Vegans (pronounced VEE-guns) are people who choose not to eat any animal products, including meat, eggs, dairy, honey, and gelatin. Vegans do not wear fur, leather, wool, down, or silk, or use cosmetics or household products that were tested on animals or contain ingredients that were derived from animals. Most vegans also do not support industries that feature captive and/or performing animals, including circuses, zoos, and aquariums.
The American Vegan Society defines veganism as “an advanced way of living in accordance with Reverence for Life, recognizing the rights of all living creatures, and extending to them the compassion, kindness, and justice exemplified in the Golden Rule.”
The word “vegan” was derived from “vegetarian” in 1944 by Elsie Shrigley and Donald Watson, the founders of the UK Vegan Society. Shirgley and Watson were disillusioned that vegetarianism included dairy products and eggs. They saw “vegan” as “the beginning and end of vegetarian,” and used the first three and last two letters of vegetarian to coin the new term.
related links:
Urban Vegan Blog
Vegan strippers
Interesting lies on this blog. This site claims that Mark Twain, among others, were “Vegans” despite the fact that there was no such thing before 1944.
A site concerned with “Vegan” tattoos
Vegans = Wack Jobs I love all the Hollywood types that subscribe to this the same way as others in the biz follow Scientology.
Ugh… where to begin…
“Vegans are annoying.” Try arguing with rednecks for a while.
#20 – Mister Mustard
All dairy cows and laying hens go to the slaughterhouse. Worse, they go after they’re no longer productive, which means generally a much longer confinement than those solely raised for meat. Did you think they went to the animal retirement home where they whiled away their time playing bridge and knitting sweaters?
Regarding “slaughter” being just Mother Nature at work, well, the same can be said of rape, or murder, or infanticide if you want to look at the scores of examples in the animal kingdom. Certainly the existence of a behavior in the wild by species of lesser intellect is not our cue to do the same.
#24 – Mustard again:
Well, if you really want to put it on the table, then YES I am superior to you, at least in terms of food ethics. 🙂 Here’s why:
Each year, assuming you’re a normal North American, you consume approximately 35-50 animals for absolutely no good reason. When discussing this reality, the best you can muster up is that they “taste good” or almost worse, animals do it so why shouldn’t we.
Each year I consume approximately zero animals. End of argument.
Regarding vegan parents malnourishing their children I agree, there have been cases, just as there are cases of non-vegan parents doing the same. But the sound-bite that gets repeated in the former case is somehow that veganism is the root cause, when of course the cause in all cases is bad parents not giving their kids the nutrients that they need.
#32 – Scotty:
Aye, unfortunately there are a lot of wing-nut vegans out there (in my humble opinion), and one of their theories is that “plants might have feelings” so therefore don’t kill them for food.
Plants don’t have nervous systems, nor anything that we understand to be pain-receptors, etc. Many plants propagate by being eaten by other species, and furthermore it just doesn’t even make sense from an evolutionary perspective that plants would “need” pain, since they are for the most part rooted to a spot and unable to flee.
W.T.Riker
Veganism is a social trend. Its alleged benefits are not backed by any hard scientific evidence…..pass the A1.
I only eat things with faces… I suppose if I were to dwell on it, I might feel bad for cows and pigs and chickens, but not for very long really. Especially if I’m hungry and happen to be eating a pulled pork sandwich, or bacon, or some bbqed chicken or steaks…
#8 mustard, good to see where you are coming from. According to your view of things, animal rights means inclusion for flies, ants and cockroaches. Bacteria washed off the skin is the murderous killing of animals. Charming view of the world. Murderer!!!
Are vegans morally superior to omnivores?
If that is your morality, then yes, of course.
Is letting someone give you the eye without killing them moral?
If that is your morality, then yes, of course.
Ahhh, the existential universe==a banquet for all tastes.
Class insecta are a major group of arthropods and the most diverse group of animals on the Earth.
Straight from a natural science book.
Now am I going to care that an animal provided ME, an OMNIVORE, with sustainance?
No. That is what being an OMNIVORE is all about.
I eat meat and veg. And animals from snakes to mice to insects are destroyed in making the food I eat. Especially the vegetable foods.
I would love to live in a world where nothing gets killed, but I live in the REAL world and things die. And so will I and the vegans.
Death is a NATURAL process of life. So is living. So is suffering and so is joy.
Get the smeg over it!
Cursor_
#38 > #8 mustard, good to see where you are coming from.
Vegans may be mad because they want to protect life so much but Mustard is right because you say insects are not animals. Insects are animals. The trouble is whether they deserve the misplaced compassion as larger animals.
People should choose food that has the least environmental impact.
#34, “Well, if you really want to put it on the table, then YES I am superior to you, at least in terms of food ethics.”
Well since “food ethics” is a made up term of which you are providing the definition, I suppose you are superior with regards to it. 😛
Yup a Vegan lifestyle is completely healthy, just ask the little girl in the link below:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2094460/Couple-face-questioning-after-vegan-daughter-suffers-bone-disease.html
# 38 – Dvorak:
Regarding the murder of bacteria when washing your hands, etc.
