@RomeshRanga asks: why do people hate vegans?

"Veganism has been shown to be, like, one of the two best things you can do to save the planet. So why are you annoyed at me?"

Click below for answer:

@RomeshRanga asks, why do people hate vegans?

Raise Vegan Magazine for Parents

Raise Vegan Magazine, is the world’s first parenting magazine created for vegans.

Check it out at: Raise Vegan Magazine

Who Were The World's Earliest Vegans?

"Archaeologist Dr. Richard Leakey says our prehistoric ancestors started off on a plant based diet. 'You can’t tear flesh by hand, you can’t tear hide by hand, and we wouldn’t have been able to deal with the food sources that required those large canines'."

Read more here:

WHO WERE THE WORLD’S VERY EARLIEST VEGANS?

Being Honest and Helping People to Become Vegan

Vegans who say becoming an ethical vegan is sooooooo easy for everyone is lying. Don't insult people's intelligence. How dare you tell someone who has been a vegan for years that it was actually easy but they just didn't know it. How eff'ed up is that?!

That's a problem I have with people who are in social justice movements--people lie. Just because it was easy for you and me, doesn't mean it's easy for every single person on this planet--DEAL WITH IT. Sorry but it's true. If they say it was or is difficult for them then it is--for them.

And just because it's difficult for them, doesn't mean it's not right for them. If someone wanted to lose weight and found it hard, it doesn't mean they should stop, because in the end, it would be beneficial and the right thing to do--same as becoming vegan.

Vegans, stop deluding yourselves, lying to people and yourselves by saying becoming vegan--and not just by diet mind you, but with getting cruelty-free products, clothing, footwear, everything , is soo easy. Hell, if it was that easy, everyone would be 100% vegan in everything--transportation we drive, we would never step on ants or any small creatures, etc. That in itself is hard to accomplish.

That's why we say being vegan is about doing the best we can, because as we live NO ONE can be 100% vegan. Why? because it would be too difficult. So vegans stop with the lies and just be honest with people. We will help a lot more people become vegan and save more animals' lives if we are honest with people and help them in any way we can to become vegan.

If you have not done so already, please read my previous blogpost, as it relates to this one.

Don't Be a "Closet Vegan". Be an Activist Vegan.

Vegans should not be "closet vegans" to non-vegans. Simply being a vegan is being complacent. One should be an activist vegan as well. A person should be able to know you are a vegan the minute they meet you--and you don't even have to say anything.

Something Very Simple

People should automatically know you are vegan right away. Wear a T-shirt, button, necklace, etc. proudly showing you are vegan. When people know you are vegan, they may want to ask you questions, have concerns, etc. giving you a chance to answer them. Or who knows, you may meet a fellow vegan this way.

Obviously, you may not be able to wear vegan items everywhere you go, like maybe at work; just wear them wherever you can. Simply wearing something vegan is also good for shy vegans.

In other words, don't be a "closet vegan". Just being a vegan is great, but to speed things up to help more animals, we need to speak out more about animal rights.

Read more on how to be an vegan activist at my site here, further below, titled:

TO VEGANS: How to *Raise the Bar* and also be an Activist!

Vegans Never Get Sick (And Other Lies We Tell)

Here's an awesome article from Your Daily Vegan everyone should read! 

Vegans Never Get Sick (And Other Lies We Tell)

A Cruelty-Free Guide to Thanksgiving

Examples of cruelty-free commercial alternatives for the holidays--and any day!

A week from today is Thanksgiving and some of us vegans try and simply avoid thinking about the impending massacre of turkeys around Thanksgiving, preferring to ignore it altogether, and some use the date as an opportunity to educate people on the reality of what Thanksgiving means for those whose bodies are to become centerpieces on the tables of over 45 million American homes.

Turkeys are social beings who nurture and protect their young and thrive in their natural habitat. Even when they are stressed and confined (whether “free-range” or otherwise), they have an amazing will to live, as do all sentient beings.

The photos above show the easy alternative way for having a cruelty-free Thanksgiving. But if you want to make a homemade Tofurky roast and gravy, here is a recipe link below to do that:

Homemade Tofurkey with Brown Rice Stuffing

Vegan Mushroom Gravy

At the link below is a collection of Thanksgiving links to look at and make your own Thanksgiving experience more meaningful and hopefully to share with others the truth about who turkeys could be to us if we would only open our hearts to them.

A Vegan Guide to Thanksgiving

Protein Issue - Vegans Might NOT be Getting Enough

I have never really checked to see if I was getting enough protein since you hear ALL THE TIME that vegans get PLENTY of protein. But recently I read smarter vegans say IF you eat really healthy and eating enough food vegans will get enough protein.

