Hi Bob, > Bob: > Was it the action or their feelings & intent about the action being considered. None of us have >the means, nor the right to presume that Ellie the Killer is not feeling mercy or compassion >when she delegates to an agent the death of some fellow creature. & if your killers or mine were > feeling mercy or compassion while they were slitting my throat, why would they be honored thereby? Mark: We often have feelings that we later discover to have been hypocritical. If someone thinks he is feeling compassion for you as he slits your throat, I would urge him to realize that his compassion is a lie, probably designed to justify his own actions. It's not that I feel that he is somehow "honored" by having this feeling, it's just that I want him to face what he is doing with honesty. He may kill you anyway, but he also may realize this isn't what he really wants to do. Though I don't equate killing an animal with killing a human (in spite of my apparently ill-chosen analogy of the ETs) I still think it is important to face the facts of the situation with honesty. Why? Because I hope the meat eater will see the "error of his ways"? No. The real reason is that we are all literally walking around in a trance, and in those rare moments when we really face the naked facts, including all of our warts and contradictions, we are out of the trance. Compared to this, our diet is really beside the point. Who was it the other day who urged the vegans and vegetarians to make themselves heard on this list? How come you didn't warn me I was walking into a buzzsaw? (Present company excepted, Bob!) Mark