Who are you calling an Angry Vegan?

This blog post, written by a friend’s son, is excellent, so I felt compelled to share it.  Here’s an excerpt, with the link to the full blog post below:

“I’ve heard it as often as you have: “Angry vegan”.

It’s a stereotype that hardly started with plant-eaters. Immediately before angry vegans, the world was awash with angry feminists.

In both cases, some people embraced the label, and argued, “Why shouldn’t we be angry? There continues to be injustice in the world, and it’s worth getting angry about.”

That’s a fair point, but not the one I want to address. Instead, I want to challenge the whole notion of the “angry activist”, and suggest it should be rejected, rather than reclaimed.”

To read the full blog, please click on the link below.

https://theveganlogician.wordpress.com/2019/04/16/who-are-you-calling-an-angry-vegan/?fbclid=IwAR3JJXu2w5Ji8hDjUKu7v-b95TQQVnvwZDU7T7n3AZoa2Z4Z8S5K0yTwiU8

 

In Response to Accusations that Veganism is Akin to Religious Fanaticism

Let’s face it. No one likes to be lectured to or preached to, and vegans can sometimes do both. In fact, even the most gentle approach can feel like, as a friend said, “shoving their beliefs down my throat”.

Now, if our movement is to continue to flourish, it must address this issue, like it or not.

Our first response is often to be frustrated and angry at being compared to religious fanatics.

However, the truth is that sometimes either we come off that way or others perceive us that way. And it doesn’t do us any good to pretend the issue doesn’t exist or remain simply pissed off about it. It’s much better to try to address this head on and with logic and facts.

There is a difference between religious fanaticism and veganism that is fundamental (pardon the word) to our cause: veganism is based on facts and not on faith.

Veganism is about facing the cruelty and destruction of the meat and dairy industries (as well as the other animal exploitation industries) and proposing that we view animals as having worth beyond our wants and desires, that the environment is worth preserving, and that our own health is worth promoting.

We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that animal industries are incredibly brutal with animals being treated as mere “things”, something that we’d never allow to be done to our companion animals.

We also know that the animal ag industries are extremely damaging to the environment and are continuing to destroy the planet.

And finally, we know that animal products are causing our own health to be compromised.

It’s also true that, unlike religion, veganism is not something that most people reject because they don’t believe in it. It’s something they reject because they’ve either not investigated why it’s such a growing movement or they are not ready to face the facts that veganism is presenting to them.

The idea of compassion to animals is not foreign to most people and is generally embraced by many. Who among us but the most insensitive and uncaring would be for animal cruelty and unnecessary death?

Most people would never purposely run over an animal, enjoy torturing and killing an innocent creature, or slaughter their own meat.

And even longtime farmers and hunters and slaughterhouse workers are turning away from the work of killing animals and turning into vegan activists, sharing the message of mercy to our fellow creatures, because they’ve seen the fear, terror, suffering and death, and they do not want to be a part of it.

So there is an enormous difference between religious fanaticism and veganism because veganism simply offers the facts and appeals to the natural compassion that is already within most of us.

It is reaching out to what most people already believe: that animals are worthy of our consideration and care.

We don’t have to convince people to believe in something on faith or something they don’t already feel is the truth! We’re simply trying to open hearts and minds to the natural mercy already inside them.

It must be noted that all social justice movements that seek to overturn the current paradigm are thought of as preachy and fanatical. Abolitionism, the civil rights and the women’s suffrage movements were all mocked, condemned and labeled as fanatical and radical in their time.

So we still must face that our message is unwanted by most and will be continually compared to religious fanaticism, like it or not. This is especially true when activists are very aggressive, but I’ve faced it, too, and I am never rude, condemning or mean-spirited in my activism.

When we’re accused of being a “cult”, we have to try to educate others that in fact we have broken out of the cult of social, cultural and religious conditioning that has so normalized violence towards animals that it’s defended by most people, even those who are kind and non-violent.

So the next time someone says, “vegans shove their beliefs down my throat like religious fanatics”, gently tell them that their own beliefs of compassion towards animals are already within them and if anyone is aggressive with the message, to please don’t therefore condemn the beautiful and merciful social justice movement that veganism represents because of a bad experience or their own discomfort at hearing things they don’t want to hear.

The truth is that a movement that is built on the respect and love for all sentient beings is only viewed as fanatical because our world is build on disrespect and exploitation of the weak by the strong, and veganism is the desire to change so many long years of our superior and cruel attitudes towards those whom we deem as “lesser” creatures.

