How do you Justify consuming Animal Products?

[Scholar]

3 minutes ago, Derek White said:

Great, I agree ???

But OP was mixing spirituality with values so that’s why I was saying it.

I can get behind more humane ways of killing, sustainability and boycotting some animals all together.

I think a better way of promoting veganism is to introduce better vegetarian food and to reduce the population. It’s sort of like how raising people’s economic status is a better strategy than convincing people of not having babies for population control. 

But that is not promoting veganism. Veganism is a specific view coming from a specific value set. The value is an extention of identity towards animals, which means animals become part of the self construct. Veganism is then the view that it is wrong to exploit and use that part of self for personal gain. So veganism or stage green identity is not compatible with reducing animal cruelty or promoting better ways to holocaust animals. It is about the adoption of responsibility for our actions and the inclusion of animals into our circle of identity.

If you see a difference between a child, or a mentally handicapped person and an animal, you are still discriminatory in the same way a racist is and did not fully extend your identity. Imagine for someone who believes in human rights, or in other words someone who extended their identity to all humans, to say something like "Yeah, I guess the best way to end black slavery is to introduce better ways to enslave black people and more compassionate ways to treat them.".

This will seem absurd from the POV of a more evolved identity, much like the slavery argument seems absurd to you. The importance is the value change, not simply a superficial change in behaviour. This change goes to the core of your identity and how you view the world.

 

The best strategy to change behaviour will be meat replacements, like lab grown meat that is planned to be available commercially in the next few years. This will then change the fundamental way people view animals. But us as consciousness workers need to go beyond cultural, unconscious mechanism. Our work is in consciously developing our identities.

[Forestluv]

1 minute ago, Derek White said:

I think a better way of promoting veganism is to introduce better vegetarian food

In most developed countries, this has already happened. There are some amazing vegetarian foods available. I suppose we could do better in promoting awareness of this. Yet, part of the problem isn't simply having vegetarian options - there is a deeper mentality and identity going on that needs to be addressed.

For example, in the area I live - there is an identity of being "masculine" and a "real man". This includes things like fishing, drinking beer, hunting, eating meet, driving a truck etc. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked "why don't you eat meat?". This is not being asked out of curiosity. It is being asked like there is something wrong with me. It is like I am on trial and I need to prove myself as a man. This is a very different dynamic than having vegetarian options. This dynamic is about identity. By not eating meat, I am a threat to this identity - even if I don't say anything about vegetarianism. Simply not eating meat triggers a lot of people. When they approach me and want me to justify why I don't eat meat, I have actually tried saying "I have a rare allergy to eating meat". Here, they become relaxed and say "Oh, I'm sorry. That must be so hard". Yet it is not threatening in the least. Yet if I respond "I don't eat meat because I think it's healthier for myself, animals and the environment to be vegetarian", there is a defensive backlash and they will get defensive - even though I simply stated my own values and did not accuse them of anything. 

Not all meat eaters are like this in my area. I would say about 30% of meat eaters have this identity and defensiveness. For this group, offering great vegetarian and lab meat would do nothing. They don't care about the food or animals. They care about their identity. For example "I'm a masculine alpha male because I eat meat like lions". 

[Forestluv]

12 minutes ago, SgtPepper said:

 

@Serotoninluv If you include insects in your definition of meat, I'd say that covers all the basis. When I look up "animals that do not eat meat" on google, elephants are first one. Furthermore, googling elephants, google says they are strict herbivores, but it is possible to find them eating insects and here is another video of them eating fish.

For me, the threshold is sentience. I don't consider insects to be fully sentient beings, so I don't consider eating insects as "eating meat".

Using insects as examples or a rare example of a starving herbivore eating meat is a distraction. It is using fringe examples to justify one's own behavior. 

If you want to use the example of an elephant, I would gladly have humans to eat like elephants. That would mean that humans would never eat an animal other than fish, and on average, each human would eat about one fish per year. Like the average elephant diet, the human diet would be 99.99% vegan. . . That sounds awesome to me. 

