Don't ever tell me not to step on a bug. "You're no better than that bug. It has just as much right to exist as you do!!"
Shut up. It does not. Everything that lives, lives because of the death of something else. This is unfortunate. I'll admit that, but let's be realistic. Everytime you take in air, you are killing something. The only way for humans to stop killing, is to not exist. Not just to die, but not exist, or have ever existed because of the creatures who would perish if we were not here.
I don't like killing things. I won't kill a bug, except for a roach, because I can't stand them. But even then I won't unless they are in my house. But don't ever tell me that I can't kill something. I eat meat. If I don't eat it, I get sick. If I do eat it, I am still anemic. I will never not be so. But when I was vegetarian, I became very sick, everything lives at the death of something else. Your misery becomes someone else's happiness.
The last time someone gave me crap for eating meat, it was at my own house. They were lucky I only own four plates. It would have been interesting to see the expression on their face as I smashed it and my Chik (that's right, I wasn't even eating meat) nuggets into their face. It was also unfortunate that they were not my guest, so I couldn't even kick them out.
The point is, just because I openly kill things to live, doesn't make me a bad person. People who are vegan are to be respected for their discipline and considered blessed that they are able to live that way healthily. But militant bastards who go around condemning people who choose a different path than theirs are no better than bible thumping assholes who go over the head of their God and condemn others.
You don't see animals doing this, this separation from nature. These militants maintain that we shouldn't eat animals because we are animals. Actually, there is no logic in this. Because we are animals, we have license to ingest other animals.
Premise one: Animals eat other animals.
Premise two: We do not ascribe morality to animals when they kill other animals to eat them.
Premise three: Human beings are animals.
Conclusion: Human beings should not be morally judged for eating other animals.
This is not to say that the meat industry is not inflicting pain, pointless pain, upon animals. And it shouldn't be, that is wrong. But that is where the point of morality ends. And you can't maintain that because humans recognize pain in others and understand the concept of mortality, they should not cause it in others. But this is again separating humans, making them seem morally superior. Morality is a contrived human concept, animals do not accept it as theirs.
So, in extolling the virtues of a meat-free lifestyle, do not use the equality premise, as it is a faulty premise. At least not with me, or I will bash you in the head with a plate until you are dead. And then I will eat you. Yum, corn fed vegans.