But aren't you worried about all the bugs you are killing (swallowing) when you eat your vegetables?

I was recently mis-quoted (mis-understood) on another blog where the person accused me of being a vegan who didn't care that I was harming bugs. This pissed me off to no end.[1] The whole question just seems stupid to me. Of course I don't want to harm bugs. Would I not be harming bugs if I ate meat instead? Should I quit eating all together? Ridiculous. If I ate meat, I'd be killing bugs for all the grain grown to support the animal agriculture (and tons of pesticides used for this) and I'd still be killing bugs eating vegetables along with the dead animal flesh.

As a vegan I want to do as little harm to other beings as possible. I can't be perfect. I can try though. If there is some tiny place where I can't be perfect, does it mean that I should give up trying and go back to not caring at all and join in with the rest of the humans in the United States in killing over ten billions animals a year? Of course not. I can kill as few beings as possible. I do carry bugs outside when I find them in my house. I can't stop eating, and I do need to wash my vegetables.

This question is just a stupid ignorant way to try and discredit "the vegan" in an attempt to find an inconsistency in logic - an attempt by a meat-eater to justify their own killing and moral inconsistencies. I don't usually even attempt to answer these types of questions and I guess this is what got me in trouble here.

I guess I am the "angry vegan" now.

[1] - This person had asked me this question at work in the public kitchen area. I don't like to talk about veganism at work too much and I thought the question was silly, so I kind of brushed it off to end the discussion about it. Grr.