And as a final thought, perhaps being labeled as “fanatical” isn’t really such a bad thing. The definition being, “obsessively concerned with something”.

We are obsessively concerned with mercy and respect for all sentient beings.

I’m good with that. 🙂

 

 

 

Why this Sarcastic Meme Nails It

This, of course, is satire. The idea of eating dogs is abhorrent. But it is a woefully sad reality of what I hear constantly said about our western “food” animals, amounting to nothing more than weak excuses for our continuation of brutality towards these innocent animals. If anyone of compassion and intelligence truly “gets” this, they will see why it’s absurd.

How do we Create a Just and Peaceful World Built on Violence?

When our world is based on “might is right” and violent oppression towards the most vulnerable of beings, how can we ever attain the peace in the world that so many long for? Once we correct the underlying foundation of exploitation and deadly violence, we can then begin to construct a world of justice and peace.

We keep doing the same things over and over again and expect different results. But to truly change the world, first we must examine what is at it’s very core. We will find that we’re built upon domination and violence.

It’s as if we expect that someday a blood-soaked paintbrush will finally create a beautiful picture. It cannot be done.

First we must see the conflict between wanting peace and justice and living with as well as supporting an inherently cruel and unjust system of predatory behavior.

We are waking up, though, as evidenced by the growth of the vegan movement, and the light is shining on the truth to pave the way ahead to a much better world.

A Day in the Life of a Vegan

A day in the life of a vegan:

1. Wake up and look around frantically to be certain you’re not stranded on a desert island with a pig.

2. Once you’ve determined that you’re not actually stranded on an island with a pig, check Facebook status to see how many non-vegans have unfriended you.

3. Check protein levels to be certain death isn’t imminent.

4. Do intensive research again to determine that protein can actually be obtained from plant foods.

5. Check Facebook status (again) to see how many non-vegans have unfriended you.

6. Scroll through Facebook newsfeed and decide, after seeing graphic images of animal suffering and death, that maybe it would be a really good thing if you did actually die of protein-deficiency.

7. Make breakfast that is full of healthy vegetables/fruits, and say a prayer for all the plant-foods that died horrible deaths for your meal.

8. Go back to Facebook to find that your animal advocacy posts have received exactly one like each.

From a fellow vegan.

9. Bang your head against the wall several times.

10. Ask God why He/She decided it would be a good idea to create humans who actually objected to animal torture and death and in a less than reverent moment, declare Him/Her to have disturbing tendencies that could rightfully be declared sadistic.

11. Make a bad decision by going to a vegan website where trolls have invaded, demanding to know who the hell we think we are for caring about animals and that plants have feelings and we are lions.

12. Crawl back into bed for the rest of the day and fall into a deep dream state where angry ancestors are asking you why you have rejected eating meat.

13. Wake up to find you are in fact dying (but not of a protein deficiency) and actually feeling some relief, hoping the next world is a LOT better than this one.

Unfortunately, everyone will be convinced you did die of a protein deficiency and never believe it was anything else.

14. Find most of your friends and relatives are eating meat and dairy products at the luncheon after your funeral as they completely ignore all you’d been trying to convey to them.

15. Find a new passion and purpose in haunting said friends and relatives. 😀

 

Common Defenses Against Veganism Addressed

Defense #1: “Plants feel pain, too”

 

Actually, plants don’t have a brain or a central nervous system to experience the sensation of pain. No brain, no pain. Evolutionarily speaking, they would have no reason to feel pain because they can’t escape from the source of pain.

Also, if we really want to examine this idea, most plant foods come to us without the need to actually kill the plant (tomatoes, peaches, cucumbers, apples, etc.)

If at one point we discover otherwise, then we can have a different view of plant and animal suffering. But here’s what we DO know: animals are sentient and feel pain, suffer emotionally and want very much to live.

 

Defense #2: “Our ancestors ate meat”

 

Of course they did and it was understandable in some circumstances. They also believed they couldn’t survive without meat. We know better now. We have the power to choose differently.

 

Defense #3: “It’s the “Circle of Life”

 

The circle of life does include predatory behavior from true predators and this cannot be disputed. However, true predators cannot live without meat. They also hunt their prey in circumstances where sometimes they “win” and sometimes they “lose”. Man’s use of animals gives no ability for the animal to flee or fight back. It is a warped “circle of life” and one that causes immense suffering, all unnecessary.

