I haven’t posted all that much… I suck! Tsk, bad, shame, etc.
As I posted a couple posts back, I’ve gone vegan. And I think that’s part of the reason I haven’t posted. It’s all I’ve been thinking about, and I need to get it out of my system so I can move on. 
A little while back, I saw how Pee-TA (I just don’t need them showing up at my blog, so they shall be Pee-TA here) had flipped out over President Obama killing a fly.
(But, seriously, that was awesome. We elected a friggin’ ninja as president. I’ve TRIED to swat flies. I cannot do it on my first attempt, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do it on national television, and Obama is left-handed and he nailed the thing with his NON-dominant hand. You should SEE me try to do things with my non-dominant hand. You’d swear I had a stroke.)
Anyway, they flipped out and I heard they were trying to offer him this cruelty-free bug catcher. I went to see what it was, and arrived at two conclusions. One, hahahahahahaha. And two, Pee-TA people are generally insane.
But… While I was there I watched the Meet Your Meat video and… Ugh. I mean, I KNEW what went into killing animals but… It has always been a sort of “If I don’t see it, it totally doesn’t happen!” mentality. But that two-year-old idea is on par with covering your eyes and saying, “If I can’t see you you can’t see me!” And that sort of reasoning has finally run its course for me.
I’m just NOT comfortable killing animals. I mean, I have a kitty and a doggie and a rat… And could I kill them? No, no, and no. They can feel pain, they can feel fear, they can suffer. Because they are lovely little sentient creatures, trying to enjoy their own time on this planet we all call home. And I just can’t be a part of pain, suffering, exploitation, or slaughter or a sentient creature anymore. I’m no longer indulging myself in ignorance as a means to consume their flesh, or enslave and torture them for their byproducts – their eggs, their milk, their honey. It’s not mine to take. I don’t have permission, I can’t get permission, and I’m through convincing myself I’m entitled to it.
Entitlement and necessity are two separate things.
And it’s simply not necessary for me to exploit animals. In terms of food, humans have dull teeth and a long digestive system. We are not carnivores. We are like chimpanzees, who eat fruits and vegetables and the occasional insect. But, I have socially evolved to the point where that “occasional insect” is totally unnecessary. I can, and now choose, to obtain my protein through other sources that don’t carry with them a personal ethical compromise.
I also watched (yesterday) the documentary called Earthlings that came out in 2003. It’s narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, and… While I certainly don’t hop right on board with every word (especially in the beginning), I see the point… Barely, through my tears, but I see it.
And, I should mention I don’t just take all this as fact without knowing my shit. Without being too specific, my father works in an industry that supplies… Stuff. Heh. Anyway, that stuff is used all over the country. In the marine industry, in the construction industry, in the chicken industry. He’s been inside many chicken processing plants including Perdue and Bell & Evans. He says one minute in a Perdue processing plant will put you off their chicken literally for the rest of your life. The smell is noxious, the practices are unsanitary (at best) the slaughter is cruel, the cages are terrifying, there are dead and deformed chickens everywhere, etc.
(For the record, to prove I’m not fear mongering or anything – he said Bell & Evans was LIGHTYEARS different. They have pristine working conditions, they hand-clean each chicken after slaughter in individual sinks – everything is incredible there, as far as chicken processing plants go. The chickens are fed nutritious and vegetarian feed – no eating of their dead cage-mates for them! They do not receive antibiotics or growth hormones, etc. He said they should be the industry standard, but it would probably cost too much to actually do things RIGHT in the bigger places. And who wants to do things right when it comes to things we EAT, yeah? Anyway, you get what you pay for – and if you have the choice, buy Bell & Evans.)
So… From talking to Dad, I know that what I see in documentaries IS reality. Especially ones like Earthlings, which is not associated with Pee-TA. And it’s not a reality I can be a part of any longer.
I feel a million times better, about myself as a person, and in terms of my health. (I think most of that is due to the elimination of dairy. It’s sort of ridiculous that humans drink dairy products anyway – and I’ve always thought so. I switched to soy milk a looooong time ago because I couldn’t get over the fact that humans were the only animal who consumed milk past the age of weaning. And we don’t even consume our own, we consume a cow’s! Insanity, that is. And SO many people don’t realize how gross dairy is making them feel until they eliminate it from their diets. I know I didn’t.)
So, clearly, I’m happier and healthier living vegan. I feel in closer harmony to my ethics about how we as humans should treat other sentient beings, how humans and nature should try to restore more of a sense of harmony. It’s true that you can judge someone by how they treat those “below” them.
