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Philip Morris is\\xa0pivoting to smoke-free cigarettes, because \\u201csociety expects us to act responsibly, and we are doing just that by designing a smoke-free future\\u201d. Also, KFC\\xa0\\u201cpromises not to let vegans down\\u201d\\xa0with their new meatless chicken-like nuggets. They\\u2019ll have to compete with factory-farming mega-conglomerate Tyson Foods, who are coming out with\\xa0their own vegetarian chicken option.

Clearly this is progress. Tobacco-free cigarettes have helped a lot of people quit smoking; meat substitutes have helped a lot of people (recently sort of including me) become vegetarian. I want a smoke-free meatless future. But does it become a mockery when the same companies that provided the smoky meaty past are selling it to us? If they make a fortune being evil, resist change, and lose, should they get to make a second fortune being good? If Hitler, when the war turned against him, quit the Nazism industry and opened a matzah bakery, would you buy his matzah?

I think the answer is supposed to be yes. I\\u2019ve heard many smart people argue that we should offer evil dictators a comfortable and lavish retirement, free from any threat of justice. After all, if they take the offer, they\\u2019ll go off and enjoy their retirement instead of continuing to dictate. But if they expect to be put on trial for war crimes the second they relinquish power, they\\u2019ll hold on to power forever. If Hitler had been willing to give up and open a bakery when he lost Stalingrad in 1943, think how many lives would have been saved by letting him. And if Kim Jong-Un wants to give up and move to Tahiti, of course you say yes.