Getting ethical

1220: 

When we’re young, who authorises what we do and how we think and what we eat?  Kids have to follow the adults’ lead, who themselves give the same advice they were given as youngsters – all based on the principle of ‘Mum knows best’ or ‘Doctor knows best’.

         

Youth might rebel in many ways, but since the pleasure instinct is so strong, when it comes to food choices there’s less urge to rebel, unless the ‘passed on ways’ are rejected on philosophical grounds.  When philosophy trumps pleasure then there are repercussions everywhere.  A whole new independent-thinking person emerges, who is now questioning the ethical bases for what he or she decides to do.

The philosophy behind veganism comes out of a deep instinct.  It’s protective of the weak and combines outrage at bullying with mistrust of the motives of the heavyweights, who promote animal-based commodities.   Veganism doesn’t necessarily advise us what we should be buying, but it does tell us what NOT to buy, and it provides the reasons for that advice.

A central part of the philosophy concerns a vegan diet - from a plant-based food regime we know where we must start, but all this is underscored by taking a non-violent approach to everything else we do.  From this basis, food choices become more straight forward.  By outlining what NOT to eat, vegans can lead a relatively safe life.  We don’t usually become obese or develop illnesses connected with our diet - rubbish foods and fast foods are necessarily filtered out.  We avoid rich snacks, cakes and confections because they almost always contain animal products, and we obviously avoid meat itself, whether in the form of dead animals or dead fish.  In this way, our body isn’t exposed to the saturated fats, cholesterol, high salt and sugar, characteristic of animal-based foods.

Although vegans might miss out on fashion gear, such as leather goods, wool, silk and fur, we hold that ethics always outweighs the dictates of fashion, so we never get tempted by the wide variety of attractive and expensive merchandise on offer. 

Our feet might get wet from wearing fabric shoes or in the cold weather we might not be able to keep warm by wearing cotton, and that might be inconvenient.  But there’s a lot to be thankful for, namely our non-participation in the harsh treatment of animals.  Vegans are unwilling to stay warm at the expense of  the animal - we don’t trade the loss of the sheep’s own woollen coat or the cow’s own skin for our own protection and comfort.

For omnivores, life is made messy by supporting the business of the Animal Industry.  If you feel ashamed of abattoirs and cages and barbed wire, you can break free of it all simply by becoming vegan.  Your own instinctive compassion is your best ethical guide here - if what we buy hurts animals we have no right to buy it.  It’s as simple as that.