militant vegans

we were shopping around picadilly circus and wandered into the whole foods there.  i was surprised to find whole foods in the UK but i wanted to pick up a few things and do some research on their vanilla supplier so i stopped in.  they had a lot of the american brands and i was happy to pick up a supply of cliff bars.  i only bought six but as my friend pointed out, if i ration them like matt damon in The Martian, they would last a long time.

while i was in the line to check out there was a crazy disturbance.  in the meat section next to the check out line there were a group of militant vegans - one of them on a handheld loudspeaker chanting, shame shame on whole foods and some other stuff, others in the group of three or four were holding up pictures of animals, calves and lambs, while the woman on the loudspeaker was making all kinds of statements that might or might not be true about the animals in the meat case. 

first off, i'm offended by anyone who think that shame is a way to change people's behavior.  next, i think angry vegans act in a way that is contradictory to the path of veganism and damage the image of a mostly loving and compassionate group of people.  lastly, my friend pointed out that they must be idiots for protesting at a whole foods, where most people are not meat eaters and whose supply chain is much cleaner than the mainstream supermarkets.

the management moved quickly and they were shut down in a matter of minutes but it made me wonder, could that happen in the US - why have i never seen anyone protesting inside a store?  even michael moore is usually standing on a public sidewalk with a loudspeaker - as if the CEO on the 50th floor can hear what he's saying.