The personal question is quite simple: Do you want to contribute to causing pain and suffering to sentient beings? All this other stuff is a distraction from facing this uncomfortable question. If you introspect deep enough, this question will get very uncomfortable. All these rationalizations and thought stories are distractions from facing this personal question. 

As I've said, I am not 100% vegan. Yet I understand how my behavior is contributing to the suffering of sentient beings. I have tried to reduce my impact, yet I am not 100% there yet. . . However, I don't rationalize this by giving examples of other animals eating insects and fish. I face the question of my impact directly and it gets very uncomfortable at times. Not everyone is willing to look at themself, their behavior and their impact on others. It's more comfortable to go into distrative rationalizations to avoid looking at the issue. 

[Scholar]

The fundamental problem here is that by creating an Ideal of High Consciosuness at a lower stage, like orange and green, it is very easy to get through the spiral in a very superficial and repressive way. This will lead to shadows, and shadows will inevitably make this work far more difficult.

Authentic expression is key, we cannot skip steps because we want to be "High Consciousness!". I feel like this wisdom is lacking in Leo's teachings, or atleast an appropriate emphasis on that. To be fair, Leo could not predict people developing like this, but now that it is happening, I hope to see some corrections in the way he teaches and clarifies some of this stuff.

[SgtPepper]

4 minutes ago, Shiva said:

Back in school when someone would say something like this my teacher always responded bluntly, "if everyone jumped off a cliff right now, would you do that too?"

It's not the best argument, thats true. Informally, I am just stating that eating meat is a biological act, practiced by animals.

I've already stated the best argument which is that plants do not cover all essential nutrients necessary to live an optimal life.

[Forestluv]

17 minutes ago, SgtPepper said:

It's not the best argument, thats true. Informally, I am just stating that eating meat is a biological act, practiced by animals.

I've already stated the best argument which is that plants do not cover all essential nutrients necessary to live an optimal life.

This is a strong argument for cave men that lived millions of years ago. However, it is a very weak argument for people that live in developed countries in the year 2020.

Eating meat is not a "biological act". You are creating that belief. Eating meat is not necessary for biological function. 

As well, the argument that plants do not cover all essential nutrients is very weak as well. It is very easy to create a meat-free diet that covers all essential nutrients. This is the year 2020, not the year 1820. 

Again, the question is whether I choose to contribute to the pain and suffering of sentient beings by eating meat, when I don't need to eat meat for my well-being. As I've said, I am not 100% vegan (I eat cheese). However, I face this uncomfortable reality directly, rather than making up distractions to avoid facing this question. I don't put my head in the sand. 

I've reduced my meat and animal product consumption by about 90%. That is progress. This is not an all or nothing scenario. I've someone is uncomfortable with contributing to the pain and suffering of animals, I would suggest taking action to reduce that impact (even if it is not 100% vegan). For example, I no longer drink milk. I actually like Rice Milk better than dairy milk. As well, there are some great vegetarian meats available. I've learned to enjoy veggie sausage better than regular sausage (which now tastes nasty to me). 

However, I still eat cheese and yogurt (as sparingly as I am able). If I was to say "I need to eat cheese and yogurt to get all my essential nutrients and have an optimal life", it would be a lame rationalization. Rather, I face it head on. I eat cheese and yogurt because I like eating cheese and yogurt. I realize this contributes to the pain and suffering of animals and that I don't need to eat cheese and yogurt, yet I am placing my desire to eat cheese and yogurt over the welfare of these animals. From my POV, that is an honest answer and has some integrity to it. Rationalizing my impact on animals by talking about how other animals eats insects is a lame avoidance of facing the impact of my behavior on others. 

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

PSA: You can get all 9 essential amino acids through plant sources, in large quantities. Plenty of gains can be made in the gym folks. Just buy a quality plant protein powder. I can give recommendations just PM me. 

[Scholar]

8 minutes ago, Serotoninluv said:

This is a strong argument for cave men that lived millions of years ago. However, it is a very weak argument for people that live in developed countries.

