I'm a vegetarian. Personally, I don't believe in eating animals or being cruel to them. I agree with some of the ancient philosophers that not eating meat is a way for us to live up to our highest potential as human beings.
I subscribe to an anti-cruelty organization's Facebook feed. Yesterday, there were pictures of two men who had been beaten to death in country X by a lynch mob for having stolen a dog to make dog soup. The photos showed them after they had died and before they had died, as the crowd was beating them with pieces of wood, their faces bloodied, their strength to ward off the blows sapping.
Underneath, there were tens of comments were like this: "An eye for an eye!" "Now you know how it feels!" "Serves them right!"
I was sorry to see those comments. No matter how much I value animals' lives, I value human lives more. Eating animals is an ingrained part of many human cultures. Most people simply have no conception how or why it might not be a good choice. Besides, even when we know, living up to our highest potential as humans isn't exactly easy.
It should be pointed out, moreover, that the crowd hadn't beaten them to death for killing a dog. It had beaten them to death for stealing a dog that the owner himself was going to slaughter for soup. Is there justice when the death penalty is given for theft?
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