424:
Why are the ‘right’ so very right? People’s sense of right and wrong is determined by the culture they’re born into and maybe it changes very little until one actively takes time to examine values afresh, as vegans have done by looking at animal exploitation and the unhealthiness of animal derived food. But whether we have or haven’t re-examined ‘right’, we nevertheless have a sense of what is fundamentally wrong and, in theory, try to avoid it. But the trouble is that vegans and omnivores are poles apart, concerning ‘wrong’.
Vegans have thought it through one way and omnivores another way ... or perhaps for them there’s been a deliberate avoidance of thinking. Do they lack imagination when it comes to the suffering of animals? Or do they stop themselves using their thinking faculty to shield themselves from an awful truth?
When I found myself challenged by a new way of looking at animals I immediately thought of all the ramifications. It would touch food and touch on everyday habits and pleasures, enough to want to shutdown that ‘line of thinking’ and scramble for justification (which, as everyone knows, doesn’t have to be too logical, since everyone else is justifying similarly).
If no one can afford to think things through too carefully, the majority ends up with different values to vegans. And that needn’t matter much because, as yet, there are few vegans to make complaint. It’s in the omnivores’ interest to continually reinforce the majority view for fear of the minority (vegan) view gaining ground.
Most people try to make what they think is ‘right’ to be Right. They can’t afford to do what is wrong, because anyone deliberately doing wrong will suffer from attempting to go against their ‘better’ instincts, by not trying hard enough to rise above their own knuckle-dragging primitive impulses. And yet they do cut ethical corners and know they do. Maybe they do it out of convenience and an easy life. Maybe, if directly involved in profiting from animals, to egregiously line their own pockets ... and the Devil take the hindmost.
I’d say that vegan principle teaches us to act with restraint. We try to avoid the easy way out as well as the downright ‘evil’ way, and try to have the courage to do the right thing ... and certainly never to profit from animal misery.
So, for example, when I’m tempted to play my music loudly late at night, if I restrain myself because people are sleeping next door, that would be the ‘right’ thing to do. If, on the other hand, I say to hell with the neighbours, that’s just not right. When I know it’s wrong and yet do it all the same, I’m refusing to forgo my pleasure ... and that’s the attitude I’d call ‘primitive’.
Humans have learnt to live their lives on the backs of others. The worst example is exploiting animals who can’t fight back. And that might extend to exploiting the environment for personal gain - perhaps the main reasoning being that is “If I don’t exploit the situation someone else will”. They’ll beat me to it and steal my opportunity ... good reason not to lose my chance of gaining the advantage”.
I suppose that’s the central attitude that needs changing, so that empathy can kick in and make us into a caring-about-others type of person.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
The divide between us
423:
I find it’s difficult to remain passive when I’m speaking about animals (that are used for food) with a meat eater. But I try to keep quiet and listen. And then whatever I do say, I try to say off beat. As if the values I want to present might be too strong, too contrary to theirs; that my point of view might need to be taken in by them almost subliminally. Otherwise, what I say will seem like a subtle attack - asking the questions I know the answers to - “this is what I do, and is that different to what you do?”
I sense that any value judgements I’m making (of them) will show up, however clever I think I’m being in attempting to hide them. Which is why I try to move right away from making judgements, even in my own mind, so that I’m better placed to observe their point of view. And once I’m familiar with that, I feel that I’m in a much better position to be helping them transition to a new attitude.
I find it’s difficult to remain passive when I’m speaking about animals (that are used for food) with a meat eater. But I try to keep quiet and listen. And then whatever I do say, I try to say off beat. As if the values I want to present might be too strong, too contrary to theirs; that my point of view might need to be taken in by them almost subliminally. Otherwise, what I say will seem like a subtle attack - asking the questions I know the answers to - “this is what I do, and is that different to what you do?”
I sense that any value judgements I’m making (of them) will show up, however clever I think I’m being in attempting to hide them. Which is why I try to move right away from making judgements, even in my own mind, so that I’m better placed to observe their point of view. And once I’m familiar with that, I feel that I’m in a much better position to be helping them transition to a new attitude.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
People behaving badly
421:
There are those who don’t feel badly about behaving badly … condoning the abuse of animals for food and clothing, as if it’s of no significance. It’s as if they are impelled to (take a full part in the whole cruel system of animal abuse themselves) cause damage but don’t know how to pull back. Better behaved people can see better the part they play, moderate their urges and try to minimise damage.
As advocates for the animals we get disappointed by those pulling in the opposite direction and might want to give up on them, exasperated?
When I get talking to people who behave badly but may not seem to care, I nevertheless find they’re worth getting to know if only to find out how they justify their views on animals. I try to talk to them, ask them how they feel about ‘all this’. At the same time I try to make them feel at ease, by eliminating any hint of judgement from what I’m asking. I try never to show any trace of disapproval.
If we can ask questions of them, as if they were asking themself the same questions, then I think we have a better chance of influencing a change of attitude, without igniting ego-resistance.
If we can spend time with people who not only disagree with us but adamantly oppose the whole concept of ‘animals having rights’, we might get closer to the general point of view shared by very many others. On this subject of eating animals, people put them in a special category, where their own companion animals are much loved and ‘food’ animals are completely un-loved. However illogical their arguments may seem to us, our job as animal advocates is to get deeper inside that way of thinking. And that’s made easier the more we become familiar with their arguments. It’s easy for vegans to forget the rationale we ourselves might have used to justify our own eating (and clothing) habits of the past.
