I'm not going to respond to the rest of your post because others in this thread have covered what I think, but this part in particular stuck out to me as equivocation. My issues: 1. The English language doesn't use anything; only its speakers do (although I'll admit this issue is somewhat pedantic; #2 is really what bothers me) 2. We don't use you for people and it for animals; those aren't the same kinds of pronouns. If anything, we use you/you (when talking to people and animals, respectively) or he/she and it (when talking about people and animals). But a lot of times, people don't even make that distinction: they talk to their animals using "you", and talk about their animals using s/he (depending on the animal's gender). Yes, I understand that's generally only true of domesticated animals (i.e. pets), but I imagine someone talking to livestock would still use you, and perhaps even s/he. Anyway, that's my piece. Hope you understand, I (and from what I can tell, most meat-eaters in this thread) don't have any issue with you being a vegan; I just don't find your arguments particularly convincing.Ever noticed how the English language uses you for people and it for animals? Human supremacy or anthropocentrism is embedded in our very language.