theveganabolitionist:
vegancow:
An appropriate response: Wow, these people seem kind of extreme. Are they just a cult of raving, lunatic hippies, or is it possible that I’m missing something here? After all, I’ve never looked into any of this. Maybe I should Google some stuff to see what the fuck they’re so pissed about.
Actual response: fucking vegans think there so much better then everyone else, fucking dumasses! were natral carnivors. top of da food chain!!!1! ive seen lots of comercialz on tv, so i know evrything about farming. there so dumb, milking a cow isnt rape!! they dont care if u touch there udders!!! plus they will EXPLODE if u dont milk them, and u need calcium!! i know lots about nutriants!! vitaman b12!!!! protien!!! vegans dnt care about ppl anyway!! starving babiez in africa!! fucking vegans, im gonna leave this asshole an anon ask. thatll set him straight!!!
Nailed it.
(via everycage)
Anonymous asked: It seems like a common feminist argument against veganism is that its only suitable for upper class people and thus is discriminatory. My answer to this is first that animal products are luxury items and without government support would be so expensive that the industry would fail. Secondly it simply isn't true, veganism is usually less expensive. Third, this doesnt actually show that its okay to eat meat, just that our government supports an unethical industry. What is your answer to this?
Pretty much all of that, yeah. It’s cheaper by default and most people in impoverished areas can afford little to no animal products and are coincidentally eating vegan anyway. Saying that it is only suitable for upper class people is completely bogus because there are many people who are lower or middle class and living vegan. Claiming that it’s only suitable for rich white people is discriminatory in itself because it erases the existence of every vegan that isn’t rich and white, and it’s pretty much saying that they think poor people are incapable of compassion or living ethically.
Also, it isn’t feminist in nature to promote the exploitation and domination of female animal bodies to use for our benefit. I made a rant about the hypocrisies of feminists who aren’t vegan here. Feminism is about promoting equality for all people regardless of gender, race, class, status, etc. and it promotes body autonomy and says that the government has no right to dictate another person’s body. So why are these “feminists” so quick to turn around and do the same to animals? The way that humans currently view and treat animals is essentially exactly the kind of attitude feminism fights against. It’s really the same concept, only applied to non-human animals rather than humans. It’s wrong to treat animals as exploitable commodities for the same reason it’s wrong to treat women that way. Animal products are a result of the denial of body autonomy to many non-humans and animal agriculture condemns animals to a life of subjugation. Saying that another sentient being’s body and life are yours to violate and kill is not at all anything that should be coming out of a feminist’s mouth.
And of course, like you said, just because the government supports it doesn’t mean it’s okay. Just because someone may have no other option in an isolated desperate situation does not suddenly make what they are doing ethical. What they did is still wrong by nature and the action itself isn’t ethical or justifiable. Just like killing a person in self defense doesn’t suddenly making killing people ethical. In some areas of the world it may be more difficult to sustain yourself through veganism but that doesn’t mean we should erase all responsibility of an effort to go vegan and to make vegan food more easily accessible.
Veganism is not as impossible as everyone would like to make it out to be. People just want to claim that it’s an insanely privileged or difficult lifestyle because they don’t want to have to step up and take responsibility for their own actions. In some cases it may be more difficult than others to go vegan, but that doesn’t mean you have an excuse to not even make an effort. It is almost always possible to go vegan if you actually put forth even the slightest bit of effort. Being in a less than ideal situation doesn’t change the fact that veganism is still the only ethical choice, it doesn’t suddenly absolve you from being a decent person and making compassionate choices, and it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t promote veganism because veganism is just simply the right thing to do.
illquoted replied to your post: what’s your opinion about seashepherd?
Why aren’t they really vegans? To crew with them you have to agree to eat vegan and I know that many of their members are active in promoting animal rights by other means.
The Japanese argue that it is hypocritical for Westerners to eat meat and condemn the Japanese for eating whale meat? Do you agree?
Captain Paul Watson: Sea Shepherd ships are vegan ships. We do not serve animal products on board our vessels. We are not hypocritical. However there is a big difference in hunting down endangered species in the wild and the slaughter of domestic animals. In Africa they call the slaughter of gorillas, giraffes and elephants the bushmeat trade. The killing of whales by Japan is no different. Whales are aquatic bushmeat and whaling is illegal. The bottom line is that Sea Shepherd is not protesting what people eat, Sea Shepherd is opposing the illegal slaughter of aquatic wildlife.
Is Sea Shepherd an animal rights organization?
Captain Paul Watson: No, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a marine wildlife conservation organization that focuses on the enforcement of existing international conservation law protecting marine species and habitats.
Then why are your ships vegan?