There are those who don’t feel badly about behaving badly … condoning the abuse of animals for food and clothing, as if it’s of no significance. It’s as if they are impelled to (take a full part in the whole cruel system of animal abuse themselves) cause damage but don’t know how to pull back. Better behaved people can see better the part they play, moderate their urges and try to minimise damage.
As advocates for the animals we get disappointed by those pulling in the opposite direction and might want to give up on them, exasperated?
When I get talking to people who behave badly but may not seem to care, I nevertheless find they’re worth getting to know if only to find out how they justify their views on animals. I try to talk to them, ask them how they feel about ‘all this’. At the same time I try to make them feel at ease, by eliminating any hint of judgement from what I’m asking. I try never to show any trace of disapproval.
If we can ask questions of them, as if they were asking themself the same questions, then I think we have a better chance of influencing a change of attitude, without igniting ego-resistance.
If we can spend time with people who not only disagree with us but adamantly oppose the whole concept of ‘animals having rights’, we might get closer to the general point of view shared by very many others. On this subject of eating animals, people put them in a special category, where their own companion animals are much loved and ‘food’ animals are completely un-loved. However illogical their arguments may seem to us, our job as animal advocates is to get deeper inside that way of thinking. And that’s made easier the more we become familiar with their arguments. It’s easy for vegans to forget the rationale we ourselves might have used to justify our own eating (and clothing) habits of the past.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Meeting resistance
420:
What sort of people are vegans speaking to when they do get the chance to speak? We always hope they’ll be compliant and eager, wanting to learn all the stuff we have to tell them … but it’s likely they’ll be ‘reluctants’.
We have to remember that many people don’t feel badly about behaving badly. If they do know about the suffering of animals it might not matter to them, and therefore eating these animals won’t concern them either. Nothing will get them to pull back a bit on their animal eating. They will only change their food if they want to badly enough.
We can appeal to their sense of right-behaviour, to their health, to their compassion but if it’s legal and if most other people do it, there’s no argument in the world that will persuade them to change if they aren’t frightened of their usual food. They won’t even let their minds rest on the subject of Animal Rights let alone consider changing their diet as radically as we are suggesting. We’re talking about food here, ‘my favourite foods’. It’s the one consistent thing we’ve been doing all of our lives, right up to the present day. We are what we’ve eaten. To attempt to alter any part of that would be disturbing to our home life and might even seem like committing social suicide (eating differently to other people).
Vegans, as most people realise, are in a different reality and are ‘out there’ wanting to talk contrary to people’s usual food regimen. When a vegan starts speaking people’s eyes glaze over. We are met with either inertia or dismissal. This is the collective resistance, but despite this, vegans need to work out how to move people on, or at least stimulate some form of communication on the subject of animal-eating.
What sort of people are vegans speaking to when they do get the chance to speak? We always hope they’ll be compliant and eager, wanting to learn all the stuff we have to tell them … but it’s likely they’ll be ‘reluctants’.
We have to remember that many people don’t feel badly about behaving badly. If they do know about the suffering of animals it might not matter to them, and therefore eating these animals won’t concern them either. Nothing will get them to pull back a bit on their animal eating. They will only change their food if they want to badly enough.
We can appeal to their sense of right-behaviour, to their health, to their compassion but if it’s legal and if most other people do it, there’s no argument in the world that will persuade them to change if they aren’t frightened of their usual food. They won’t even let their minds rest on the subject of Animal Rights let alone consider changing their diet as radically as we are suggesting. We’re talking about food here, ‘my favourite foods’. It’s the one consistent thing we’ve been doing all of our lives, right up to the present day. We are what we’ve eaten. To attempt to alter any part of that would be disturbing to our home life and might even seem like committing social suicide (eating differently to other people).
Vegans, as most people realise, are in a different reality and are ‘out there’ wanting to talk contrary to people’s usual food regimen. When a vegan starts speaking people’s eyes glaze over. We are met with either inertia or dismissal. This is the collective resistance, but despite this, vegans need to work out how to move people on, or at least stimulate some form of communication on the subject of animal-eating.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Judge and jury
419:
Young people are better informed these days, and they're starting to make the links between ethics and personal judgement. With a computer and a few mouse clicks, we can get all the information we need. We can then be our own judge and jury on these issues. Then it's just a matter of prioritising things to make our own life easier and become effective animal advocates.
An easy life means switching away from poor quality and animal-based foods to whole, plant-based foods. It puts us in a better position to take up the work of communicating animal rights issues to people and stay healthy while we do it.
Young people are better informed these days, and they're starting to make the links between ethics and personal judgement. With a computer and a few mouse clicks, we can get all the information we need. We can then be our own judge and jury on these issues. Then it's just a matter of prioritising things to make our own life easier and become effective animal advocates.
An easy life means switching away from poor quality and animal-based foods to whole, plant-based foods. It puts us in a better position to take up the work of communicating animal rights issues to people and stay healthy while we do it.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Health horrors
418:
Surely the Western educated and well-informed person has twigged by now that the decline in people's state of general health is related to conventional eating habits. We are far less healthy and far fatter than we need to be. Surely the connection is obvious, between the large numbers of sick humans and the preponderance of cruel farm-animal practices. It's surely a case of ethics interfacing with health consequences up against obstinacy and free-willed decision making.
