Everyone’s a Vegan at heart. Ridding Yourself of Moral Hypocrisy is Assured to Lighten Your Heart.

Hello my esteemed Steemians,

Reading a misinformed blog post about vegetarianism isn’t new to me. In fact, after a cursory examination of a recent post, I replied to @kyriacos explaining I disagreed with her words, but appreciated the time she took to write the blog and praised it’s quality. Upon re-reading, it was very clear that I had been hasty in my appraisal. The article is full of complete nonsense.

In short, what I plan to do is convince you of the same moral argument I was presented with that changed my lifestyle four years ago and has kept me living vegan up to this point.
Let’s clarify a point right here. Veganism is a position that a person may take whereby refusing to treat other sentient beings as commodities for human use. Vegetarianism is a choice not to consume animal flesh, but still consume animal by-products. Vegetarianism is a diet choice. Veganism is a moral standpoint that includes diet as part of necessary changes that aim to reduce, with the goal of eliminating animal use altogether.

When did I start considering animals? As a child, I considered animals. I knew that I was not supposed to pull our dog’s tail and I was scolded for burning ants with a magnifying glass. I ate the same things as my parents – a piece of meat (beef, pork, lamb or chicken) with some vegetables, casseroles, pizza, pasta, stroganoff and so on. Some of my favourite foods were oysters and lobster. I never considered – not once as a child, that the food on my plate had any more or less standing than the dog I adored. I was conditioned not to even think about it. So I didn’t. For 27 years, it never dawned on me that these animals served to me every day ought to have some kind of consideration.

During my years at university, I was reading about Buddhism and the notion of karma. Harming a living being was wrong. I learned that killing a being that could have been my mother in a past life was detrimental to my own karma. So in order to increase my karma, I should be abstaining from eating meats. What I wasn’t told (or realised for myself) was that eggs come from factories where chickens were kept in confined cages and where “useless” male chicks were ground up alive or suffocated next to their kind in giant plastic bags at just a day old. Nor was I told that the dairy industry forcibly impregnate cows on an apparatus called an industry-termed, “rape rack”. The workers would steal calves from their mothers, bolt-gun males in the head that were unsuitable for veal within days, and those that WERE suitable for veal were kept confined for their slightly increased lifespan before meeting the same fate.

I came to this understanding 12 months after becoming a vegetarian for spiritual reasons. When I understood that dairy and eggs were acceptable in this tradition, I tossed it’s fundamental credibility aside along with the milk, cheese and chicken products. No thanks. I didn’t want to be a part of that harm.

The arguments that ignorant or misinformed omnivores present in bizarre logic baffles me. @kyriacos bleets ad nauseum of the ‘circle of life’ and in essence, her entire article rests on the stupidity and arrogance of “every single thing on this planet eats and gets eaten directly or indirectly.” The carelessness and absurdity of this logic as to why we shouldn’t even bother about the billions of animals needlessly being deliberately tortured and killed for 5 minutes on the palate borders on infuriating. Her apathy for the consideration of an animal to be simply left alone borders on psychopathy. However, I doubt she is a psychopath. I believe that the argument she presents is a futile attempt to justify fitting the norm (maybe she really loves the way things are?) despite her emotions and heart telling her otherwise.

In Australia, we have laws against animal cruelty. These laws are not new. In New South Wales, the Act was introduced as the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979, and can be found here - http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/poctaa1979360/.
If we were to follow the logic of @kyriacos, none of these laws matter, because in the end, we’re all a part of the food web and ‘who gives a shit’. Of course people care. People care for their pets, cry when seeing cruelty inflicted upon an animals and perform incredible feats for animals in need of rescue from harm. While the animal cruelty laws in my home state go into great detail to describe how animals should be treated while alive, especially in the case of those animals who are ‘owned’ or the ‘property of’ humans, they neglect to adequately justify just why the killing of pigs, sheep, cattle and chickens is acceptable, while horses, dogs, cats, goldfish, guinea pigs, domesticated rabbits and rodents is not. This distinction was made a long time ago when survival was of greater concern. These animals were deemed useful as they were easily corralled and manipulated to serve as ready foods for growing human populations. Now, it’s just blatant speciesism – discriminating the worth of an animal based on physical attributes or utility to humans.

Considering that an abundance of plant-based foods are available, shouldn’t we be considering eating those foods first? Should we not exhaust every way of living through plant consumption before turning to killing the most innocent beings around us?

Studies are presented in scientific journals that outline the many health benefits of eating a balanced vegan diet. Reduced rates of obesity and cardiovascular disease are common when compared to the ‘apathetic’ diet of those who consume even moderate amounts of animal products. In 2015, the World Health Organisation added new recommendations and information that recognised red meat (lamb, beef and pork) and processed meats as having the same scientific certainty of causing cancer as cigarettes. See here:
http://www.who.int/features/qa/cancer-red-meat/en/

While I have introduced you to the moral argument against animal use and hinted at the positive health benefits of eating more plants and less animals, this article is most certainly not exhaustive. Scholars and philosophers make the position far more eloquently than I and I can really only speak from my own experience.
Now we must ask ourselves an important question, why do people look so hard to find reasons to eat meat and animal products? Do they have a vested financial interest in it? Maybe it’s their craving and addiction to it. I pity those who desperately argue against a vegan. It reminds me of a homeless heroin addict begging for their next hit. I care for that person. They deserve respect and consideration – in the same way that animals deserve to be left alone and in peace.

I’ll leave you with this – a society is judged, not by the strength of its military or economy, but by how it treats the most vulnerable beings in its care.

Oh.. did I mention vegan food is the BEST food?

If you are enjoying my content, be sure to UPVOTE and leave a comment. Just as 'humane' meat is an oxymoron, so is a 'militant' vegan. I am respectful to all people and appreciate the time you have taken to read this article.

All the best,
Nick