I've also seen slaughterhouse videos depicting the most gruesome, heinous abuses inflicted upon livestock animals (beating them, stabbings, repeated shocking wi

I've also seen slaughterhouse videos depicting the most gruesome, heinous abuses inflicted upon livestock animals (beating them, stabbings, repeated shocking with obviously higher voltages than mere prods — often in front of their peers, who are queued for the same fate). I applaud your friends for their endeavor, but the fact that some in the livestock industry behave ethically doesn't change a whit the parts that don't. That nature, in its perpetual state of "kill or starve", behaves so callously is utterly irrelevant to how we can and should behave given our demonstrated capabilities and generally self-congratulatory "My gosh, aren't we the best thing that's ever happened?!" attitude.