Surely the Western educated and well-informed person has twigged by now that the decline in people's state of general health is related to conventional eating habits. We are far less healthy and far fatter than we need to be. Surely the connection is obvious, between the large numbers of sick humans and the preponderance of cruel farm-animal practices. It's surely a case of ethics interfacing with health consequences up against obstinacy and free-willed decision making.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Rushing to the rescue
415
Obviously boycotting animal products isn't easy, especially at first. Our addiction to many products on the market is entrenched. And yet we know, as a species, we're highly adaptive and that change isn't really as hard as we think it might be.
Many of us want to be rushing to the rescue - we have ideals to be realised. We know this will mean making a big statement, and for that we need to be adept at making practical changes to our lives, so that we can back up our words.
What is the idealist most up against? Perhaps in the case of animal welfare it’s the majority attitude of pitilessness. The lives of domesticated animals tests the pity in us, and if we can feel enough empathy we’ll make some difficult, personal lifestyle changes to show solidarity, on their behalf. Hopefully it will lift us up to such a level of altruism that we become better in every way - kinder, 'greener', 'vegan'. But this 'vegan' thing, even if it weren't about animals or health, it would still be the most logical and intelligent way to go.
By being vegan we are, to some extent, in a state of self control over our food habits. That in itself is empowering. But there’s the pay-back too, in the food itself; the highly energising plant foods are an aid to thinking, a ‘lighter’ brain food. And that let’s us see on a bigger scale, to see how to make repair.
We may be saving forests or saving starving children or saving exploited creatures but the initial emphasis is always on a need for urgent repair. Of course, we can't start any big, new initiative without first repairing the damage already done to ourselves. In the business of saving animals we have to get things sorted out, by being vegan at the very least, so that effective personal repair can be made possible.
But ‘repair’ sounds like such a dull and unrewarding business ... until we start to see it as the ‘new creative’. Creativity is perhaps what we need most, since without it our repairs will just be for show. They won’t last and, for vegans, a non-lasting repair is a sort of personal tragedy.
Once you ‘go vegan’ you do it for life. If repairing our own attitudes (concerning the use of animals) slides backwards we’d look foolish and shallow, as if our ideals had simply been wishful thinking or boasting. Once our attitudes shift and in accordance with them we take on being vegan, then there’s no reason, other than weak will, to abandon them and slip back into old primitive ways.
Obviously boycotting animal products isn't easy, especially at first. Our addiction to many products on the market is entrenched. And yet we know, as a species, we're highly adaptive and that change isn't really as hard as we think it might be.
Many of us want to be rushing to the rescue - we have ideals to be realised. We know this will mean making a big statement, and for that we need to be adept at making practical changes to our lives, so that we can back up our words.
What is the idealist most up against? Perhaps in the case of animal welfare it’s the majority attitude of pitilessness. The lives of domesticated animals tests the pity in us, and if we can feel enough empathy we’ll make some difficult, personal lifestyle changes to show solidarity, on their behalf. Hopefully it will lift us up to such a level of altruism that we become better in every way - kinder, 'greener', 'vegan'. But this 'vegan' thing, even if it weren't about animals or health, it would still be the most logical and intelligent way to go.
By being vegan we are, to some extent, in a state of self control over our food habits. That in itself is empowering. But there’s the pay-back too, in the food itself; the highly energising plant foods are an aid to thinking, a ‘lighter’ brain food. And that let’s us see on a bigger scale, to see how to make repair.
We may be saving forests or saving starving children or saving exploited creatures but the initial emphasis is always on a need for urgent repair. Of course, we can't start any big, new initiative without first repairing the damage already done to ourselves. In the business of saving animals we have to get things sorted out, by being vegan at the very least, so that effective personal repair can be made possible.
But ‘repair’ sounds like such a dull and unrewarding business ... until we start to see it as the ‘new creative’. Creativity is perhaps what we need most, since without it our repairs will just be for show. They won’t last and, for vegans, a non-lasting repair is a sort of personal tragedy.
Once you ‘go vegan’ you do it for life. If repairing our own attitudes (concerning the use of animals) slides backwards we’d look foolish and shallow, as if our ideals had simply been wishful thinking or boasting. Once our attitudes shift and in accordance with them we take on being vegan, then there’s no reason, other than weak will, to abandon them and slip back into old primitive ways.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Non-violence leads to optimism
413:
It might seem obvious to most of us, to try to apply non-violence to what we do, by being never pushy, never aggressive and not too assertive. But not everyone would agree with that. They’d be the people who think the non-violent ethic is only about passivity and ‘do-nothing-ness’.
For those of us who try to avoid routine violence in our lives (starting by eating vegan food) a certain optimism creeps into our daily lives. That means optimism about the future too, because we know we’ve been able to change and therefore believe other humans can change too. It’s about having enough faith in humanity, that we, collectively, will find sanity and self confidence, enough to counter the prevailing pessimism.
If we’re optimists it must start at home, in getting rid of violent habits and replacing them with constructive ones; developing affectionate relationships and making a stand against cruelty and waste. Simple changes can be made - recycling, buying environmentally-friendly products, eating more ethically, and as a result of that we can feel better about ourselves and more optimistic about the future.
An optimistic attitude isn’t everything. Veganism isn’t everything. We need habit change to cement aspiration. Habits struggle with every day challenges, and of course, food habits are the main difficulty for most people. A radical change of diet, as with a vegan diet, has the power to alter the very course of one’s life. Collectively it could have a massive impact on all our futures. A plant-based diet will certainly have a dramatically beneficial effect on human health, an even more dramatic effect on the fortunes of farm animals’ lives, but the major impact would be on the planet. Animal farming is taking up so much fertile land and the effluent polluting so many of our waterways but also ruminant methane emission makes for more greenhouse gas than all the cars and planes put together. So vegan food is very good for the planet.
