Quote Originally Posted by Burney View Post
But the point is that to do something about the one thing while demonstrably not doing something about the other is morally dubious to say the least. It is quite possible to - for instance - give up your mobile phone, not drive a car, not travel by aeroplane, refuse to transact with morally questionable businesses, etc, etc. However, those choices are likely to have negative professional and financial consequences, so most people eschew them.
To me, a vegan or vegetarian is someone who has decided to publicly announce themselves as a moral being in a world replete with injustice, suffering and misery and - rather than choosing to take a difficult stand - has chosen the easy one of just not eating animals. That strikes me as a fairly huge cop-out and tells me the person isn't actually serious about morality, merely posing.
Oh we can all have contempt for the overt posing/posturing/moral grand-standing aspect of veganism and vegetarianism. But from a purely utilitarian point of view, there is logic behind it all.

Quite simply, if we can all agree that the worst possible thing is for all sentient beings to experience the maximum suffering, then to reduce that suffering by any margin is a desirable outcome. If that can be achieved while being morally inconsistent, smug, experiencing cognitive dissonance or any number of other unattractive human traits, then it is still arguably worthwhile.