Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

Thoughts on Veganism?

About 5 years ago, I thought Vegans were utterly insane I didn't understand why you would cut out Animal products, it seemed unnatural too me.

I watched a couple documentaries and read into it, it did shock me that animal agriculture produced some of the highest greenhouse gases and it was generally an inefficient way of feeding the population as a whole because of the amount of water and grains an animal requires. The whole way Animals are slaughtered and cows have rods of bull semen forcefully pushed into them seems quite barbaric. For a while I kind of made that link and felt conscious of the meat I was eating and eventually cut it out pretty slowly, my main concern health wise was protein while meat/eggs/diary are convenient sources of protein, it is easy enough if you plan your diet to get it from beans, nuts, legumes, tofu and other sources. I haven't struggled with a protein deficiency but initially I was just not eating well and felt hungry constantly until I started tracking protein intake. I do think a lot of vegans who just don't bother with trying to get protein in really make it easier for people criticising veganism to use them as examples.

In general I feel like we are too entitled like we feel because we are the superior or dominant species, it's okay to kill Animals. They are proven to be sentient, I understand a lot of people will argue they don't posses the complexity of our type of sentience but it just doesn't seem like a good excuse. People dissociate as well from food they eat, most people wouldn't want to kill a cow to then hack up and cook then eat.

It is very odd to think how much my thinking has changed in the past few years to be honest.

What are your thoughts on Veganism? If you disagree what are your arguments against?
This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
wildbill83 · 36-40, M
retards. hypocrites. Believe that simply because they don't eat meat, that they don't use things made from animal by-products when nothing could be further from the truth.

As an actor, I think Leonardo De Caprio is a talented one, but in the realm of political awareness and views on fossil fuels...well, I say this, if we didn't have the things he seemed to decry, much of the lifestyle and existence he has , had his ideas prevailed would not have advanced his lifestyle or his career.
Chickie · F
@wildbill83 agree, Veganism does very little to help animals.
wildbill83 · 36-40, M
For all intensive purposes, [i]at least one[/i] thing [b]everyone[/b] uses on a daily basis was made from animal by-products...
JoMalho · 26-30, M
@wildbill83 I mean this argument is kind of like we already use a lot of day to day objects from animals so fuck it we might as well eat them as they taste good and cause more suffering. I am not of the opinion Veganism means it causes absolutely no harm to Animals but it sure as hell does reduce the suffering. I mean just farming crops animals are killed, I'm not oblivious to this but I do want to try reduce suffering as much as I can without completely abandoning my lifestyle by going to live in a Jungle or away from society.
wildbill83 · 36-40, M
@JoMalho then you run into the same moral dilemma as those who complain about mass crop farming, gmo's, pesticides, herbicides, etc.

For civilization to survive on completely organic farming and "reduced suffering" for animal products, we'd have to reduce the world population drastically...

to pre-industrial revolution numbers; +/-.8 - 1 billion

would you consider mass genocide of 70-80% of the world's population in order to reach these goals as [i]acceptable[/i]?
JoMalho · 26-30, M
@wildbill83 I really don't care about these things like gmo's and pesticides/herbicides, when I said "I mean just farming crops animals are killed" I wasn't clear but I was trying to say that it is an unavoidable fact of life we cause harm to the world just by living. I would push for us to try to look into manufacturing things without animal by products. The thing is I'll reduce suffering where I can by not eating animal products, yeah animals will be killed still because of me living and the foods I eat but it is less significantly then a meat eater.

I still don't view animals as equals to humans but to me it's not a good excuse to eat them so no who in their right mind would condone such a fucking thing.. Why would you even ask that?
wildbill83 · 36-40, M
@JoMalho [quote]I would push for us to try to look into manufacturing things without animal by products.[/quote]

For many products, that simply isn't possible; for others, it would require relying more heavily on non-renewable resources (oil based, plastics, etc.)

And the low number of vegans (comparatively speaking) has little effect on "meat production", it won't produce any less, or use any different means... It just makes it slightly cheaper for the 99% of us who do consume meat...
JoMalho · 26-30, M
@wildbill83 I'm not disagreeing with you but in some cases it is unnecessary and their can be alternatives. I'm against causing suffering when I feel it's unnecessary like for food. People can be healthy on a meat based diet and also a vegan diet, I'm not against meat eating for health reasons I agree it's convenient and easier to get protein from meat but it is possible for us to get it from plants, some vegans just end up not bothering to look into tracking protein or eating rich sources of plant based protein and as a result get extremely deficient.

It might not be making much difference now but people have started to reduce meat intake in many parts of the world in the UK where I'm from it has dropped. I don't really think everyone will go vegan and it's unrealistic but reducing meat consumption is helping however little, it's still having some effect.
wildbill83 · 36-40, M
@JoMalho there are some minerals that you simply cannot get from plants/vegan food via natural consumption (Vitamin B12, D3, Creatine, Carnosine, DHA, Heme-iron, Taurine, etc.)

Quite frankly, it's absurd to deny a biological necessity as being natural

Your only alternative is to develop a deficiency, take a synthetic alternative (which comes with its own problems), or a concentrated form of the original (vitamins)
This message was deleted by its author.