You analogized it to smoking - there is no safe amount of smoking, it will kill you, sooner, and more unpleasantly.
You can consume meat safely, consuming only meat is bad for you in the long run, but a balanced diet is good. Broadly, we need to eat less meat, our meat consumption needs to look like it did 80 years ago, not like it does now.
Yeah and I concede that smoking is not exactly like meat eating in that smoking is exceedingly binary. However I stand by my prediction that future generations will look back on how much meat we eat with a generous amount of disgust or shock. Heck, I already do this. I don't understand how people can eat nothing but meat and carbs and feel okay. Doesn't it hurt their digestion?
I’ll tack on here there is also a difference between muscle meat and organ meat.
Organ meat has been a staple of traditional diets in every culture, but for some reason(s) its reviled in the modern western diet.
Muscle meat is much higher in saturated fat (red beef in particular). That’s really what ends up giving people cardiovascular disease on top of excess sugar consumption and a sedentary lifestyle.
You can consume meat safely, consuming only meat is bad for you in the long run, but a balanced diet is good. Broadly, we need to eat less meat, our meat consumption needs to look like it did 80 years ago, not like it does now.