your enraged outcry

Gonna need a source on that one.

I appreciate that you're making apologetics for animal agriculture, which seems to me to be the only "uninformed, aggressive righteousness" going on in this discussion, but I'll take the compliment.

In short, I don't care if the cows in question get birthday celebrations, deep tissue massages, or whatever non-harmful process you deem sufficient performed on them; they are slaves.

What "makes us non credible in the eyes of non vegetarians/vegans" is a willingness on their part to delude themselves into thinking any form of slavery is OK, or that because it's done to "lowly beasts" that it is not, in fact, slavery.

The point that vegans are trying to make is one that is agnostic of anything else: it is wrong to keep conscious beings in captivity and rape, torture, or experiment on them. If you think that point can be diluted, you're just as bad as carnists who chime in with their "what about, what about" hair-splitting.

Now, that being said, Mr. Animal Ag Apologist, can you show me a link of this flame process being performed on a human captive, against their will? I think if I saw that being done in a humane manner, you'll have won me over.