Eating meat is not a "biological act". You are creating that belief. Eating meat is not necessary for biological function. 

As well, the argument that plants do not cover all essential nutrients is very weak as well. It is very easy to create a meat-free diet that covers all essential nutrients. This is the year 2020, not the year 1820. 

Again, the question is whether I choose to contribute to the pain and suffering of sentient beings by eating meat, when I don't need to eat meat for my well-being. As I've said, I am not 100% vegan (I eat cheese). However, I face this uncomfortable reality directly, rather than making up distractions to avoid facing this question. I don't put my head in the sand. 

I've reduced my meat and animal product consumption by about 90%. That is progress. This is not an all or nothing scenario. I've someone is uncomfortable with contributing to the pain and suffering of animals, I would suggest taking action to reduce that impact (even if it is not 100% vegan). For example, I no longer drink milk. I actually like Rice Milk better than dairy milk. As well, there are some great vegetarian meats available. I've learned to enjoy veggie sausage better than regular sausage (which now tastes nasty to me). 

If you want to become more consistent with your values, transmute shame into courage and love:

 

 

Do not just look at the harm you are causing with the choices, do not focus on what you do not want to be, rather focus on what you want to be. Focus on that which you can do for your fellow brothers and sisters, the love and compassion you can extend to them. This is who you can become, it does take sacrifice, but becoming that will give you far more than any cheese and any convinience will give you.

Who do you want to be? The person who gives his little sister his chocolate to see her joy and share it with her, or the big brother who can't help but pick on his little sister? Sacrifice is a beautiful thing, it is where we find strength and courage. We all know the courage of a mother and father protecting her child, the deep purpose and meaning the derive from protecting and guarding their own.

Now imagine all these creatures were your children, what courage that would give you, how much meaning you would derrive from that. Notice the transformative potential of this. Love will give you far more than comfort and convenience ever will. And it will not just transform you, but those around you aswell. True joy is not found in having others serve you, it is found it serving others, in sacrificing your limited, temporary form for those who need it the most.

 

Joaquin is an excellent example of this. Notice how he focuses on our potential for goodness. He is suffering from the compassion he feels for those around him, but yet he seems more joyful than most of those who are hiding in their own limited identity.

This is the strength of Green. It is our compassion, our trust and courage in adopting responsibility for the suffering round us. It is in our vulnerability, our ability to self-sacrifice. This is what we want to become.

[SgtPepper]

47 minutes ago, Serotoninluv said:

For me, the threshold is sentience. I don't consider insects to be fully sentient beings, so I don't consider eating insects as "eating meat".

Using insects as examples or a rare example of a starving herbivore eating meat is a distraction. It is using fringe examples to justify one's own behavior. 

If you want to use the example of an elephant, I would gladly have humans to eat like elephants. That would mean that humans would never eat an animal other than fish, and on average, each human would eat about one fish per year. Like the average elephant diet, the human diet would be 99.99% vegan. . . That sounds awesome to me. 

I respect that definition of sentience and meat. I personally find plants & insects to be sentient creatures.

39 minutes ago, Serotoninluv said:

This is a strong argument for cave men that lived millions of years ago. However, it is a very weak argument for people that live in developed countries.

Eating meat is not a "biological act". You are creating that belief. Eating meat is not necessary for biological function. 

As well, the argument that plants do not cover all essential nutrients is very weak as well. It is very easy to create a meat-free diet that covers all essential nutrients. This is the year 2020, not the year 1820. 

Again, the question is whether I choose to contribute to the pain and suffering of sentient beings by eating meat, when I don't need to eat meat for my well-being. As I've said, I am not 100% vegan. However, I face this uncomfortable reality, rather than making up distractions to avoid facing this question. 

I was just suggesting all animals eat meat, if they can have it. Eating by itself is a biological act, it does not require any belief or thought. 

Even if I am to forsake all beliefs as a caveman, raw meat will most likely be more appetizing than a plate of grass when I am in starved state.

