals, how would that make you feel. How would you look at people who oppose this? What would you be calling them?   The issue of veganism is a moralistic one, a crusade, because we need to a establish a new moral standard. For this to happen, it can only happen if this is taken seriously. And if it is taken seriously, it will be inevitably emotional. We must be moralistic for our brothers and sisters, because that's just how society evolves. Apathy will not create change. And radical change is needed, for the sake ourselves and all of our brothers and sisters. At some point, we must firmly establish: "No, I will not pay for this. This behavior should not be tolerated.", as we did with slavery in the past. It is precisely because morality is imaginary, that it is so vital that we create it.