Captain Paul Watson: My ships are vegan because we are conservationists. There are simply not enough fish in the sea to continue to feed the ever expanding populations of humanity. By 2030 every single commercial fishery on the planet will have been destroyed. We have already seen the destruction of the Northern cod, the bluefin tuna, the orange roughy, the Patagonia toothfish and so many more species. There is a major biological holocaust being waged against life in the oceans. More than 50% of the fish taken from the sea is converted into animal feed making pigs and cows the largest aquatic predators on the planet. Domestic chickens eat more fish than all the world’s puffins. Domestic cats eat more tuna than all the world’s seals together. We catch 50-70 fish from the sea to raise one farm raised salmon. We are vegans because it is an ecological crime to eat fish; we are vegans because we are marine conservationists and not because we are animal rights activists.
- Source
Basically they don’t eat fish because of overfishing and whatnot, which isn’t coming from an animal rights perspective at all. They don’t promote animal rights to anyone else and condone the slaughter of domestic animals which is pretty much bullshit, as we all know. I’m not saying this negates the good that they do, it just is a serious disappointment and I wish they actually were in it for animal rights.
Anonymous asked: I don't know how to ask this.. but I am a overweight vegan. Obviously people love to talk to vegans all the time about what it is exactly that we do and why.. I get insecure sometimes because I am pretty overweight and I'm am basically preaching this healthy lifestyle to people. I feel like 'how do they take me seriously, on the outside I look like a slob?' I know this is a bad mentality to have. Have you ever heard of this feeling or have advice? Thanks, you and your blog are so awesome c:
Yeah, I just had this brought up to me yesterday actually. I was told that if I want to promote veganism I need to “at least look the part.” Shit is ridiculous.
It’s just important to remember that veganism is not a diet. It’s an ethical lifestyle involving the avoidance and opposition of animal exploitation. It’s healthier by default because our bodies are designed to eat plants, but it’s not something we should choose out of personal gain like health and I don’t think it should be the forefront of conversation when veganism is brought up. Veganism is the choice we should all make not for ourselves but for the animals and the rest of the world.
If anyone ever says something rude like that to you, just remind them that vegans can be of any type or look because veganism isn’t a diet or a means of being thin. It’s about opposing speciesism and doing everything we can to refuse to support animal exploitation, plain and simple. Then, go ahead and break their nose.
Anonymous asked: I'm considering a career in Zoology because I want to work with animals but I do not want to work on animals in the lab or do any harmful testing on them whatsoever. Is that possible, or does it come in the job description that as as scientists that deal with animals, they have to do research and tests on animals?
I don’t know, I’m not a zoologist, but I would guess that it probably does require those things. I dropped out of vet tech school because they were going to force the students in my program to do a lot of horrendous stuff, including working in labs and testing on animals. It’s unfortunate but it’s really difficult to get into fields working with animals without dealing with the very things we oppose. It isn’t impossible, but it requires a lot of effort to find a way to do it and stay true to your ethics. I’m not sure what the schooling to become one would require, nor am I sure on what you’d be doing once you were on the job. It’s something you’d have to look into, but keep in mind that capturing animals to study or confining them for human benefit isn’t okay regardless of whether or not it’s “harmful testing.” I’m not positive on what a zoologist does but I’d assume that the vast majority of the work is not compatible with veganism. Any kind of exploitation and forced captivity for our benefit is harmful in nature. Animals’ lives aren’t ours to dominate.
tommyxvx:
Saying you love animals and eating meat is like me handing you a cupcake and you saying that you love cupcakes and then throwing it on the ground and shitting on it.
leaaahhh asked: I couldn't stop crying when I watched 'Earthlings', especially the part about stray dogs. Sorry if that sounds pathetic, haha. It really, really should make you want to change the world, and be 100% vegan, not vegetarian! I feel if you want to be vegetarian after watching that, you've missed the point.
Yeah, exactly. Earthlings even specifically goes into just how horrid the dairy and egg industries are as well. It’s just so silly to me that whoever that was said “factory farming is wrong, so I’m going vegetarian.” Uh, hello, what kind of farming do you think produces almost all eggs and dairy? Yeah, factory farming. Vegetarianism still supports the factory farming of animals just as much as the meat industry does. Oh, and that doesn’t sound pathetic at all. It’d be pathetic if Earthlings didn’t evoke some kind of strong emotions within somebody.
The point of Earthlings isn’t just to tell you that factory farming is wrong. The point is to get you to see that animals aren’t fucking ours, period. For any reason. And they’re not here for our use. Not just for meat, not even just for food. It’s supposed to get you to understand the concept of speciesism and to understand that animals deserve the right to live freely just as much as we do, and they should never be deprived of that right through exploitation of any kind. It also covers a huge realm of subjects beyond just factory farming for food, showing so many other facets of our lives which involve animal exploitation. I really can’t for the life of me imagine how that was someone’s response to Earthlings.