None of the vegans that I know nor myself worry to this extreme.
I do know that the Jains in India sometimes sweep the path in front of them to avoid stepping on insects, but I think you’d be hard pressed to find many Westernized vegans doing this.
Similarly, insect-hits while driving, ants trodden underfoot (I’m talking about animal-type ants, not your mineral-based ones 😉 ), microscopic lifeforms and animals killed in the agricultural processes involved in fruits and vegetables – all of these cases are practically impossible to avoid and shouldn’t be a deterrent to someone interested in veganism.
Rather than getting locked up in dogma and edge-case scenarios, it’s plainly obvious (to a vegan at least) that the primary focus is on the taking or involuntary exploitation of ANY animal life for unnecessary or easily avoidable purposes.
W.T. Riker
#10 “Nobody currently contends that animal products are at all required for optimum human nutrition.”
LOL. Many medical pros think so. Do a little research…
#38 – Mr. C. Dvorak
>>Murderer!!!
I never said I was against murdering animals. In fact, I’m a voracioius omnivore. Barbecued ribs, broiled chicken, cheeseburgers from paradise, bring ’em all on.
My only point to you was that insects and worms ARE animals. So far, I haven’t seen anyone (including you) debunk my contention.
Sure, they’re not as cute and cuddly as kitties and puppies, and they can’t talk like parrots. No matter. They’re animals.
Whether or not you want to murder them is up to you. Personally, I don’t murder without reason (good meal, an insect that is stinging me, ants that are eating my food, etc.). I don’t go out of my way to murder them, though. If I find a ladybug or spider in my house, I just open the window and throw it outside.
Murder: the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought
You can’t murder an animal. Kill yes, murder, no.
I’m still not clear how it’s morally wrong to kill an animal. I detest anyone who wastefully kills an animal, however if there is use or reason out of the death then that animal has fulfilled it’s purpose.
Cows don’t exist in the wild for a reason. They were bred for food, and were bred this way for thousands of years. On the broader scale, the same could be said for most any herbivore in nature…they are raised to turn vegetables into food for their predators. It just so happens that for right now, man is the top of the food chain. This is nothing to shy away from, nor anything to be ashamed of.
If mankind’s ancestors had followed the path of herbivores, we would not have evolved the brains we currently have. Brain tissue evolution required foods high in fat. Nervous tissue is made of lipids. Lipids are….fat. The large brains we developed required large amounts of high grade food. Plants won’t suffice. That’s why you have to take supplements. However, I would argue that it is more natural to embrace the beast within and eat meat. It is what Mother Nature intended with our evolution.
To: William T Riker
So how many animals died to make your food?
1.) Clearing of land to grow vegetables displaced animals who then get run over by cars.
2.) Farmers invite hunters to hunt on his land to prevent the deer from eating their crops.
3.) Pesticides kill insects.
4.) Pesticides and fertilizers run off into the river and kill fish.
You indirectly cause almost as many animal deaths as those of us who eat meat.
Saying that by not eating meat, you do not kill animals is like me saying that I don’t kill animals because I buy my meat at the store.
I am going to have to make a trip to Open Flame tonight and have me a New York Strip steak grilled and seasoned with only a bit of salt. Vegetarians make me hungry for meat.
Proud member of PETA – People for the Eating of Tasty Animals.
#47, Dijon, I’m just assuming that since vegan claims about “food ethics” seem to go hand-in-hand with the arguments for animal “rights,” that it is appropriate to distinguish between classes, even if they are technically all the same.
First off, realize that many vegans and vegetarians do not eat meat out of a moral opposition to factory farming and the horrific conditions that animals are raised under moreso than a belief that humans are not supposed to eat animals. Animals were not meant to live in terribly confined spaces (some live in pens barely bigger than the size of their body), unable to roam around, many unable to see the light of day and fed an unnatural diet of corn and grains along with hormones and antibiotics.
Veg*ns wish to limit the amount of unnecessary suffering experienced by sentient beings — insects not being sentient.
#53 “First off, realize that many vegans and vegetarians do not eat meat out of a moral opposition to factory farming and the horrific conditions that animals are raised under”
Then why don’t they eat organic, cage free chicken and such?
#53 -TD
>>insects not being sentient
Huh? Who told you that?
What IS sentient then? A chimpanzee? A gorilla? A dog? A kitty cat? A chicken? A crocodile? A tuna fish? A lobster? A crab? A moray eel? A garden slug? A bumblebee? A worm? A gnat? An amoeba?
What insight do you have that lets you know what’s sentient and what is not?
#54
Labeling a chicking cage-free or free range doesn’t really tell you anything about the living conditions of the bird. For a bird to be labeled “free range” it merely has to be given access to the outsdoors. There is no requirement that the bird actually has to spend any time outdoors. The birds still live in overcrowded sheds and are debeaked shortly after birth. They are bred and given growth-promoting drugs in order to get them to the slaughterhouse as quickly as possible. Their hearts, lungs and legs are often unable to keep up with this rapid growth resulting in the early death of many chickens. Also, most egg hatcheries kill the male chickens shortly after birth since they cannot produce eggs and are a different breed then those chickens raised for meat.
