It's so terrible when you take into consideration that dairy is literally still a huge deal in the realm of advocating for animal rights.

You stopped eating meat but still consume milk, cheese, and butter? Congratulations! You want a trophy even though you're still funding a shit ton of animal exploitation and slaughter?

Imagine a conversation that goes like this:

🤡: "I'm so glad I'm becoming less racist!"

🤨: "...but you just called that Chinese immigrant a very charged anti-Asian slur, told him to go back to his country, and then went on a concerning and violent sinophobic rant."

🤡: "Oh, please! Quit being so judgmental! I used to do it to both black people and Asian people! Be happy that I'm making progress!"

This is what "baby steps" vegetarians sound like to me. I'm also always extremely cynical when it comes to their claim that they're even "transitioning" to veganism at all. Years from now, they'll still be stuffing their face with cheese and eggs, and by then, it wouldn't shock me if they started adding meat back into the equation too. The "baby steps" shit serves as an excuse so that they can feel less guilty for endorsing the dairy and egg industries, while knowing they're barbaric, and even then, it's not a good one. It's actually more excusable for someone to be lacto-ovo out of ignorance than it is to be one who knows the full extent of things like the dairy industry but claims to only be gradually progressing to veganism.

Dairy is a special kind of horrifying.