By moving towards veganism we can start to address the big questions, like the ethics of animal farming, slaughtering, vivisection laboratories, zoos, etc. By looking-forward to a world where none of this happens we can see great opportunities opening up for us. It’s a truly spine tingling prospect. It’s almost like déj`a-vu, ‘looking back’ at our own futures. All this may give us the courage to take the plunge and go vegan.
It might seem obvious to most of us, to try to apply non-violence to what we do, by being never pushy, never aggressive and not too assertive. But not everyone would agree with that. They’d be the people who think the non-violent ethic is only about passivity and ‘do-nothing-ness’.
For those of us who try to avoid routine violence in our lives (starting by eating vegan food) a certain optimism creeps into our daily lives. That means optimism about the future too, because we know we’ve been able to change and therefore believe other humans can change too. It’s about having enough faith in humanity, that we, collectively, will find sanity and self confidence, enough to counter the prevailing pessimism.
If we’re optimists it must start at home, in getting rid of violent habits and replacing them with constructive ones; developing affectionate relationships and making a stand against cruelty and waste. Simple changes can be made - recycling, buying environmentally-friendly products, eating more ethically, and as a result of that we can feel better about ourselves and more optimistic about the future.
An optimistic attitude isn’t everything. Veganism isn’t everything. We need habit change to cement aspiration. Habits struggle with every day challenges, and of course, food habits are the main difficulty for most people. A radical change of diet, as with a vegan diet, has the power to alter the very course of one’s life. Collectively it could have a massive impact on all our futures. A plant-based diet will certainly have a dramatically beneficial effect on human health, an even more dramatic effect on the fortunes of farm animals’ lives, but the major impact would be on the planet. Animal farming is taking up so much fertile land and the effluent polluting so many of our waterways but also ruminant methane emission makes for more greenhouse gas than all the cars and planes put together. So vegan food is very good for the planet.
By moving towards veganism we can start to address the big questions, like the ethics of animal farming, slaughtering, vivisection laboratories, zoos, etc. By looking-forward to a world where none of this happens we can see great opportunities opening up for us. It’s a truly spine tingling prospect. It’s almost like déj`a-vu, ‘looking back’ at our own futures. All this may give us the courage to take the plunge and go vegan.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Animal sanctuaries
412:
In the long term, the animals, what of them? What becomes of them? Do we retire all of them? Do we restrict their breeding to prevent their numbers expanding? It would certainly be costly even if there were a decline in meat eating and if animals were no longer being bred into existence.
At first I imagine the move to retire and protect those which still survive would be done in the spirit of atonement. We would need special funding, perhaps a special tax to pay for it all. But how would people respond to such a tax in these economically and ecologically straightened times? It’s hard enough to stir people into agreeing to a carbon tax, to help reduce global warming. An animal tax to save animals from exploitation would need a whole different attitude to our animal charges, who are presently treated with no consideration at all.
Attitudes will change as people no longer have an interest in the farming of animals or the provision of meat and dairy products and then our attention will be more trained on wanting to do something for them.
Perhaps it’s quite hard to imagine this new brand of human being, inspired by a new set of ethics, but perhaps with a solid trend of vegetarian eating, people will naturally come to hate exploitation. They’ll want to disassociate from their primitive forebears, and make a point of saving animals, in much the same way that we do today, with abused cats and dogs.
The setting up of safe houses, or rather animal sanctuaries, might not be such a money-burden after all. Imagine the savings made and all the other advantages of a meatless society. Apart from ending the killing, the advantages to our health would be dramatic. The turning of attitude would coincide with a strong wish for a more intelligent and peaceful world. As ‘refusniks’, who no longer eat meat, no longer ‘do’ war, we would be breaking through into an altered state of consciousness, the results of which we can hardly imagine in our present primitive state of mind. The idea of creating sanctuaries for farm animals may not be as far fetched as it seems.
In the long term, the animals, what of them? What becomes of them? Do we retire all of them? Do we restrict their breeding to prevent their numbers expanding? It would certainly be costly even if there were a decline in meat eating and if animals were no longer being bred into existence.
At first I imagine the move to retire and protect those which still survive would be done in the spirit of atonement. We would need special funding, perhaps a special tax to pay for it all. But how would people respond to such a tax in these economically and ecologically straightened times? It’s hard enough to stir people into agreeing to a carbon tax, to help reduce global warming. An animal tax to save animals from exploitation would need a whole different attitude to our animal charges, who are presently treated with no consideration at all.
Attitudes will change as people no longer have an interest in the farming of animals or the provision of meat and dairy products and then our attention will be more trained on wanting to do something for them.
Perhaps it’s quite hard to imagine this new brand of human being, inspired by a new set of ethics, but perhaps with a solid trend of vegetarian eating, people will naturally come to hate exploitation. They’ll want to disassociate from their primitive forebears, and make a point of saving animals, in much the same way that we do today, with abused cats and dogs.
