As effective altruists love to claim, the core tenants aren't really based on utilitarianism. Yes, pretty much all the commentators are utilitarians, but the co

As effective altruists love to claim, the core tenants aren't really based on utilitarianism. Yes, pretty much all the commentators are utilitarians, but the core stance of "you should help others, and you should do so in an effective way" doesn't actually say anything about what effective means. You can effectively seperate the church from the religion here. Yes, givewell is an inherently utilitarian organization, but being EA doesn't mean just doing whatever givewell tells you. It means you're putting some level of thought into the best way to help people and you're acting on your conclusions. Converting to veganism is something EA advocates for constantly by the way, it's pretty much the first thing you'll see when looking into animal welfare. I think the biggest issue is that people really like meat, and being told they should stop eating it is likely to turn them off of animal welfare all together, so organizations bury the lede sometimes.