This seems like an argument for avoiding meat when dining in company, but not necessarily an argument for avoiding meat in general. Eating meat at home doesn’t prevent other people from asking why you’re not eating meat. True, it would be dishonest to claim to be a vegetarian if you ate meat privately, but it seems one could follow this strategy and yet not actually claim to be vegetarian. I suppose this depends somewhat on which conversational gambits one uses.
It’s much more compelling by comparison, especially when backed up with the fact that the person at issue actually does care about all other beings, including animals (even if s/he doesn’t believe veganism is the most effective possible way of reducing suffering).
This seems like an argument for avoiding meat when dining in company, but not necessarily an argument for avoiding meat in general. Eating meat at home doesn’t prevent other people from asking why you’re not eating meat. True, it would be dishonest to claim to be a vegetarian if you ate meat privately, but it seems one could follow this strategy and yet not actually claim to be vegetarian. I suppose this depends somewhat on which conversational gambits one uses.
Lying to people about what you do is never a sustainable strategy.
And saying ‘I don’t eat meat in front of other people so I can have conversations about animal welfare’ is not that compelling!
Right, which is why I said “one could follow this strategy and yet not actually claim to be vegetarian”.
Yes, you probably shouldn’t say that. But
‘I don’t eat meat so I can have conversations about animal welfare’
is also not that compelling!
It’s much more compelling by comparison, especially when backed up with the fact that the person at issue actually does care about all other beings, including animals (even if s/he doesn’t believe veganism is the most effective possible way of reducing suffering).