Confederation and meat consumption

[Diana]

But isn't that the exact paradoxical situation we're in, here at the forum - that both are true? What Diana pointed to, I believe, is that people who haven't made the choice to be vegan feel like they are being accused, being called 'murderers' and 'animal slaughterers' without anyone having ever called them that, just by the nature of a vegan being present, or pointing out that animals have to be slaughtered in order to be eaten, and how this usually is being done.

This is correct. I have tried for many years to explain this, in varying ways. 

To be fair and understanding, I do see how those consuming meat/dairy/eggs can interpret food animal advocacy personally. Being offended at it is another thing. But if I posted the ill effects of sleeping with a cell phone next to one's head, and a reader here always slept with a cell phone next to his or her head, I doubt there would be the same level of misinterpretation of posting such information.

This is an emotion-packed issue, which indicates to me that it is worth canvassing. There is obviously a lot of catalyst involved. And of course, we all have the choice to deal with catalyst or not, and to deal with it in any way we choose.

... We just know that animals are equally sentient, and feel pain and suffer at least equally, if not more, because they lack the possibility of consciously explaining pain and suffering, of actively reaching for aid and relief, and of doing inner work aiming at reaching equanimity with whatever arises, even pain.

I have tried to articulate this many times. Thank you for so eloquently describing a concept I have struggled to convey.