The setting up of safe houses, or rather animal sanctuaries, might not be such a money-burden after all. Imagine the savings made and all the other advantages of a meatless society. Apart from ending the killing, the advantages to our health would be dramatic. The turning of attitude would coincide with a strong wish for a more intelligent and peaceful world. As ‘refusniks’, who no longer eat meat, no longer ‘do’ war, we would be breaking through into an altered state of consciousness, the results of which we can hardly imagine in our present primitive state of mind. The idea of creating sanctuaries for farm animals may not be as far fetched as it seems.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Information is optimism
411a:
So much becomes clear when you see it through a vegan’s eyes. On the one hand we see all too clearly the horror of animal abuse and, on the other, the brilliant breakthrough plant foods represent. It’s worth becoming vegan just for that one insight.
Young people (and a few older ones too) might already be there and already be getting some insights by looking for them and finding them. The raw information is certainly available, and for those who can use technology the essentials can be picked up in a matter of moments. Even very young people may already know more than we older ones, about certain important things.
Here we have people already networking information, in readiness for that day when really important information is the ‘cluing-up’ essential to take more control of one’s personal lives. One’s future. And that, like nothing else, brings a sense of optimism into our lives.
Once I became surer of my ground (where I was no longer being exposed to misinformation and dodgy eatables) I felt my own self-confidence grow … and I think that showed in my demeanour. Who knows, it might have even made me more attractive. Once I was confidently addressing the big problems of the day, I was keen to network what I was finding out. Then I felt at least half way to solving many of my own main problems. I felt half way towards becoming a repairing individual, because I was working to realise an optimistic society. No, I wasn’t part of the present society, I was in fact moving away from it, but I felt as though I belonged more comfortably to a society that was to come.
So much becomes clear when you see it through a vegan’s eyes. On the one hand we see all too clearly the horror of animal abuse and, on the other, the brilliant breakthrough plant foods represent. It’s worth becoming vegan just for that one insight.
Young people (and a few older ones too) might already be there and already be getting some insights by looking for them and finding them. The raw information is certainly available, and for those who can use technology the essentials can be picked up in a matter of moments. Even very young people may already know more than we older ones, about certain important things.
Here we have people already networking information, in readiness for that day when really important information is the ‘cluing-up’ essential to take more control of one’s personal lives. One’s future. And that, like nothing else, brings a sense of optimism into our lives.
Once I became surer of my ground (where I was no longer being exposed to misinformation and dodgy eatables) I felt my own self-confidence grow … and I think that showed in my demeanour. Who knows, it might have even made me more attractive. Once I was confidently addressing the big problems of the day, I was keen to network what I was finding out. Then I felt at least half way to solving many of my own main problems. I felt half way towards becoming a repairing individual, because I was working to realise an optimistic society. No, I wasn’t part of the present society, I was in fact moving away from it, but I felt as though I belonged more comfortably to a society that was to come.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Fixing dinner
411:
Animal Rights is the ultimate confrontation. It is social justice put to its test, arguing why animals deserve rights and why we no longer need animal issues stirring up our guilt.
So, people are reluctant to discuss it. Surprise, surprise! You can understand why though, because there’s nothing to discuss. The society we know, accept, have become used to has been built on our right to exploit animals. Dismantle that ‘right’ by giving animals rights and immediately the abattoirs are closed, and meat, milk, eggs and cheese automatically disappear. Is it any wonder that people are reluctant to lose these ‘goodies’ and the thousands of edible items made with animal derivatives?
Plant-based diets seem so radical and, one might presume, difficult. The very thought of restricting one’s eating to foods from the plant kingdom is probably unnerving. But from the other side it doesn’t seem that way at all. Once the safety of the diet is established and some of the ‘replacements’ are discovered, ‘going vegan’ isn’t such a big deal. We hope others will do the same because it follows that the more who go vegan the greater the variety of vegan products will appear in shops, thus all becoming that much easier for people to make the transition from omnivore to herbivore.
All that isn’t going to happen until vegan food stops looking like war-time rations, especially these days when food has become such a comforter. The health-only vegans might mean well but their emphasis on whole foods, raw foods and plain eating might be off-putting whereas ‘wicked’ vegan food which emphasises good-tasting food might serve as a better transition.
In this highly pressured society where we do need comforting. The security blanket is food. And that’s why is has to be attractive, look attractive and be attractive to the taste. That can be quite a challenge for home-cooking. It’s not just at the restaurant where we can enjoy our food, it’s at home where food must be able to rival the omnivore’s cuisine. Many of us can’t afford to visit restaurants however good they are.
For most of us food means preparing our own, and that means every night’s dinner which has to have a looking-forward-to feel about it. Only then will ‘being vegan’ be something to look forward to.
Animal Rights is the ultimate confrontation. It is social justice put to its test, arguing why animals deserve rights and why we no longer need animal issues stirring up our guilt.
So, people are reluctant to discuss it. Surprise, surprise! You can understand why though, because there’s nothing to discuss. The society we know, accept, have become used to has been built on our right to exploit animals. Dismantle that ‘right’ by giving animals rights and immediately the abattoirs are closed, and meat, milk, eggs and cheese automatically disappear. Is it any wonder that people are reluctant to lose these ‘goodies’ and the thousands of edible items made with animal derivatives?
Plant-based diets seem so radical and, one might presume, difficult. The very thought of restricting one’s eating to foods from the plant kingdom is probably unnerving. But from the other side it doesn’t seem that way at all. Once the safety of the diet is established and some of the ‘replacements’ are discovered, ‘going vegan’ isn’t such a big deal. We hope others will do the same because it follows that the more who go vegan the greater the variety of vegan products will appear in shops, thus all becoming that much easier for people to make the transition from omnivore to herbivore.
