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I was part of the great hippy back-to-the-land movement of the Whole Earth Cataloge, Foxfire days in the early 70s. As part of that, I learned small stock animal husbandry from my wonderfully grounded, Mexican immigrant Grandfather in law. This led to a flock of Cornish Cross chicks, destined for the fry pan.
Half way though the butchering process I decided I liked eggs better than fried chicken, which led to a decade as a vegetarian, more or less.
What finally drove me away from the varying degrees of vegetarianism was the fundamentalist mind set of so many who follow that path. (Well.. that and the fact that so many "vegetarians" are really horrible cooks.) This attitude rings out clearly in many of the letters denouncing this essay.
Living on a small farm, on the subsistence income of a musician, has changed me into what I'd like to think is a pragmatist. I love my garden vegetables, I love my goats, I love my chickens, but everything has a time and a purpose. Domesticated animals would not even exist if it wasn't for their utility - both living (eggs, meat, weed & pest control) and after their death (meat).
We don't all have to adhere to an urban dwelling vegan fundamentalist's world view, and, I submit, the world would be an awfully dour, bleak place should we all follow that path. Does this make me a callous killer of my "pets", or merely a person who has found a certain peace in taking responsibility for the animals that die so that I may live? I would submit that it's the latter.
Nobody... not even you rabid, fundamentalist vegans, go through life without accumulating some debt to the other living things that surround you. To denounce those who don't adhere to whatever artificially strict standards you may or may not actually impose on yourselves is to make yourselves cartoon character ready parodies of your supposely high, holy lifestyles. And that, plainly, is fundamentalism. We have enough of that already, thank you.
