The difference between veganism and religion is that one is based on facts, the other is not.
- It’s true that other species of animals are sentient, they have nervous systems similar enough to ours that we know they can feel pleasure and pain.
- It’s true that we kill billions of them per year.
- It’s true that the vast majority of them are factory farmed (74% worldwide, 99% in the US).
- It’s true that humans at all stages of life can thrive on a properly planned vegan diet, according to most major health organizations.
- It’s true that animal agriculture is extremely inefficient and loses a lot of calories from crops being put towards feeding animals (see: trophic levels)
- It’s true that animal agriculture has a huge impact on the environment compared to feeding crops directly to humans.
so get out of here with that nonsense that veganism is religious zealotry. I don’t have time to cite a source for each point, but they’re all super easily verified. Veganism is looking at the impact of your choices with clear eyes and choosing compassion over personal pleasure. It’s choosing to live and let live, rather than forcing death and misery on other species because you like the taste of their flesh and secretions.
It’s true that humans at all stages of life can thrive on a properly planned vegan diet, according to most major health organizations.
Wait, including newborns? I mean, I doubt there’s a vegan alive who’s against breastfeeding, but for people who can’t breastfeed, baby formula isn’t vegan, is it?
Not trying to rag on the point you’re making btw
I think there is vegan formula, and using breastmilk is vegan since it’s consensually given, including breastmilk shared by other mothers
And you start from a base assumption that any of that matters in terms of food.
It’s like a retronym, picking facts to claim as a basis for a belief that’s rooted in a moral code.
No, veganism as a conclusion is a combination of facts and basic moral understanding, principles like “live and let live”, “do no harm”, and the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do to you. If you’re a psychopath who doesn’t care how much harm, death, and suffering is caused in order to get sensory pleasure, I probably can’t convince you why veganism is worthwhile
You are focusing on the word religious, but it’s the zealot that’s important here. Of course you lot are zealots. It doesn’t matter what argument is made against veganism, you will defend it - vehemently.
OK, maybe not all of you are radical to the point of, I dunno, bombing meat processing plants, but online, you make a up very vocal group of people. Enough that there are memes about y’all. It’s like linux folk, or the people over on lemmygrad, the anti-woke crowd, the feminists, and other vocal groups.
I’m not vegan, but what are the counter arguments? It tastes good? It’s convenient?
I’m zealously against rape, zealously against slavery, why should people not be zealously against what they consider industrial mass murder of innocent lives? Zealousness isn’t bad in and of itself
Anti-vegans are way more annoying and overzealous in my experience. I rarely see the stereotypical asshole vegan but I do often see the obnoxious anti-vegan.
Maybe, maybe. Dunno, I’m not anti-vegan, I just like trolling them.
That is actually a different thing. I cook vegan for friends and family. I even agree with most of the reasoning they espouse (the serious ones, not the online assholes).
But, c’mon, they’re so easy to bait, and someone always tries the same stuff in response. I can outright say “I’m trolling you vegans because it’s fun, and the troll is that you’re religious zealots”, and there’s still people that have to screech about how vegans are superior. That’s how silly it gets.
It’s a personality flaw, I guess. I just can’t stop myself from poking at stuffed shirts. It got me fired twice irl. One of those was in fast food as a teenager, so I don’t think it counts, but still.
not the online assholes
Honestly you’ve made yourself seem like an online asshole here. Who else besides an asshole ragebaits people for their own enjoyment?
I’m not gonna defend this meme or anything but there are very militant vegans on lemmy who sit in their communities and just insult non vegans with invented slurs and sometimes fantasize about violence towards them.
While it’s usually in their communities they also frequently forget where they are and bring it outside the bubbles. I wouldn’t be surprised if one pops up here.
Idk, I have the opposite perspective. In real life, I hear of far too many announcements about being vegan when food isn’t even being discussed (e.g. “Hi, I’m <name> and I’m vegan.”), and I pretty much only hear about someone being anti-vegan when someone is being obnoxious. This is much worse on the internet, where people’s inhibitions seem a lot lower than real life.
In fact, the only obnoxious anti-vegans I’ve seen are responses to obnoxious vegans. As in, the discussion is started by the vegan, and then they get dogpiled by the anti-vegans. The number of responses may be higher from the anti-vegans, but anti-vegans don’t seem to initiate.
Maybe that’s just me, idk, but that’s what I’ve noticed.