All that isn’t going to happen until vegan food stops looking like war-time rations, especially these days when food has become such a comforter. The health-only vegans might mean well but their emphasis on whole foods, raw foods and plain eating might be off-putting whereas ‘wicked’ vegan food which emphasises good-tasting food might serve as a better transition.
In this highly pressured society where we do need comforting. The security blanket is food. And that’s why is has to be attractive, look attractive and be attractive to the taste. That can be quite a challenge for home-cooking. It’s not just at the restaurant where we can enjoy our food, it’s at home where food must be able to rival the omnivore’s cuisine. Many of us can’t afford to visit restaurants however good they are.
For most of us food means preparing our own, and that means every night’s dinner which has to have a looking-forward-to feel about it. Only then will ‘being vegan’ be something to look forward to.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
The wall
410:
When you see our society through vegan eyes so much becomes clear about our habits - the selfishness, violence, stupidity and weakness of humans. Early habits lock us into later ones, so selfishness urges us to eat what we like which means a whole lot of animals are killed for the food we want, which settles into a lifetime of eating habits, which leads to ill health ‘old-age’ diseases. The doctor says it’s just getting old and we can expect it, and we believe the doctor. No-change is prescribed. We spend a lifetime eating poisonous foods and developing a guilty conscience for conspiring with animal violators. Vegans just don’t suffer from any of this, because they are eating plant foods.
Learning the vital information about plant foods is done quite easily today. Nothing can be kept secret. The animal industries are exposed. But we might not even be looking, content with the way things are, intimidated by the massive propaganda wall we would have to climb over. This wall has been built in our minds during our formative years and most people accept the attitude that animals are safe to eat and it isn’t wrong to imprison them and kill them.
Once we dare to climb that wall the mind starts to change. Instead of avoiding information it looks for it ... and finds it surprisingly easy to see what life’s like on the other side. If we’re suspicious of what we’ve been taught and have enough rebellious spirit, we might go exploring.
Young people (and a few older ones too), using technology to access information, start to take control of what they learn, and learn different values for a different lifestyle. Traditions and conventions and authorities and mass media will scream the opposite values at us. In answer to that we have instinct and logic, and that helps us to climb the wall. If we want to we can disassociate with the old familiar dark, violent world. We can be optimistic about our own future and want the best for the planet and, by simply eating plant foods we can help defend the innocent but exploited animals.
On the other side of the wall we swop foods, swop attitudes and eventually notice we’ve also swopped body chemistry. I found even my own small brain functions better when not weighed down with animal foods. I’m no longer feeling unwell, catching colds or having too little energy. It’s all a thing of the past.
For young people especially, the great advantage of having read about animal rights and vegan diets is that by having this new perspective on life, they’re more self-confident and feel better educated - less manipulated by having been kept ignorant of important issues .
As ‘the wall’ crumbles behind us we’re already half way to solving Earth’s main problems by being less wanting, less selfish. We’re already half way to repairing damage and leading our society towards becoming more optimistic.
When you see our society through vegan eyes so much becomes clear about our habits - the selfishness, violence, stupidity and weakness of humans. Early habits lock us into later ones, so selfishness urges us to eat what we like which means a whole lot of animals are killed for the food we want, which settles into a lifetime of eating habits, which leads to ill health ‘old-age’ diseases. The doctor says it’s just getting old and we can expect it, and we believe the doctor. No-change is prescribed. We spend a lifetime eating poisonous foods and developing a guilty conscience for conspiring with animal violators. Vegans just don’t suffer from any of this, because they are eating plant foods.
Learning the vital information about plant foods is done quite easily today. Nothing can be kept secret. The animal industries are exposed. But we might not even be looking, content with the way things are, intimidated by the massive propaganda wall we would have to climb over. This wall has been built in our minds during our formative years and most people accept the attitude that animals are safe to eat and it isn’t wrong to imprison them and kill them.
Once we dare to climb that wall the mind starts to change. Instead of avoiding information it looks for it ... and finds it surprisingly easy to see what life’s like on the other side. If we’re suspicious of what we’ve been taught and have enough rebellious spirit, we might go exploring.
Young people (and a few older ones too), using technology to access information, start to take control of what they learn, and learn different values for a different lifestyle. Traditions and conventions and authorities and mass media will scream the opposite values at us. In answer to that we have instinct and logic, and that helps us to climb the wall. If we want to we can disassociate with the old familiar dark, violent world. We can be optimistic about our own future and want the best for the planet and, by simply eating plant foods we can help defend the innocent but exploited animals.
On the other side of the wall we swop foods, swop attitudes and eventually notice we’ve also swopped body chemistry. I found even my own small brain functions better when not weighed down with animal foods. I’m no longer feeling unwell, catching colds or having too little energy. It’s all a thing of the past.
For young people especially, the great advantage of having read about animal rights and vegan diets is that by having this new perspective on life, they’re more self-confident and feel better educated - less manipulated by having been kept ignorant of important issues .
As ‘the wall’ crumbles behind us we’re already half way to solving Earth’s main problems by being less wanting, less selfish. We’re already half way to repairing damage and leading our society towards becoming more optimistic.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Googling eggs
408:
Because we can ‘Google’ we don’t necessarily need to learn from other far more long-winded sources. Anyone’s access to the Net helps to shed light on big and small issues as quickly as it occurs to us to want to find out about something. If I can’t spell ‘kew’ my dictionary tells me it’s spelled ‘queue’ as long as I know the first letter to ‘look up’. To Google something is easier than using a dictionary – it’s there in a flash.
