I used to like meat, too. For years, in fact, I ate McDonald’s chicken nuggets in guilt, knowing full well the chickens’ beaks were seared off because they go insane and would otherwise peck each other to death in maniacal stress.

Eventually I realized what we all know when we’re talking about something everyone agrees is wrong — pleasure isn’t an excuse for evil. We can all reasonably discern that child rapists enjoy the hobby very much, but no one uses that to justify it. So why is pleasure a defense now?

I’m frequently told we should spend time and resources on humans first. Even if that’s true, being vegan demands nothing extra of us. A Google search on dietary requirements and alternatives requires a few minutes, and otherwise life is virtually identical. In the U.S. you can find any dish in vegan form, from barbecue riblets to chocolate cake. Some items are pricey, but eating cheap is very feasible.

Perhaps the most common explanation for an omnivorous diet is history: Humans have been eating animals for thousands of years. This is true. Humans have been doing a lot of things for thousands of years. In fact, slavery, rape, murder, genocide, racism, caste systems and taxation without representation all have a long history as a socially acceptable part of human society. The idea that common custom is somehow self-justifying is a natural fallacy. Practices must be defended, even if they are done every day. Unfortunately, people tend to follow common practice and attempt to rationalize it ad hoc.

Toward the end of a discussion people often ask, “What about plants?” The charge is that the carrots and wheat suffer too, and so we are left with no choice but to cause suffering. My first response to this is always to make sure they’re not kidding. And I say this sincerely, because if someone were to make such a point in any other context, the absurdity would negate serious discussion. Imagine City Council is trying to establish how to deal with an animal cruelty law concerning treatment of dogs left outside, and the mayor pipes up:

“Well, we mutilate trees all the time. We even have a department that specializes in cutting off their branches. That’s living tissue, and yet we don’t pay any attention.”

To be fair, it is true that studies have found that plants can sense injury. But this is not the same as suffering, which is a conscious being’s feeling of displeasure in response to physical, mental or emotional pain. Your car also can sense injury, deploying your air bags. Is this a reason to think we should be careful not to cause pain to our cars?

This list is far from complete, but my choice of responses is very deliberate: They are demonstrably ridiculous to anyone willing to exercise the least bit of scrutiny. But they exist because, unlike more popular movements like ending prejudice and war (very important endeavors), most people don’t criticize our idiocy because everyone would rather have excuses to continue accepted practice rather than deviate in the name of logic and ethics, which offends those bent on ignoring such concepts. Rarely is there someone willing to engage silly arguments for eating meat as if they had made a comment about ethnic minorities.

When we read history, we can’t believe anyone opposed women’s suffrage, civil rights, or environmental protection. We wonder why more people didn’t do something sooner, when solidarity was needed most.

Drew Robert Winter is a State News guest columnist and journalism and English senior. He is also president of Students Promoting Animal Rights, or SPAR. Reach him at winterdr@msu.edu: winterdr@msu.edu.