Nieft / Secola said:
> It sounds like the USA is a quite different scene than Europe as
regards  militant vegans. Several popular books promote the nutritional,
ethical,  and spiritual superiority of veganism, and a cult has grown up
around the  ideation, which at times seems to be of such a size as to be almost
> "mainstream". (snip) Since militant vegans are so ethically superior
> and so much gentler than the unconverted, they can define cruelty
and  violence in anyway they care to and then apply it to others while
ignoring  critics of their own behavior, or calling them  clouded/perveted from
> cooked/animal foods, and charging them as violent and unethical.
While I appreciate and agree with your basic premise of leaving them be, it
may be  that you don't "fully appreciate" how it is in the USA.

Kirt, have you reconsidered your position against hyperbole?  You
make it sound like USA is crawling with vegans.  Or are most of the
vegans in America hanging out in San Marcos?  I don't know ANY
vegans personally (that is, in "real" life, as opposed to E-life).  I've
met two before in my entire (considerable  ;-)) life, and both were
quite nonmilitant and nonproselytizing about it.  Perhaps you are
self-selecting acquaintances by meeting people through
organizations and functions with a dietary focus.  I draw friends and
acquaintances from the ranks of co-workers, neighbors, relatives, in
other words, more of a "general population."

Cheerio,
Martha