Originally Posted By ARMANI
I'm not vegan

Originally Posted By SCREWHEAD
The nutshell version:

We all agree that the sick fuck that tortures the cat is sick.

Vegan-nazi tells us that since we eat meat, we support people who torture animals like the guy in the video, that we're hypocrites, and that makes us just as sick, depraved and cruel as they are.

We (the sane half of the board) tell veggie-nazi to fuck-off, we don't want to hear about it AGAIN.

Pisss decides that we're all sexist for ganging up on a girl.

Originally Posted By VEGANNIBAL
The point of being vegan is not to COMPLETELY eliminate suffering, which we realize be impossible. The point is to eliminate as much of it as possible.

Originally Posted By VEGANNIBAL
You guys are such pathetic excuses. There's no point in freaking out, just shaking my head.

Originally Posted By VEGANNIBAL
You seem to be largely misinformed (like the vast majority of omnivores, including me just over a year ago) what vegans actually eat, or about all the options of it. Your stigmatic views of us as lettuce/tofu munchers is very inaccurate. It's not fair to judge what you really don't know.

You said: "every year millions of animals are killed by wheat and soy bean combines during harvesting season (source)."

...This is a very common thing that's said by people who are uninformed (but I'm not insulting you, it's not your fault). So now I'm going to try to inform you. The livestock that results in your dairy, meat and eggs is all fed on this soy and grain and corn etc. In fact, aprox 80 to 90 per cent of soy that is grown is FED TO LIVESTOCK. Being vegan actually kills exponentially less plants, since you have to feed the livestock so many more plants to be able to get anything from the livestock, as opposed to just getting the nutrition from the vegan food source itself. Livestock is a very inefficient system. That means that for every unfortunate mangled animal in the machines to harvest the grain to feed one vegan, there are many many more that are mangled in the fields to get enough grain to feed the livestock that will feed one omnivore. This is not an attack on you, again, this is simply a fact. Even with the "different type of grain" that is fed to animals (it's actually mostly soy and corn in North America), it's still a big difference.

Quinoa, for example, is a complete protein source as well as having many other nutrients, and has MORE protein in it pound for pound than beef. It takes a lot less resources and land to produce a pound of quinoa than it does to produce a pound of beef. This is a very simple logic.

This also means that the rain forest is being needlessly chopped down for the extra amount of soy/corn that must be grown to feed the livestock. The livestock industry is the number one pollutant of the world, and is responsible for wiping out countless species of WILD animals.

Next: Bio/Organic

There are many studies (that I have been reading lately) that suggest that organic is not necessarily better. There are good organic farming methods as well as good non-organic farming methods. This is a whole new can of worms though, and I think I will leave it at that buying locally produce (which we are fortunate to have in abundance here) is more important right now than buying organic. I also try to buy produce from places I know do not use big machinery, le Frigo Vert next to Concordia is a good place to start.

Pests:

It's interesting how we see the other animals as pests, when we are the ones who have multiplied like a virus and spread over the planet, wiping out everything else in our path. It's not fair to blame deer and elk for trying to eat some food, when there are 7 billion humans overrunning everything. They are just trying to survive. We often point the finger and accuse others of our own failures.

Definition of Veganism:

The point of veganism is not to pretend we can eliminate ALL suffering. Of course we cannot eliminate ALL suffering. The point of veganism is to cause the least amount of harm as is possible. So if 10 animals die so that I can eat my hemp seeds, quinoa, flax, lentils, apples, etc. by me being vegan than the 1000 if I was an omnivore (in addition to mention the resources saved and minimization of pollution), I'm going to be vegan so that I can do the least amount of harm possible. I am still incredibly healthy and fulfilled in my little foodie heart. Here is the definition of veganism from the people who coined the term:

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[T]he word "veganism" denotes a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.[1] (Donald Watson, 1944)
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