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Post by queenzod on Oct 29, 2017 2:24:31 GMT
I’ve cooked entire Thanksgiving dinners for vegan friends. A bit difficult, but doable. I don’t mind it, or vegetarianism, at all. It’s that insufferable attitude that sometimes goes along with it. As I get older I eat less and less meat, and often go vegetarian myself. I think lots of people do, and it is good to be aware of the impact our lives have upon others and our environment.
There’s a post that goes around Tumblr occasionally, “Save the Bees! Don’t eat honey!” Which I have to roll my eyes at. Bee cultivation and the honey business saves bees. I wish people would educate themselves before preaching, but that’s never stopped the human race before, lol.
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Post by anjnaadams on Oct 29, 2017 3:30:02 GMT
It is no big deal to me. He may still wear whatever, as you can be vegan in terms of diet only. Not all vegans embrace the philosophy of it and some do it solely for health reasons. It can be the right call for some people if done properly.
He can still bulk up for DS as well, as there are successful vegan bodybuilders.
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Post by igs on Oct 29, 2017 7:41:38 GMT
I don’t mind it, or vegetarianism, at all. It’s that insufferable attitude that sometimes goes along with it To be honest I see a lot more people online whining about how "vegans this and vegans that" than actual vegans doing that thing they are accused of, some even going as far as discarding the merits of the diet entirely just because of these "radical vegans" which I in turn find irritating cause it's just being contrarian. It's similar to other subjects - "radical feminism" or "far-left" are some examples, hearing certain people talk of them you'd imagine they are everywhere actively trying to take over the world but I don't think I've ever come across even a one online or in real life! I'm certain there are plenty of irritating vegans around but there are probably a thousand vegans who are perfectly nice and normal and don't preach about it constantly, but you [general you, not you specifically Queenzod ] don't even know they are vegan cause how would you. Disclaimer: I'm not vegan. I could never give up cheese! I've tried vegan cheese but it's super expensive and it just doesn't taste the same. I think it's pretty cool if BC's a vegan. No more foie gras for him. By the way the product is actually illegal to produce here in Finland (and apparently a ton of other countries including the UK) so anyone thinking criticizing it is just vegans being "triggered" or what not then nope, its production is actually recognized as cruel very widely! I'm not saying a person eating foie gras is an awful human being by the way. I mean I own a down coat that I didn't even realize to think the ethics of when I bought it, no throwing no stones from me.
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Post by mllemass on Oct 29, 2017 8:18:50 GMT
I have to agree that it's silly to congratulate Benedict, or anyone else, for being vegan when you don't know the reason behind it. People want to think he did it for noble reasons, and maybe he did.
I remember years ago a former co-worker dropped by our office to say hello, and everyone congratulated her on her dramatic weight loss. She was very pleased with their reaction, but I was alarmed. I asked her if she had been trying to lose weight, and she laughed and said she she'd been on a diet most of her life and it was finally working. It turned out that she had cancer and died only a few months later. I've seen that happen too many times: someone suddenly loses weight and everyone congratulates them for finally becoming more attractive, when in fact they have an undiagnosed illness.
I'm not a vegetarian, but I'm not big meat-eater either. I, also, have had people say they admire me for my food choices. But that's ridiculous because I just don't happen to like meat very much! Meat isn't a huge part of Italian cooking, so it was never the main part of our meals growing up. Meat was expensive! When we did have it, I hated it and would leave it on my plate. My father would say I couldn't leave the table until I'd finished my little piece of meat, but after he left the table my mother would throw it away so he wouldn't know. I'm ok with chicken, and I'm getting better with beef, but I can say that I have never craved meat like some others do. But that's no reason to congratulate me!
We once had a co-worker in our office who was vegetarian. She had told me that after her second child was born, he developed a lot health issues that the doctors traced back to his diet. They started eliminating different foods and found that he had a sensitivity to meat. So rather than prepare special meals just for him, my co-worker and her family all became vegetarians. She said that once he became a teenager, he began sneaking hamburgers into his diet without her knowledge - and he was fine. After that, her family went back to eating meat, but she decided to remain vegetarian. She went back to cooking and serving meat to her family, but she just didn't eat it. But people who didn't know that story always congratulated her - either for her dieting will-power, or for her devotion to animal rights. And neither one of those reasons were correct!
I do remember a vegetarian friend of my sister's who didn't eat meat because she thought animals were all cuddly and adorable. She often said that she liked animals more than she liked people, and they needed her to protect them. She had lots of health problems, so I always thought it was weird when people congratulated her for being so healthy.
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Post by igs on Oct 29, 2017 8:36:04 GMT
By these standards you can never congratulate anyone. "Happy birthday", what if the person is having an age-crisis? "Congratulations for the baby!", what if the baby was an accident? "Congratulations for the new job", maybe the job was just something the person had to take cause they didn't get the job they actually wanted?
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Post by queenzod on Oct 29, 2017 9:50:59 GMT
My bro and his wife are Orthodox, and they decided it was just easier to become vegetarian than do the whole two refrigerator, two sets of dishes and pots and pans thing, which makes sense. If they want meat, they go out to a kosher restaurant. Everybody has an opinion on diet, and people experiment with lots of different things throughout their lives.
