Why I am vegan and the reasons I don't agree with or get along with most other vegans.

Today, I posted a status that got me thinking about my own veganism and also about how, and why, I don't like a lot of other vegans.

I guess a pic of me eating fruit is suitable?

(don't worry there will be no graphic imagery in this post and I won't be calling you a jerk.)

The status was about a person that was saying how humans NEED cow's milk and how NOTHING can possibly replace the stuff in COW'S milk that we NEED to stay alive. I let people know that I literally do not care about their dairy consumption and have no desire to try to get them to stop eating cheese or putting cow's milk in their cereal but I was simply baffled by this man's logic regarding a human's need for cow's milk. Clearly, humans don't need cow's milk. We need milk from our mother's tit as an infant and when we stop drinking that milk our need for milk ceases to exist. This is how it works for us, and all other mammals. We are mammals, though we tend to forget that. So, I was just pointing out how the milk industry and all those "GOT MILK" adverts had made it so people throw logic out the window when it comes to milk.

But, I had people automatically justifying their dairy consumption.

So, I would reiterate again that I honestly, really, truly do not think they are horrible people for drinking milk but it made me realize just saying that I was vegan put people into defensive mode, it seems. Because a lot of vegans WOULD be attacking them personally for their choice to eat meat or drink milk. I DID go vegan for ethical reasons and I AM against factory farming and I do think the industry is cruel however I don't think 99% of humans in first-world countries are pieces of shit for eating meat and dairy. Though, we don't NEED milk humans have been drinking milk for about 7,500 years. That is a pretty insane figure to even try to imagine in human years but I will try to illustrate it by saying that if you take the average lifespan of about 71 and divide that by how long humans have been drinking milk you could get 105. So enough time to fill 105 human lives living to a ripe old age. That's a long fucking time, guys. So to think that me screaming in their face about how cruel I feel factory farming is will change people's mind and make them drop the consumption of something humans have been consuming for 7,500 years is pretty silly. And calling them assholes for consuming it when modern, cruel factory farms are a pretty recent development in the grand scheme is also pretty silly.

The average person does not want to or enjoy torturing an animal

Regardless of if they are blindly paying for it. It is an out of sight, out of mind sort of thing. Anyone seeing the actual footage of animals being tortured would be horribly upset. So, the person is not EVIL for simply consuming meat. Humans are omnivores. We can be healthy with a vegan diet but it takes a lot of research and supplements and honestly, eating fish is probably healthier than going fully vegan. I am a bleeding heart so I can't eat a fish without crying but I am not really that against the eating of fish as I acknowledge the difference in intellect when it comes to a many types of fish vs a pig, which is much smarter than your dog.

However, there are some highly intelligent sea creatures, such as octopus and dolphins. Dolphins are self-aware and communicate in a complex language, so I wouldn't really want people to eat those guys but I am getting side-tracked...Where was I, oh right so yeah we can be healthy and vegan if we go out of our way making sure we get all the supplements we need and nutrients but it takes effort and time and it's kind of socially alienating, and it can be expensive especially when you are first learning and also people like the way meat and dairy tastes, A LOT. They have been eating it their entire lives and humans have been eating meat for as far back as we can trace, so yeah, I am not expecting to change that by waving a peta banner at someone or by screaming at them and telling them they are the scum of the Earth for having a hamburger. I get why they are eating hamburgers and I get that it doesn't mean they want to harm animals, it just means that, in the modern world, it is really easy to get hamburgers for really cheap and they happen to usually come from really nasty, cruel farms.

doo doo doo, I am an octopus, being all neat and stuff. dee doo doo

I like having friends and I don't want my life to revolve around thinking about what makes me sad in the world.

Most other vegans want to harass other people for their eating habits, which I do not, and will NEVER do. I date people who eat meat and dairy and sit with people eating hamburgers and sit with people eating chicken wings, and I literally never try to tell them they shouldn't eat whatever they are eating. It is not my place to do so and I like not being that guy and I like keeping friendships because I treat my friends with respect and decency. I do not feel superior to them and I do not want them to feel I think I am superior. I am against a shitty industry not against all humans and not against personal freedom. Also, a lot of other vegans want to protest and sign petitions and talk about NOTHING but their veganism. Veganism is their life. They watch videos of tortured animals even after they have stopped eating them? No thanks, I would rather spend my time creating art, having varied discussions, and making awesome meals. I don't want to dwell on tortured animals all day, every day.

The moral approach is entirely futile and a waste of time and the future is already on a road toward ethical meats.

Not BECAUSE of ethics but because there's a lot of humans, and factory farming fucks up the planet and it isn't sustainable at it's current rate. So humans are already looking for ways to get meat in other ways. Such as stem-cell, lab grown, meat. It's something I follow closely and, as of now, the texture is perfected nearly but the taste is....not going to change anyone's minds. :) But in the future I have no doubt we will nail this. If people are eating non-lab meat once we perfect this it will likely be the top 1%. It'll be INCREDIBLY expensive and a luxury for those top few rich guys. Not because people will suddenly, unanimously, agree that hurting animals for food is bad but because we want to survive as a species and we will be forced to change the way we get meat in order to survive.

So, that is what I follow when I want to think about a world without factory farming. I don't go scream at a stranger for eating a burger because that is useless, rude, and will never, ever be effective. I don't try to change anyone's mind about what they are eating. I just exist and make vegan foods and try to not hurt other people's feelings by telling them they are horrible people for having their lunch. Surprisingly, I have inspired several people to go vegan, vegetarian, or just eat less meat. Without trying at all. I highly doubt people that attack others aggressively are changing anyone's mind. Actually, I take that back, they likely ARE changing a few minds. They are likely making people who were indifferent to veganism equate it with a raving lunatic who calls them a piece of shit and gets intensely emotional and angry in speaking to them. So essentially, they are going make people hate vegans and veganism.

So yeah, I could go on even longer about factory farming and the future of meat. (I think people should eat bugs. I wouldn't cause I cry when I step on one even though, logically, I know they are like tiny computers, but I really think if people got down with eating some bugs it'd be a great idea.) But I will stop here, because I have to stop somewhere? So, yeah, I have often defended an omnivore against a raving lunatic vegan and will do so again. I try to explain to other vegans that their efforts are not wasted but actually counter-productive to what they are trying to do unless they are trying to make people never, ever want to even consider going vegan or talk to a vegan. If that's their goal, spot on guys. Also, let's not get outraged over people eating different animals than we do in other countries. Often times, they even had a more humane life/slaughter than the animals here so let's just like, stop that.

I will never concern myself with what other people are eating and even though after 14 years of being vegan it smells bad I will not comment on it, I will not make people feel bad or guilty for it, and I will not try to aggressively change people's minds. How I feel about factory farming is my concern, what I eat is my concern, what other people are eating is not my business.

Photos from wikimedia commons (octopus) and pixabay, arguing modified by me.