The Vegan Community – why it is a myth

What is the vegan community?

And who is part of it?

And, who gets to decide who else can be part of it?

A recent discussion on social network sites revolved around an activist (I don’t know anything about the case, so I will be vague) who was in prison.

I commented on a forum, that I had tried for a couple of years to make a connection with this person, and over the space of those years got absolutely nothing back, not even one single “hello”. This was someone who did not want my support, someone who had rejected my support, but now was in trouble, suddenly I was useful?

I pointed this out, and the fact I thought it was strange that there were people trying to make me feel guilty that I felt nothing about his arrest.

That set off a storm on the vegan blogs. I was selfish, a failed human being, stupid – you name it, the insults came fast and furious.

I should support my community without asking for something in return, and if this prisoner has not even said hello in two years of supporting his causes, then I should just keep giving to him, more and more and more.

(and by the way:  it is laughable how often these comments come from people who are vegans of less than a year… give someone a copy of an Alicia Silverstone book and slab of Daiya and they think they are the Gods Of Veganism, lecturing to all and sundry about who qualifies for being vegan and what you have to do to Earn Your Place In Your Community.)

It was not surprising to me, just disappointing, at how many people said “I am unfollowing you” for not supporting “YOUR community”.

That doesn’t seem very supportive to me.

I jokingly said “I resign from the vegan community, as I don’t recall signing up”.

Talk about hate-mail avalanche!

It just demonstrates once again, how petty, nasty, spiteful, predictable, insular, cliquey, highschoolish, disgusting the behaviour is of some vegans towards other vegans who don’t faithfully fall in line behind the “gurus” or toe the line on doctrine.

This is the community that I am supposed to support?

These are the loving, caring, compassionate people, who lecture others on how a community treats its members.

It is hard to find the time to be a good community member when I’m too busy deleting the hate mail pouring in from the “real” community members.

By their reasoning, I am not a proper member for failing to support a vegan in trouble, because goodness knows, the vegan community is so talented with supporting its members (so clearly, I was  never one of them, which makes it “ok” for them to send me hatemail).

yes, http://houseofhippies.tumblr.com/ I am looking at you

By defining an “us” and “them”, the Insiders and Outsiders, the real community members and the fakes, it is easy to hate others. Do exactly as we say, all of the times, and we will accept you. Have a different opinion, and you stop being a real member of the community, and you will become fair game. We will ignore you, hate you, belittle you, betray you, hack your accounts, because You Are Not One Of Us.

The same people attacking me were the same ones demanding I show more respect to others… because obviously the word “hypocrite” is not in their dictionaires.

The double standard of attacking someone who has supported you, for them not supporting someone who has completely ignored them for years – the double standard at work is laughable.

I try and try to be a good member, and get treated like, I don’t know… a melange of servant, moron, groupie, brain donor, ATM card, shitpile, football, doormat, yet when an animal activist is in trouble, I am supposed to reach out and do all I can to the very same people that have treated me like garbage.

My support has been rejected in the past, and I am a failed human being for going “you don’t want me around, I accept that, I will go away, like you want me to” and giving up… and here is the thing, you can only get kicked in the head so often before you say “I am not going to try anymore with that person”… until they are in trouble and suddenly they have a use for you.

People only pull the “be a good community member” card on you when they want something from you, and if you don’t do Exactly What They Want, When They Want It, then you are a failed human being!!!!

Being in a community is not, or at least should not, be a one way street. I find it hard to extend compassion to people who send me hatemail, or unfollow for a sarcastic comment, or take it upon themselves to be the final arbiter of who is a member of the vegan community or not.

I have seen little support and sense of community directed at me. And yet, I am asked to give more and more.

This is peer pressure at is more disgusting. Conform or you will be all alone.

Do what we tell you, and maybe you can be part of Our Community, because don’t think for one minute that just because you are vegan and animal liberation activist that you are part of Our Community. Oh No you are not.

In my experience, as someone who has been a vegan since I was 15, I have never experienced this sense of community with other vegans which people are always telling me I NEED to show to others, yet never extend to me.

Never, there has not be one single day, in the real world or online, when I have had that “I feel like I’m home” feeling.

In fact, every day that passes I feel more and more alienated from a cause which I work for practically every minute of my life.

Sometimes it feels like there is a rulebook, which all the vegans got, except me: the right forums to join, the right gurus to worshhip, the insiders, the outsiders, the right blogs to follow, you get that wrong and you just won’t ever fit in.

I often feel like I’m out here on my own, my own little vegan world of one or two, standing outside in the cold and the snow, rubbing the frost off the window glass, peering in, while all the other vegans are in a warm cozy room, huddled around a flickering fire, comfortable and secure.

Maybe I will never fit in, maybe I should sacrifice some of my beliefs (such as stop trying to convince people that leather wearing and cheese eating celebrities are not vegan; or vegans don’t necessarily need to have a USAmerican guru, and join the liberationists Or the abolitionists- must chose!), maybe it is time to compromise who I am in order to fit in better with a community that seems to constantly reject me.

