It's really quite crazy how we've been conditioned from a very early age to think nothing of it, isn't it? The sheer cognitive dissonance that we go through as we're growing up - being told that it's not okay to hit or harm our peers and that we should treat our fellow man with dignity and respect, and yet we're told drink your glass of milk! Finish that chicken on your plate! It's so unreal once you step back and take a really good look at it.

I don't believe I've heard Mark Passio's podcast but I could be mistaken. Melanie Joy is great!! I watched that same talk you mentioned for the the very first time earlier this year, and it blew me away! She makes so many excellent points.

Kudos to you for going vegan! I know just how you feel when mistakes like that happen (I've done them a number of times at the beginning, and then again when I moved down to Chile) but I try not to beat myself up about it as they were honest mistakes and we can't expect to be perfect. All we can do is try our very best. :)