 

Defense #4: “We’re the dominant species, so we have a right”

 

In most circumstances, we are the dominant species. And we’ve used and abused our power over other animals and are arrogant in our exploitation. We have lived by the concept of “might is right” when it comes to other sentient beings, and we wonder why we can never have peace on earth. It begins with how we treat the most vulnerable, those under our control, to whom we show no mercy.

 

Defense #5: “I have canine teeth for eating meat”

 

All mammals have canine teeth but most do not have fangs. If you have fangs like a lion for ripping flesh from bone, I would see an orthodontist asap. 😀

 

Defense #6: “You can’t make me stop eating animals”

 

Of course I can’t and no one else can, either. But I highly suggest watching a documentary such as Earthlings to see what it is you’re supporting and to gain an understanding of why vegans are so passionate about ending animal exploitation.

Most people can’t watch how animals are treated for the food on their plates, and this is very revealing. Most humans do not want to see animals harmed or killed. We have simply been conditioned to accept it without questioning it.

 

Defense #7: “We’re predators”

 

If we were true predators, we would salivate at the sight of road kill. If someone ever does that while in my car, I’ll be forced to pull over and drop them off on the side of the road. 😀

It’s very revealing that in our society, we call the ones who do truly evil deeds “predators”. Serial killers and child molesters are called predators. We know that when humans act predatory, they aren’t acting from their natural compassion. There is something very wrong when we kill or abuse others.

Since animals are also sentient just like us and therefore worthy of our mercy, we know that animal torturers and killers are also acting on unnatural predatory behavior, shutting down the natural impulse to have compassion for our fellow creatures.

Defense #8: “Man will always kill animals”

 

There was a time when foot-binding, slavery and wife beating were considered normal and something that was “always done”. When we evolve, we grow in compassion and do better.

The Wisdom of the BAHA’i TEACHINGS ON ANIMALS

BAHA’i TEACHINGS ON ANIMALS:

 

Briefly, it is not only their fellow human beings that the beloved of God must treat with mercy and compassion, rather must they show forth the utmost loving-kindness to every living creature. For in all physical respects, and where the animal spirit is concerned, the selfsame feelings are shared by animal and man.

 

Man hath not grasped this truth, however, and he believeth that physical sensations are confined to human beings, wherefore is he unjust to the animals, and cruel.

 

And yet in truth, what difference is there when it cometh to physical sensations? The feelings are one and the same, whether ye inflict pain on man or on beast. There is no difference here whatever.

 

🌹And indeed ye do worse to harm an animal, for man hath a language, he can lodge a complaint, he can cry out and moan; if injured he can have recourse to the authorities and these will protect him from his aggressor. But the hapless beast is mute, able neither to express its hurt nor take its case to the authorities.

 

If a man inflict a thousand ills upon a beast, it can neither ward him off with speech nor hale him into court. Therefore is it essential that ye show forth the utmost consideration to the animal, and that ye be even kinder to him than to your fellow man.

 

Train your children from their earliest days to be infinitely tender and loving to animals. If an animal be sick, let the children try to heal it, if it be hungry, let them feed it, if thirsty, let them quench its thirst, if weary, let them see that it rests. – Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 158.

How Would You Honestly Feel?

If someone was eating cats and dogs, would you feel sad, upset, angry or depressed? Would you want to say something but also know that you dare not tell them why you feel so crushed because then you’d be seen as pushy and “forcing your views?”

That’s how most vegans live each and every day. Stifling ourselves in the company of friends and family, but feeling heartbroken at what we know about the meat and dairy businesses who abuse and commit the most heinous acts on innocent animals on factory farms and in slaughterhouses.

Please pause for a moment and think. How would you honestly feel about sitting down to a meal with someone eating a cat or dog? Would you be able to?

Thank you for contemplating this. I know most people are compassionate and have simply never been faced with this situation or forced to think about how they would feel.

Is it Truly a “Choice”?

People still in general are uncomfortable with veganism. They still sometimes mock it and laugh at those who’ve gone vegan.

But I can see and sense a shift.

As more people become vegan, there’s more acceptance, and it doesn’t seem so “weird”.

Of course, there should be nothing weird about having compassion for animals, wanting to help the environment or desiring better health, but in a society that constantly forces the idea that eating animal products is “normal, natural and necessary”, the idea has been a shock to the system in both the larger and smaller senses of the word.

What I attempt to convey with my constant posts about veganism is that it’s a choice based on not only compassion and concern, but on facts.

Most people are convinced they “choose” to eat meat and dairy and that’s true to an extent but the question is: is that choice based on truly knowing what goes on behind the closed doors of the meat and dairy industries?

If a choice is based on conditioning, habit, tradition, etc. without genuine reflection and solid research, is it truly a choice?

