Why do people choose to be vegans?

[mom'sfolly]

I think many vegans come at it from an animal rights point of view; hence no wool or honey. In the case of wool, the breeding, raising and shearing the sheep is considered unnatural activity, and in the case of shearing, stressful for the animal. Honey also confuses me, since you can take honey and preserve bee life without stressing the animals. With chickens, for every laying hen there is a male dead somewhere, which is unacceptable for vegans.

What many of the people who come from this perspective don't take into account is how animals have been changed by selective breeding. A modern wool sheep, left unsheared, and in a natural state will likely end up miserable and possibly infected from all the crap that ends up in wool that the sheep was bred to have removed annually. Silk worms, which are killed in most silk production, are incapable of living independent of humans. They can't even fly. Many in the far extremes of the animal rights movement feel that it would be better for the species to go extinct, rather than live solely for the exploitation of humanity. For some of our domestic animals there are no wild versions; they are long since extinct. But this matters little to those who are at the far edges of the animal rights movement.

 

[Rosa moschata]

The part (one of many) that I don't understand is that if a person refuses to use honey for the reasons you mentioned, they should, by the same logic, also not consume crops pollinated by bees, either. While wild bees can and do pollinate crops, by far most of the bees doing the pollination are domestic bees. The beekeeper gets his income by renting the bees to farmers for pollination. He also gets income from sales of the honey that the bees make in the course of pollination. So if honey sales are expoiting the bees, so is using the bees for pollination. The same bees owned by the same beekeepers are used for both.

Like I said, some people are primarily motivated by their heart/emotions, others by their brain/intellect. It's hard to use one form to argue with someone who places more importance on the other. I've tried, using the same argument, and the response was basically "We feel it's OK to let the bees do their natural work, but wrong to take their food....so we will enjoy the fruits of their work, but not their stolen food."

 

[rufus]

It might taste good, but I wouldn't enjoy it. My horses are too happy. I know that the things where they say, 'Horse meat is bad, foals watch their moms get killed,' etc. ect. aren't really true, but I'll just stick with my beef, ham, eggs and bread, I guess.

Go with what works for you. Everyone should make their own choices.

 

[Kikwi]

I've discovered a somewhat vocal group in my area against backyard chickens, most of whom seem to come from a vegan background. I'm all in favor of live and let live with nothing in particular against a vegan lifestyle, but it really gets my goat when angry, vocal vegans actively threaten the legality of my flock. But I guess folks like that are just what comes with the territory, living in the SF Bay Area. *sigh*

 

[Bullitt]

Don't worry about vegans. They make their own decisions. When they get tired of it or realize nobody cares what they eat, they may come around. It is a personal issue. Just make sure there are enough veggies on the table. They may come up with some sanctimonious attitudes at the dinner table, but just tell them to can it. The dinner table is no place to preach.

Count yourself lucky they are into the vegan lifestyle and not some other things like drugs.

By the way, I see as a result of some court cases, horse slaughter will resume in the US. The USDA had been prohibited from providing meat inspections for horse slaughter. MMMM! Horse meat. I loved it.

Now I am starting to see the emotional reasons for vegans.

I do not want to eat horses or dogs. I am guessing the meat tastes fine. But on an emotional level I would not want to eat horses and dogs.

 

[Bullitt]

I've discovered a somewhat vocal group in my area against backyard chickens, most of whom seem to come from a vegan background. I'm all in favor of live and let live with nothing in particular against a vegan lifestyle, but it really gets my goat when angry, vocal vegans actively threaten the legality of my flock. But I guess folks like that are just what comes with the territory, living in the SF Bay Area. *sigh*

As was mentioned earlier, some animals have been selectively bred to be useful to people.

These protesters may not understand or even care that most chicken breeds would not be able to live without the assistance of people. They would starve or get eaten by wild animals because they can't fly higher than maybe 4 or 5 feet. I could understand if they were protesting hens being kept in tiny cages, but most backyard hens live a pretty comfortable life.

 

[donrae]

Somewhere I read a term, I think it was "ethiterian" or "ethivore", something like that. Reflecting one's decisions to eat only humane/ethically raised animal products. I really like that concept, it's what I think so many of us strive for. Just cause I'm a cheerful carnivore doesn't mean I want to support CAFOs and things like that.

That said, my parents were vegan for a while, after my mom watched Whats-His-Name's video about how being vegan would cure my dad's heart disease. I have to say, he did lose a ton of weight and his bp was much better, but he's a meat and taters guy at heart and wouldn't stick with it. Personally, I'm of the lower-carb school of thought. Can't blame my mom for trying it, though, it sucks to be scared of your spouse dying. It did put a grinding halt on my kids staying there when I was diagnosed last summer, though--two pre-teen/teenage boys raised as devout carnivores going to a vegan household.....yeah, that lasted about 36 hours.

 

[Rosa moschata]

I can tell you from experience that it's possible, but be prepared to do a lot of your own cooking, and choosing vegan options when dining out. Personally, I like the idea of making my meat purchases directly from the people who raise the animals themselves. You'll likely find that you're not eating meat nearly as frequently or casually, but when you do, you won't waste anything. I save bones and bits for stock, keeping that in the freezer, and then use that for cooking grains/beans/soups. Humans evolved as omnivores, but with not nearly the degree of carnivory found in the typical modern American diet. I find that when I spent the same amount of money as I did on conventional meat, but switched to lesser amounts of farm-to-fork meat, I struck that ideal balance. When I can eventually raise my own poultry, it'll be even easier.

 

[Bullitt]

It did put a grinding halt on my kids staying there when I was diagnosed last summer, though--two pre-teen/teenage boys raised as devout carnivores going to a vegan household.....yeah, that lasted about 36 hours.

That's funny!

No meat? We're out of here.

 

[Bullitt]

I can tell you from experience that it's possible, but be prepared to do a lot of your own cooking, and choosing vegan options when dining out. Personally, I like the idea of making my meat purchases directly from the people who raise the animals themselves. You'll likely find that you're not eating meat nearly as frequently or casually, but when you do, you won't waste anything. I save bones and bits for stock, keeping that in the freezer, and then use that for cooking grains/beans/soups. Humans evolved as omnivores, but with not nearly the degree of carnivory found in the typical modern American diet. I find that when I spent the same amount of money as I did on conventional meat, but switched to lesser amounts of farm-to-fork meat, I struck that ideal balance. When I can eventually raise my own poultry, it'll be even easier.

I agree that when you purchase meat from the people who raise the meat you will appreciate it more.

"Humans evolved as omnivores, but with not nearly the degree of carnivory found in the typical modern American diet."

I am not an anthropologist, but I have watched educational programs on TV. I learned that it was eating meat that allowed our ancestors to have the calories and protein needed to grow a larger brain. Neanderthals ate a diet that was something like 90% meat. Just recently DNA testing has shown that most people have about 3% Neanderthal DNA. Cro Magnons, basically modern humans, had a more varied diet that included more fruits and vegetables, but it was still largely a meat diet. It is interesting that Neanderthals did not eat fish but Cro Magnons did. A more varied diet makes a person more flexible and more likely to survive.

That being said, most modern humans aren't running around trying to kill their dinner. I mean most modern humans are not burning as many calories. I just saw an article that said that even housewives a few decades ago burned more calories than housewives today. Crank washing machine? Pre-prepared food?

People today can survive eating fruits, vegetables, and nuts. But I don't want to live that way. Give me a cheeseburger.