Where do you draw the line though? Because plants themselves (DNA-beings) are also alive.

Unless you decide to go on a full mineral diet.

It's not about being alive, it's about having emotions and the ability to feel pain.

Plants don't cry out for days when their children are taken away from them. Plants don't remember your face, come up to you and want attention. Plants don't scream when they are killed (no matter what some edgy research shows).

Or to put it more simply, would you feel bad pulling a plant out the ground? I would imagine probably not. Would you feel bad pulling the lever and watching as a pig is lowered into a gas chamber? Or while slitting a cow's throat? I would imagine probably yes (hence why slaughterhouse employees have so many mental health issues and there is such high turnover).

with most plants its more like were eating their eggs. Not many plants require eating the whole thing instead of the fruiting body. i think an argument to stop uprooting plants entirely makes sense but really the impact of going from beef to just vegetarian is much more drastic than cutting out plants which are destroyed by harvest

not accusing, but in case any commenter is going down a slippery slope: what produces the most harm? people! why dont we just kill ourselves instead of cutting out beef? vegetarian options have never been more accessible, and increasingly so

its certainly regional and cultural in the US. there are many towns and cities i visit where its quite difficult to find menu items without meat. i expect it will change over time