It seems to be, that when ever I express an opinion, I am ostracised, and sent hate mail, I am called names, but do I really need to lie and say, “oh yes, celebrity in prison has my full support”, because he does not, and more to the point…. if I was ever in prison, I doubt he would take the five and half seconds required to give me a second thought.

So it seems my role in “my community” is to shut up, smile, reblog, promote other peoples causes, sacrifice my beliefs, never have an original – controversial – opinion, never disagree with anyone Ever, never ask questions, and suck up to the celebrities activists, and only then will I be accepted.

Only by changing everything about myself, is there ever any hope of fitting in with “my” community.

Because being part of a community is giving in to everyone unquestionly, and giving uncritical support every minute of the day, by pretending to be someone you’re not, so you can be completely ignored by everyone involved, except those sending you hate mail.

Yep, riiiight…. and people criticise me for saying, I don’t feel like part of THAT community?

Really? that sounds like something which people willingly want to be part of? And they wonder why so many distance themselves from “the vegan community”.

These side-shows, this online popularity contest, is best left to people who are still in highschool. The whole “I am unfollowing you” drama, really? this is how adults act? it’s time some people grew up (lunaselenaunicorn, I am looking at you, don’t just unfollow me, block me, because I don’t want to be reading about your mylittlepony obsession any longer).

If the spite, pettiness and nastiness is what it means to be part of “the vegan community”  the one, true, very beige, homogenous, group-think community – then I am pleased I resigned my membership from YOUR community.

Oh, I am still a vegan, and will always be, I have just given up trying to feel some sense of belonging, a feeling of kinship, searching for a community – Your Community, which does not seem to exist for me, from people who send me hate mail about how I am a bad member of the community.

Eternally an Outsider:

RedglitterX

What people Really want to know about vegans

The following is a look at some of the search terms people have used to find this blog.

i am going to be deleting some so called animal activist, as they do nothing to help me in fight for the rights of animals info.
I’m right there with you.

Rage against the vegans
That might make a great band name.

is it possible to know that you are eating humanely slaughtered meat
Yes, it is possible to know, the answer: IT’S NOT. humanely slaughtered meat is an oxymoron, the taking of a life of a living being is never humane.

alicia silverstone eats cheese
Yep – (and there were many searches for that phrase)
If I was at a party and there was a tray of cheese sitting there and I had had drinks, then I might have a bite Alicia Silverstone.

alicia fake vegan
I’m sure if she ever stopped eating cheese she would be a fabulous vegan, but until then…

can vegans eat cheese once on a while
celebrity vegans can, and continue to be vegan. But for the rest of us commoners, that would make us vegetarian.

elsie shrigley
How many vegans don’t know who Elsie Shrigley was? Elsie Shrigley, along with Donald Watson coined the word VEGAN, and was one of the original founders of the Vegan Society, in the United Kingdom in 1944.

dolores huerta non violent protests
Never heard of Dolores Huerta? Have you ever heard of César Chávez?
Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association along with César Chávez, and in many of the strike actions and non-violent protests, Huerta was side by side with Chávez.

who drink rat milk?
An episode of The Simpsons (Fox), used milking rats as an example of the way the local school was cutting costs, by buying rat milk from the local mobster, Fat Tony.

what are some of the things meat eaters are doing to fight back?
I didn’t know meat eaters were a recognised Oppressed group in todays modern society.

milk is murder go vegan
I’ve heard the saying Meat is murder, Milk is Rape but given what happens to male calves born to dairy cows (they become veal), I would say this is more accurate…. Milk is murder, so please, go vegan.

until every cage is empty. no compromise
Agree. 100%.

mcdonald’s planet destruction
That should be there new slogan, replace Over 1 billion served to planet destruction with every burger sold

morbidly obese vegan
Was someone looking for information about morbidly-obese vegans? I personally don’t know any. I’m sure they are out there.

human de-evolution to junk food
I love this one, I like to think it sums up so much of what is wrong with modern western society. Too much junk food is causing humans to de-evolve. As does this:
evolution of man to obesity

i am proud be a vegan
Yah! Me too!

animal liberation proud to be a vegan
Love it.

jamie oliver made me vegetarian
Then Jamie Oliver has achieved more than some people in this world.

I’ve been told that I can’t call myself because I watched Jamie Oliver, but, to each their own.

genetically modified children
Apparently, that’s Monsanto’s next step in their quest for world domination.

when can you start calling yourself a vegetarian
When you stop eating animal flesh – this does include chicken, bacon and all seafood.

girl power go vegan
This means something to someone, but I like it.

Image via Wikipedia

do you have to be a vegan to work in peta??
NO, but you do have to like killing animals to work for PeTA – they euthanise “unwanted” cats and dogs. If people donated to a no-kill shelter instead of PeTA there would be less animal deaths.

international vegan conspiracy
Yep, right up there with the faked moon landings and Tupac and Biggie working at a 7-11 in New Zealand.

