*please note i deeply value and respect the vegan movement. i am just critical of how humorously it precipitates in online spaces, particularly this one. :)
*please note i deeply value and respect the vegan movement. i am just critical of how humorously it precipitates in online spaces, particularly this one. :)
I think carnist is a useful word that a lot of people get caught up on. As you say it’s not a pejorative, just a word that describes someone who chooses to eat meat as opposed to carnivore which is a creature that can only eat meat. All humans are omnivores, but not all are carnists.
Technically it’s an obligate carnivore that must eat meat. All cats are obligate carnivores. OTOH, some carnivores, like wolves and other canids, could survive on a vegetarian diet, but they don’t in the wild.
To get even further into the weeds, almost all herbivores will opportunistically eat other animals; I think most people have now seen videos of horses pursuing chicks in a barnyard and hoovering them up.