The claim that people do not need to eat animal products for their well-being is not factual for me. People do get physically sick on a 100% vegan diet - okay, so the solution is to eat more variety of plants, nuts, seeds, fruits, and to supplement. But I got a problem with receiving an important vitamin like b12 solely from a supplement because

1. Supplements are not FDA approved. 

2. Health experts recommend getting most if not all vitamins and minerals through food which makes sense to me from an intuitive standpoint. I take vitamin D3 as a supplement, but I still make sure to go outside and gets sunlight, and/or eat fish.

So to me, eating meat is necessary for biological function because I cannot get b12 naturally from plants, not to mention a host of other nutrients.

25 minutes ago, TrynaBeTurquoise said:

PSA: You can get all 9 essential amino acids through plant sources, in large quantities. Plenty of gains can be made in the gym folks. Just buy a quality plant protein powder. I can give recommendations just PM me. 

I agree with the essential amino acids. I still consume plants, potatoes, beans, seeds, and fruits. 

14 minutes ago, Shiva said:

Actually they do, you can look it up.

I agree that certain nutrients are more critical on a purely vegan than on a mixed diet. However, they can be easily covered if you just do a little bit of research and incorporate certain foods.

I sometimes enter my meals in a cronometer to check the nutritional value and usually I meet the requirements fairly easily.

Otherwise I should be suffering after eating plant-based for such a long time. So, it's definitely possible.

What about B12? and Vitamin A since animal sourced Vitamin A is different than plant forms.

Edited March 9, 2020 by SgtPepper

[SgtPepper]

Not every source of animal products come from factory farms:

 

 

I personally believe we could evolve to more humane ways of raising animals. I think it could start by making companies accountable for their treatment of animals and by enforcing transparency in order to have people care about how the animals are treated which will force companies to adapt. Even if it means the public consumes less meat, or meat becomes a more expensive product.

Edited March 9, 2020 by SgtPepper

[Scholar]

1 minute ago, SgtPepper said:

Not every source of animal products come from factory farms:

 

 

I personally believe we could evolve to more humane ways of raising animals. I think it could start by making companies accountable for their treatment of animals and by enforcing transparency in order to have people care about how the animals are treated which will force companies to adapt.

Can you show footage of the way all of these animals are slaughtered?

[Forestluv]

24 minutes ago, SgtPepper said:

I personally find plants & insects to be sentient creatures.

You can rationalize it through any terms you want. I am referring to beings that have a nervous system complex enough to feel pain. That is the standard use of "sentient" in spirituality. To reduce the term to include plants in disingenuous and a rationalization.

I don't understand why you are unable to acknowledge that your diet contributes to the pain of animals that can experience pain. As I said, I eat cheese and yogurt on occasion and I acknowledge this contributes to the pain experience by animals. Rationalizing this as "well, plants are sentient to? What am I suppose to do?". For goodness sake, take some responsibility for your behavior and the impact it has on other animals. 

24 minutes ago, SgtPepper said:

Even if I am to forsake all beliefs as a caveman, raw meat will most likely be more appetizing than a plate of grass when I am in starved state.

Who cares? Eating babies is more appetizing to a cannibal. 

Just acknowledge that you like eating meat and place that as a higher priority than the welfare of the animals it impacts. I'm leading by example: I eat cheese and yogurt, because I like eating cheese and yogurt and I place this as a higher priority right now than the welfare of the animals this impacts. 

24 minutes ago, SgtPepper said:

Eating by itself is a biological act, it does not require any belief or thought. 

Ok. Then eating babies is a biological act that does not require any belief or thought. Let's go out and eat babies.

I'm not vegan, yet I face these issues head on. Eating meat is a weak argument. I've gone through 100s of rationalizations in my mind. They all collapse. 

24 minutes ago, SgtPepper said:

But I got a problem with receiving an important vitamin like b12 solely from a supplement because

1. Supplements are not FDA approved. 

2. Health experts recommend getting most if not all vitamins and minerals through food which makes sense to me from an intuitive standpoint. I take vitamin D3 as a supplement, but I still make sure to go outside and gets sunlight, or eat fish.