On the other hand, maybe there is an International Vegan Conspiracy, a network of vegans secretly working to overthrow the capitalist Animal Agriculture industry.
…. When I write my vegan manifesto, I might borrow this phrase

howard zinn is more critical of civil disobedience than civil obedience.

civil disobedience. As soon as you say the topic is civil disobedience, you are saying our problem is civil disobedience. That is not our problem…. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is the numbers of people all over the world who have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience.
Howard Zinn: The Problem is Civil Obedience (1970)

we are not nonviolent because we want to save our soul
Is this a statement about the use of Direct Action?

or was someone looking for this:
If you are cut down in a movement that is designed to save the soul of a nation, then no other death could be more redemptive. – Martin Luther King Jr

jimmy cliff the oppressors are keeping me down
Jimmy Cliff, sang in The Harder They Come:
Well, the oppressors are tryin’ to keep me down
Tryin’ to drive me underground

cool animals to have as pets
Not on this blog – try a rock, or a potted plant.

bovine liberation
liberation fish and turtle
I support all liberations – Set the Cows Free! Save the Turtles! Ban the Fishing!

a tear fell down my face right now, literally.
Yep, I’m the same way watching anti-cruetly videos.

baby sheep ugg kill
Yep, that’s about it. Ugg boots kill sheep. Ugg boots are made from the skin of a sheep. And really, how unattractive is wearing dead-sheep on your feet.

palm oil animal death
Again, straight to the point in four little words.
The destruction of forests for palm oil, destroys the habitats of many species, the orangutan, the most famous.

most evil companies mccdonalds
Another four-word search that sums up the issue.

terrorism act against vegans
That would make a change, usually it is the animal rights vegans accused of being Terrorists.

militant vegan slogans
From other searches:

• go vegan or else
• animal liberation human liberation
• those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable JFK
• i am vegan
• martin luther king jr one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws
• animal rights it is time to act
• animal eaters are killing the earth

and
alien alliance with earth
Yep, when humans find intelligent alien life, they’ll probably fire up the BBQ and eat them.

Vegans, Vegetarians and Lacto-Ovo-Meli-Pesco-Pollo-Porcine-Ovis-Bovine-atarians

Labels, we have them thrust upon us, and we do the same to others.

Generally, when someone uses a label, there is a common understanding of that word, example student, doctor, mother, pagan…

But sometimes, the labels people use are more about how people wish they were, rather than how they really are.
Taking the words vegan and vegetarian, do these words mean the same for everyone who uses them – either to describe themselves or others, and what happens when they don’t.

Questions that I get asked frequently are variations on, what do people CALL themselves:

– what do you call a vegetarian who eats chicken?
– what do you call a vegetarian who eats cheese?
– what do you call a vegan who eats fish?
– what do you call a vegan who eats cheese and fish?
– what do you call a vegetarian who eats fish but not dairy?

Vegan, vegetarian, freegan, herbivore, locavore, plant-based diet, cheesatarian, cheegan, beegan, part-time vegan, part-time vegetarian, pesco-vegan, lacto-ovo vegan, flexitarian, strict vegetarian, Lebanese vegetarian, or the monstrously pretentious “plant-strong” (Esselstyn).

Argh!! make it stop…..  so many labels, so little time to read the dictionary

is a lacto-ovo-pesco-pollo-bovine-porcine vegetarian one who eats eggs and dairy, and occasionally fish, sometimes chicken, sometimes beef, and sometimes pork? The word loses all meaning when accompanied by so many qualifications.
– Dan Balogh: Hitler: Goose Stepper and Goose Eater

In some cases the use of labels for Vegan and Vegetarian can be problematic, especially when used strangely out of correct context:

• My partner was introduced to a new work colleague as being the vegan of the office, you know, that’s a type of vegetarian.His response yes, much in the same way a Jewish person is a type of Buddhist, in that they both, you know, believe in Stuff

• Or, the Facebook vegan warrior who tried to tell me I wasn’t entitled to call myself Vegan because I watched Jamie Oliver. And then proceeded to tell me about his diet, including a morning protein drink made with whey… (ah, sweetie, whey is actually a dairy product).

• Or, a friend who tried to tell me that there are two types of vegetarians: those who eat meat and those who don’t
  and no matter how hard I tried, I could not convince her that No type of vegetarian eats meat, unless it is the pseudo-vegetarian

• Or, the restaurant near me that lists prawn cutlets on their vegetarian menu, and they don’t mean faux prawns either

• Or, a vegetarian couple I know, one eats bacon and the other chicken wings,
  (were they at least from a vegetarian chicken? I asked, to much scorn)

Every time a person calls themselves a vegetarian but continues to eat animals, the result is, it just makes life more complicated for the real vegetarians.

