The Meatpackers Association in a certain state held a barbecue competition. The cook-off had been around so long many people just assumed it had always existed as it was. 

While its goal was to include as many competitors as possible, the association still enforced one simple but strict rule: your dish or dishes had to include meat. People had trouble remembering the last time anyone’s team had been disqualified according to this rule, but anyone who knew the competition’s history was aware that it had happened in the past.

Then a new team attempted to enter the contest and was rejected. They went to the competition’s registrar and appealed the decision. “This isn’t fair! Every other meat-loving team is included. Why are you singling us out as unqualified?”

“We would think that should be pretty clear,” the official replied. “We’re all about meat. And you’re vegan.”

They persisted. “That’s not really true, though! We use meat in all our dishes: ‘Vegan Meat Ribs’, ‘Vegan Meat Brisket’, ‘Vegan Pulled Meat’. How could we be any more explicit about how much we love meat? It’s right there in our name: ‘The Club of Vegan Meat Lovers and Cooks’!”

“Yes,”, the registrar answered, “we can see all that. But none of that changes the fact that your vegan ‘meat’ is not, in fact, meat. It’s made from plants, not animals. It may bear a resemblance to the real thing, you may call it the real thing, you may want and insist that it’s the real thing, but it is not meat.”

“Well,” they sputtered, “you’re just using an arbitrary definition of ‘meat’!”

“No, that would be what you’re doing. We’re defining ‘meat’ the way ‘meat’ has always been defined, by the standards that have always determined what meat is. You’re the ones saying, ‘This is different, but it’s the same thing!’”

“But our vegan meat is better than your meat! It’s easier to digest. The people who eat our kind of meat are healthier than those who eat your kind—you can see it, and they’ll be happy to tell you all about it!”

The registrar paused to collect himself. “And yet, it’s still not meat. Better or not, healthier or not, vegan meat is not meat and is therefore against the one simple rule for inclusion in our competition. How can it be any clearer than that?”

The vegans continued to insist that their meat was the same thing, only better because it was different, so they were sent away. They hadn’t met the only requirement for entry, so the door wasn’t going to open for them; they would have to knock on another.