So to me, eating meat is necessary for biological function because I cannot get b12 naturally from plants, not to mention a host of other nutrients. 

What about B12? and Vitamin A since animal sourced Vitamin A is different than plant forms.

In developed countries, many food products (like cereal) are fortified with vitamin B12 and these are FDA approved. One does not need to eat meat as a source of vitamin B12. 

The other arguments are ones of convenience. I have used this myself. Sometimes, it takes a little more effort to meet all vitamin intakes through a vegetarian diet. I have done this myself. I have chosen to eat cheese and yogurt at times for convenience. Yet again, this boils down to. . . I am placing my own minor convenience over the well-being of the pain it causes to the animals. I think it's important to acknowledge this. It's amazing how people twist themselves into all sorts of knots rather than acknowledge this. 

In today's society, eating meat and animal products contributes to causing pain to animals that experience pain. To me, all the arguments used to justify this is trivial and I'm saying that as someone who eats animal products and is contributing to the pain suffered by animals. 

As well, I acknowledge that I still see animals as "the other". They are not yet included in my inner circle of who deserves not to be given pain and consumed. Humans are in this inner circle. I would not eat a human baby. Pets are within this inner circle. I would not eat someone's pet dog. However, not all animals are included in this inner circle. I still eat some animal products. 

 

 

[SgtPepper]

 

I know some people will use a traffic cone too and pull the head out from the smaller hole to give the chicken a feeling of being hugged.

 

These methods are way more humane!

[Chakra Lion]

Thank you for the many replies. Although this post wasn’t aimed at pushing a certain diet or debating the levels of Spiral Dynamics, a lot of great thoughts came to me while reading through the opinions. I understand that my own comments came across as rude and one sided, so I apologize and fully accept to get banned for insulting @Arcangelo. I should always keep my heart and mind open, and show unlimited compassion and love for all beings.
Regardless of our differences, I think the quote below speaks to most of us. Love you all! 

“May all that have life be delivered from suffering.” Buddha

[Roy]

So many triggered stage green vegans in here, this thread is a classic and should be posted in the green examples mega-thread.

You are creating your own suffering. You need to learn and practice acceptance.

Accept the reality that in nature animals consume other animals to survive. Accept that humans are animals and participate in this reality. Accept that humanity is not at the place where they can give up most meat consumption, otherwise they would.

You are not raising humanities consciousness by proselytizing and demonizing those who haven't realized their destructive ways and adopted your own. You are making them emotionally reactive (like yourself when you get mad at THEM) and entrenching them deeper into their own ignorance and delay the entire process further.

Accept where they are at and meat (heh) them at their level with compassion, understanding, and love.

 

Edited March 9, 2020 by Roy

[Forestluv]

I'll again preface that i am not vegan. I am not demonizing non-vegans as I myself am not a vegan.

39 minutes ago, Roy said:

Accept the reality that in nature animals consume other animals to survive. Accept that humans are animals and participate in this reality. Accept that humanity is not at the place where they can give up most meat consumption, otherwise they would.

The reality is not that in nature all animals consume other animals to survive. Some animals eat other animals to survive. As well, humans are not just another animal. Eating other animals to survive is not necessary for humans in developed countries and humans have the capacity for rational thinking and to be aware of this. It is an option. People choose to eat other animals because they prefer eating other animals, convenience and their identity, not because they need to do so to physically survive. What is trying to survive is the egoic identity of being a meat eater, not the survival of the human. 

I agree that humans are not in a place where they are able to give up meat consumption, but I don't see it due to a need to survive. I see it more as preference and identification. It is a form of humanism that is highly biased. And it's not just with eating meat. It is also about how humans treat animals like pets, animal rights and human relationships with the environment. Species-centered humanism. It is also seen in religion and spirituality. Notice how god created humans in his own imagine. And in spirituality - notice how all spiritual constructs of enlightenment is accessible to only humans. Notice how all "enlightened" teachers are humans teaching human constructs. Very few humans have gone trans-human. Very few humans are in tune that a babbling brook is on the same level as a spiritual teacher as adyashanti, sadhguru etc. In some ways, the babbling brook is at a higher level. Yet to humans this will seem absurd because they perceive through a human-biased filter.  