Same with vegan, when someone eats dairy, or wears leather, eats sealife, but says, they are vegan, it just makes life much more difficult for the real vegans who try to convince others that – No, vegans don’t, in fact, eat fish, wear leather, drink milk, buy Cover Girl cosmetics.

Without discounting the possible good a mostly-vegetarian-but-not-quite could do….   If they eat meat they are not vegetarian.

So, perhaps, we need a new word for people who try hard – perhaps something like: potential-vegetarian, mostly-vegetarian, transitioning-vegetarian.

The same goes for people who claim the badge of VEGAN, yet deliberately consume animal products or wear animal products. (I do not count people who have their food spiked in this category, some chefs still think that is funny, what matters is intent).

Do people who call themselves VEGAN while wearing leather, or eating animal products, not know that what they are doing is Not vegan, or do they hope no one will notice, or do they just not care?

How about the vegetarian who consumes sea-animals, bacon, chicken – what does vegetarian actually mean to them? They don’t eat beef?

This is an example of label creep where the meaning of vegan degrades to mean vegetarian, and vegetarian degrades to mean someone who eats vegetables occasionally.

Like the social smoker, who never smokes during the week, but does a packet on the weekend, then tries to claim the label of non-smoker….

Or, the factory-owner who claims be a humanitarian, while paying slave-wages to children locked in factories for 16-hours a day, but for the other eight hours, they’re a true champion of human rights.

Perhaps they want to be vegan, but are unable to – however, if desire alone could make someone something they are not, like a Vegan of a person regardless of what they eat, wear, buy…. then I could call myself a world famous celebrity, but that wouldn’t make it true either.

But, if the desire is there to be a vegan or a vegetarian, then… good on them.

That is a lot more than most people. And perhaps with a little encouragement and a lot of support, these part-time vegetarians could go all the way.

What is a part-time vegan?

https://twitter.com/BLISSRAE/status/103405582408613888

really my dear, as much as 90%!!

How is this even possible for a fish / sea-life eater to claim to be in anyway a vegan?
There is no part-time vegans, it just cannot be.

If Part time vegan refers to their diet only, then, in this case the label should be strict vegetarian, which means a vegan diet but non vegan lifestyle.

90% is good, rather, it is a good START, but the important thing is – what about the other 10%, I am not sure those fish and other sea-creatures would take much comfort as they are being shoveled down the throat of a pesco-vegan that for 90% of the time, other animals didn’t have to die.

Would we accept 90% for cases of wrongly executed death-row prisoners?

Well now, we got a strike rate of 90% guilty, and only 10% innocent people mistakenly executed, that’s a win-win situation.

Not likely.

People who eat cheese are not vegan, no matter how famous they are

People who eat cheese and eggs are not vegan, no matter how famous they are or how much more they do for animals than me. Fine, they’re bloody heroes, give them a medal, put them on a stamp, build a statue of them, name a bridge or a street after them – but if they eat cheese, they are not vegan.

Once we start making exception based on the career of people, where does it stop?

Or, are only commoners supposed to be actual-vegans, while celebrities can be almost-vegans?

And, for some reason, there are many vegans get personally offended when you say that eating cheese deliberately is not vegan.

And, almost as outraged when you say that wearing leather is not vegan. Some vegans get all uppity: But, but, but, but Anne Hathaway ate a vegan dessert once, shes one of us, where as you Redglitter are just some militant vegan, giving us a bad name.

The response is like: How dare you attack Alicia! She is our Goddess. You are a Nothing, hear me, You are less than Nothing Redglitter!

Fine, I’ll take that, Militant and Less Than Nothing, perhaps…. but I AM definitely vegan.

It seems, though, that what this defenders of cheese-eating vegans, and leather-wearing vegans, miss…. I’m not attacking an egg-and-dairy-eating, leather wearing, vegan, I am trying to defend the concept of vegan, before it becomes meaningless, before it dilutes into vegetarian, and vegetarian dilutes into ‘eats a vegetable occasionally’

So, to answer the questions that I set asked at the top of this post

– What do you call a vegetarian who eats chicken? Pseudo-vegetarian or Omnivore

– What do you call a vegetarian who eats cheese? A vegetarian

– What do you call a vegan who eats fish? A omnivore

– what do you call a vegan who eats cheese and fish? An omnivore

– what do you call a vegetarian who eats fish but not dairy? A dairy-free omnivore.

*Lebanese vegetarian – I’ve been called that when I try to explain what vegan is, I didn’t realise things were different in Lebanon

*Lacto-Ovo-Meli-Pesco-Pollo-Porcine-Ovis-Bovine-atarians  =  dairy, eggs, honey, fish, chicken, pork, sheep and beef – atarian

Since when do vegans eat chicken?

Secret Society of Vegans has a secret . . .

The Secret Society Of Vegans, is a London shop, selling edgy and Cool Britannia style merchandise with a vegan theme.

But, they have a secret, do they ever….

found HERE and HERE

This was spotted by my vegetarian but non-vegan cousin, her response was:

Since when do vegans eat chicken?

