Over the years I have appreciated the letters from Stewart and Teri David published in the Mountain Xpress. They have consistently articulated a deep respect and compassion for animals and advocated for a vegan diet that reflects that ethical concern. I was sorry to see publication of a letter in Mountain Xpress attacking Stewart David. He has long been a voice of conscience and compassion in our community and deserves our respect.
Clare Hanrahan
Asheville
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While I appreciate Clare’s sentiments and the free exchange of ideas in the Mountain Xpress, I beg to differ on the tone of Stewart David’s letters over the years, and boy-oh-boy if you stack them up there’s gotta be a bajillion of them. While free to eat whatever he wants and espouse the same for others, David and others use the same sanctimonious holier-than-thou tone in letter after letter, year after year, under the belief somehow that they have the moral high ground all carved out on the question of eating meat or not. I hate to break it to you, but there ain’t no moral high ground to be found on this one. Some humans are going to eat meat. Period. They might hunt it and shoot it, they might buy it from Perdue loaded with antibiotics, but they’re gonna do it. Abstract discussions about the energetics and environmental impacts of various diets are interesting and good to have, but the sheer pretense of the activist vegan sadly remains overwhelmingly underwhelming —- to all but a few activist vegans.