• Cowbee@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Vegans are correct, people just don’t want to change their lifestyle. I am not a vegan (yet) for what it’s worth, but they are definitely correct.

      • Barbarian@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        Not the same person, but I’m in a similar position, just further along. Getting meat out of my diet was actually really trivial. Cheese is the big problem.

        Fully vegan when I cook at home, but vegan options in restaurants and fast food are non-existent where I live, so I have cheese whenever I eat out. I’ve also come to terms with the fact I can never be fully vegan because I have 2 cats who need their cat food.

        • Jon_Servo@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Dairy contains a morphine-like substance so baby calves are drawn to it. Cheese is literally addictive.

          While many scientists believe cats to be obligate carnivores, one study attempted to show that many of the studies conducted in plant-based diets to not show any detrimental effects, when the test wasn’t conducted poorly or there was already a selection bias in place.

          https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9860667/

          Just something to consider. This doesn’t cement veganism for domestic felines, but it does show that better studies need to be conducted.

          • Barbarian@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            Cheese is literally addictive

            I’m aware, but I don’t eat cheese out of choice. The times I do eat cheese are because I’m in a restaurant with family/friends and my options are being hungry the whole night, eating meat, or eating a salad with cheese in it. With those options, I take the cheese. Again, I don’t eat cheese at home.

            This doesn’t cement veganism for domestic felines, but it does show that better studies need to be conducted

            Fair enough. I’ll keep an eye out, but I’m immediately skeptical because unlike us humans, cats are naturally carnivorous.

        • eggmasterflex@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Honestly, I’ve stopped chasing substitutes a while ago. Giving up meat and dairy is going to be a lifestyle change, that’s why people struggle so much with it. You can’t expect to just sub in imitations and keep eating the same foods. They’re not close enough to fool anyone, and they’re usually expensive and unhealthy.

          The best way eat vegan is to fill your diet with minimally processed legumes, grains, fruits, and vegetables. Learn to cook a few staple meals from cultural cuisines where animal products are expensive (most cultures outside US/Canada and Western Europe) and you’ll realize how much great food you can make with a few simple ingredients and one or two pots. A huge number of them fall into the same basic formula, so if you learn one, you can easily make them all. Plus, it’s much, much cheaper than eating meat.

          I’m not vegan but I do eat 95% vegan because my wife is and I agreed to buy and cook solely vegan in the house. I come from a culture with plenty of (accidentally) vegan home cooking already, so it wasn’t hard at all. But those substitutes are gross to me. Apologies to those who like them.

        • Emerald@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Well milk is easy. Just get soy milk or almond milk as a drop-in replacement. There’s even weird ones like cashew milk. Depending on where you are at though that might be too expensive compared to dairy milk.

          • randint@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz
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            2 months ago

            Where I live, soy milk is less than half the price of cow boob milk. Perks of living in East Asia, I guess.

            I bought a 936 mL (1/4 gallons) carton of soy milk today, and it was only about US$1.1 (NT$35). Very affordable.

          • atmur@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Oat milk is really good too and is usually cheaper than almond milk, at least where I live.

            • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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              2 months ago

              I normally prefer soy for flavor, with oat as a close second.

              For nutritional value, I think soy is the top, followed by pea, and oat way behind.

              For environmental impact/needs, I think soy and oat are also among the best.

              Soy milk is a miracle food and we should embrace it.

      • Cowbee@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        I’m working my way towards it! Did a one month trial run, now I am back to my previous diet but increasing my vegan meals and decreasing my meals with animal products.

        I would welcome tips, though!

        • Nimrod@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Not who you replied to originally, but since you said you welcome tips:

          Learn to cook tofu. There’s different levels of firmness, and an infinite number of ways to prepare and cook it. Try them all. Not everyone’s texture preference is the same. So the way I cook it and the way you cook it can vary drastically.

          I hated tofu for ages until I found a way to cook it that yielded the outcome I liked.

          Once you figure out the best way to achieve the texture you’re after, you can start worrying about seasoning it. Then you’re golden.

    • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      Yep. I’m a vegetarian for environmental reasons. There’s a huge amount of will behind ending humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels, but very few care about ending our reliance on meat, the most inefficient source of food.

