Why are you a Vegan?

[eBrooker]

Not sure if this topic has been done before (I'd expect it to be a sticky somewhere - but if not...) why did you become a Vegan?

(If the topic already exists, please delete and PM me the url.)

[xJimx]

This is the new ethic.
Animals' lives are their own and must be given respect.
Reject the anthropocentric
falsehood that maintains the oppressive hierarchy of mankind
over the animals. It's time to set them free. Their lives
reduced to biomachines in the factory, farm and laboratory.
Dairy, eggs and meat, fur, suede, wool, leather are the end
products of torture, confinement and murder.
I abjure their use out of reverence for all innocent life.
Wildlifes' right to
live in peace in their natural environment
without this civilization's interference can no longer be denied.
Must no longer be denied.
To make a civilization worthy of the word civilized the cruelty must end,
starting within or own lives. Reject the
anthropocentric falsehood that maintains the oppressive hierarchy
of mankind over the animals. It's time to set them free.
Veganism is the essence of compassion and peaceful living.
The animals are not ours to abuse or dominate. I abjure their use
out of reverence ... I abjure their use out of reverence ...
I abjure their use out of reverence for all innocent life.

[Andrewc]

This is the new ethic.
Animals' lives are their own and must be given respect.
Reject the anthropocentric
falsehood that maintains the oppressive hierarchy of mankind
over the animals. It's time to set them free. Their lives
reduced to biomachines in the factory, farm and laboratory.
Dairy, eggs and meat, fur, suede, wool, leather are the end
products of torture, confinement and murder.
I abjure their use out of reverence for all innocent life.
Wildlifes' right to
live in peace in their natural environment
without this civilization's interference can no longer be denied.
Must no longer be denied.
To make a civilization worthy of the word civilized the cruelty must end,
starting within or own lives. Reject the
anthropocentric falsehood that maintains the oppressive hierarchy
of mankind over the animals. It's time to set them free.
Veganism is the essence of compassion and peaceful living.
The animals are not ours to abuse or dominate. I abjure their use
out of reverence ... I abjure their use out of reverence ...
I abjure their use out of reverence for all innocent life.

I'm going to quote this too. Cop out answer.

I have this song go through my head before every heavy lift.

[Konstantin]

There is this but as there's different people on here we'd get different opinions this time.

[eBrooker]

I don't mind if the threads are merged - will leave it up to a moderator to decide

Personally, I am thinking about becoming a Vegan (although technically it's my 2nd day as one!!) because of two reasons that I take quite seriously - my health, and the well-being of animals.

I have no problems eating meat itself _if_ the animal led a natural cruelty-free (ie not industrial farmed) life (and I don't mean taking someone's word for it - Id have to be rearing them myself). Although even then I would eat meat in moderation as it's harder for our bodies to digest... and I doubt I'd be able to kill an animal myself anyway (unless I was starving!).

The health thing here surprises me tho - as I'd have expected Vegans to be healthier eaters than what it seems they are; people making cup-cakes and what not (high in sugar) adding 'yeast' to their dishes (yeast isn't good for you as bad bacteria loves it) and a few other things here and there, such as eating pre-made 'soya' foods that are probably just as processed as most other crap in the supermarkets. These things are not healthy in my book.

Anyway that's more an observation than my own reasons for thinking about going V

[JP]

my main reason is why not. Since it has so many clear benefits to others, and i seem to do well as vegan, i dont see any reason why not be

ok ok, i admit, just tried to be a bit different with my reply... but kind of makes sense?

[ninearms]

Never understood the health argument - you can be healthy whatever your ethical position is if you're not a moron. As far as I'm concerned health arguments weaken our position, not strengthen it.

I am vegan because being vegetarian is like wearing a chastity belt and fapping away underneath it.

[The Duke]

being vegetarian is like wearing a chastity belt and fapping away underneath it.

post pictures.

[JP]

i dont think there is such a thing than health vegan anyway, since wearing leather is probably not all that bad for your own health.

...cows health on the other hand...

[erske]

since wearing leather is probably not all that bad for your own health.

Are you sure? I've heard they use an awfull lott of cemicals when the tan the leather.. That can't be Natural

[spike]

I think it is equally possible to be healthy as an omni or vegan, although I guess healthy omni would not involve that much meat.

I am vegan because, basically, animals are not food, .they are animals. I don't need to eat meat, eggs or dairy, use leather or wool etc. Being vegan is relatively easy for most things these days.

[helmut]

i became vegan because i was overwhelmed when i realised that animals are not ours to decide whether they live or die, live in cages or grassy fields, live 'happily or live injured in pools of their own vomit. they just exist and should never be harnessed by humans for economic or other benefit.

thats it in short - everything else fell into place

i soon realised it was easy enough, quite healthy and good for the environment.

[Gelert]

bad bacteria

I was kinda nurtured in the perspective that there were such things as "good" species and "bad" species.

Dog = good species
Wolf = bad species

Or, in even in the case of bacterial species:

Lactobacillus acidophilus = good bacteria
Treponema pallidum = bad bacteria

And that humans go about the place trying to kill off the bad species and boost the good ones. Or breed the bad into good. Etc. And it's all OK because we're the top of the tree.

But, gradually on the cycle path to Damascus, I kinda realized a few things.

First, I realized was that there was no such thing as a "bad" species. Or a "good" one. All the species on this earth are just experiments into any given direction for maximizing evolutionary fitness. It's how they go about and how they interact with us that that makes them good or bad from our perspective.

Then I realized that it's only from our perspective. And most of all, it's not so much about how they interact with us, but how we interact with them that is one of the strongest determining factors in whether something ends up being "good" or "bad" several years down the line. And then we act all surprised. But we often load the dice.

Then, I realized that the concept of a species is but that. A concept. One we impose. Across life the definition varies dramatically. What we consider to be the norm (i.e. two individuals of opposite gender able to produce a fertile offspring) only really applies in a tiny fraction of it all as a definition of species. If we used some of the definitions we have for bacterial species, all primates from humans to lemurs would be a single species. These species that we recognize as important -among the animals and plants - are but two twigs on the tree of life. And we don't even know for sure that it's a tree. It could be a doughnut.

And as a result of all of this, we don't recognize the vast majority of the diversity of life, let alone how it comes to be, or when it passes. We fear and mourn for the passing of a few selected species on the basis of how mediagenic they are, but for the vast majority they are coming and going right now and we don't even know. And certainly don't care.

So, where do we fit in all of this. No idea. But we should tread as lightly as we can because we only think we're at the top of the tree. And the most realistic prospect of doing that, right here and now is being vegan.

And finally, I too realized that being vegetarian is like wearing a chastity belt and fapping away underneath it.

[The Duke]

Gelert ... you are a closset buddhist!

[Hiking Fox]

I originally went vegan for this reason:


...but then I got involved in the Baby Milk Action Nestle boycott campaign and it struck me that it is completely stupid to feed baby humans on powdered cows' milk anywhere in the world, not just places with contaminated water, and that it is actually ironic that many fervent boycotters of Nestle, South African products (I'm showing my age, here!) etc. were themselves consuming and giving their children milk and other animal products that were being produced in the 'Western' world using high quality soya and grains that should be available for food for people in countries with food shortages.

It would not actually be possible for animal products to be produced on a mass scale in a human friendly way, as it would defy the laws of physics and attempt to make energy from nowhere (cos of course, energy from the plant foods they eat is used by animals to move, heat their bodies etc. )so no amount of changes to farming techniques could fix that problem.

So basically, for me it started out as just an animal rights thing, but now it is equally a human rights thing.