I say, no. The choice (to continue to consume animal products) to be truly and honestly made, should be based on knowing why veganism is growing by leaps and bounds, why so many other people have seen and heard the reality of animal agriculture and the suffering and destruction it causes and have chosen to say, “no, I will not support this horror”.

I think mostly the one thing that changes peoples’ hearts and minds is watching a video or documentary.

This one is one of the very best.

“Narrated by Academy Award Nominee Joaquin Phoenix and featuring music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby, EARTHLINGS is a documentary film about humankind’s complete economic dependence on animals raised for pets, food, clothing, entertainment and scientific research. Using hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, EARTHLINGS chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit.”

 

Dear Non-Vegans

I wish I could take credit for the following absolutely stunning appeal to those who haven’t yet embraced veganism, but this beautiful piece of writing straight from the heart was composed by Angelina Talos. I thank her for it and I thank you for contemplating it’s heart-wrenching message. It is exactly how I feel and have felt for a very long time.

Dear non-vegans,

I want to learn from you. How can I motivate you to go vegan?

Should I charm you into listening? Shall I use my irreverent sense of humor so you can let down your guard and not think that I am coming on too strong?

Should I focus on how healthy you will feel? Perhaps I can cheerfully talk about all the yummy, nutritious vegan meals that you can eat and post colorful pics with recipes! If I mention how you might even lose weight or gain weight or gain muscle or heal your illness…..would that perk your interest?

If I speak about the environment and how we use so much land and water just to feed ‘livestock’ instead of planting wholesome and healthy fruits and vegetables; would that entice you?

If I talk about how much the food that is used to feed animals about to be slaughtered could be used to feed starving children, perhaps that would appeal to your sense of justice? After all, you certainly would like to know how YOU could help to feed starving children, wouldn’t you?

What kind of look should I have on my face when I speak about what really happens to piglets in slaughterhouses as they are having their tails, teeth & genitals chopped off with bolt-cutters and no painkillers?

Am I allowed to sound angry as I speak of how baby calves are stolen from their mothers within days of birth in the dairy industry? Or how the exhausted and spent moms who are exploited for years until they are of no use to their captors any longer, are then mercilessly slaughtered?

Do I need to keep my voice steady and emotionless as I talk about how baby male chicks are thrown onto conveyor belts that drop them into huge shiny industrialized grinding machines while they chirp innocently, shaking their precious fluffy newborn feathers as they are fast-tracked to their death? Or on smaller farms, as they are thrown into garbage bags, frantically gasping for breath while dying a painful death by suffocation?

Should I show you the truth by posting pictures or videos of the real-life, horrific and diabolical evil that happens to billions of living sentient beings everyday because you want to consume ‘meat’ and ‘dairy’, or you want to wear leather or fur? Would you accuse me of abusing your sensitive nature by posting these atrocities? Would you express anger at the perpetrators of this horror and depravity, or would you direct anger and resentment toward me for sharing this information?

Do I allow you to see the tears that threaten to fall, spill over and trickle down my cheeks when I think of all the unfathomable torturous fear and agony that these, and other, sentient beings suffer as they are nudged, kicked, prodded, whipped, raped, stabbed, sliced open, gassed, electrocuted and ground up into pieces, all while very much alive and conscious?

If you saw my tears, would you think that I was one of those ‘vegan fanatics’ who was just a little bit too pixallated; someone who didn’t have any other interests in life? Would you say, ‘This person is a nutcase, she’s so bloody obsessed with animals and veganism! I am going to continue to eat my eggs, cheese, bacon and steak and wear my leather and fur, DAMMIT!, and NO ONE and and NOTHING is going to CHANGE MY MIND!’?

If I told you that I understand how we all grew up believing that it was normal to exploit other living beings because we were taught by the dairy/slaughter industry that we needed to consume these sentient beings and their bodily fluids, would you hear me? Would you shut down if I said that these industries have deliberately brainwashed and indoctrinated us from childhood because it keeps billions of dollars coming in?

If I said that I believe that I am not superior to anyone; not to animals or to you, would you be willing to listen?

If I maintain a Mona-Lisa smile, soft, placid, and almost expressionless, and speak quietly and sweetly so as not to offend you, might you take a step back and rethink your stance? COULD you possibly stop contributing to the exploitation, torture, mutilation & murder of living beings then?

Teach me………………. Tell me what it will take for you to care.

Teach me what you need to see…what you need to hear… what you need to know…..for you to make a change.

~Angelina Talos