Ari Solomon has written a wonderful article for the Huffington Post entitled “Who You Callin’ Vegangelical?“. He takes a look at the way vegans are perceived by omnivores – as preachy and fanatical, for example. All vegans have encountered unfriendly meat-eaters who label us as crazy and try to condemn our lifestyle and/or try to make excuses for their consumption of animals by using poor arguments such as “I do care about animals, but as humans we’re meant to eat meat.” Um, no.

Solomon’s article really nails why omnivore’s delusions about “fanatical” vegans are false. I’m also very pleased that he targeted people who think that eating free-range or organic meat means they aren’t a part of the suffering faced by animals raised for food:

Now, before you start at me with some “humane meat” “happy meat” bullshit please take not that all animals, whether they are raised in the nastiest of factory farms or grass-fed, free-range, blah blah blah, are all sent to the same slaughterhouses. That’s right, your organic steer is being sent to the same hell as a downer cow and will meet the same ghastly end. If you are a “humane meat” consumer, please take a moment and meditate on the whole concept of humane killing… bloody, fearful, struggling, screaming, despairing humane killing. It’s never pretty and it certainly isn’t “humane.”

Well said. Companies that raise so-called “humane” meat are really pushing false pictures of how these animals are raised and killed onto consumers who probably do feel a little bad that their hunger is causing pain to other sentient animals. However, they still have the blinders on. My favorite thing about this article is that Solomon makes a point to portray vegans not as crazy radicals who are pushing their ideals onto others, but as conscientious consumers who are speaking for those that cannot. The easiest way to end the cruelty of animals raised for food is quite simple: education. Once people can no longer ignore what is going on behind the doors, they will be more likely to opt for a cruelty-free dinner plate.