Humanism is all around us. 99.9999% of people are identified as a human and will perceive the world through the lens of humanism. Everything is contextualized in terms of how this effects humans. Identification to being human is a conscious level higher than identification as a person, yet it is still relatively low compared to what is available. 

39 minutes ago, Roy said:

So many triggered stage green vegans in here, this thread is a classic and should be posted in the green examples mega-thread.

Accept where they are at and meat (heh) them at their level with compassion, understanding, and love.

This has both truth and untruth. If I see a man physically abusing a child in a park, I can accept where he is at. I can see that he is abusing the child due to his own conditioning. He was probably abused as a child himself and is acting out.  I can see that he cannot help himself as he beats the child. I can have compassion, understanding and love for him. I don't need to demonize him. However. . . does this mean I should not intervene? Should I allow him to continue to physically beat the child with a baseball bat? . . . There is a way to intervene without judging or demonizing him. Yet, sitting by idly allows him to continue beating the child and that makes me complicit in that child abuse. 

This again comes down to humanism. If human babies were being factory farmed to be eaten by humans and the babies experience abusive conditions and pain prior to the killing and eating of the babies, I doubt you would have the same position. I doubt you would say "So many triggered human baby lovers here. This a good example for the green mega-thread". . . There is a trans-human turquoise view. 

 

[Scholar]

25 minutes ago, Roy said:

You are making them emotionally reactive (like yourself when you get mad at THEM) and entrenching them deeper into their own ignorance and delay the entire process further

Says the person who starts his contribution with:

25 minutes ago, Roy said:

So many triggered stage green vegans in here, this thread is a classic and should be posted in the green examples mega-thread.

You are creating your own suffering. You need to learn and practice acceptance.

I guess slavery was ended by having accepted and shown compassion towards the slavors?

You have a very unrealistic view on how consciousness is developing in the collective. Veganism is on the rise, it is becoming more and more self-evident to more and more people. And before you know it people like you will seem as biggoted as the common racist who says that the "negros" need to be put back into their place.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Scholar

[Roy]

@Serotoninluv You are correct, but my statement wasn't absolute and all-inclusive. I am very particular about my language!

My point is that most people, and even those in developed countries are just not truly conscious of the option they have not to eat meat, or that it's really unnecessary (at the cost of suffering for the animals). No technically speaking they do not need to eat meat to survive, and of course you see that as well because you have a certain level of awareness. Apart of their identity is the idea that they need meat to survive, it doesn't matter to them if it's not compatible with reality. This becomes patently obvious anecdotally if you try and talk to anybody about this and try to "convert" them to some form of vegetarianism or veganism. I've had a co-worker literally admit that yes what goes on in factories is terrible and you don't need it but he still won't give meat up lol. This is deeper than rationality, it's a part of culture and identity.

You need to exercise patience and realize that the overwhelming majority of people will need to come to that level of awareness on their own. They need to have that moment that everything "clicks" for them. Shoving slaughterhouse videos and statistics in their face and screaming won't accomplish anything. When you do that you are attacking their literal identity. The results that come from that are painfully predictable.

I disagree with you about, I would say most people not a small portion, in developed countries actually DO believe they need to eat animals to survive. Otherwise vegetarians/vegans wouldn't only make up a pathetic 2-5%? of the population.

You are totally on the dot about it human-centered bias playing out in all this though.

It's just irrational behavior at the bottom of it. The same reason people smoke cigarettes to the grave. It just "feels good", that's all that matters.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Roy

[Roy]

@Scholar My view is incredibly realistic. I'm just an objective observer pointing out the reality that yours and others emotional investment in the situation doesn't help raise the consciousness of mankind. You just turn it into a mud slinging contest.

