I was hoping you would get some good answers, too!

I raised the issue of plants dying, too, on other forum a while back, and this vegan - who was always going on and on about veganism being the quick path to spiritual development and spiritual this and spiritual that - went off on me that I couldn't possibly be serious and I was being dishonest and didn't I see there was a difference between a calf and a carrot and plants don't have central nervous system. So just because we don't recognize the possible mechanism by which plants feel pain (There is no doubt they do react to adversity, is there? I remember reading a long, long time ago about experiments along these lines.) does that mean they don't? The only "ethical position" I see in not eating a being just because it's biology is similar to yours is narcissism.

The other thing I often hear from vegans is that they are against the abysmal way animals are raised commercially. Agreed. But, it seems to me that if they put their energy into supporting alternate, more humane ways of raising animals, that honored them as beings, the present abuses would clear up much more quickly (besides which I think there would be a LOT more support for that position - and IMHO omnivorism is healthier for most people). Tweet