    • MintyFresh@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I haven’t gone full vegetarian or vegan. I should for the health of our world though. I have however cut my meat consumption down to about 1# a week, usually chicken. For whatever that’s worth.

      I didn’t realize I was straight up addicted to meat in my diet till I tried cutting it out. I think that’s why people get angry with vegans, cause then they gotta look inward, and then that’s gonna be this whole other thing. Oofta

      I wonder how bad eggs are for the environment though?

      • Ilflish@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        To be fair there was a large amount of time (2010s at least) where vegans weren’t even trying to be appealling. It was either. Stereotypical vegan dishes but even more limited or extremely bad vegetarian meat. Vegetarian meat has improved a lot and more importantly vegan food is represented as less one note.

        Don’t think I’m strong enough to give up dairy but respect to those who can do so without being elitist

        • MintyFresh@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I didn’t care for the “beyond meat” so much. I don’t mind the old school bocca burgers. Throw it on a bun and dress tf outta that burger you’ll be alright. I’ve been big into beans. Making hummus. Bean salads. Enchiladas. They really are the magical fruit. Cheese is tough I hear ya.

          And they’re not all elitists. Some are just really good environmentalists who maybe aren’t so good at communicating and have maybe been burned in the past. But ya some just like the smell of their own farts.

    • Dozzi92@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I agree with you to an extent, but, like, what about my local farm that pasture raised pigs and cows and, yes, eventually slaughters them, how do they compare to what I think everyone agrees are terrible, the meat processing plants of the Midwest?

      • ansiz@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        At least for the public at large such methods aren’t practical (not enough space to raise enough meat) and not able to produce meat at a cost the general public could afford.

        It’s also still horrible to butcher the animals, I don’t consider any such killing to be humane. They are also killed at a rather young age, barely even adult just max size. You also have the forced pregnancy of the animals and odds are the pigs are still crated after giving birth, the cow calves separated from their mothers, etc.

      • Cowbee@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Nothing is black and white, of course, but slaughtering animals for consumption is animal exploitation and worse for the environment. The impact is much smaller, but still fundamentsl.

        Ultimately, it comes down to how we see animals, life, and the environment.

      • Veloxization@yiffit.net
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        2 months ago

        You can show a lot of differences, but the end result is always the same: Sentient beings dead way before their natural expiration.

        • Soulg@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          So all the carnivorous predators are also evil?

          I’m not even trying to be a jerk about it, but I’ve never been given a single good answer on this.

          • Veloxization@yiffit.net
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            2 months ago

            Carnivores have just as much right to live as their prey, as unfortunate as the cost of life is.

            We, as humans, are in a rather unique position, being omnivores with many of us in the developed world having easy access to food. And those of us can make a choice to not cause the death of other sentient beings in order to have food.

  • DumbAceDragon@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Vegans can be annoying, but at the end of the day they’re right about a lot of things. It’s just that the ethics of consuming meat and animal products can be a delicate conversation, and requires a pretty big change in how one views not only themselves but life as a whole. A lot of online vegans like to approach it the with tact of a sledgehammer.

    Trust me, irl vegans are usually way more chill in my experience.

    • SigmarStern@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 months ago

      Online vegan here. Just wanted to add that after a couple of years of the same jokes and arguments and demeaning comments that were forced upon you because you had to explain why you don’t want to eat what everyone else around you eats, you kinda lose your tact a bit.

      Never went to somebody with a burger in hand and called him a murderer. Been called an emasculated pussy and wittle little rabbit for eating a salad so many times. Same people then complain about annoying vegans. It’s a bit infuriating.

      • Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        I can understand that. Constantly needing to justify your existence or preferences is exhausting, especially when there’s a stereotype that people are using to project.

    • graymess@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      From my experience, switching diets doesn’t require turning your world view upside down. Maybe if your reason for going vegan is some life-altering epiphany? But I think most people already understand at this point, they just don’t want to change. I’m not speaking here with judgment.