If eating honey or wearing wool is immoral, is it immoral to use fossil fuels? How many vegans drive cars?
Death is necessary for life. They are inextricably intertwined and one cannot occur without the other. So trying to live without causing death to anything whatsoever is an impossible goal. But if trying makes you feel better about yourself, go for it and don’t let any dissuade you.
Do Vegans avoid medications created with or medical procedures derived from animal research? Or in other words, does a cancerous vegan take chemo?
#54 “They are bred and given growth-promoting drugs in order to get them to the slaughterhouse as quickly as possible. ”
You need to slow down and read. I said organic. Now, there are farms where you CAN get this. WHY don’t they?
After reading all the comments I think everybody’s arguing against the opposite extreme instead of realizing that both extremes are ridiculous. Someone who refuses to eat anything that wasn’t born cute, horribly abused and then tortured to death is just as wrong and going to suffer similar medical complications to someone who refuses to do anything which might take the life of a bacteria, virus or insect. Both are compounded when people force these practices and their accompanying medical issues on children.
I’m not a vegetarian or vegan. I eat at McDonald’s regularly. I believe that it would be ideal if factory farming of animals could be eliminated as a practice, but currently it is not economically or emotionally feasible for me. I currently have six figures of income coming into my house (I have three jobs and my wife has two) and we would have a hard time making it work with an all-organic diet. With all the stress in our lives we just don’t have the emotional resources to take on that particular issue and so I go to the grocery store and buy the same mass-market stuff that everyone else buys.
In my food choices I’m just as much of a sheep following the crowd as most of the people who are arguing against vegetarianism and veganism. I’m not going to try to argue that I’m not.
What I do to try to balance that is at my “day job” I work at about half market rate for a non-profit organization creating websites used by social workers to help make a positive difference in the lives of their clients. I also have put up a number of websites completely free of charge for a number of local activist organizations. One of which I disagree with a number of their primary tenets, but I feel that providing a website for them to communicate and publish their views is my way of doing my thing for freedom of speech.
I have been attempting to engineer my life so that I make the largest positive change in the world around me. My efforts are concentrated on improving the lives of humans, but other people have other goals and priorities.
Well, I’m going to get down of my soapbox now and go get some food. It will probably involve meat, but I’m going to go patronize a locally owned small business where I also give them free computer help. 🙂
#55
You can draw the line wherever you want along the sentience quotient. Vegans do their best to limit the amount of unnecessary suffering that they inflict or cause.
#61
No you can’t. You cannot prove to me that you are sentient. I cannot prove to you that I am sentient. That makes it a specious argument from the get-go.
#61 – TD
>>Vegans do their best to limit the amount of
>>unnecessary suffering that they inflict or cause.
So do I. And I’m an omnivore.
Go figure.
#46 – Paddy-O:
Assuming you actually understand the quoted sentence, then please share your list of medical pros that believe that animal products give us something that’s impossible to get otherwise, nutritionally speaking.
Links otherwise I call troll BS.
#50 – Calin:
The past is the past. What “Mother Nature” actually intended for us to do is purely conjecture on your part (as it would be on mine).
The present is as follows: I can be perfectly fit and healthy without causing the direct death of any animal. Therefore, I do not eat animals.
#51 – Ben:
This has already been addressed, but short of having my own garden and raising my own vegetables I am unable to control animal deaths resulting from the farmed production of my food. Therefore to me at least it’s not a major concern.
#53 – TD:
Insect sentience is debatable. If, as some would have it, sentience is the ability to feel and react to pain, then surely they would qualify.
#54 – Paddy-O:
Cage-free and free-range animals are still often horribly confined and all eventually slaughtered. Regulations surrounding what constitutes these “humane” standards are a joke at best.
#57 – KarmaBaby:
Having a car for transportation is essential for a lot of vegans, myself included. Should a tire manufacturer comes along with animal-free tires then I’d be the first in line, but until then this falls into the category of things-with-no-readily-available-alternative. It doesn’t exactly keep me up at night.
#58 – Smartalix:
If there’s an animal-free alternative and/or one that doesn’t involve animal testing, then the choice is clear. If, on the other hand, the treatment or medication is required but neither of those are available then of course it’s justifiable to go with the non-vegan option.
I’m fascinated why all of these highly specific edge cases are of such interest to non-vegans.
Do you think that by proving that vegans can’t avoid some situations that somehow invalidates the whole pursuit?
The reality for pragmatic vegans is that yes, there are situations all the time where we can’t avoid it, but at least whenever possible we simply take the path of less harm to any animal life.
William T. Riker
So where does this leave me? I like fresh human brains still thinking within the skull, fava beans, and of course a little chianti. Hmmm.
Being an extreme vegan doesn’t hurt anyone else. I say, let him live.