Anonymous asked: I looked through your archive but couldn't seem to find it so sorry to bring this up when you've already addressed it, but people should NOT buy tea cup pigs, right? I couldn't remember if it was just the specially bred tiny dogs or if those little pigs were bred to be that way too.
People should not buy any animals, ever. Adoption of homeless or needy animals is necessary; buying/selling any animals is exploitation. But yes, the common ailments and health problems associated with teacup animals does not only include dog breeds but also other types of animals, including pigs. Any sort of “teacup” animal is not naturally occurring, but a result of improper breeding at the manipulation of humans.
http://quoilecanard.tumblr.com/post/22694040458/teacup-pigs
Anonymous asked: I just watched 'Earthlings'. COMPLETELY off-putting. I'm making the change to vegetarianism, maybe veganism later on. That film really opened my eyes to how wrong the factory farming industry is
If the only thing you learned from watching Earthlings is that “factory farming is wrong” and you think going vegetarian is what you need to be doing, you should probably watch it again and pay better attention next time.
Anonymous asked: you're kidding, right? meat production and consumption is nowhere near on a steady decline. maybe in the US alone. just google the term "global meat consumption statistics" or something related and then give me two walls of text about how the world eats as much meat as in 1990. granted, the quality of life and accessibility of meat was pretty much the same for the US 20 years ago than it is now, but for those tiny countries and continents called China, India, Africa this is not the case.
When you consider that the United States is the second country globally to consume the most pounds of meat per person annually, yeah — it definitely does matter that our rates are decreasing and that people are opting to eat less meat in our country. And, sure, other countries may be increasing their intakes of animal products, but there’s no guarantee that’s going to be constant. Just because it may be on the rise now doesn’t mean it will never decline in the future.
But it’s really cute how you guys love to overlook the fact that, as I’ve said multiple times, the foundation of veganism does not rest upon the ideal that we are going to put a global end to meat consumption in our lifetime through our own choices or through persuading others. The purpose of veganism is doing what is right regardless of what others are doing, regardless of what the status quo is, regardless of what is easy or convenient. History (and even current day) will tell you that there have been countless times where injustices and social disparities have been legal and often considered part of everyday and entirely acceptable culture; things which we later realized were gravely wrong. It’s only through challenging modern culture and current laws or standards that steps toward equality have ever been made or that minds have ever been changed in favor of what’s ethical.
But, regardless, a rational person does not refrain from mugging and assaulting a random stranger because they believe that doing so will stop all muggings globally. Most logical people refrain from harming other humans because they know that it is inherently wrong, and just because they could do something doesn’t mean they should. Just as I’m not convinced that my decision not to kill others will prevent everyone else in the world from killing each other, I don’t believe that my refusal to eat animals or their products is going to put an end to the killing of every animal in every part of the world. I simply don’t do either of those things because it would be an unethical and irreparable act to do somebody else, and I think we can all agree that any decent person would do the same — despite the fact that murder may unfortunately always exist within the world because not everyone is a decent person. I will never be able to wrap my head around the “BUT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING IT LOL” excuse as if that hasn’t already been torn down a million times before.
I really do pity anyone who bases their ethics off of what the majority of the world is doing without questioning it, because nothing proves someone a weaker person than allowing others to think on their behalf or permitting society to make their decisions for them.
Anonymous asked: I recently gave up smoking after hearing about it's effects on animals and the environment. Last year my brothers dog, who he smoked in front of constantly, died of lung cancer. I don't know if those two things are linked but it always makes me sick thinking about it. Smoking is difficult to quit, yeah, but compared to quitting FOOD, it was piss easy.
That is fucking awful. I wouldn’t be surprised if the two were heavily connected. :/ That poor dog. Annnnd this is only one of the many reasons why smoking is bullshit and not vegan. Although veganism doesn’t ask people to “quit” food hahaha. Just eat different stuff. There’s still lots of delicious food. But good for you for finally giving up smoking. It’s a disgusting industry everyone should be avoiding, for sure.
