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athena

(4,187 posts)
3. I take it you're not very quantitative.
Thu Dec 19, 2013, 06:03 PM
Dec 2013

You're comparing tiny numbers to huge numbers, implying that they're equivalent.

Just because some people might need medicines that use gelatin, we must all eat animal products. What brilliant logic!

You have absolutely no basis in suggesting that the presenter was wearing leather shoes. It's extremely naive to think that a representative of an animal-rights organization would give a talk on veganism wearing leather shoes. In any case, the leather argument is as weak as the gelatin-coated-pill argument. An omnivore buys a pair of leather shoes every few years but eats more than 30 animals per year on average. If everyone switched to a plant-based diet but continued to wear leather shoes, the reduction in animal suffering would be enormous.

Similarly, animal testing is a tiny effect compared to factory farming.

The speaker used slavery as an example of a cultural value that has changed. Indeed, 200 years ago slavery was considered acceptable by a large part of the citizenry, whereas today even the most extreme conservative would not advocate in favor of bringing it back. Why is it counter-productive to use this as an example of shifting cultural values? Are you suggesting that we must all start pretending, in order to avoid potentially making white people feel guilty, that slavery never happened?

Finally, it's interesting that you think it's "shocking" to see where the foods you eat come from. (I also suspect you didn't actually watch beyond the first few minutes of the video, since there is very little shocking content in the talk. Moreover, there was no mention of PETA; neither the lecture, nor the 3-minute video, were produced by PETA.)

P.S. I find it interesting that those who attack vegans feel a need to point out what their current diet is, and state that they refuse to change it. What you eat is between you and your conscience. If your conscience allows you to pay other people to mistreat animals for the benefit of your palate, that is something you have to live with. I couldn't care less.

P.P.S. I thought this was a friendly place for vegans? I didn't expect to get such an argumentative response to a video recommendation clearly aimed at people who are already on a plant-based diet.

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