There’s no point being a moral vegetarian unless you’re prepared to be vegan

[aveline161]

If you care about animal welfare/ dislike the idea of animals dying for food, you should acknowledge the horrors of the dairy industry and go vegan

Oh rubbish.
That's like saying that athletes should only bother if they can break world records.
Just let people do what they can. Surely vegans would prefer people to be vegetarian than omnivores? So why try to say veggies aren't doing it well enough?

It's harm reduction. Surely morally its better to not eat meat but eat dairy than to eat meat and dairy.

I agree op. Was thinking this just the other day.

OP makes me want to go buy some cream.

Isn’t that like saying ‘I can’t/won’t give up absolutely every single thing which is harmful to the environment and therefore I won’t make any changes at all’

There's no point in recycling unless you bring your rubbish home to put in your recycling instead of a rubbish bin.

There's no point in using a reusable coffee cup if you occasionally still go to Starbucks.

There's no point in trying to eat healthily if you ever have a bar of chocolate.

OR everyone is trying their best.

This is the second thread weve had about this recently.
I dont eat meat. I limit my dairy intake. I have seen game changers I have seen dairy is scary. But we all need to make the steps we can to adjust.

Being a judgy pants about this isnt going to help the cause though op

I'm not a vegetarian/vegan but I think if someone is a vegetarian rather than a vegan its still better than nothing. They could have health reasons why they can't go fully vegan (eg, allergic to nuts/soy/pulses)

If you are vegan you should avoid food containing palm oil in that case.

Well that’s technically true, but people are not technical things.

You're right OP, they should just say "fuck it" and grill a steak.

That way vegans can be the most moral ones of all!

Seriously though, not one of my vegan friends thinks this way because it's totally counterproductive.

This

I'm a vegetarian who feels guilty about not being a vegan but isn't, so I am biased on this! But I do very much believe that it's always better to do something than nothing, and your attitude very quickly turns into the perfect becoming the enemy of the good.

In theory yes, but life isn’t black and white is it? And surely eating less animal products all round is still a good thing?
Not to mention not everyone can sustain a vegan diet for health reasons. It’s not really as simple as you say.

I agree. Someone once chirped at me for eating meat but the let slip she occasionally has Mcdo.

It's all or nothing. You're either in or your out. You have no moral superiority.

Agree completely

Dairy takes mothers from babies and leads to so much death.

Baby chicks are ground up alive for eggs and mayo.

That's spot on, Notness.

"Baby chicks are ground up alive for eggs and mayo"

How? - Mayo is made from eggs not chickens

It's an interesting one. If you were to make decisions about eating animals and animal products from the perspective of avoiding suffering, one could argue that you cause less suffering by eating, say, a steak once per month than an egg every day. Farmed chickens have horrible lives. And of course, anyone who has looked into the dairy industry in any detail will know it's far crueller than the beef industry.

It's all or nothing. You're either in or your out.

Except that’s not true at all is it?

YANBU op and I say that as a vegetarian myself.

I’m fully aware that I’m still contributing to animal cruelty by consuming eggs and dairy products. I’ve tried going vegan several times but don’t have the will power. That’s a failing on my part.

Nobody is 'faultless' unless they live naked on a mountain top, drinking stream water (and then what if you swallowed an insect that landed in the water?).

My point is we are all hypocrites in some way as none of us can avoid any form of animal cruelty, from the leather on our car trim, to the ants we might kill by moving our washing line pole an inch.

I am a veggie of more than 30 years (vegan for one) I just do what I can and live by my own 'code' I can't stand these "gotchas" OP. You haven't caught anyone out.

YABU.

Bollocks. I do understand your argument to a point, but being vegan is far more complicated. Its a very restrictive diet and if people can't/don't want to do it but are vegetarian, then why should they be judged?

@aggitatedstate male chicks are a by product of the egg Industry and are sometime disposed of by being ground up alive.