Reddit mentions of Animal Liberation: The Definitive Classic of the Animal Movement

I'm confused by your position on historical vegetarian groups. You've been pointed towards references showing as undeniable fact that in certain times and places vegetarianism has been practiced to a much greater degree than it is now. But you dismissed them not because you thought they were wrong, but because they weren't 'our culture'. But now you seem to be flat out denying that these cultures existed again?

I wouldn't dismiss the idea that there's a thread of influence from past thinkers to modern day veganism. An example of connections between thinkers of the past and modern veganism is the 'Save Movement', which has grown dramatically and become influential part in modern veganism. It was started by Anita Krajnc, a political scientist who specializes in Leo Tolstoy and Gandhi (whose vegetarianism has obvious and explicit roots in ancient culture). She has very explicitly modeled the movement on their thinking.

I agree veganism is a lifestyle, but you seem to imply only religious beliefs can have any intellectual depth. Moral philosophy is a heated issue within the vegan community, drawing from both ancient and modern thinkers. It's not suitable material for PETA to put on their outreach booklets, but it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Most media created by vegans for other vegans will touch on this stuff. In particular, Animal Liberation by Peter Singer is often credited as marking the start of modern animal rights movement. Peter Singer is a recognized writer whose work is covered in any self-respecting course or book on modern ethical philosophy. Meanwhile Tom Ragan and Gary Francione each have derisive critiques of Singer's utilitarian philosophy in favor of their respective rights-based approaches. Many books and essays have been written about this.

Anyway, none of this is what you started out arguing. You started arguing there was no notion of vegetarianism in biblical times, but then insisted on excluding any historical vegetarianism from the discussion. So what you have really proved is the tautological statement that "veganismin 'in our culture' didn't exist in the culture of Jesus".

I wouldn't say you are a racist in the sense of some mustache twirling KKK villain, but your unwillingness to to see any legitimacy in the vegetariansm in other cultures did suggest a colonial mindset rooted in a racist bias. But maybe that was uncalled for and it was only convenient to be dismissive because the existence of these cultures undermined your point.