Take the subject of ‘egg’ for example. We can Google it and find out about its nutritional qualities, how it is produced and what foods contain egg. With that information at hand (if we use eggs) we can learn how to use them and if we don’t use them we can find why we don’t need them and of course ethically why we shouldn’t use them. This ability to gather information relatively painlessly makes us better informed and more self-reliant. We know it’s ridiculous to trust what political leaders or corporate advertisers say (they never tell the truth!) and we can’t necessarily trust our teachers and priests.
If a lot of what we’ve been taught is no longer believable, we have to start again, to search for information and come to rely more and more on ourselves. Via our computers we can re-examine things for our self instead of accessing inside information by joining up with an organisation whose beliefs we might not completely agree with and whose information we may not entirely trust. Institutions and organisations often have reason to skew the facts to win support and truth goes out of the window.
To gather information from a variety of sources, to become our own judge and jury, one needs to search widely, and all this is possible by using our computers intelligently. It’s not fool-proof but it’s a whole lot easier and far less time-consuming for getting what you want. And if we need basic information the Net is more forthcoming than trawling through books, attending specialist courses or making do with limited information when so much of what we should know about, on many sensitive subjects, has been deliberately withheld. Because the Net is a world wide network fed and read by many millions of people across the world, it’s information is scrutinised by very many people and made available for anyone who want to know. And it’s free. Once you’ve Googled the egg you can know all there is to know about this item, sufficient to make a carful judgement of it.
Because we can ‘Google’ we don’t necessarily need to learn from other far more long-winded sources. Anyone’s access to the Net helps to shed light on big and small issues as quickly as it occurs to us to want to find out about something. If I can’t spell ‘kew’ my dictionary tells me it’s spelled ‘queue’ as long as I know the first letter to ‘look up’. To Google something is easier than using a dictionary – it’s there in a flash.
Take the subject of ‘egg’ for example. We can Google it and find out about its nutritional qualities, how it is produced and what foods contain egg. With that information at hand (if we use eggs) we can learn how to use them and if we don’t use them we can find why we don’t need them and of course ethically why we shouldn’t use them. This ability to gather information relatively painlessly makes us better informed and more self-reliant. We know it’s ridiculous to trust what political leaders or corporate advertisers say (they never tell the truth!) and we can’t necessarily trust our teachers and priests.
If a lot of what we’ve been taught is no longer believable, we have to start again, to search for information and come to rely more and more on ourselves. Via our computers we can re-examine things for our self instead of accessing inside information by joining up with an organisation whose beliefs we might not completely agree with and whose information we may not entirely trust. Institutions and organisations often have reason to skew the facts to win support and truth goes out of the window.
To gather information from a variety of sources, to become our own judge and jury, one needs to search widely, and all this is possible by using our computers intelligently. It’s not fool-proof but it’s a whole lot easier and far less time-consuming for getting what you want. And if we need basic information the Net is more forthcoming than trawling through books, attending specialist courses or making do with limited information when so much of what we should know about, on many sensitive subjects, has been deliberately withheld. Because the Net is a world wide network fed and read by many millions of people across the world, it’s information is scrutinised by very many people and made available for anyone who want to know. And it’s free. Once you’ve Googled the egg you can know all there is to know about this item, sufficient to make a carful judgement of it.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Access to information
405:
Having ready access to reliable information changes everything. Vegan information makes for new possibilities. We can ‘Google’ anything, and with practice, we can weed out the sound information from the rubbish. There’s no excuse for ignorance. Decades ago, we would spend all day in the library, scratching around for vital information. Now, it takes no time at all and most information is reliably sourced. There’s a thrill in finding it, a ‘eureka’ feeling. Learning via the Internet has been made possible because imaginative people have set it up for us, the engineers, programmers, web site writers.
In the area of Animal Rights there’s a lot we can usefully learn. Each day another vital gap is filled, on a subject that’s so important. Say we were after information about veganism. We can go to information banks set up by altruistic people who’ve dedicated their time to setting it down, since they know it can be so useful. In the past, there was too little reliable information, and easier for the Animal Industries and their friends to keep information from us. They simply mis-informed. But where once we had information kept from us, now we’re swamped by it! But now at least we have the choice - to take it on board or ignore it.
In the future we’ll ask ourselves how we could have swallowed so much misinformation and why it all went so unchallenged. In the future we won’t be able to recall just how information-starved we were, back then.
But there’s panic in the house. It’s a race against time. Our education has gaps. We’ve been taught virtually nothing about how our body works concerning nutrition. In practical terms, we haven’t been taught how to prepare food or how to be equipped to live without making ourselves ill. Our conscience is vulnerable too because we’ve never learnt about the living conditions of ‘food’ animals or how animal foods are poisonous to our system. Additionally, we’ve only recently learnt about the environmental impact of producing animal foods.
Today's easy access to information equips us with all this potential for finding things out - for designing our own entirely new lifestyle.
Having ready access to reliable information changes everything. Vegan information makes for new possibilities. We can ‘Google’ anything, and with practice, we can weed out the sound information from the rubbish. There’s no excuse for ignorance. Decades ago, we would spend all day in the library, scratching around for vital information. Now, it takes no time at all and most information is reliably sourced. There’s a thrill in finding it, a ‘eureka’ feeling. Learning via the Internet has been made possible because imaginative people have set it up for us, the engineers, programmers, web site writers.