      I’m vegan at home, though I’ll sometimes make some exceptions for dairy when I’m out. Explaining that to anyone who wants to share a meal with me ranges anywhere from a brief heads up to a full on ethics debate initiated by the other person. It’s weirdly common how often non-vegans feel challenged just by the existence of a vegan in their presence. Like I’m not trying to have a conversation about it. This is a very practical thing for me and that’s mostly how I see this “lifestyle choice.” It made sense for me to stop eating meat, so I did. No internal struggles or questions about my place in the world. Just logistics about how to navigate our meat-centric food culture. So yeah, I think the biggest challenge isn’t overcoming some personal hurdles, but simply pushback from people and other external factors that make it harder to change.

    • GluWu@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      It’s just that the ethics of consuming meat and animal products can be a delicate conversation, and requires a pretty big change in how one views not only themselves but life as a whole

      I was raised vegetarian by a vegan. I’m now a hunter and eat meat almost daily.

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    At a high level, I have no control over your actions, you have no control over mine. We can argue until we’re blue in the face, but when someone walks away after that argument, they’re free to do as they please.

    Physically, you don’t need to eat meat. I’d recommend a good dietician if you want to go vegetarian or vegan, at least until you figure enough out that you can maintain the intake of all your required vitamins and nutrients as you transition. There are more than a few of them that are typically provided by meat products for most people’s eating habits, you’ll want advice on how to suppliment that without relying on pills. Suppliment pills can be helpful, but you probably don’t want to have to take them all the time.

    Eating meat can certainly be healthy too, speaking mainly for ones nutritional needs. The nutrients in meat are, in some cases, fairly rare in plants, so it can vastly simplify the job of meeting your nutritional needs.

    For vegans, on a social and societal level, I agree with the concepts surrounding factory farming and the unethical treatment of the animals that become meat. No argument from me. However, thinking that any meat consumption is tantamount to murder, is not a view I share. Animals, and their meat, are eaten by other animals (including humans - separate from farming… I’m talking about actual hunting here). In nature, there’s no hesitation about this, no remorse, and no known sorrow from the animals who “lost someone” to being food. Sadness over the passing of an individual is almost (but not entirely) a human phenomenon. Same with morals and ethics… To name a few. Ethically, I don’t personally have a problem with animals dying for food. I do however have a problem with the abuse and maltreatment of animals that will become food. While alive, animals should be given some measure of dignity and respect. They should not be forced into living their lives in small cages and jammed together with hundreds of their kin in a confined space the way factory farming often does.

    Eating meat does not and should not imply that a person is complicit nor agrees with the concept of factory farms or anything they do. Some people do not have the time, effort, money or focus to dedicate to finding alternatives. You don’t know their life and you should not judge based on their eating habits alone. It’s presumptive and arrogant to think that people have the bandwidth to even grok the concept of changing their entire lifestyle because of factory farms. In the same manner, vegans and vegetarians should not be negatively judged for their decisions either.

    The only points of contention I have in the whole debate is that eating meat, in and of itself, whether you bought it off a shelf or obtained it through hunting, does not make one a murderer; and, while it’s fine to share ideas, demanding that others change their ways because you have an opinion, is unacceptable. If someone is curious and willing to listen, sure, chat all you want. However, telling them that their choices are wrong and that they must do something differently, isn’t a practice I can support.

    At the end of the day, as most people learned from the lion king, there’s a circle of life. Things will die so other things can live. Plants will absorb the minerals and nutrients from the rotting corpses of so-called “higher” life forms, and those “higher” life forms will eat the plants to live. Those plant eaters will be eaten by other animals, who will eventually die and become fertilizer for the plants. The cycle continues. Eating animals is something that animals do all the time, and it’s not condemned. News flash, humans are also animals. We have the ability to eat and gain strength from meat. You have the free choice to either partake in that activity or not, but make no mistake, that’s your personal choice.

    IMO, we should all eat more vegetables. Meats have become so prevalent that there’s basically meat included in every meal of the day. That’s a bit much. Eat a salad. Everyone should reduce their meat intake, at the very least. If you want to go all the way to being vegetarian or vegan, go for it. It’s your choice, your life, your body, and you’re free to use it, and/or abuse it, in whatever way you wish.

