Getting ethical

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When we’re young, who authorises what we do and how we think and what we eat? Kids follow adults, and they give the same advice they were given as youngsters, based on the principle of ‘Mum knows best’ and ‘Doctor knows best’.
Youth rebels, but the pleasure instinct is so predominant that over food choices there isn’t likely to be many changes made ... unless tradition is rejected on philosophical grounds. If that trumps pleasure then there’s a basis from which our own more ethical decisions can be made.
I think the philosophy behind veganism comes out of a deep enough instinct to rule out animal foods. It won’t tell us what to eat but it will tell us what NOT to.
From a plant-based platform, underscored by a non-violent approach to everything else we do, food choices become more straight forward. By outlining what NOT to eat vegans don’t usually become obese or develop ill health from their diet - rubbish food and fast food is filtered out. By avoiding rich snacks, cakes and confections, along with meat itself, the body isn’t exposed to the saturated fats, cholesterol, high salt and sugar contents so characteristic of animal foods.
Although we might miss out on fashion gear such as leather goods, wool, silk and fur, we aren’t lured by so much expensive merchandise. Our feet might get wet from wearing fabric shoes or in the cold weather we may have to wear a few more layers of cotton, and that might be inconvenient, but when you think of the suffering we save the animals - the loss of the sheep’s own woollen coat or the cow’s own skin.
For omnivores life is made messy from taking part in the business of the Animal Industry. If you feel ashamed of abattoirs and cages and barbed wire you can break free of it all by becoming vegan. Our own instinctive compassion is the best ethical guide here - if what we buy hurts animals we have no justification for buying it in the first place?