First, a brief confession: I love animals. All my life, I raised and took care of the dogs that became inseparable parts of my family. When these pets grew old and passed away, we cried and mourned them because they had become that very integral part of the family. Today, in our humble little kibbutz home in the Zvulun Valley, my family adopted a cute and cuddly little feral cat that made our porch its home, and for more than two years she has been with us. We named her Sarah. We also raise a small organic garden just outside our home, cultivating cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, artichokes, watermelons, corn, melons and anything else we can possible grow so that my family doesn't have to ingest the sundry pesticides sprayed on the produce sold in supermarkets. But even with our fondness for eating organic, fresh and healthy, we neither have the time nor interest in manufacturing cheeses or raising fowl to produce fresh eggs. Everyday, we consume and digest meat products -- beef, lamb, poultry, fish and anything else nature provides. If the vegans and vegetarians out there want to eat something imitating meat, which is as tasty as plastic and has the chewy consistency of a shoe sole, it's their right and I respect that. But they have no right to call me a "murderer" simply because I love lamb and beef, and they have no right to force on me "healthy initiatives" such as Meatless Mondays, and they certainly have no right to patronize me or other meat lovers, or accuse us of causing suffering among the countless calves, cows, chickens and lambs that provide sustenance to billions of people daily worldwide. The violent, callous campaigns launched by radical vegans, such as persecuting meat lovers wherever they be, chanting slogans such as "Meat is Murder" while pointing fingers against anybody who thinks differently, dyeing public fountains red to simulate bubbling pools of blood, producing over-the-top displays in public spaces, even in front of children -- is that really okay? Enough! It's not. The spreading trend to go vegan is also stimulating an intensified violent rhetoric against anybody who is considered "outside our camp." Vegans' delegitimization of anybody who is not on their side has encouraged physical violence, too, not just verbal. I've already seen just how vegan guru Gary Yourofsky launched a vituperative verbal and physical attack against somebody who disputed his cause. I reckon that the use of public spaces, which are common ground, to spread veganism and to delegitimize meat-afficiandos while being violent and vandalizing is essentially physical violence. I'm sure most vegans and especially vegetarians disagree with the use of such tactics and violent displays to represent the vegan cause. But, dear vegans, do us a favor, leave us in peace and quiet, let us enjoy our entrecote steaks, and desist from accusing us of criminal consumption.
Not every meat eater is a killer
מערכת ישראל היום
מערכת "ישראל היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