    For me, the ethical problems of factory farms are definitely an issue. Personally, I’d rather see a regulatory solution for the treatment of animals, since it would improve the life of all of those animals (at least for the duration they’re alive), and improve their situation when they are slaughtered, so it is more humane. After they have been slaughtered, my level of care about how they’re treated, pretty much disappears. As long as the resultant product is safe and not harmful, I couldn’t care less. I’m only concerned with their life from birth to death. After that, meh. Regulatory changes would be simple and more effective than trying to change the hearts and minds of everyone in an effort to have the pubic at large, stop eating meat; bluntly, trying to convince an entire society to do anything for it’s own good, is pretty much impossible. I’m not sure what the “annoying vegans” (not all vegans, just the ones who get in people’s faces about it), are trying to prove. They won’t convince everyone, it’s basically impossible. It’s like they’ve taken on this impossible task and it’s not going well, and they’re steaming mad about it… Bro, you did this to yourself. I believe the only way to put an end to the animal abuse in factory farms, is to regulate it. I don’t know what that regulation looks like, I’m not a lawyer, nor do I have any ties to nor interest in becoming a politician/government decision making person. I know change is needed and I have no ability to enact that change, but I would vote for anyone who did.

    I don’t consider death, in and if itself to be inhumane. I consider torture to be inhumane. I consider forced imprisonment in a small space to be inhumane. I even consider suffering to death, it be inhumane. Euthanizing something, can absolutely be humane. I don’t believe that factory farms are being humane by my standards.

    I don’t think that asking them to be humane to their flock is too much to ask. Our food deserves it. They’re giving their life for your ongoing existence and enjoyment, the least we can and should do, is ensure they’re not spending that life in pain.

    • tmcgh@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I highly recommend you check out a book called “A Bold Return to Giving a Damn”. It’s about a cattle rancher who turned his ranch into a form of regenerate agriculture. One of his main point is that the current meat industry provides cheap meat that is subsidized by the environment. His ranch is called White Oak Pastures. Fascinating book and definitely changed the way I look at meat consumption. I still eat meat but my extended family raises a cow every year so I think its a little but better than the industrial food system currently at work.

  • dlpkl@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    If lab-grown meat becomes even half as good (and cheap) as slaughtered meat then I’d make the switch in a heartbeat. Not to mention, imagine being able to try out all sorts of exotic meats guilt-free, or being able to eat raw meat without risk of food-borne illness and parasites? Gimme some of that cruelty-free giant tortoise meat, lemme see what that gluttonous bitch Charles Darwin was on about.

    • iiGxC@slrpnk.net
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      2 months ago

      Plant based meats have been way more than half as good for a while (iirc some of them have even won blind tests), I don’t get why people are so obsessed with lab grown versions.

      But also, liking how someone tastes isn’t a good justification for killing them, regardless of how good or bad the alternatives are. Fortunately there are tons of delicious vegan foods so it’s a moot point

    • Coskii@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      I would hope that most people who have seen much of anything about industrial ranching would have a hard time not showing a bit of empathy.

      Some descriptions of hell aren’t as upsetting as seeing how those animals are kept and handled.

      • tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        I only ever see meat eaters argue about what the body needs or how our teeth are meant for meat. There is no way to argue that the modern meat industry isn’t horrific, I think some carnists that react strongly to vegans unconsciously know this and react with anger because of guilt and shame.

    • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      As Mike says, no half measures ;)

      But in seriousness, going some/most of the way there is better than not at all. And most people transition over time rather over night too anyway. Every small step helps when it comes to the environment, personal health and ethics in my opinion.

  • TexMexBazooka@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Can’t live without some delicious red meat, no if ands or buts. I will(and have) hunt it down myself if I have to.

  • Vespair@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    I mean, there exists many options between the extremes of veganism and rampant factory farming. This isn’t a dichotomy; we can have meat consumption without the need for industrialized meat production.

    We may have to eat less meat though, I will concede.

    • Doll_Tow_Jet-ski@kbin.social
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      2 months ago

      What is an extreme is relative. Are we in an extreme because we don’t tolerate slavery? Is having only one slave less extreme then? In the current context I guess you can see veganism as one end of the spectrum, but calling it an extreme has the connotation that it is an unreasonable position.