Now that I want to lose weight, I have not been eating that much. So I checked and found out in horror that because of my losing weight and not eating as much, I am way below my daily protein amount. Even when I wasn't dieting I was still below!

I weigh in the 150s right now and according to research, I need to take in about 60 grams of protein--on average daily. 

We vegans say you can get protein from lots of foods like beans, seeds, nuts, etc. but have you really seen HOW MUCH protein are in these foods?--Very low! Peanuts are pretty high but most other nuts, seeds, legumes are pretty low. You'd have to eat a lot to get in your daily protein amount. I've been checking lots of vegan foods and to be honest while there are indeed plenty of vegan foods with protein, the issue is not where vegans get their protein but HOW MUCH protein is in the foods to cover your daily needs.

Even vegan protein supplements are low in protein grams.

Everyone, just make sure you are getting enough protein. You may be getting enough, or you might be surprised....The good news is as I lose weight, I'll need less protein. 

Jains and Veganism

"One should not injure, subjugate, enslave, torture, or kill any living being including animals, plants, or insects — Respect for all living beings is Non-Violence." – Ächäränga Sutra – Bhagawän Mahãvira

Read more about why

Jains are Vegans

The Problem with Ex-Vegans

3 links regarding ex-vegans and what their issues are:

Stop Blaming Veganism for You not Being Vegan

Disordered Eating, Restrictive Eating, and Ex-Vegans 

How to Gain Fame and Fortune as an Ex-Vegan in Roughly Five Easy Steps

...

Vegans Never Say Die!

Vegans Better for Environment than Meat-Eaters

Carnivores are twice as bad for the Earth as vegetarians, a new study out of Oxford University found.

Researchers found that meat-eaters have carbon footprints about twice as large as vegetarians do. They concluded that the more meat you eat, the more you're harming the planet.

The scientists estimated the greenhouse gases emitted from 130 foods, with each type of gas (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide) getting a specific "weight." Those weights were then assigned a "food code" to show the link between emissions and foods.

High meat-eaters were found to have the biggest carbon footprint, followed by medium meat-eaters, low meat-eaters, pescatarians, vegetarians and vegans.

Meat-eaters have large carbon footprints because more energy is required to raise animals than plants. Plus, cows produce large amounts of methane--from burping and farting--which is a more powerful gas than carbon dioxide.

(Source: NY Daily News)

A Personal Rant Message I Sent, Now for Public Viewing....

Sometimes I feel vegetarians are actually saying something like: "OK now, be nice and VERY patient with me or I'll start eating meat again. I WARN YOU!" Like some kind of blackmail threat.

What happened to the newbie veggies in the world that were all fired up, the way one would be when finding a new interest? Eager and all excited to fight for animals' rights!! Sadly, I see that less and less these days. 

Those new, energetic vegetarians-turned-vegans are the ones to help keep us tired, weary and semi burnt-out old vegans inspired. But they are hardly around anymore.

Instead, I see vegetarians and some newbie vegans with this (at least to me) chip on their shoulder, being ultra sensitive, cranky and constantly complaining about how hard it is becoming vegan. I think those are the ones that are waiting for ANY excuse to start eating meat again. 

Many people are quick to say that they are "vegan", but want to take it real slow in actually becoming vegan. Is it just the title label: VEGAN is all they really want and screw the activism? It seems that way sometimes.

I thought about this and I would say someone saying they are 90% vegan (or whatever the hell percentage they want to say) at a vegan forum, is like someone going to a pro-life forum saying they are 90% pro-life because while they support pro-life, they still have abortions every 6 years or so; I don't think that sort of talk would fly well in a pro-life forum...To me, that's how it sounds when people say they are "certain percentage vegans".

I can understand there needs to be time and ridding of old animal items and such to becoming vegan, but how much time? And the information and products available today is a helluva lot more than when I became a vegan. People on welfare can be healthy vegans. Some vegetarians/new vegans could just be a little more positive about their changing and not look at veganism as some kind of laborious chore. Heck, those type of people should watch Earthlings every freakin' day!!

It would just be nice to find a little nice haven for vegans only, somewhere on the Internet--just for vegans, especially for those who have no vegans friends offline. Well, my search continues in looking for some vegans offline to make friends with, where I can speak my mind privately and not having to worry about non-vegans--or newbie vegans--threatening to go back to their old ways again. 