Anonymous asked: I am anonymous because I do not have a Tumblr but my name is Dana, nice to meet you. I feel like you are slightly changing your argument. Cigarettes do have an environmental impact, but so do many soy products as they are a result of deforestation in the Amazon. So does anything that comes in packaging. Silk is owned by the dairy industry; does that mean you're call out every vegan who buys Silk and decry them as hypocrites? It certainly is no more of a necessity than cigarettes; even if it does
prove to be more useful in cooking, I don’t know a single vegan whose survival depends on it. And we all do plenty of things that are terrible for each other with reckless abandon and there is far less criticism for the more socially acceptable things. The impact of having a child is greatly exceeded by the impact of someone smoking a cigarette as they walk past you in the park but I see way less anti-breeding propaganda than I do anti-smoking propaganda. I think it is very easy to get combative and point fingers at people for being “less vegan” but the fact is that NO ONE is perfect, and being vegan has never been about being perfect: it’s about reducing harm where you’re able. I do not mean to justify “cheating” or being lazy instead of striving to do the least harm possible, but don’t sit behind your computer and act like you’re god’s gift to the animal kingdom when you certainly have your own unnecessary and probably harmful indulgences.
I find that you not having a Tumblr is highly unlikely, but I digress.
The environmental impact I referred to was not in production and destruction of forests (although that’s also true) as much as it was about in the negative impacts that smoking itself has on the earth along with cigarette butts being an overwhelming source of litter and the impact that fumes from smoking has on the environment.
Veganism is about reducing harm where you’re able. And it has nothing to do with me acting like “god’s gift to the animal kingdom.” Which is precisely why I just said that vegan options from vegan companies and the avoidance of products that support people and corporations who fund animal exploitation is important. It isn’t 100% avoidable all of the time, but when it is applicable, an effort should be made. I stopped buying Silk because of that reason, along with other products. But you really can’t try to compare something like soymilk which is beneficial for human health and packed with vitamins to something like fucking smoking. I think we should definitely be looking for other options whenever possible, so if we can drink something besides Silk, we should.
I don’t condone human reproduction for that reason and more. If people want to have children, they should adopt, because the world is already overflowing with people and there are millions of homeless children in existence. I’m not going to claim dictatorship over someone else’s body and try to mandate that, but it’s something that I think everyone needs to evaluate. Procreation is destructive by nature. I’m not here to discuss procreation though. I’m really not even here to fucking argue anything, I am so sick of this bullshit. Smoking is just not vegan, I’m sorry. You can try to twist it however you want but it’s just not.
Fact of the matter is that we all know smoking is aboslutely horrid for humans and animals alike. Secondhand smoke kills thousands of people annually and I can only imagine that it also kills thousands of animals that are subjected to it as well. Those victims had absolutely no say in the matter and like I said, that alone would make smoking un-vegan if nothing else. Like you just said, veganism is about doing the least amount of harm. After knowing all of the harm that smoking causes and understanding how destructive and exploitative of an industry it is and knowing that smoking has absolutely no benefits, how the fuck is continuing to smoke considered doing the least harm? Give me a goddamn break.
Smoking is definitely something most of us can easily give up (and others can gradually give up), and should. I feel that as people who are supposedly concerned with how our actions impact others, smoking is definitely not something that falls into the category of being compassionate towards others. I smoked at one point myself until I realized it was absolutely unjustifiable. If not for ourselves, we need to quit for the animals, others around us, and the earth.
Anonymous asked: there IS cig brands that don't test on animals, and you can roll your own. (to that anon)
No, there are not. American Spirits are falsely advertised as vegan or not tested on animals which is completely bogus. All cigarette companies are ultimately owned by the same big tobacco corporations which all test on animals. Tobacco is never vegan, bottom line.
Anonymous asked: :( just wondering, are those beagles being tested on for tobacco? I'm trying to get my boyfriend to not smoke because I know cigarettes are a) terrible for him and b) tested on animals. He also owns a beagle.
Uh, yes. Cigarettes/tobacco are tested on thousands of different animals, beagles included.
“In tobacco inhalation experiments, dogs, primates, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, lambs, chickens, rodents and other animals are mutilated, pumped full of nicotine and forced to inhale smoke. Dogs are forced to inhale cigarette smoke on mechanical ventilators. In one experiment, researchers cut holes in the throats of beagles’ and forced them to breathe concentrated cigarette smoke for an entire year. Other tests have involved inserting electrodes into dogs’ penises to measure the effect of cigarette smoke on sexual performance. Masks are strapped on to the faces of rats and mice while cigarette smoke is pumped directly into noses. Rhesus monkeys are confined to chairs with head devices, while being exposed to nicotine and caffeine to study effects on breathing. In 1996, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded 123 grants totaling $28,099,418 for tobacco research, with 40% ($10,276,391) slated for animal testing. … Today, in spite of reams of data establishing the tobacco/cancer link, the industry still conducts tobacco testing on animals, spending millions of dollars and killing hundreds of thousands of animals in an attempt to manipulate data.” - Source
Tell your boyfriend to knock it the fuck off.