I’m not sure what context this tweet is in, since the surrounding status updates / tweets are just as vague.

It is difficult enough trying to convince non-vegans (and some “vegans”) that honey isn’t on the menu for vegan eaters, and that yes, bees really are animals… this just makes it harder to tell people “NO, vegans don’t eat chicken!”

I agree with Isaac Bashevis Singer…..

I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.

Perhaps it is mock-chicken, chicken-substitute, fake-chicken, or who knows. I don’t really need to know, I don’t shop in London.

… What I do know is, my non-vegan cousin was reading posts from a vegan group – and maybe one day soon, there might be one more vegan in the world.

Thanks to Animal Liberation Front…

In particular Ann Berlin – speaking on behalf of ALL of ALF, though If I was in the ALF, Im not sure I would be telling everyone, from a security point of view – but thank you anyway for your pointing out how little I know of veganism and animal rights from my perspective.

Who knew that as a vegan – from some point way back in the misty days of the 1980s I would have learned nothing in all that time about what vegan means to me, and how AR feels to me.

Because heaven knows, we all have to experience everything exactly the same way and form the same opinions on absolutely everything and be in total agreeance about absolutely everything all of the time.

And anytime my experience of an event differs from anyone elses then someone HAS TO BE WRONG, because clearly two people cannot, simply CAN NOT experience the world in different ways.

So to all those VEGANS who continually correct me, how about we take a page from the dictator, cult, communist, fascist playbook, and you tell me what to think.

Ill just open my brain and you can wash it, all lemony fresh and indoctrinated.

And one more thing, for someone claiming to be ALF to be so hell bent on group think indoctrination – LAUGHABLE – isnt that one of your criticisms against Francione, don’t you call his followers ZOMBIES??

Really – you want me to think and write and believe EXACTLY LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, but when Francione’s minions do it, they are ZOMBIES?

Thank you.

Thank you for opening my eyes about the BRAINWASHING CULT OF ALF.

so, Ann Berlin, blah blah blah, you know EVERYTHING, I know NOTHING, in your opinion, so why don’t I just shut up and leave you as the only expert on this planet on everything vegan, how’s that?

Alienating people who could be your allies, charming woman you are.

Cheese: The Other White Meat (why cheese eaters are problematic for vegans)

If you are a vegetarian, and would like to be vegan, my question for you is… what are you waiting for?

Vegetarians know the reality of where there food comes from – or rather WHO their food use to be, and it does not seem to bother them.

A lot of vegans, probably have at some point meet someone who says that they are “almost vegan” or “90% vegan – except for cheese”, or,

They may say something like – “oh I could Never be vegan, I love cheese too much” or maybe they do actually call themselves Vegan, yet has an occasional slip up, if they are at a party, and someone offers them some cheese, then they might “cheat” on their vegan diet

I met a “vegan” recently, who lectured me about how I was a “fake vegan” because I didn’t hate on ALF – animal liberation front – yet, this same person didn’t know that their morning protein shake made with whey wasn’t actually vegan.

Oh how I laughed!

Dairy is not benign, dairy involves huge amounts of cruelty and exploitation and DEATH.

And then these cheese-eaters pat themselves on the back, thinking that Vegan is just a different form of Vegetarian. I mean, we all love animals, right? It’s not like the animal has to DIE or anything, right?

Oh, but I never buy cheese myself! they protest. If someone offers it to me, or there is a pizza, or I’m hungry, or [insert excuse here]. That would be like someone saying “oh but I don’t smoke, I never buy cigarettes myself, I mean, if someone offers me one, or I get them off a friend when I’m at the pub after a late night, but, no, I’m not a smoker or anything”.

How is this any different? Just because you don’t buy it, does that mean it stops being cheese?

Here is my opinion… You know those old sayings “Milk – is liquid Meat” or “There is veal floating invisibly in every bottle of milk” or “Meat is murder, milk is rape” … vegans (by that I mean actual vegans, not faux cheeseatarian vegans) chose to not consume dairy in all its forms, because…

nothing could taste so good that it justifies rape and torture and slavery and murder.

That is what it comes down to:

If you consume dairy this is what you support

This PeTA video, shows the reality of the Land O’ Lakes dairy factory in Pennsylvania USA.

This is not an exception.



And don’t kid yourself – if you consume dairy products, and you haven’t personally met the cow, there is a very good chance that what you are eating came from cows just like this portrayed in the video.

And just why is that cow generously giving us her milk? Well she isn’t. Milk is meant for baby cows… it is baby food, for HER babies.

Like any mammal, she produces milk only to feed her babies.

Which means, she is forced to become pregnant against her will in order to create the baby that will get her body producing the milk.

And if people are stealing her milk (the cow doesn’t GIVE away anything), then there are babies out there, that are not drinking it.

So, what happens to those baby cows, which are surplus to requirements – if they survive the high infant mortality rate, they get sold into slavery, and become either milk cows or veal calves or pet food.

