I can understand and empathize with FG's sentiments regarding cruelty to animals. Just this week, I saw three drivers deliberately hit small animals - a baby opposum, a baby skunk, and a small aquatic turtle. I could do nothing to save them!
I can honestly say I "hate" such people. But, on that same road, I met a kind human being, who helped me guide two gaggle of Canadian Geese to safety. Both sets of parents were frantically trying to find a way off the road, to get to the water beyond the fence. Each had a brood of about 8 goslings with them. The babies were panicking; the parents were trying to keep them together, as they were running in every direction ... I herded one set to the side. Just as I was about to try to help the other set, I could hear a truck coming down the road. I was frantic, thinking that this driver would run them (and possibly me!) down. Instead, the driver slowed down, turned on his hazard lights, and helped me guide the other set to safety. It was such a relief to see both sets of parents quietly tending to their babies beside the water!
So, although there is a lot of cruelty, it was reassuring to find another decent human being, who didn't slam his vehicle through them! FG, not all people are bad, so it is best not to generalize! (After all, you're human, and you're a nice guy!) I admire your courage to speak up for the animals .... they have no voice but ours!
While I deplore cruelty to animals, I do eat meat! However, I prefer to buy it from a small family farm, where I know the animals are treated humanely. The meat is healthier because the animals are fed a natural diet; live in uncrowded conditions; and are not stressed the way their counterparts in huge Agri-Corporations are. They go through a natural cycle of life, give birth and stay with their young; graze and live stress free lives, until they are slaughtered. Their life ends right there, but it is done quickly and humanely.
Being a vegetarian is a personal choice. I myself eat very little meat. The meat in the supermarkets is cheap, because the methods used by the Agri-Corporations keep the overhead down. It costs the family farmers more to raise the healthier meat. If people insisted on higher quality meat, and ate less of it, and had to pay more for it, there would be less waste. And fewer animals would be slaughtered.
Some vegans are very extreme (and pretentious), while others are truly animal lovers and feel it is wrong to eat meat and contribute to cruelty. In addressing what BT said, I agree that animal testing of cosmetics is useless and unnecessary. In addition, most of it is repetitive. Medical research is also frequently repetitive, and it is often unreliable.
Thalidamide was found to be "safe" when tested on animals, but countless infants were born with no arms and legs due to this "safe", animal-tested drug!
Science has advanced, but not far enough. They have to find better, more reliable methods of testing ... a rat is not a human being! neither is a rabbit, or dog, etc!
