http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/06/22/vegan-carnivore Comments On: Vegan? Carnivore? by Bethany Jean Clement en-us Copyright 2009 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0800 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:45:00 -0800 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
You can call me a queer vegan. Although cucumbers? Can we be a little more original? I don't eat meat or any products that have came from animals but I sure as hell do enjoy eating my girlfriend ;)

Posted by weeyumi]]> Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:52:07 -0700 The Stranger Posted by sunshine]]> Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:28:04 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Buffoony Jean, Biggest Troll on Slog]]> Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:01:38 -0700 The Stranger Posted by James Ganon]]> Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:41:10 -0700 The Stranger
Basically, if you can make a moral crusade out of my diet I should be free to do so with yours... Mushrooms are murder! Save the snow peas! ~shrug~ Difference is, except as a joke, I don't actually want to make a moral crusade out of your life. I just want you to keep your nose out of mine.

Sounds kinda familiar actually...
Posted by Geneva]]> Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:46:37 -0700 The Stranger Posted by DawginExile]]> Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:38:33 -0700 The Stranger
Factory farming is a huge problem. Those animals are tortured. Their entire experience of life is misery. And the result is products that are bad for us, and pretty substantial environmental destruction.

Talking about how we all kill to live completely misses the point.
Posted by Violet_DaGrinder]]> Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:42:10 -0700 The Stranger
Plants are living entities also after all. Just because they don't react to being killed in a way that you, as a mammal, recognize does not change the fact that they were alive following their natural life cycle to reproduce their species before you (or more likely, someone else on your behalf) came along and killed them so that you could eat your 'organic' lentils or rice or carrots.
Posted by Geneva]]> Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:34:59 -0700 The Stranger
Rather an obviously loaded (and baited) statement that can't hope to deal with any real world complexity. Firstly, this assumption that anyone who's Pro-Choice just must be like the bitchy daughter from "Polyester" ("I'm gonna get an abortion, and I can't wait!") with a punch card at the local clinic ("The eighth one's free!") is beyond tiresome already. Just as I'd encourage effective safe sex methods to avoid pregnancy, I also neuter my pets so as to curtail the terrible cycle of birth and disease that is currently threatening an out-of-control cat population in particular.

Secondly, as an animal lover, I've also had to resort to euthanasia in cases of a sick and dying animal. I'm hardly doing cartwheels about it. The reality is that there are certain necessary "evils" in the world, that while they may be difficult choices, actually succeed in preventing further suffering down the line. Admittedly, this isn't a specious "Gotcha!" Non sequitor, but I question defending the virtues of slaughter houses and the factory farm system, which, even if you can look past the deplorable conditions, still essentially are woefully inefficient in terms of the amount of energy to required to produce a single steak or hamburger.
Posted by Gry]]> Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:46:15 -0700 The Stranger Posted by The tomato plant is involved; the carrot is committed.]]> Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:32:45 -0700 The Stranger they get defensive and like to yell about how much they LOVE MEAT.

"bacon's fucking great! i had a martini made with grease from bacon and then i wore the fur of a rat and made a ratini of it and then went to the chacha and used a condom made of a dick-skewed piglett to fuck my boyfriend's veal-filled mouth!"

dewd, you love meat, i get it. no one cares, shutup.

and that picture is hilarious.


Posted by AgathaAtlas]]> Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:26:23 -0700 The Stranger
Myself, and many vegans I know, went through a phase where we were total assholes about it. And then we stopped being 19. You know? Everybody is an asshole about SOMEthing when they're 19. ;)

For many of us who care about the suffering of the other animals on this gawdforsaken rock, when we first learned what really goes on in modern agriculture (and how it affects our planet and our bodies), we were shocked and outraged, and assumed that everybody who ISN'T shocked and outraged must just be unaware. So it's really tempting to go around shouting about one's shock and outrage, in the hopes that other people will stop contributing to the abject misery that results from factory farming.

But then, eventually, most of us realize that people don't care. It's not that they don't know (or if it is, it's a willful not-knowing). It's that they don't give a fuck. They care more about what tastes good than about how it got on their plate. Maybe it's that they just can't empathize with a being that isn't human. Maybe it's just that they are emotionally fatigued by all of the other totally legitimate things that they DO care about. I get that.

That people can know and not care still doesn't make me feel good about humanity, even if I get why. It's on a long list of things that make me feel quite a bit of despair, actually. But I did realize at some point in my mid-20s that I might as well shut up and eat my lentils, and put my energy into something else, because the only real power I have to change anything is via my wallet.

I do sometimes wonder why vegans get shit on so much, compared to other sorts of activists who are equally loud in their protests. A vegan diet is more humane, better for the environment, and usually healthier. I admire people who join the Peace Corps, chain themselves to old trees, raise awareness about genocide, ride their bikes everywhere. . . the things that *I* don't do. I don't feel the need to put them down in order to feel better about my inaction. Why can't people be like, "hey, good for you" rather than being assholes about it?

Whatever. *shrug*
Posted by Violet_DaGrinder]]> Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:16:13 -0700 The Stranger Posted by rec]]> Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:06:46 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Geni]]> Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:15:43 -0700 The Stranger Posted by capnjohnny]]> Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:39:43 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Will in Seattle]]> Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:32:40 -0700 The Stranger
More likely, Saint Anthony the Abbot, Patron Saint of Butchers.
Posted by Stupid White Man]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:51:37 -0700 The Stranger Posted by paulus]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:20:24 -0700 The Stranger
the rule in the grass seed warehouse was stomp on mice on sight. If you little vegan fucks really want to keep it real, stay off the grass.
Posted by Postum]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:03:20 -0700 The Stranger
the rule in the grass seed warehouse was stomp on mice on sight. If you little vegan fucks really want to keep it real, stay off the grass.
Posted by Postum]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:02:20 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Stupid White Man]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:00:42 -0700 The Stranger We already talked about abortion...I'm done with that subject

95% of humanity believes in God, I don't, does that make me an extremist.

500 years ago 95% of humanity if not more believed the sun circled the earth, Galileo didn't, he was labled an extremist...turns out he was right

When challenging the status quo, you are always in the minority...doesn't necessarily mean you are wrong.

It's not as if I'm saying we should get violent and kill lots of things. It's funny how compassion is seen as such a threat
Posted by samedelstein]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:01:30 -0700 The Stranger
Do you think abortion is murder?
Posted by Stupid White Man]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:56:34 -0700 The Stranger Why is killing animals not murder? Is this all animals? Humans can kill whatever animals we want just because? I'd say that's a pretty extreme point of view actually.

I'm just not sure where I'm supposed to compromise more. I already said I think that it is great if people eat less meat, that is a start. But if I honestly think that killing an harming animals is wrong, where am I supposed to compromise. Isn't it better that I hold true to those beliefs? Is it just that you find me annoying? I kind of feel like that's a no since you've been talking here so long, on a thread that is about VEGANISM!

With any struggle, whether you think it is legitimate or not, there are those that believe you should compromise, and those that don't believe in the compromise and continue to push in hopes that their values become accepted. While this doesn't always happen, those people are the ones that are looked kindly upon. So yeah, I'll stick with my values.
Posted by samedelstein]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:46:35 -0700 The Stranger
Another sign of an an extremist? Unwilling to compromise. You sound like a pro life nut.
Posted by Stupid White Man]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:39:27 -0700 The Stranger