      We can have meat consumption without the industrialized part, sure. But ethical veganism claims eating animals is wrong, regardless of how you kill them. Just like we now consider slavery to be wrong, regardless of how good the slave is treated.

  • go $fsck yourself@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.

    “Buying meat is unethical because of how the animals are treated” ~ sent from my iPhone made by child slave labor

    I’m not saying veganism is bad. What I am saying is that people who think veganism is a moral high ground are wrong. I also think that veganism is a luxury to be even able to follow.

    Edit after downvotes into the negative and shitty asshole responses:
    Here comes the self-righteous assholes who don’t want to have a discussion and instead throw around blame and shame at me. Congrats. Y’all are the reason people hate vegans which hurts your cause by pushing people away from reducing reliance on meat. Every downvote is proof that self-righteous vegans are assholes.

    • eggmasterflex@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Sorry, how is it a luxury? Vegetables, grains, and legumes are far cheaper and healthier sources of calories and nutrition than meat, despite the government subsidies. This perception that you should eat McDonalds and rotisserie chicken every day if you don’t have money to buy groceries is so strange to me.

      • go $fsck yourself@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        This perception that you should eat McDonalds and rotisserie chicken every day if you don’t have money to buy groceries is so strange to me.

        That’s because no one here brought that up and you’re using a straw man argument.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      It’s pretty ethical to grow and hunt your own food. Hunting even benefits the eco-system and animals haunted since the natural predators that used to keep deer, turkey, elk, and other game animals population in check are no longer prevalent.

      • go $fsck yourself@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Personally, I can agree in some circumstances. However, not everyone agrees with that and that is also fine.

        Just don’t try to shove your morals down my throat.

        • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Lots of people don’t agree, but we have data to support the benefits, and the legislation to ensure it is enforced. Yes, in an ideal world we’d all be vegans, and nature would balance itself. Maybe some day that will be the world we have, but it is not the world we have now.

        • escaped_cruzader@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          However, not everyone agrees with that and that is also fine

          It’s even finer because in those situations those people would just die

    • Hiro8811@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Also if we’re to speak of cruelty and environment shit why don’t vegans speak of the animals farmers need to kill in order to protect crops? Or the fuel spent by importing vegetables and fruits?

      Now I’m not saying that meat is better since tastes are subjective and animals do get treated badly and raised in bad conditions but some of them live in titanium bubbles

  • drgeppo@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    vegans have noble intentions but they are fighting the wrong battle: the root evil is not meat consumption per se but capitalism and the resource exploitation that it implies

      • Classy@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        Killing animals to eat them is wrong, plain and simple

        See, it’s these kinds of fanatical black-and-white statements that makes it hard to sympathize with vegan ideology, even as I agree with many of its tenets. Feeling sad for animals that die to be consumed is not a strong argument for it being wrong. Humans are animals just as any other, and if it is wrong inherently to kill something to sustain oneself, then we should kill off all carnivorous and insectivorous animals, so that they cannot kill and eat their prey.

        • socksy@discuss.tchncs.de
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          2 months ago

          ignorant vegan:

          raping animals is wrong

          you, an intellectual:

          but animals do it! We’d have to kill all animals that do it, that’d be insane

          enlightened ve-gone:

          you’re right, let’s rape billions of animals

          • Classy@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            I do think we are not aligning in communication, and I think you’re misreading my tone. I did read your comment with the intention that you clarified here, and I saw that you were not vegan, but it’s hard to deny that Killing animals to eat them is wrong, plain and simple is a very hard-line stance that would typically be touted by vegan activists. I was more replying to that point itself than you as an individual in making that statement.

            I disagree with the point that one cannot ethically kill an animal, and I also agree wholeheartedly that our consumption habits around meat are abysmal for the environment. I am in hardcore corn and dairy country, so I am well-aware of the consequences of our mass production of meat and grain. The Midwestern ecosystem is practically gone. Illinois at one point boasted over 20,000,000 acres of prairie, and today that total is less than 10,000.