It doesn't help you (you are salty and aggressively reacting to people who aren't toeing YOUR line of thought)

It doesn't help the people who still eat meat (they take it as you talking down to them, and refuse to change as a result)

Also that comparison is hilariously inept and shows exactly how much of a bad actor you are in this. I've been vegetarian for MANY years. I shouldn't even have to fucking say this because it shouldn't be relevant lol, but you make it relevant because this is far more of an egoic thing for you than you're even aware of.

Acceptance isn't about being passive and complacent about terrible things that happen in the world. It's about being realistic and taking the world as it is instead of neurotically trying to change it to what YOU think it should be.

Stage Green vegans desperately need to learn this if they want to accomplish anything. This will help tremendously so please give it a chance;

If you really wanted to raise collective consciousness effectively you'd realize a good place to start is to accept where people are at instead of treating them as "less than" by posting a bunch of shitty memes and crying like a little girl calling people "bigoted".

You'll catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

P.S. I didn't use the word "triggered" here as petty satire. It's just happened to be perfectly applicable.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Roy

[Forestluv]

1 hour ago, Roy said:

@Serotoninluv 

I disagree about on thing though, I would say most people in developed countries actually DO believe they need to eat animals to survive, and even the ones that don't STILL participate in it because the identity is so ingrained and they haven't had that "click" moment. Otherwise vegetarians/vegans wouldn't only make up only what 2-5% of the population?

A recent worldwide study of carnism attitudes concluded: "psychologists were able to confirm that meat eating is associated with attitudes that endorse hierarchical structures." The most common answer why they eat meat was "because it tastes good". Thus, hierarchical species structures and taste preference is what primarily drives meat eating, not a belief that I need to eat meat to survive. 

The journal appetite is not a vegan propaganda journal.  It is a peer-reviewed psychology journal, with a respectable 5 year impact factor of 4.077. This would put the journal at the lower end of the top tier of journals in the field. 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-09-international-survey-psychology-meat-consumption.html

I agree that social conscious awareness is important and that coming across as too aggressive is counter-productive. Yet to me, what you suggest is too far on the timid side and is also counter-productive. Imo, you are placing humans at a higher level on a hierarchy (similar to what the survey showed). If we were talking about factory farming human babies, raising them in abusive, painful environments, slitting their throats and BarBQing human baby limbs for our weekend party, I think you would likely have a different orientation. What if these were your family members getting killed, roasted and eaten because "they taste good". Would you really have the same orientation? Would you call people trying to protect your family members from being killed and eaten "green people getting triggered"? . . Consider the deeper biases taking place here.

If we were talking about cannibalism of human babies, my hunch is you would not be so focused on criticizing those wanting to protect the babies from their suffering, being killed and eaten. I don't think you would be saying these are "triggered greens" and we should take a gentle approach and love those who are torturing and eating human babies because they taste good. I don't think you would have a gentle approach for those that think "I need to eat human babies to survive". My hunch is you would likely have a greater sense of urgency in trying to educate and protect babies from factory farms. My hunch is that you wouldn't be so critical of people trying to protect human babies from their suffering, being killed and consumed. My impression is that you are placing humans higher up on a hierarchy, like 99.9999% of humans do. Perhaps I am wrong. Yet I doubt it. 

This isn't just at a green level. There is also a trans-human Turquoise level to consider. As much as you can criticize those attached to a biased personal identification, you can be criticized for being attached to a biased human identification. And this comes from a "me" that is not vegan. Yet there is awareness of my personal and human bias. If someone tried to kill, cook and eat my sister's baby, I would fight like hell to stop it. And I certainly wouldn't criticize someone trying to help me protect my sister's baby from being killed and eaten. Yet I won't do the same for a non-human animal. I don't care as much about non-humans that I don't know - this is due to conditioning and personal / human biases. Yet I am aware of this, which allows for the expansion and growth toward a greater unconditional love.  

Ime, the best way to get introduced to turquoise level trans-human awareness is through psychedelics. There is no way I could have done it without psychedelics.