I would almost argue that at no level is it okay to kill an animal for consumption, unless there is absolutely no alternative. Yes meat is healthy and provides benefits not found in one other food, but you can [and should] be eating combinations of the other foods meat replaces anyway. The American diet is awful.
Agreed. I was thinking more about the question, and what it comes down to is this: I do my best to minimize unnecessary death and suffering, as far as is practical and possible.
So iago, I was walking around my campus and someone was handing out a pamphlet about animal awareness, which my boss at work saw and we got into a discussion about it. What do you think of the tactic of showing sad or dirty animals or dead ones as a means for convincing people to stop eating meat, etc? I'm personally not a fan of it simply because it's underhanded and designed to draw out an emotoinal pitying reaction instead of making a personal rationalize their own beliefs and consciously rethink everything.. but as a vegan and somewhat staunch animal rights person, I'm curious on your take.
I don't know. The whole concept of eating meat is insane to me, now that I look at it from the outside. The only way people can possibly do it is:
a) Denial; that is, don't think about what you're eating, abstract it away, etc;, or
b) Be a serial-killer style personality.
I mean, eating meat seems totally insane to me.
<edit> Sorry, somebody at work walked up behind me, so I just hit 'submit'
To continue, for that reason, I think the effectiveness is questionable. On one hand, making people face reality is the only way to really make a difference. On the other, it's like telling an alcoholic not to drink -- people aren't going to face reality until they're ready, and they'll come up with some kind of a defense mechanism (be it humour, denial, etc.) to deal with it. For that reason, I think it's ineffective.
I think the best thing I can do as a vegan is to eat what I eat, and be educated. People ask me a lot of questions, or make fun of me in a good natured way, and I always have a decent response that they can generally understand. I think that helps more than anything -- even if they don't become vegan tomorrow, it helps them questions their decisions.