Vegan Forum

Fragment from Effective Advocacy of Animal Rights
by Bruce Friedrich
http://www.goveg.com

Another way that we limit ourselves is by apologizing or minimalizing. I have heard it said that it’s acceptable if someone asks why you are a vegetarian to say, “It’s a personal decision and I don’t want to talk about it.” How does that help animals? How would anyone, hearing that answer, ever come to realize that this is a moral issue? They won’t—they’ll think it’s just your own personal quirk.

Also, never say that your diet is just about your health, and never say that it’s just about the environment. You can raise those issues in addition, of course. But always, always, always talk about the effect on animals. We’ll never get to animal liberation if the only people adopting a vegetarian diet are doing so for selfish reasons. And always, when someone asks why you’re a vegetarian, explain it to them, even if the situation requires brevity.

here we can evidentiate 2 points of view!
1 it`s about personal integrity and personal morality!
2 from point of veggan interest

ech person has own education... and the factors that makes him to be like he is we cann not say to him: what`s with you man .. cammon do it ... or somth like this! he choose what`s better for him!
offcourse for well developing vegan culture we must be free to speak about who are we ... what we think it`s normal what`s good ! otherwise noone will know about that somthing like this exists!

Hey GreenBro! Thanks for bumping this topic.
Most of my veggie life, I was a passive vegetarian, with the attitude - just leave me alone... so I was telling everyone something like, it's personal blah blah.. and in 10 years I forgot myself why I was vegetarian, I was doing it only because of the habit... I knew that there was a great reason why I became, but I really couldn't convince anyone at that moment. Cause I didn't think about it for many years, and to be sincere I started to have doubts. One day I stumbled across Peta website and then other vegan sites with all the Animal Rights motivations and answers. I was so exited, my only thoughts were, this have to be spread to as many people as possible.

Conclusion - to get rid of the "Leave me alone" attitude one have to study more about Animal Rights.. even on vegtalk.org there are a lot of answers to tricky questions and none veg statements.

I started off quite genuinely eating vegan for health reasons, but since I'm now finding out / remembering about the animal rights side of things, I've started slipping it into the conversation I was a little worried about coming across a bit over-sensitive at work, or starting some massive arguement about farming - some people can still be a little prejudiced but I've been really surprised by the positive reaction I've had. Whilst being very careful to stay polite and matter-of-fact of course

I began eating Vegan for spiritual reasons. Health came second. The enviroment came third. Animals came last.

I have become more compassionate now for animals.

My point is, you can't sell anything you don't beleive in. People won't buy anything unless there's a "need" inside them.

First 10 times it was fun answering questions.
But after I just became tired of arguing.

What if I'm really vegan for health reasons?

Guest wrote:First 10 times it was fun answering questions.
But after I just became tired of arguing.

Usually one gets tired of arguing when he doesn't see results.
When you win the arguments one after another you feel stronger and you begin to like it more and more.
So if you don't have good pro vegan arguments,it means that you have to prepare yourself a bit. Study all the arguments on peta.org and other websites. And also check this Animal Rights and Vegetarian Ethics

What if I'm really vegan for health reasons?

Health reasons is a valid and effective way to promote veganism. You can tell people how much healthy you feel after going vegetarian. Though I would suggest to study the above link about vegetarian ethics it has a lot of very interesting information that might add another cause to why you are vegan.

health is also my reason... I have conducted researches to help my fatherand almost all of my relatives to lessen the possibility of having kidney disorders... And by applying my researches and the posts from this form, I think i have made my father and my family healthier...

Well, it depends on your 'audience', if you will. If I feel that a person is receptive, I will tell them my reasons for being vegan. But if they're not, I just say for personal reasons. I find that some people are feel very theatened by vegan/ vegetarian diets.

I do tell most people that I'm vegan for both ethical and health reasons, especially cancer prevention. Dairy foods must be full of growth hormones. This scares me.

snog wrote: I find that some people are feel very theatened by vegan/ vegetarian diets.

I have also noticed it.. What do you you are their reasons?

Thanks for the inspiration AndyBa. Like I've explained elsewhere on here, I'm not very good in an argument and get crushed quite quickly. The more I believe in the issue, the more upset I get when people disagree and do not take my opinions into account. I'm hoping being on this site will help me to develop my arguments and give me courage and confidence to stick with my vegan choices.

As to why people are so threatened by veganism...it's a difficult question. Vegetarianism is easier to explain. The animal has to die so you can eat it. But dairy products? Most people, I've found, justify their own actions by refusing to believe what goes on in the mass production of eggs, milk etc. They just don't believe. Cows being continually impregnated so they keep producing milk, battery farmed eggs from stressed out, traumatised chickens, all the rest of it. I remember one discussion where the simple fact that all mammals produce milk during pregnancy, then STOP when the young grow up, was quite blatantly denied. How annoyed was I with this person who was a mother herself and should have understood that? She seemed to think cows were milk-producing machines. We never even reached the stage of discussing the quality of life available to a cow who is kept pregnant all the time. How would WE like it, for example?

The argument then seems to be 'but if I buy free range, organic or whatever it's surely ok?' The concept of milk, eggs, whatever, belonging to the animal and not being ours to take is too hard for some people to get their heads round. It's not even human food. Cow's milk is for baby cows as human breast milk is for baby humans. I used to ask people if they would consider drinking a human's breast milk in their tea and they'd look at me like I was mad. But it's actually more human food than cow's milk.

I'm waiting for the day when it is possible to manipulate the gender of the pregnant cow's foetus. Males will be wiped out. This is quite clearly insanity.

Anyone seen the advert on tv just now (I'm in Scotland) for some yoghurt, where the cow is running along the beach and the patronising voice over is talking about helping her fulfill her dream and thanking her for the yoghurt? It makes me want to smash up my tv. Though that wouldn't help anything much.

Anyway, rant over.

Clearly I have a long way to go before I can discuss any of this calmly with a carnivore.

If you can't/won't argue your choice then it's not worth arguing over.
I personally don't respect any of the justification of vegan-ism I have heard here or elsewhere, as a medical doctor I have had far more vegans come in with various deficiencies than I've had normal people come in with the same problem (% wise).

Also Redsunflower, Carnivore is an inaccurate and mildly offensive term. Although normal people are carnivores (meat eaters), a more accurate description of them is omnivore. Carnivore also carries negative implications so for the sake of not isolating your cause even more than it already is please try to use the correct terminology.

It can be also that veg people go to doctor more because they care not only about animals but more about their own health, too.

Do you have any evidence to support that sweeping generalization you just made Dacite?