When Vegans won't Compromise - the cost of a moral hardline.

This post made me want to rant so here goes:

I dont like the word 'moral' in any sense since its too biblical. What i mean by that is that its used to make someone feel like they are doing something wrong even though they are not since right or wrong comes down to each individual.

Is it morally wrong for me to pick up a 100 dollar bill from the ground and put it in my wallet? I did not go out an rob someone while in the process mentally scarring them. I simply picked up something that no longer belonged to anyone.

Or is it morally wrong for me to kill a home intruder? No. Would I feel bad? No. Does it make me a psycho? No. Its simply the way I view right or wrong. But if I killed a dude that was in no way a danger to me I would feel in the wrong because there was no purpose to it.

When it comes to eating meat, right or wrong doesnt even matter since by nature we are meat eaters. This isnt some sort of excuse a meat eater uses to justify his actions, its simply a norm, not just a social norm, but a natural one. I eat meat because its tasty and provides more of the nutrients im looking for in smaller quantities then say, if i ate grains and veggies to meet a protein goal for example.

If i had the right to run onto a field and kill my own cow, drag it back to a bathtub and cut it into steaks I would, but thats not the world we live in, so I go to the store and buy my cow parts. I dont care how the cow was treated before hand because my purpose is to eat it, and I do not care for its feelings at that point. Am i bad? once again, no. I'm just a living person.

Vegans are at the other end of the spectrum, they 'care' for my prey. From what I see, vegans care for the meat, while vegetarians just avoid it due to dietary choices. To me you're all just trying to belong in your own sub society of people. Vegans are not born by nature they are made through societal nurture. A kid grows up loving puppies and teddy bears and horsies. Goes to school and is taught that killing is wrong. Sees a film about chickens getting slaughtered by a guy in a white suit, then all of a sudden their mentality switches to "why did mommy feed me that poor chicken?"

You can say you are empathetic to the creatures but thats once again, in my opinion, bullshit. You just want to portray yourself in the image you created for yourself, as some super caring individual. I would guess you vegans dont feel bad when an ant is stepped on, or when a mosquito is squished due to their insignificance. If you do, you are trying really hard to care where that caring feeling doesnt even exist. Like the top comment guy posting about laborers working on Iphones and still buying Iphones, he makes a great point about the hypocrisy. It is 'wrong' but we just do not care. Why should my effective method of killing an animal be judged morally when the end result is the same, to turn into poop.

To wrap it up, if you dont like meat, dont eat it, just dont sit there fooling yourself into thinking you care about an animal you never met and that has no affect on you personally. Just like the millions of people who die every year that you dont care about either.

TLDR: Caring about my food's feelings is relatable to caring about what kind of shoes you will wear to impress your friends tomorrow night.

(im drunk and will answer any and all comments)

/r/philosophy Thread Parent Link - opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com