On so many things, I’m always amazed at the ways people manage to rationalize away facts so that they’re not threatening. For example, in response to a request for clarification on how sugar can be considered not vegan, a reader writes to Jonathan Zasloff:
Some super-strict vegans will not use sugar if the activated charcoal used in the filtration process was or might have been made from bones. (To give some idea how far-removed it is from an actual animal, it’s kosher pareve.)
That’s a very interesting concept of far-removed. Kosher pareve only means the food contains no dairy or meat. Bone char is not meat. But it is not “far-removed” from an actual animal. It is a direct, immediate connection. If we were playing Six Degrees of Separation from an animal, bone char’s number is zero.
I choose veganism. You choose to be an omnivore, if you wish. Just don’t pretend that what you’re consuming isn’t directly from an animal. Be honest about your choice.
Link via Megan McArdle, as she contemplates going (temporarily) vegan.
Good point. I think some people are just so stuck in their thought patterns that they can’t stop to think for a moment and really consider things.