Welcome to Small Bites, Sound Bites, a midweek segment of food for thought podcast where I share short, succinct, thoughtful responses to typical questions, myths, and misconceptions related to plant-based eating, veganism, and animal protection.

You can get written transcripts of this podcast by going to joyfulvegan.com slash donate.

An argument that's often made for opposing bands on cruel products and cruel practices such as bullfighting, fwagra, and sharks in soup is that they're rooted in culture and tradition and thus should not be challenged.

One of the ways we advance as a society is by outlawing behaviors that cause harm to someone else, even those behaviors that were once socially acceptable or shrouded in romanticized notions of culture and traditions.

After all, present laws are a window into a past littered with cruel cultural customs and offensive traditional practices.

Time and again, we've shown that we humans have the capacity to make more compassionate decisions once we know better.

We've proven that cultural customs don't take precedence over moral progress and although we have a long way to go, every anti-cruelty law we pass demonstrates that our hope for a compassionate future is stronger than our attachment to a violent past.

And that our hearts are more sensitive than our taste buds.

For the animals, this is Colleen Patrick Adreau. You can find me at joyfulvegan.com. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for watching.