            Regarding the quotation, I was not saying that you felt that way. My reply is to the ardent severity of the claim that all killing of animals is wrong, and trying to arrive at a conclusion to that worldview that I think is in line with that thinking. I’m sorry if you thought I was trying to put that opinion on you, that was just me wording myself poorly.

        • Amaranta@r.nf
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          2 months ago

          suggesting that animals eating other animals is bad does not imply that killing all carnivores is the correct solution to that problem. there is no solution to that problem which would save the lives of every animal alive today, so any solution to this problem must include the death of some animals. “continue letting animals eat other animals until we can find a real solution that won’t destroy the biosphere or genocide billions of living creatures” is a valid solution even under the strict idea that killing animals to eat them is always wrong

        • Worx@lemmynsfw.com
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          2 months ago

          Humans are not animals just like any other. We have the capacity for self-reflection and change. We are also not obligate carnivores - we have the choice to eat plant-only diets without health risks unlike a lot of animals

        • sazey@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Nor is vegan eating consequence free for life. Factory farming, much like factory meat in some ways, obliterates vast amounts and variety of life that previously resided in that given field. It is also contributing to rapid worldwide top soil decline, something no one seems to give a shit about. Ecological cattle raising could be a mitigation to both issues but some people have too much soy clogging up the brain to do their own thinking.

          • Amaranta@r.nf
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            2 months ago

            how could cattle raising ever be more ecologically friendly than farming? the cattle must eat, so we’ve just shifted the problem, no?

            • sazey@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              So cattle eat things that humans cannot and convert them into things we can. They poop and urinate to fertilise the place, graze in places not suitable for crops, churn the soil as they move about and it turns out plants needs to be grazed. All this is easily searchable information. Bear in mind I am not talking about factory cattle, which is a cruel and awful practice that probably should be banned.

              This article lays out the argument pretty well for example.

    • CyanideShotInjection@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Of course the root of evil is capitalism, but you have to understand that we would need to greatly reduce meat consuption to have the “ethical” way of breeding that most people expect. The reason why the animal exploitation is so bad is that it has to satisfy a demand that keeps growing. People expect to continue their eating habits and that companies should just be held accountable, change their ways and still produce the same quantities of meat/diaries/eggs.

  • No_Change_Just_Money@feddit.de
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    2 months ago

    You could reduce meat intake and buy higher quality meat whenever financially feasible. Then you help fight the problem but can still look down on vegans

    • illi@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      This is solid advice, but… you know… don’t look down on vegans maybe? They are trying to do the same thing (reduce animal suffering) but are able/willing to go above and beyond.

      • illi@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Small incremental changes are easier to make than big ones. It is also better to have many people reducing meat than just a few full vegans.

        • Doll_Tow_Jet-ski@kbin.social
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          2 months ago

          The word easier here is a choice. What is more comfortable is easier, but eating a plant based diet is very easy. It’s cheaper and widely available in most countries. What you mean by easier really refers to more comfortable, not really to there being less physical obstacles

          • SirQuackTheDuck@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            not really to there being less physical obstacles

            Depends on availability. Plenty of eateries don’t have vegan options and this is especially true for locations accommodating larger groups. Furthermore, a lot of vegans need supplements (as I’ve been told), which is also subject to availability.

            Lastly, it’s easier to convince a thousand people to eat less meat – especially since they usually already have the ingredients required for vegetarian food at home – than to skip meat alltogether.

            Two thousand meals a week that turned vegetarian is a lot more impact than 70 meals turned vegan.

            • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works
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              2 months ago

              It’s not that a lot of vegans need supplements, they’re just more aware of what the body should get, when in fact almost everyone likely needs supplements. They just don’t know it.

            • Doll_Tow_Jet-ski@kbin.social
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              2 months ago

              Plenty of eateries don’t have vegan options

              Maybe you are thinking of processed vegan food, like a vegan nugget or hamburger. That is completely unnecessary. beans, lentils, chickpeas, seaweed, grains, rice, vegetables, nuts… those are widely available and enough for a healthy diet.

              For the rest I agree, it’s easier to convince an omnivore to go vegetarian than vegan. But that has to do with their will, not with actual physical limitations.

