A Mixed Farmer's Response to an Appalling Anti-Vegan Post

Not long ago, I read a social media post.  It was distasteful, but I didn't pay it much mind.  A couple of days ago, however, one of my social media friends re-posted it and tagged me in the post.  Of course, I got blamed for the atrocious content of the post, which upset others of my friends, so now I must take the time to write a response.  Here it is.

The Offending Post

The post is unfortunate for a number of reasons, which I will outline here.

1. All vegans are attacked, when only a few need to be addressed.

While I am not against veganism itself, I do not generally appreciate the harsh criticism of animal activists who claim that animal agriculture is ruining the planet, our health, and everything else and promote a vegan lifestyle as a safer, healthier, environmentally friendly alternative.  I believe the above social media post is meant to address the arguments of such activists, but instead it unduly attacks all those who choose to be vegans.  I absolutely cannot condone any post that paints a large group of people in an unsavory light, as this one does.

2. Crop farmers are attacked.

Since when is it appropriate to show support for one portion of agriculture by attacking another?  Are we seriously trying to defend livestock farmers by saying, "Oh yeah, well those crop farmers are so much worse!"  Or, to quote the post, "Farmers routinely unleash an arsenal of agricultural weaponry upon unquestionably sentient 'pests'...come harvest time, combines and harvesters unavoidably shred millions of self-aware critters."  Really?  Why are we demonizing our neighbours?  And if I want to use this argument, I am demonizing myself as a crop farmer to justify myself as a beef farmer.  How ridiculous!

Besides, the harvest of crops does not always necessitate the shredding of critters.  For example, straight cut headers and stripper headers allow grains to be harvested in a manner which leaves the stalks still standing in the fields.  The critters that run about on the ground are therefore left intact.

3. Livestock farmers are made to look bad.

I have often found that those who are least deserving of respect are those who refuse to show respect.  This post gives the impression of being written from a livestock farmer's point of view.  How does such a disrespectful post make livestock farmers look any better?  It makes us look childish, petulant, and hard-hearted.  That won't help our image.

4. The arguments are unhelpful and easy to destroy.

To prove this point, allow me to give an example of a conversation that might occur.

Animal Activist (A1): Animal agriculture is cruel.  We should rid the world of animal agriculture and all go vegan!
Anti-Vegan Activist (A2): Harvesting crops also  kills animals!  You're horrible people, too!
A1: We don't purposely kill them like you do, so there!
A2: Well you kill more!
A1: Are you sure?  I picked [X vegetable] with my own hands and I bought [Y vegetable] from my friend at the farmer's market who hand picks everything, and my bread is made with wheat that I watched being harvested with a straight cut header, which was lifted high enough to avoid picking up rodents!  What have you to say to that?!

It's like watching two children argue, but the point is that I just destroyed the main damning argument of the entire post in 5 lines.  How on earth does that help anything?

This absurd post obstructs constructive conversation, fails to mount any defensible argument, and does nothing to acknowledge and improve on any of the shortcomings that actually do need to be addressed by the livestock industries.