[mistersquid]

Striving for ethical and compassionate behavior toward animals need not be and should not be an all or nothing prospect. For example, a vegetarian who wears leather may very well cause less harm to animals than an omnivore who wears leather.

Restricting one's consumption to vegetables can promote animal welfare despite engaging in other practices that harm animals.

Demoralizing people who strive to promote animal welfare by pointing out their contradictory behavior is less desirable, to my mind, than encouraging people to do as much as they can.

Why not reconsider your own views and encourage such people to promote animal welfare in all the ways they could rather than demoralizing them to give up altogether?

EDIT: spelling, rewrite final sentence, formatting.

[notpc]

I don't think you get me. I'm not concerned about animal welfare and I don't think other people should be either. It is all the way down on my list of concerns, right below the least important human concern.

[mistersquid]

Actually, I do think I get you.

I'm asking you to reconsider your position. I understand you're unlikely to do so.

One thing you should consider is the very strong possibility that "the least important human concern" is not distinct from what you consider to be "animal welfare".

Living beings on this planet are probably deeply intertwined and interdependent in ways we poorly understand. For one example, take the growing research around gut flora and microbiomes.

As individual beings, we are crucially dependent on bacteria that, in fact, extend the boundaries of what we consider to be our bodies far beyond what we have understood to be the case for millennia.

Separating the human condition from "animal welfare" is a grave mistake. For your own good, I think you should reconsider your position regarding the care of non-human organisms.

[notpc]

You're conflating two totally separate things. The treatment of circus and farm animals is completely unrelated to supporting biodiversity.

[mistersquid]

The thread starts with the treatment of circus animals, but we (your digression) moved quite a bit beyond that with vegetarianism and leather.

[notpc]

"circus and farm animals"

[macintux]

That's unfortunate on many levels.