          • illi@lemm.ee
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            2 months ago

            It is easy once you are in, know what are the good vegan meals and how to cook them etc. Most people will have animal product for each meal - they don’t know better. To them vegans just eat salads and nuts, which is obviously not enticing. If they don’t take the easy way, they will just continue the only way they know how and change nothing.

            • Doll_Tow_Jet-ski@kbin.social
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              2 months ago

              I agree with you. I guess the difference lies in that I would call that laziness. Not knowing how to eat balanced meals (or more precisely, not looking it up), it’s not a matter of it being hard or easy. It’s a matter of simply doing it. All the information is out there and at a level anyone who can read will understand

              • illi@lemm.ee
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                2 months ago

                I mean, you are not wrong. In a way easy way is always the lazy way - doesn’t mean it is wrong. It can be daunting. Some people will take the fast, but hard way. Some people will take the longer/ but easy. If you end up in same destination, it’s a win in the end.

                • Doll_Tow_Jet-ski@kbin.social
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                  2 months ago

                  Some people will take the fast, but hard way. Some people will take the longer/ but easy. If you end up in same destination, it’s a win in the end.

                  I guess you meant to say fast but easy, or longer but hard, right?

          • Senokir@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            In my experience they often do go vegan overnight though. The key tends to be actually connecting the food on your plate with where it came from and accepting that animals are capable of suffering. Once that connection is made, animal products simply aren’t seen as food anymore and going vegan overnight is the only logical conclusion.

            Some people may be further along the spectrum towards being vegan when this connection is actually made but regardless of if you are vegetarian, “only eat free range meat”, or an unapologetic meat eater, once the connection is made they are vegan.

            • illi@lemm.ee
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              2 months ago

              “only eat free range meat”

              these people are by definiton not vegan. Trying to be more ethical by their choices, which is commendable - but not vegan.

              • Senokir@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                Yes, that is my point. Whether someone is vegetarian, “trying to be more ethical” but still eating meat, or just a meat eater that has never even considered ethics, there is nothing that says you have to go through all of those steps to becoming vegan. In my experience, regardless of how far along you are in those “steps” once you make the connection between the food on your plate and the animals that it comes from and you realize that they are suffering for you, you go vegan. That could be meat eater to vegan, “ethical” meat eater to vegan, or vegetarian to vegan. My point is that in my experience that process does happen overnight.

                • illi@lemm.ee
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                  2 months ago

                  Well it’s not universal. For some it does, for some it doesn’t.

          • illi@lemm.ee
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            2 months ago

            I mean… reducing meat is how people would go vegan over longer period if time (as opposed to over night) though? Not sure where you were going with your original comment.

      • No_Change_Just_Money@feddit.de
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        2 months ago

        You will get more people to join your cause with a positive message: i.g. “Do these small steps to start” than a negative one, I.g. “If you don’t go fully vegan, you are still part of the problem.”

        “Perfect is the enemy of good.”

        So it is easier to convince people to reduce meat consumption, which than makes it more likely that people will go vegetarian or vegan later

        And i actually feel like vegans on the internet can be too aggressive, alienating people they could get on their side

        • davepleasebehave@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          best is the enemy of better.

          why are you giving vegans advice on how to market veganism? if the facts won’t change your mind then it’s not the fault of the vegans.

            • davepleasebehave@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              I also want more vegans. there is no right way to change someone’s mind. attack the problem from different angles is my view.

              All compassion is good compassion

        • flerp@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Your comment is about looking down on people… tongue in cheek or not, this is always the kind of stuff people post before complaining that the big mean vegans are alienating them… victim complex much?

          • No_Change_Just_Money@feddit.de
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            2 months ago

            Of course facts can be aggressive

            Let’s assume you talk to someone from a first world country. It is aggressive to say your lifestyle is responsible for the death of children in the developmental world, you are indirectly a murderer

            It is more helpful to say: try fair-trade chlothes and check for companies that you buy from

            Dividing society does not help better it

    • Emerald@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      If your goal when choosing what to eat is “look down on vegans”, then you have a really shitty way of choosing what to eat.