Part 2: Vegetarians - Since when are animal excretions plant-based foods?

So, if you are a vegetarian for ethical reasons, chances are you have been exposed to the horrors of factory farmed dairy cows and hens at some point. In the age of internet access and message boards, it's unlikely that anyone participating can escape discussions that include these facts. Yet, there remains a significant number of self-proclaimed ethical vegetarians online (who have been "vegetarians" for years) that continue to consume dairy and eggs. Somehow the compassion stops short -and whatever factor triggered their initial objection to slaughtering animals for flesh, is put aside in order to ignore the suffering and slaughter of milk and egg-producing animals.

I find that very strange.

Because once I understood that dairy cows and egg-laying hens suffer in much worse conditions for longer periods of time, only to be slaughtered when they are no longer "productive", any social obstacles, inconvenience, habits and addictions became immediately irrelevant. There was no way I was going to be part of a system that tortured and killed animals. Period. That was my moral baseline, without compromise for any perceived personal inconvenience.

Now I'm not saying there isn't a natural rationalization defense that kicks in for most people who have been brainwashed from birth to accept "societal norms", when faced with contrary information. But once you work through that, and discover what you're supporting when you purchase dairy and eggs, I can't see how people can continue justifying their decisions - when they proclaim to be against harming or killing animals for food.

I think it's great that some people consume much less animal products than they once did. But what I don't understand is when that is as far as their compassion will go. What stops most people from progressing to the total elimination of animal products? Why do they stop midway?

Whenever people try to hide their animal-product meals from me, perhaps mentioning that just my witnessing their behavior makes them feel guilty, I remind them that it has nothing to do with me - that it's between them, and the animals. The animals are the only ones they have to answer to. If they can't convince animals they should willingly suffer and die for their tastebuds, they shouldn't be paying someone to torture and kill them on their behalf.

It really is that simple. And "vegetarians", especially, should get that.