In the area of Animal Rights there’s a lot we can usefully learn. Each day another vital gap is filled, on a subject that’s so important. Say we were after information about veganism. We can go to information banks set up by altruistic people who’ve dedicated their time to setting it down, since they know it can be so useful. In the past, there was too little reliable information, and easier for the Animal Industries and their friends to keep information from us. They simply mis-informed. But where once we had information kept from us, now we’re swamped by it! But now at least we have the choice - to take it on board or ignore it.
In the future we’ll ask ourselves how we could have swallowed so much misinformation and why it all went so unchallenged. In the future we won’t be able to recall just how information-starved we were, back then.
But there’s panic in the house. It’s a race against time. Our education has gaps. We’ve been taught virtually nothing about how our body works concerning nutrition. In practical terms, we haven’t been taught how to prepare food or how to be equipped to live without making ourselves ill. Our conscience is vulnerable too because we’ve never learnt about the living conditions of ‘food’ animals or how animal foods are poisonous to our system. Additionally, we’ve only recently learnt about the environmental impact of producing animal foods.
Today's easy access to information equips us with all this potential for finding things out - for designing our own entirely new lifestyle.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Computers
404:
We pick up information from all over the place, but these days mainly from the Net. Let’s say you’re worried about there being something missing in the food you’re eating these days. What if you generally felt ill or heavy or queasy all the time? Let’s say you have ‘conventional eating habits’ and then … suddenly you stumble over a web site or some information that suggests a radical change. It occurs to you to try something a bit different.
Let’s say you’re used to those mild but annoying stomach aches and that it might be ‘guilt-gut’, and you know you get it from eating rubbish food and animal-based foods. So, you’re determined to try something different, keeping your meals safely plant-based. Of course, you mightn’t know at the time that a vegan diet will solve this problem for you, but once you try it, once you’re into ‘clean plant food’, you find the ‘machine’ runs smoother. What then? You aren’t stupid, you know the old conventional animal-based foods and fast foods are there waiting in the wings, ready to take over again. Their taste still attracts. You know they could seduce you back. You also know the new regime of foods will lead onto other things. You’re torn between immediate satisfaction and re-educating taste buds for the sake of long term effects.
If you’re moving towards veganism you might have been reading up on it, getting familiar with food ideas, filling your head with positive sounding information ... and yet, still, you’re quaking in your shoes. You take a plunge - eat a whole week of vegan food. You find you’ve got a stomach full of powerful food. “At last!” Now you feel optimistic. You say to yourself “If only I can keep this up”.
Avoiding tempting animal foods, eating only plant-based - the very simplicity of the idea is intriguing. As you move into optimism and veganism you see how pessimistic the old food regime makes you feel, as if you’ve given up, as if the food you’ve been eating not only clogs you up but blocks your escape. The old meat and dairy diet is like a prison, like a great constipator.
You wonder why it has taken so long for the penny to drop. Perhaps you regret all the damage it’s done to you, perhaps how complicit you’ve been in the whole conventional eating habit and animal abuse thing. You see what these weird vegans have been on about, and feel thankful that your ‘information machine’ has introduced you to a whole new world, a whole better way of viewing your life.
Computers, ah yes, they make us feel lucky to be alive today. They provide a conduit between ourselves and what is going on beyond.
We pick up information from all over the place, but these days mainly from the Net. Let’s say you’re worried about there being something missing in the food you’re eating these days. What if you generally felt ill or heavy or queasy all the time? Let’s say you have ‘conventional eating habits’ and then … suddenly you stumble over a web site or some information that suggests a radical change. It occurs to you to try something a bit different.
Let’s say you’re used to those mild but annoying stomach aches and that it might be ‘guilt-gut’, and you know you get it from eating rubbish food and animal-based foods. So, you’re determined to try something different, keeping your meals safely plant-based. Of course, you mightn’t know at the time that a vegan diet will solve this problem for you, but once you try it, once you’re into ‘clean plant food’, you find the ‘machine’ runs smoother. What then? You aren’t stupid, you know the old conventional animal-based foods and fast foods are there waiting in the wings, ready to take over again. Their taste still attracts. You know they could seduce you back. You also know the new regime of foods will lead onto other things. You’re torn between immediate satisfaction and re-educating taste buds for the sake of long term effects.
If you’re moving towards veganism you might have been reading up on it, getting familiar with food ideas, filling your head with positive sounding information ... and yet, still, you’re quaking in your shoes. You take a plunge - eat a whole week of vegan food. You find you’ve got a stomach full of powerful food. “At last!” Now you feel optimistic. You say to yourself “If only I can keep this up”.
Avoiding tempting animal foods, eating only plant-based - the very simplicity of the idea is intriguing. As you move into optimism and veganism you see how pessimistic the old food regime makes you feel, as if you’ve given up, as if the food you’ve been eating not only clogs you up but blocks your escape. The old meat and dairy diet is like a prison, like a great constipator.
You wonder why it has taken so long for the penny to drop. Perhaps you regret all the damage it’s done to you, perhaps how complicit you’ve been in the whole conventional eating habit and animal abuse thing. You see what these weird vegans have been on about, and feel thankful that your ‘information machine’ has introduced you to a whole new world, a whole better way of viewing your life.
Computers, ah yes, they make us feel lucky to be alive today. They provide a conduit between ourselves and what is going on beyond.
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