IGS, I hear you, but where I live you can’t throw a rock without hitting a vegan, lol. Everyone is on some kind of special diet (no wheat, carbs, peppers, acidic food, dairy, eggs, meat, etc.) so most of the time the easiest and cleanest thing to bring to a potluck is a gluten free vegan dish. Kale chips, anyone? 😃
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Post by ellie on Oct 29, 2017 9:56:26 GMT
Thanks IGS! I’ve seen BC being “congratulated” on numerous things on which people are not aware of the full facts, including by posters on this board. However this is the only thing that people have taken issue with.
I’m really disappointed to see the level of generalization and downright hostility towards Vegans that this thread has thrown up.
And Dremasincolour I do not have a “problem” with people who eat meat. My comment about my aversion to meat was an aside entirerely related to myself. It is perhaps easier for me to be a vegetarian because I have always found meat to be like eating dead flesh. I’m totally aware lots of other people don’t feel the same, including most of my friends. I’ve said elsewhere in this thread that I have no problem with that and am happy to cook meat for them.
The only thing I really object to is factory farmed produce and specific items that are produced through exceptional cruelty such as Fois Gras and Veal.
And the only reason I responded in this thread was several posters seemed to be so negative towards vegans and people who choose not to eat animal products that I felt like introducing some balance into the discussion.
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Post by igs on Oct 29, 2017 10:41:16 GMT
Haha queenzod you are right. These days everyone has some kind of a diet. I'm never quite sure what I think of the people who refuse to eat gluten, in some ways I think it's kind of a slap on the face to people who are coeliac but my friend who is said that actually this fad has made more gluten-free products available and has also cheapened the prices a lot so in a way it's a good thing. This is not to you specifically anymore Queenzod but in general. If one is a meat eater who acknowledges the effect it has on both animals and the environment but chooses nonetheless eat meat then that is fine, humans are omnivores (not carnivores which I see as a very regular anti-vegan/anti-vegetarian argument) so it's just normal that we eat meat. And there are ways of procuring it in a way that isn't as harmful to animals/environment as mass production factory farming and if one chooses those meats and that poultry then they shouldn't feel guilty about eating meat at all. However, having established that, if one gets defensive over factual statements (ie meat being dead flesh, which it is) then that kind of feels like an "admission" of feeling guilty about it. You don't see non-racist/non-sexist/non-homophobic people shouting about All Lives Matter or using hastags like NotAllMen or throwing Straight Pride parades. If one is a decent person then criticism targeted at a certain group of people within their demographic is not meant for them and they should know it and not take those criticisms that don't apply to them personally. You may see it as dishonest to compare anti-vegan sentiment to racism/sexism/homophobia and I'm really not comparing them as issues of the same magnitude - I don't think thinking vegans are preachy is anything like actual bigotry - but rather the internet discourse over it. (Although TBH - feel free to ignore this "preachy rant" which I feel like I have to include here - mass farming is a major issue. It accounts for over one third of all methane emissions globally not to mention water pollution and such. Pollution and climate change aren't exactly things that should be taken lightly. Anyways, trying not to be a hypocrite here. I don't eat red or white meat - I do miss chicken sometimes but red meat not, and I've always hated pork so it was really not hard to give up - unless it's game like reindeer, but I do fly quite a bit so I'm fully aware that my own carbon footprint is massive too, but it could be more massive.)
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Post by queenzod on Oct 29, 2017 11:04:27 GMT
I totally get not wanting to eat meat. Sometimes it’s squicks me out, too. All those piles of dead animals at the market. It is cruel to the animals and a burden on the environment and we need to address it.
I’m not trying to be anti vegan. It’s just I have not so good experiences with some of them. Not all of them. I apologize if I sounded snotty or heavy handed. This year in my town they voted to tax sugary drinks by twenty cents an ounce. I hate laws like that. Not only is it a tax on the poor, it’s stupid. Educate people if you want them to be healthier or make better choices, but to tax soda by two bucks per can is beyond the pale. It’s typical of this area, tho, and that let me tell you how to live your life mindset. I don’t even drink the stuff, but I hate the idea of taxing/legislating choice like that.
Sorry again. 😬
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Post by mllemass on Oct 29, 2017 13:17:32 GMT
By these standards you can never congratulate anyone. "Happy birthday", what if the person is having an age-crisis? "Congratulations for the baby!", what if the baby was an accident? "Congratulations for the new job", maybe the job was just something the person had to take cause they didn't get the job they actually wanted? It's not the same thing at all. I think we can agree that there events and achievements in life that most people celebrate. I don't think we need to investigate how someone feels about aging or babies before wishing them well. And yes- I once had calls from people congratulating me on my new job when, in fact, I was being demoted! It was so embarrassing having to explain it to people, but it was an understandable reaction on their part (I fought it and the demotion never happened). But no, I will never congratulate anyone for losing weight. Or for no longer eating meat.
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