Veganism has its own propaganda. The claims that it is better are always cherry picked to prove the point. I am not interested in arguing with what is essentially a religious movement.

Right, so here’s where the conversation really breaks down. There’s some really basic math that goes into why - up until very recently in human history and a very agriculturally rich area like the territory over the Ogallala Aquifer - you couldn’t get a pound of rib eye for $5. Raw material consumption to produce a pound of beef is orders of magnitude above production of wheat or corn or rice.

That’s not an article of religious dogma or a cherry picked factoid. That’s a hard truth anyone in the cattle industry can tell you. You’re not driving hundreds of thousands of head of cattle through Southern France or Ukraine’s black earth or the central desert of Australia. The industry only works because of an artifact of geography that is the central plains. And we get to produce these enormous surpluses for a limited time, as we cannibalize the territory with an invasive disease-spreader replacement to the native species.

How quickly we move through our available surplus is predicated on how aggressively we farm cattle. And thanks to our capitalist growth model, we’re going through it at a breakneck pace. All the moreso because of state subsidies fueled by kickbacks and corrupt business practices.

Your mention of Oprah apologizing isn’t authoritarianism. It’s capitalism. The force was monetary.

It wasn’t just monetary. The terms of the settlement required Oprah to apologize on air. What’s more, there is always an implied threat of violence behind a monetary penalty. Try not paying a fine or a debt and see what happens next. Repo men routinely pack heat.

The meat industry will happily pass laws to protect their profits.

Which is also authoritarian.