It's not bad faith, I'm being 100% serious. I grew up getting bullied for not eating meats (besides fish), so I thought about it quite a lot. People don't eat animals that they like, that's the extent of it regardless of any justifications they convince themselves of having afterwards. I like animals, excluding birds/fish/bugs/monkeys, so I don't eat the ones I like.

It's not downward imo, I view them to be morally superior in general because they don't deny what they are nor pretend to be on par with and understand deities. Chronic self deceit isn't a positive trait. We're just skinmonkeys, we lucked out having thumbs and enough numbers to fluke the shit like making fire. Very few of us are in any way superior or even benefitting our own species. As for animal rights, anything in particular you're curious about? I'd prefer they be intellectually consistent rather than something that fits my personal moral beliefs tbh. If life is somehow inherently valuable, then so are their lives. If a dog should be put down for nipping, so should people for equivalent acts of violence. If some mammals are acceptable to farm/butcher/consume, then all of them should be including us.