Are you messing with me? Because I'm not in the mood to play games.

If you aren't, I'm afraid we're going to have issues unless we start from a different place.

What I wrote was: >...veganism, a system of belief...

Now, when written that way, the phrase "a system of belief" is being used to specify that that is what veganism is. And that's what it is.

If you don't know what veganism is, I would suggest you ask someone that doesn't troll vegans for a proper answer. Though, to be honest, veganism isn't a single, universally codified system. It's more like a general heading that includes a fairly wide range of what is and isn't "really vegan". So even asking vegans, you can get varied answers.

If you really want my quick and dirty synopsis of veganism, it comes down to two basic principles.

First, that animals must be treated in a way that would be completely without exploitation.

Second, that causing the death of an animal to serve the wants/needs of humans is a very specific and very "wrong" way of exploiting animals.

That's about the core of it. All the rest is essentially defining what is and isn't exploitation.

I'm sure a vegan would at least quibble over that over simplified explanation, but IDGAF, that's what it amounts to looking at it from the outside. A bunch of folks that have strong beliefs about how animals and humans should share the planet.

If you go digging into vegan writing on the ethics of a human/animal interactions, there are a lot of ways of expanding on that simplified version, but having read some of it when offered by vegans I know personally, in real life, I would say that my version is good enough for someone that's never seen the word before.

Now, veganism isn't exactly a unique thing in execution. Plenty of people around the world don't eat meat at all. And there's some of those that don't use animal products at all. But, they aren't necessarily Vegan. It isn't a central part of their identity. It comes down to cultural norms, poverty, availability, or some other factor than a specific belief about human/animal ethics.

Veganism as you'll see in English using forums is quite different from that because it has another central belief that you don't see in most of the writings about it. And that is why I use the specific troll that vegans are religious zealots. That other belief is that they're right and everyone else is wrong, period. And, much like zealots of other religions, the bad vegans will often treat other humans poorly when they don't agree with them.

There is only one TRUE BELIEF, and that is veganism.

That is a wee bit of hyperbole, of course. Not every vegan is an arrogant zealot. No more than any other belief based group. As I said, I have people in my life that are vegan, and I love them. I cherish them in my life. But they're not assholes :)

I cook vegan food for them. I even cook vegan for them when I'm already cooking "regular" food to feed a dozen or so people and they're the only vegan coming.

Anyway, that's not only what veganism is, but why the entire thread happened.

If that didn't answer your question, I'll try to do better.

If you were just trolling the troll, then I'll just let it go and hope you have a good day :)