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