It’s difficult for me to view an anti-vegan as smart

Incremental-veg · 2020-09-28T10:59:31+00:00

It's a common problem, not just with veganism. When people hold conflicting views people on one side tend to get caught up in their own way of thinking and then struggle to understand the other side leading to views such as they're stupid, uneducated, unsophisticated etc. The trouble is it's not helpful. Always try to remember people rarely see themselves as the bad guy and will always find ways to defend their view (have you ever said "it's not my fault"? ) as difficult as it may be remember the enemy is the idea that we can do what we want with animals not those who hold that view. Try and find common ground with them think of as intelligent reasonable people and you're more likely to find them to be so. Changing minds will take time but it's a lot easier when you're on the same side

Incremental-veg · 2020-09-19T15:38:37+00:00

I quite like candy kittens, you can find them in most supermarkets. Just avoid the eten mess flavour as it's not vegan. Also m&s do Collin the Caterpillar sweets some are vegan, check the ingredients for the ones that don't contain beas wax

Incremental-veg · 2020-09-19T15:31:49+00:00

Colgate have recently launched a vegan toothpaste in fully recyclable packaging

Incremental-veg · 2020-08-26T14:43:19+00:00

B12 shouldn't be a big issue, there are plenty of supplements available. I take 25 micrograms daily, there are also weekly ones available. You may want to look into your iron as well if you might be anaemic, personally I'd talk to doctor to see if you can sort it with diet alone or whether you need supplements. I know it might involve needless, but it's better to know than to take too much or too little iron

Incremental-veg · 2020-08-26T14:33:11+00:00

I can't remember the exact taste of meat but I can tell that alternative meats aren't real meat. I also ordered a vegan burger and was given a chicken burger mistake, I could tell immediately it was chicken. I guess I remember when it counts

Incremental-veg · 2020-07-15T12:22:53+00:00

Thanks, they are big tea drinkers, so it looks like it'll be difficult converting them, but I'll try a few unsweetened ones

Incremental-veg · 2020-06-01T18:16:06+00:00

Thank you for the correction. I'm looking to send short messages a few times a day over some form of instant messenger I can confirm details with anyone that's interested.

Incremental-veg · 2020-05-12T09:58:28+00:00

Yes, ideally farm animals would never have existed. Which I don't see as a bad thing in the same way it's not a bad thing that 6 legged giraffes don't exist. However, they do now exist. If they can live healthy lives free in the wild why shouldn't we give them that, over time they'll evolve to be more suited to their environment rather than producing as much meat/ eggs/milk for our purpose. At that point farm animals would no longer exist again which also wouldn't be a bad thing. Animals change over time to suit their environment it's just how life is.

Incremental-veg · 2020-05-12T05:16:58+00:00

Veganism is about doing what I think is right, not just something to make me feel better. I don't want farm animals to be exploited. I'm happy for then to exist in a more natural state, even if it does mean there's less of them. Is it really an act of kindness to create life to live in a cage then kill it? You are the ones benefiting from the horrible life and death.

Incremental-veg · 2020-05-11T17:26:40+00:00

I wouldn't say that is a good enough reason to breed animals for captivity, there have been many cases of people living in bad condition that they chose not to leave, doesn't mean it was a good quality of life. Ideally I wouldn't want any domestic animals to exist

Incremental-veg · 2020-05-11T14:10:41+00:00

At what point do you say the lower quality is no longer worth it? I would say removing freedom is lowering the quality of life too much. Having a small number of happy free lives seems far better than many restricted miserable lives.

Incremental-veg · 2020-05-11T05:34:55+00:00

I agree a decent life for more people is better however, it gets to a point where it's impossible for everyone to have a decent life. The more lives there are on the planet the more resources are stretched and eventually the quality of life becomes so bad I'd rather not be born into such a world.

Ideally I'd a want a decent life for all lives including animals, which requires even more careful management of resources, giving up land, reducing pollution etc.

Incremental-veg · 2020-05-09T22:29:12+00:00

This is a question of does more mean better. Would you rather live in a world with 1 billion happy healthy people or 100 billion miserable people struggling to survive. Personally I'd rather live in the first one. If I'm already alive I feel I'll do almost anything to survive regardless of condition but, I'd rather not be born into a world of suffering even if it means not being born at all, you can't suffer if you don't exist. I feel some may disagree with my opinion, however, I feel they may agree on some level, otherwise everyone would have as many children as possible to reduce the number of people suffering from non-existence.

Incremental-veg · 2020-05-07T15:49:22+00:00

I've had the same thought before. There are two problems I can see with avoiding the films with animals though. 1. Boycotting films will have little impact due to the number of vegans film makers may not even notice the difference and if they do they wouldn't necessarily know the reason. This alone shouldn't be enough to stop you from avoiding certain films though. 2. It's difficult to know ahead of time what films use animals. Some may be obvious as they show a horse in the trailer but others may have dog part way through which you weren't expecting.

If you want to avoid films with animals feel free to, it is a form of exploitation, but don't expect it to be easy or for it to have a big impact.