Pet food? Seriously, imagine telling that to a baby – your life is nothing, you are worth more to me dead.

or, Some may be shipped off to cosmetics companies to be turned into face creams or diet pills, because in some markets, it is illegal to use cows that are older than 30-months old in order to reduce the risk of spreading Mad Cow Disease (BSE – bovine spongiform encephalopathy).

Beauty products that are stuffed full with animal products are not beautiful. Nope, I do not want to be slapping dead calf on my face.

And this is a side effect of societies cheese-addiction.

Not much of a life, is it?

Then, what happens when the dairy cow gets too old?

After years of slavery, of being treated like a machine….

Cows that have been bred for maximum milk production, are unable to sustain the weight of their udders, which may be infected with mastitis, then what?

Is there a pension plan, and she goes off to a farm in the country to wander the hills and pastures and frolic in the clover… hell no, if she survives a couple of years of relentless torture in the dairy factory, she is shipped off to slaughter as soon as the milk production begins to slow up.

Thanks for the all milk, my dear, and don’t let the barn door hit you on the way out.

And then there is RENNET
Unless the label states “non animal rennet” – that cheese the vegan is eating, it isn’t even vegetarian.

Rennet is an enzyme used in cheese making, that is naturally present in the stomach of calves in order to digest the milk they are drinking.

Animal Rennet is taken from the lining of calves stomachs, and is often a by-product of the veal industry.

So when Vegetarians justify their continued animal consumption because “the animal doesn’t have to die”, What exactly do they mean? The baby cows that don’t survive to adulthood, the veal calves, the petfood calves or the cosmetics calves, the sick and dying milk cows, the retired cows who are sent to slaughter at 4 or 5 years old instead of well into their 20s which is the natural life expectancy of a cow.

Yummy.

This isn’t even going to go near the substances actually in the milk – pus, blood, leukemia cells, bovine growth hormone, anti-biotics, pesticides, herbicides, possibility of BSE prions, excessive amounts of protein and lots and lots of saturated fat.

Cheese eaters – what is the difference between that and eating meat for all the misery the production of milk entails.

And don’t get me started on vegans who eat HONEY……

Further reading
IVU: What’s wrong with dairy products?
Describing Some of the things wrong with dairy.

Vegina >> dairy is a feminist issue.
A look at dairy from a feminist perspective

NEGOTIATION IS OVER – Conklin’s Sadism
Yet another example of what is standard business practice for dairy, at an Ohio dairy factory.

“Jack LaLanne Said We Don’t Need Meat And Dairy” (vegetarianstar.com)

Del and RedGlitter
Feedback welcome

EDITTED TO ADD: There had been a MFA (Mercy for Animals) video in this piece, somehow it has been removed, and the link has been removed, without my knowledge. Even the text surrounding the video.

Is wordpress censoring vegan blogs now?

what do you call a cheese-eating vegan?… a celebrity (the Alicia Silverstone saga)

I get a lot of flak when I point out that many of the people the vegan community holds up as heroes aren’t actually vegan.

I am told that they do more for veganism that I ever will (yeah, maybe, but at least I don’t eat animals!)

I am told that nobody is perfect, and then my critics trawl through my life trying to find somewhere that I’m not perfect either (yeah, maybe, but at least I still don’t eat animals).

Cover via Amazon

Here is Ms Not So Perfect Vegan Alicia Silverstone advocating CHEESE – again.

Alicia Silverstone Confesses: I Cheat on Vegan Diet!

Even a proud vegan like Alicia Silverestone gives in to temptation once in a while.

The actress and author of The Kind Diet confessed that sometimes she slips up — and dairy is her downfall.

“If I was at a party and there was a tray of cheese sitting there and I had had drinks, then I might have a bite,” Silverstone confessed to UsMagazine.com at an EcoTools event in NYC on Wednesday.

Silverstone doesn’t let her momentary lapse get to her, though. “It’s human,” she said. “It’s a really good reminder that sometimes you need to have what you remember is this good thing. Because then you have it, and you’re like, ‘Actually that wasn’t better than the recipes in my book,'” Silverstone told Us.

“Being flexible that way makes more people comfortable,” she said. “If I’m rigid about it and I’m perfect, then no one is going to be able to be like me because I’ll be this icey, rigid thing.”

Silverstone credits the vegan diet with better health. “I haven’t been to a doctor in 13 years,” she told Us. “I don’t have to worry about calories, I don’t have to worry about how I look because I know that what I do makes me look my best.”

For a start, I’m not sure there is such a concept as “cheating on a vegan diet” that would make it… um – not vegan!!

Like a virgin who cheats on virginity, gets pregnant and says, but I’m still a virgin, I only cheated a little!

Once we start having the concept of cheese-eating vegans, its a slippery slope til the word “vegan” means anything that people want it to mean.

There already is a perfectly valid word for someone who avoids meat but eats cheese….. VEGETARIAN!

