I really dislike "vegetarian for moral reasons".
Plants have feelings too.
They feel pain just like cows.
Further, you are denying an animal an existence where it allows itself to become food for humans. Completing a wonderful circle.
But, you do not wish to eat meat, so a cow will not be raised for you. No cows lives are extended because someone becomes a vegetarian. One less is born. Or worse, killed as a newborn.
Now, vegetarian is an appropriate diet for many people. (notable exceptions are women working on being mothers. You need lots of proteins for that.) There are many people who really don't need and don't want the heaviness that meat gives them.
Also, speaking from the other side, a human body doesn't really need much meat. A grown person needs really only about 8 ounces of meat a week.
The typical "american" diet is way to high in meat, and way to low in vegetables.
And, to all of those reading this, find out which diet works best for you. Listen to your body. It may be that you need to cleanse your body first, but when you get your body in tune, it will tell you what it wants. (seriously, you stop craving sugars after you clean up your body)
I didn't stop eating meat for health reasons, I did it for moral reasons, period. Now, while I think you're being facetious about the poor cow being denied a life for to be slaughtered for me, I have considered the idea that plants have some awareness and are certainly part of consciousness. Since I consider the sweetness of a fruit to be no accident, I must suppose that the plants that we eat are depending on us to bring consciousness into the physical world so that we can all exist together, (that "wonderful circle"?) and I'm for that, since I'm not ready to become a breatharian just yet, and I expect to be a conduit for consciousness to whirl into the world for a while longer here.
One could equally not give a damn about the cow and still be doing it for moral reasons, but simply be thinking at a system level, whereby it makes sense to reduce meat intake in order to dampen the effects of climate change, which could be entirely out of concern for other humans. There are complex sets of reasons that being veggie or reduced meat can be moralistic. Everyone has their own moral codes that make sense to them.
That's a good point too, just the expense of fresh water for livestock should be a concern for all water users on Earth. One of the points I had hoped to make here in this article was that I don't try to be more moral than others, and I certainly don't intend to try to convert anyone to my methods; my formula is to make the world only 1 better by improving myself, the only place that I have any authority or real responsibility.
I think also it's interesting to think about it from a psychology stance. If one is truly set upon changing society, and so changing other people's minds, I really don't think that taking a hardline radical stance is actually very effective. It tends to alienate you from the people whom you wish to convince, and establishes tribal like hostility. So actually being 100% vegan and beating everyone about the brow for being terrible immoral human beings for eating meat (something humans appear to have been doing for a long long time) will probably have the completely opposite than desired effect, simply making them see you as an enemy and motivate them to do the opposite of what you are trying to get them to do, thus delineating their tribal identity.
Conversely, your approach of gently gently and non-accusatory establishes zones of commonality, which is much more likely to motivate people to align with you, perhaps bringing the rest of their tribe with them in the process.
That is a good point, those tribal tendencies are likely to be a strong influence on peoples perceptions of new or different things. Food choices seem to often be founded on existing belief systems, so it's practically two different religions-- Veganism and Carnism. Vegans are at a disadvantage from the beginning because they have that specific label; the 'Vegans', while the Carnists are just 'everybody else'. I think that if I didn't already know what a vegan was, I would think it sounds like some kind of cult-- the name doesn't make me want to join! The similarities to religions are so acute, I don't dare try to push my particular faith on anyone.
Like you, I stopped eating meat (cold turkey ;-) a year ago mostly for moral reasons (animal suffering, mostly in North America).
However, I became (food) vegan, not just vegetarian.
Did you consider the suffering of milk cows and egg producing hens?
I do consider the suffering of dairy animals as I mentioned. Here in this article though, I was showing how there are little things that individuals can do to improve the world, using some examples from my own life. Teaching or trying to influence others is something that I also do, but to explain the formula that I use, I meant to stress that we are only in charge of our own selves, and we are really only able to change ourselves, and no one else. I've had to learn to accept that any change made to the world starts with me, and ends with me. In this article I looked at the bright side: just by eliminating meat from my diet made the world a little better. Could I do more by going full vegan? Yes, and eventually I'll find no use for dairy and eggs, but for this article I dared to dance with the religion of Carnism to make a point about how we individually can reduce suffering in the world, I definitely wasn't attempting to brag about how moral I am while I munched on a grilled cheese sandwich. It's why I spent a paragraph or two saying 'eat whatever you want, it's not my business...' because that wasn't meant to be the topic of this piece. If someone is inspired to change their diet to vegetarianism based on this writing, then I would see that as an improvement to the world, and if they go full vegan-- even better. It's the real reason that I shared this idea, to inspire others to do little things-- even if it's just letting a car into traffic or holding a door for someone- it's another way that I can help make the place nicer to live in.
"Cold Turkey" haha-- it wasn't too hard for me at first, I'd learned how to eat vegan at times when things like meat cost more money than I had. It gets tricky when I'm on the road traveling. I still haven't figured out how to eat on the road. I pack a lunch but it's never enough and not always what I want to eat when the time comes. Another banana or another peanut butter sandwich? Ugh. It's still worth it though!
Fair enough. Thank you for answering my comment.
And I totally agree with you that it is better to change your own behavior that to proselytize.