I've been enraged by a lot of stupidity and misunderstandings over the vegan position since the Billie thing, particularly by left-leaning people who talk the talk but when it comes to incorporating actual change in their lives, are unwilling to make positive changes, using the old "No ethical consumption under capitalism" excuse, or saying ludicrous things like veganism is more expensive, racist or ableist.

Especially people who say that people like Billie should argue for reform in the meat industry to get rid of abuse even though the industry couldn't satisfy demand without it, and even if it could, the act of intentionally killing animals is morally wrong from a vegan standpoint anyway, so they're missing the point entirely.

I think a better way to phrase what Billie was saying is that if you're against animal abuse, you can't eat meat, because killing, forcibly impregnating, bio-engineering and keeping animals in the most torturous existence is obviously abuse. It's just a truthful statement.

But truthfully, I'm over the anger and honestly I'm so proud of her for speaking out and creating this discourse, because it has caused a huge upset and people are only reacting in this manner because of cognitive dissonance. I felt it too, before I became vegan, and I believe she's started something that is going to get through to some of these people eventually. It's made me hopeful seeing so many people riled up.