Vegan

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An online space for the vegans of Lemmy.

Rules and miscellaneous:

We take for granted that if you engage in this community, you understand that veganism is about the animals. You either are vegan for the animals, or you are not (this is not to say that discussions about climate/environment/health are not allowed, of course)
No omni/carnist apologists. This is not a place where to ask to be hand-holded into veganims. Omnis coddling/backpatting is not tolerated, nor are /r/DebateAVegan-like threads
Use content warnings and NSFW tags for triggering content
Circlejerking belongs to /c/vegancirclejerk
All posts should abide by Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 5 years ago

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Curiosity of a non-vegan (beehaw.org)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hello folks! First, I’d like to clarify that, even as a bloodmouth, I fully understand why some people have moral objections to eating meat. I am simply here to ask about it, as someone who is not a vegan.

So I suppose I have a few questions for anyone who wants to answer them, 100% as your own opinions and feelings about the topic.

Why do you make the conscious decision to not eat meat/animal products? Do you have negative feelings towards those who raise their own animals for food, such as those who raise chickens for eggs or cattle for milk, and otherwise treat the animals ethically? Are there other reasons for not eating meat that I’m not considering? When did you choose to switch to a vegan lifestyle, what (if any) was the “catalyst”? What are some challenges that you have dealt with when it comes to this lifestyle? Why do you believe there is a continued stigma around veganism in many physical/internet communities?

I understand that as someone who isn’t vegan, this is not my space, and I am trying to be as respectful as possible while here. If I have said anything objectionable within my questions or otherwise, please let me know so I can avoid making the mistake in the future.

EDIT: Holy crap, thank you all for the responses! I appreciate y’all for taking the time out of your day to respond and share your knowledge. I’m going to go watch Dominion within the next few days since some of you mentioned that.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I think an animals life is more important than my taste buds. Animal agricultural is immoral, unsustainable and unnecessary. I don't want to be a part of that and I want to have the least amount of impact on the world as I can while I'm here. Leave it the way you found it etc.

That depends, if they have the option not to then yeah. Killing when its not necessary is cruel. Hens eat their own eggs for nourishment, so there's no need to rob them for no reason. Female mammals have to be impregnated before they'll start lactating. Pregnancy can be very painful, uncomfortable and life threatening, ask any mother. You can't treat another being ethically if their purpose is to allow you to either murder, rob or forcefully impregnate them.

Climate change impact. Taxes to subsidise private companies in the industry instead of going to healthcare, housing education etc. The mental health and working conditions of people working in slaughterhouses. Increased prevalence and risk of zoonotic diseases. Inflated land value and underdeveloped areas, probably more specific to my country. Biodiversity loss. Endangered species ending up as bycatch.

6 years ago, I was reading a paper on climate change, where it talked about the impact of animal agriculture on the environment, then I watched some videos on animal agriculture and couldn't make it through 20 minutes of Dominion, I switched over night

Constantly being asked do I miss meat etc. Basically no restaurants near me have vegan options, but tbh its such a good excuse to get out of going for dinner since I hate eating out lol

Eating meat is engrained into a lot of people and they have just never questioned it because "that's just the way it is" so when they're faced with a moral dilemma that goes against something that has become so normal to them, they get confused and feel guilty which causes a negative reaction. The realities of animal agriculture are an uncomfortable truth that people don't want to think about and vegans are their reminder.

Thanks for taking the time to ask about this stuff, its not easy to come into a space where you're the odd one out and start a difficult discussion. Hopefully you see some stuff here that interests you so you can go read about it and who knows, maybe this might be your catalyst!