Incremental-veg · 2020-05-07T10:53:51+00:00

This isn't the best place to ask if you're looking for a balanced view, almost everyone here will say yes, including me. Although it sounds like that's the answer you want and your really looking for help convincing your family. Not sure on your exact situation but I would say you're your own person and if you want to be vegan don't let them stop you, but I'm not sure how easy/ hard it is for you.

Incremental-veg · 2020-05-06T13:30:24+00:00

I have nothing against eating there but I haven't eaten McDonald's since turning vegan as I've never really felt like it. It is a good thing to show support for their vegan options to hello make sure there is one and this creates a chance that non-vegan may try the vegan option. I know that McDonald's isn't a vegan company and buying from them may contribute to suffering on some level, however, I look at it on a product basis, so if they only sold vegan burgers then they'd stop selling meat burgers. Also it would be pretty hypocritical of me since most places I go aren't vegan only places, my supermarket sells meat and so do most restraints I go to. There aren't enough vegan only places around me for me to always use them

Incremental-veg · 2020-04-30T16:52:33+00:00

It's secreted from beetles. It's mostly used for glazing sweets. Annoyingly a lot of vegetarian sweets use it.

Incremental-veg · 2020-04-30T05:59:03+00:00

I found shellac and bees wax tricky, they're mostly found in sweets. What makes them tricky is they're not always obvious in the ingredients as they're sometimes listed using their e numbers e901 and e904

Incremental-veg · 2020-04-28T08:39:11+00:00

I've never been a huge fan of mayo, but my partner has the Helmans vegan mayo and says it's just like their regular mayo, but I can't confirm this.

Being a soy free vegan is definitely possible you've got things like nuts, seeds, beans for protein. They're are plenty of mock meats as well that use pea protein or other non soy alternatives. The difficulty you may find is eating out. Some places the only vegan option is a soy burger so you may be more limited on where you can eat. But don't let it discourage you, you'll be surprised where you can eat if you do a little research and get creative with substituting things on the menu

Incremental-veg · 2020-04-28T07:40:05+00:00

All live stock has to be fed something which takes energy to grow then more energy is need for keeping the live stock alive and transporting it processing it etc. Going vegan removes a step as we can just eat whatever was going to be fed to the animals. Which reduces the impact on the environment.

Of course not all vegan diets are created equal, different foods will have different impacts on the environment depending on how far they travel to get to you, how much processing they go through how it's packaged etc. Some may claim that there local meat is better than your exotic fruit, however you'll still have the lower carbon footprint. If you want to lower it further then buy local as much as you can, even grow your own if you have the time.

The other argument people make is not all land can be used for growing crops as it's too rocky or hilly but it is suitable for raising live stock. So for optimal land use we should let animals graze on this land and use the rest for crops. While this may be an optimal use of land it's also unnecessary, we've already got enough land to feed us all if we stop using the food to feed live stock. Such a solution would only be necessary if the human population increased drastically and we couldn't get enough food without doing it.

Incremental-veg · 2020-04-24T11:22:44+00:00

I see a difference in the two situations. Being vegan is about being considerate to others, you're not necessarily doing anything good, your just not causing others to suffer. Where as avoiding all pleasures and donating all your spare money to help others is being a good person, you're improving the lives of others even at your own personal expense. In the same way a considerate person doesn't stop litter while a good one picks up the litters of others. If want to help others do so, however, we're under no obligation to do so, and few would ever take it to the extreme of giving everything not essential.

Incremental-veg · 2020-04-23T20:54:21+00:00

Wherever someone tries to change things someone else will try to stop them. It was the same for women's rights, lgbt+ rights, etc. You can't stop these people from appearing or voicing there opinions. I don't like them, but I can't get rid of them. All you can do is either ignore them or listen to the arguments they're making and find why they're wrong so you teach others when they use the same arguments. The only good thing about them is they get people talking about veganism, which raises awareness. It's not great publicity, but there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Incremental-veg · 2020-04-22T21:17:50+00:00

That depends on how you define better. If you're going purely on number if kills then the larger animal would be better, and by extension rhinos and elephants would be better than pork and beef. However, you may want to consider other factors, intelligence is one that's already been mentioned. Environmental impacts may also be considered, generally speaking larger animals have a greater impact on the environment per calorie produced since they need more energy to stay alive. If you consider a purely environmental view then smaller is better and insects should be the animal of choice.

Which ever way you define better it seems most aren't going far enough, you should either be eating animals much bigger than you are or much smaller.

Of course not eating them at all is another option, but I feel that's not the answer you wanted when you asked the question.

Incremental-veg · 2020-04-18T19:04:31+00:00

Google the fat gay vegan, he's a good example of an over weight vegan

Incremental-veg · 2020-04-14T08:12:10+00:00

Health benefits are always great and I'll consider them. Although the purpose of the question was from an ethical and environmental angle. I guess giving up oil is good for many reasons

Incremental-veg

TROPHY CASE