Ever tried to define vegetarian?
A coworker told me once there are two types of vegetarian, those who eat meat and those who don’t, no matter how much I tried to tell her that a vegetarian who eats meat is not a vegetarian in any sense of the word, she would not be swayed…
there is the fish-eating-vegetarians, the fur-wearing-vegetarians, the chicken-and-bacon-eating-vegetarians, the vegetarian-3-days-a-week-and-steak-on-the-rest… the word “vegetarian” has become pretty much useless.

I was out to lunch with friends recently, one who is a vegetarian told the wait staff “I’m a vegetarian, no meat in the stir fry vegetables” it came loaded with prawns. She sent it back.

One of the reasons that the word / concept “vegan” was invented in World War 2 was that vegetarians on got rations for cheese and eggs as replacements for meat, and so began a campaign to be recognised as not consuming animals products. There are many other reasons too, but this was one of the earliest fights for recognition, that a vegan was something separate to vegetarian.

No one stands up when people assume that meat=cow/lamb but not meat=fish/chicken/pig.

The amount of vegetarians who eat fish or chicken or pork/ham/bacon is so strange. And people just accept that it is a sub-set of vegetarian.

So, when people praise Alicia Silverstone for her veganism, do we accept it, and think, but she does so much for her diet book, oops I mean veganism – or do we go, “yes, she might do a lot for animals but she really isn’t vegan herself”.

If it is okay for celebrities to cheat – how big of a celebrity does one have to be? Movies? Magazine covers? Is there like, a slide scale of celebrity A-list and B-list can eat cheese, maybe C-list – but once we hit the D-list celebrities they can’t get away with calling themselves “vegan who eats cheese”? When was vegan redefined as – something you do only when you are a commoner?

And as for Alicia’s comment that she eats cheese when she has a drink… Really, when was vegan redefined as – something you do only when sober?

Then there are instances of people who identify as “vegan” (such as this brainless moronic post: Alicia Silverstone cheats on vegan diet with dairy as her downfall which says sometimes a little egg and dairy are good, because it shows others we are flexible, and that the author herself “I end up having bit of dairy or a baked good with some egg in it” – hun, you ain’t vegan!!) complaining about those who forgo all cheese as being “militant”, I beg your pardon – not eating cheese is not being “militant”, it’s actually just plain Vegan.

I respect what Alicia has done for animals, and if people go vegan because they read her book, good for her, but people also go vegan when they visit PETA websites too, and many, many vegans don’t like PETA, and compare that to the hatred directed at Sea Shepherd for not being vegan, and people change because of SS too, so why the double standards? I really hope it isn’t because she is young, blond, white and famous.

How many vegans out there don’t eat cheese, or any other dairy, and find ways to get alternatives.

In this post Alicia Silverstone goes Vegetarian, Alicia describes her eating of BK Veggie Burger, its “yummie”, that Burger King burger also contains egg and milk.
That original twitter comment is found here http://twitter.com/AliciaSilv.

Why do people go through all sorts of contortions to redefine vegan. It is simple – not animal products. Not just sometimes, all the times. If you accidently eat something, then you move on, but for Alicia, it doesn’t seem to be an accident, it seems to be a pattern.

Take a look at her answer here:

What do you do when you crave non-vegan foods?

Alicia Silverstone.: Well, I never crave non-vegan foods, because vegan foods are so delicious. When I’m out and there are no vegetarian foods available, then I just make the best choices I can. Sometimes, it’s to eat nothing at all, or I’ll have the least offensive thing. Maybe there’s a salad with goat cheese, or potato salad with a little mayo. That’s what it’s about — making the best choices under all circumstances.
Alicia Silverstone Quit Counting Calories – With Her “Kind Diet”

Actually… NO, veganism isn’t defined as “making the best choices” – it is In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.: Vegan

But, at what point do we stop watering down what “vegan” actually means, people call Bill Clinton vegan in the exact same interview he discusses eating fish (He actually seems to be making a lot of changes to his dies, it is “almost vegan”) – vegan has a meaning, do some people want that label so badly that they will ignore its meaning? I could call myself anything I want, doesn’t make it true, calling yourself “vegan” when you clearly aren’t doesn’t make veganism flexible, it totally strips all value and meaning from a word that has a specific definition.

… how would ordinary (by that I mean, Non celebrity) vegans who don’t “cheat” (which I find a silly word, its not “cheating” its eating cheese) feel going to a vegan restaurant being served cheese, honey, eggs, once that happens, the people who actually are vegan might have to explore a new word.

Meanwhile comments such as:
Brent Phillips (on facebook): Someone call the vegan police! Revoke her vegan powers

People who make comments like that, are they vegan themselves? I know how hard it is for me and vegans I know to live a vegan life, someone who doesn’t encounter difficulties occasionally, maybe there is a reason.

And as for “revoke her vegan powers”…. um, do you consider cheese and egg to be vegan? If you think there is something wrong with pointing out that Alicia Silverstone is a vegetarian, not a vegan, then there is definitely something wrong with your definition of vegan.