Veganism and Spirituality

Here is an interesting blog post on:

Vegans who identify themselves as religious and/or spiritual. Do they believe that their veganism is the result of their faith or vice-versa? Do they see veganism and spirituality as being completely separate? How do they inform each other?

*I don't agree with everything said by the ones being interviewed, but still interesting to read other's opinions.

The Thinking Vegan

http://thethinkingvegan.com/ttv-consortium/veganism-and-spirituality

Ex-Vegans: Directory of ex-vegans, vegan sellouts

UPDATED (July 8, 2013) Ex-Vegans Directory is no longer there. This is what is now shown as of this writing: Ex-Vegans

There is now a directory online of Ex-Vegans, where you can register to "out" anyone you know as a fact that they are no longer vegan. The site gives further rules on outing people, be they famous people or not.

I responded to the directory and this article: "Vegan Sellout List" Publicizes, Shames, and Threatens Former Vegans - Yahoo! News at my Facebook, but I have cut and pasted my same response here as today's blogpost:

I'm ambivalent about the directory. 

I do love seeing a directory of what famous person is not vegan anymore, because I like knowing the celebrities that embraces my passion and those that no longer do anymore--no different from any other group/community. We all like to know who our "kindred spirits" are and if they aren't anymore, I want to know as a reference that they are no longer vegans, ESPECIALLY if I ever want to mention famous vegans in my blog, I want to get my facts straight as many other vegans would want when they post articles/blogs. 

I see many people getting upset, erroneously calling vegans a "cult" as said in the article (which, by definition, a cult is not evil, but society makes the word evil; plus, a cult is a religion worshiping some leader or god. Vegans don't worship anyone.)

Also, it's interesting how people say why are people interested in knowing who are vegan and who are not, but again it goes with being no different from any other group in wanting to know your fellow activists. People get defensive when someone asks if a person is gay, by snapping at them saying, "Why? Does it matter?" But even MANY gays themselves ask and want to know who is gay, so to possibly be role models, kindred spirits, etc., no different from the vegan community or from any other community. 

So, again, I think the site is great to let people know the famous people who are no longer vegan, but letting us know about non-famous people who are ex-vegans...hmmm, I don't know...I don't think it's really contributing in any positive way. If not being vegan was illegal, then I say--YAY! Go for it! Out them! To put them in jail, but that's not the law, so what's the point in outing people, and no one knows them except their friends, acquaintances and families? And there is a brutal suicide link on the Ex-Vegans site to go to if a person doesn't ever want to be vegan again which, in my opinion, is wrong and evil to post. 

It'll be interesting to hear what the rest of the vegan community thinks about it; I'm sure I'll be hearing/reading a lot! 

I don't believe people should have the choice of not being vegan because of the horrific harm it does to an innocent being. Veganism is not about sticking our noses into someone else's business (people don't feel that way about child abuse--that's everyone's business, people would say); vegansim is about stopping abominable cruelty of *sentient beings*, but unfortunately the law (as of now) doesn't see it that way.

People Who Can't Handle Opposing Views

 


As I continue with my animal ministry, I expect to see my share of people closing off when I give my opposing views regarding veganism/animal rights to non-vegans. But what I didn't expect at the start of my ministry (but later, saw examples of) were some people in my own community--animal rights people--closing off to me as well. Everyone will not always agree with others in any group--fine, understandable and even healthy--but to close off opposing views for no apparent good reason is not a wise way of relating to others.

Examples of what I mean by closing off is by blocking someone online (I got blocked yesterday on Twitter as I politely chatted with a person called, The Vegan List), censoring comments online, or by just walking away from someone, ignoring them. If you want to end a conversation, it should be done in a respectful manner, especially when the other person is being polite toward you.

Mind you, it doesn't bother me personally, but psychology is a huge interest of mine, so I find it very interesting as to why some people react in such childish behavior, which is especially sad in the vegan community because we need to listen to other views in order to effectively help animals. I wanted to write out my theories, but found the link below, by author Faceless39 (Kate) that perfectly describes what I am seeing how some people react towards me as well, even with what Faceless39 stated in the beginning of her article echoes my own experience almost perfectly when I commented on other people's blogs recently.

I totally agree with this article 100%. Please read:

Why Can't Some People Handle Opposing Viewpoints?

Muslims: Turning Away From a Meat Diet

Muslims can be vegans according to their faith. Islamic scholars such as the late Egyptian scholar Gamal al-Banna agree that Muslims who choose vegetarianism/veganism can do so for a number of reasons including a personal expression of faith or spirituality.

Read more about Muslims being veg*n at the article heading:

Vegetarian Muslim: Turning Away From a Meat-Based Diet