Fish Counts as Meat

So recently I was sent into another of my cycles of anger at people who calls themselves vegetarian or vegan yet still eat things like fish and shellfish. Hell, some 'vegetarians' eat chicken from time to time.
I'm not a big fan of labels. I've never really fit any typical labels and never tried to. (No, sarcastic prick does not count as a label.) And I really don't care what other people decide to label themselves if they so choose. If you to make a life decision and put a label on it, that's your call. I will however get miffed if you don't actually live up to that label. The only thing worse that giving yourself a label is giving yourself a label that you're not. Do you see me walking around telling people I'm half black?
Back to my earlier beef (pun intended), fish and shellfish count as meat. There is no moral difference between a tilapia filet and a filet mignon. They are both the muscle tissue of something that used to have a brain and feelings. If the only meat you can bring yourself to eat is clams and mussels I have no problem with that. You just can't call yourself a vegetarian.
This time I did give it real thought and softened my stance a bit. Turns out pretty much everyone does this at least occasionally. Raise your hand if you call yourself Catholic and actually follow every letter of the laws set by the bible and Pope. Anyone? Thought so. Not even priests can claim that they do this. However, without getting into a discussion regarding my stance on the Catholic church and their slowly changing bible interpretations, I will say that it is different to bend the laws of one's religion than the details that determine a semi-arbitrary label. There is no central dogma of being a vegetarian. It's not ethical or no vegetarians would wear leather and suede. It's not about responsibility to the planet, since they don't make any concessions for locally and responsibly raised livestock. And it's definitely not because meat is icky, as you can turn most 'vegetarians' back to the good side with just a couple strips of delicious thick-cut smoked bacon. Mmmm...bacon.
And now that I'm thinking of some delicious grass-fed pasture-raised ribeye steaks from my meat guy I need to go. It's pretty much impossible to put together an intelligent thought when all I can think about is grilling a locally raised cow.
I will take a second to recommend that everyone take some time and check out www.epicmealtime.com It's absolutely incredible.
PEACE!