Image by Pulicciano via Flickr

Portia de Rossi’s Aha! Moment

I had no appetite for meat sauce. Giving up beef wasn’t just some fleeting idea. Over the next year, I stopped eating all animals and animal products. I always thought going vegan would be difficult, but I genuinely don’t crave meat or cheese. And I feel happier, like I’m contributing to making the world a less violent place. Before that morning on the farm, I ranked an animal’s value based on how “human” it was. Now I don’t judge other beings that way—every animal has its own intelligence and sensitivities. They’re all lovely, worthwhile, and deserving of our respect.

Comparing the words used by both Alicia and Portia, and how they see veganism:
Alicia uses words like: “recipes”, “calories”, “look my best” and the words “Losing Weight” are in the title of her diet book
………. compare that to Portia de Rossi : “intelligence”, “sensitivities”, “respect”, “deserving”, “worthwhile”, “contributing to… the world”

And yet, Alicia is seen as a true champion of kindness and veganism, and Portia is just a bimbo lesbian.
Portia de Rossi, probably doesn’t get enough respect for her awareness.

For more on this topic – whether it is a good thing for vegans to expand the definition to include cheese and eggs like Alicia Silverstone does
What Lines Do You Cross on an ETHICAL Vegan Diet?

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Articles copyright 2010 ‘Vegan Animal Liberation Alliance’. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Written by RedGlitter of VALA https://redglitterx.wordpress.com/

Feedback welcome.

Ok, so you’re vegan – but do you eat people?

Food additives can refer to a lot of things – flavours, colours, emulsifiers, preservatives… these can be known by their chemical name or their E-number.

For example – E120 is cochineal, E901 is beeswax, E621 is MSG (for a full list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_number), and vegans get into the habit of scanning food labels to find those additives that are animal derived.

However, there is one additive that is derived from humans, E920 (L-Cysteine) which is produced from human hair.

E920 is an amino acid and is used as an improving agent in flour-based products.

It is used as a ‘dough improver’ or ‘bread improver’. The L-Cysteine is added to the ingredients during the mixing process prior to baking. During mixing, it reacts with a protein in wheat. As the original L-Cysteine amino acid is not present in the final product, by law there is no requirement to list it as an ingredient.
Vegetarian Network Victoria

It is also used in the manufacture of cigarettes, as well as the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries (one of its names is Keratin)

Traditionally L-Cysteine has been sourced from feathers, pig bristles, but one of the richest sources is Human Hair.

And China, has an entire industry devoted to producing L-Cysteine from human hair.

The amino acid is extracted from the hair and feathers using a fermentation process involving a mutant strain of Escherichia coli (E.coli).

So while VEGANs are very conscious about avoid animal products, the manufacturing industries continue to find new ways to put animal derived ingredients in products, and now, there are human-byproducts to be aware of.

Food for vegans: fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains.... and HUMAN HAIR?

Is it men or women… ? (Animal Liberation)

A movement is only composed of people moving. To feel its warmth and motion around us is the end as well as the means.
Gloria Steinem

The following are some questions that were raised in this quote by O Anna Niemus, some things to think about – in relationship to how gender can affect how we see things. Yes, these are generalisations, but there is a basis to generalisations. This can be important when looking at why so-called “animal rights” organisations, such as PeTA (who are really welfare), use images of naked, near-naked, and women in bikinis to promote PeTA.

Is it men or women who work the most in slaughterhouses?

Is it men or women who are most involved in domestic battering?

Is it men or women who commit the most rapes?

Is it men or women who vote for the most executions?

Is it men or women who promote war, vote for war, kill in war?

Is it men or women who as ‘talk show hosts’ allow no talk?

Is it men or women who are more often pedophiles?

Is it men or women who torture lab animals more?

~O Anna Niemus

Has pictures of naked women ever convinced any man to go vegetarian? (there advertising though does not promote veganism) There would be a very narrow segment of the female market that would convinced by naked women to make life-changing decisions.

This is not another post of PeTA bashing, just questioning the tactics of brand-name animal organisations, and do their tactics work.

As a tactic to achieve animal liberation, might there be more effective ways than exploiting women. It’s been thirty years, might it not be time to re-evaluate the wisdom of exploiting women in the name of animal rights.

So, does gender make a difference in how people think about issues….

Feedback welcome.

The Myth Of Humane Meat

The Myth of Humane Meat
A video I created, not just uploaded to YT.

Former vegans and vegetarians use the concept of humane meat and welfare standards to continue to consume animals. The word animal by-product to describe milk and eggs is shown to also contribute to cruelty and exploitation. Features extreme graphic images of how animals become food. People who eat meat are entitled to know who their food used to be.

Taking one food as an example – the classic burger, this clip shows that for animals, it is not humane.

Music: Knocking On Heaven’s Door – Cold Chisel
Vodpod videos no longer available.

VALA’s The Myth Of Humane Meat
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