Doug Henwood wrote:
> Gordon Fitch wrote:
>
> >The people who were busted in the ruins of Esperanza a few
> >nights ago are the very same vegans some of you have been
> >putting down and are still putting down as redolent of Nazi
> >ideology.
The objection (and the comparison with the Nazis) is a very narrow one: It is an objection to making vegetarianism a political principle. As a political principle it can only triumph through totalitarian means. It brings to politics the same bloodthirstiness that the Trinity brought to theology. This is the usual result of any attempt to impose an abstract moralism on society as a whole. There were many martyrs in defense of the trinity. I have as little respect for martyrs in the cause of vegetarianism as I have for martyrs in the cause of the trinity.
And incidentally -- the very realistic thesis that cruelty to animals should be resisted is endlessly confused by moralistic vegetarians. I have worked with many vegetarians quite happily -- but they were all vegetarians who chose that diet as a personal choice, not as a political principle or ethical proposition.
Carrol