The newspaper's essay contest soliciting defenses of anti-vegetarianism yielded only a handful of entries that did not allow authors' (i)____________ to dictate their arguments: focusing on the seemingly universal human (ii)____________ for consuming animal products, these authors successfully navigated the gray area between simple self-justification and genuine apologia. The successful submissions argued not so much that desire or tradition could justify the current palate, but that the eradication of factory farming, the (iii)____________, and the return to natural feed can blunt the evils caused by its excesses. A. erudition B. penchant C. effacement of resources D. proclivities E. salutation F. imputation of ecology G. tenacity H. earmark I. mitigation of suffering