Being vegan is cheaper too, in terms of food, and the quality of my food is much higher for less money (meat and dairy is expensive!!!). And I am learning to cook all kinds of super-healthy and delicious food. I find myself hungry at normal intervals as well. This is a HUGE thing for me, because I have long since stopped recognizing proper hunger signals due to eating disorders – I would go for periods without eating, or through periods of binge eating. I’m eating a normal amount of food, losing weight, not feeling hungry AND…
The part that MOST fascinated me… I haven’t “slipped” once. For some reason, I was convinced I would fail. You know, like a diet.
But that’s where I was making my mistake in reasoning. It’s not a diet. It’s an ethical decision. And our truest ethics are not up for forgetting or failing or being tempted otherwise. It’s not like I go out on weekends and “slip” when it comes to child abuse. I don’t randomly punch kids and go “Oh, damn, I was on this ‘no hurting children’ thing and all of a sudden I got a CRAVING to kick a little ass…” It’s just… Not the way it works. So there is nothing to “tempt” me because I truly don’t WANT the products in my body or my life.
Anyway… I posted this to explain, and to get it out of my system.
This will be the last time I talk about it on the blog, other than in passing or, “Omg, I made the best meal! Food porn FTW!” Because this is a personal choice, not a public agenda. While I believe animal rights SHOULD be a public agenda, and at the very least some of the true atrocities in factory farming simply HAVE to be addressed… It’s a personal choice of mine, and I don’t think less of anyone for making a different choice. I LOVE choices and I LOVE that we can all make them. I do love it most when people make informed choices – the uninformed kinds tend to lead to crappy outcomes. But I don’t take issue with informed meat-eaters. I honestly don’t. And 99.9% of vegans would probably smack me upside the head for that or just shun me (I dunno, I have only met two vegans ever and they were actually wicked nice.) But I have my own reasons for this, and I’m happy to explain if anyone cares enough to email me and ask! I’m ALWAYS up for discussion. Always.
I will also say, unequivocally, that there is absolutely NO scientific or medical reason to be vegan. None at all. There is ONLY an ethical reason. Yes, there are hormones and antibiotics in most meat, yes many of the animals that go to slaughter you would never in a million years eat if you saw them alive – covered in sores and pus and hideous growths (I’ve seen Dad’s pictures – holy hell) – and sure the WAY a lot of people dress up their meats and cheeses is unhealthy as all get out. BUT… With careful planning and a little willpower you can make a diet composed of almost ANYTHING healthy. If anyone tries to convince you otherwise, you can essentially dismiss them. Including me.
If anyone is curious about any aspect of the philosophy or the practice (or the recipes!) of vegan, I’m more than happy to talk about it. Feel free to comment, or email me at chloe(at)thenaturalorders(dot)com.
And yes, before anyone asks… If Antonio made me eat meat again? I’d do it. I’d hate it like I’d hate doing something else I felt went against my personal ethical code… But I’d do it if he said I had to. For the same reason that if I had a gun, a directive to kill, and choice between my mother and a stranger then I’d kill the stranger without a second’s hesitation. My life is based on a hierarchy, and he’s at the top of it. Now, granted, he’s at the top for a good reason – he’s an amazing man. And I’m positive he wouldn’t make me do something I felt was ethically corrupt unless he had a SERIOUSLY good reason and had done all the research he could to make sure there was no other way.
Oh, and yes I’ll be cooking meat for him. His body, his choice – his woman, his cook! (Btw, I never thought I’d get to say “his body his choice” with male pronouns. Tee hee hee.)
I’d feel a lot better about eating meat if livestock were treated the way they were hundreds of years ago. So they had a real life before they were slaughtered. Lots of mammals hunts and eat each other so it’s not the eating that bothers me; it’s the lack of respect.
Still not ready to give up my steak, though.
Good for you for being vegan! I tried it a couple of years ago for similar reasons for a few months and I just couldn’t stick with it. I felt too deprived.
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Are there any recipes you can pass on? Feel free to email me
Thanks so much!
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*sighs at my typos*
I suck.
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I’m with Amber. I would seriously miss my steak. And turkey on Thanksgiving. And ham on Easter. “Hi. My name is Dk, and I’m a filthy meat-eater.”
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oh, and question: Does begin vegan mean you can no longer swallow Anthony’s cum?
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I haven’t eaten red meat (pork, beef, lamb) for…umm…17 years and people think I’m crazy, so I can imagine the sort of comments/looks you get when you say you’re vegan.
Personally, I couldn’t do the vegan thing. I love dairy and eggs too much (not to mention fish and chicken), but you go girl!
It’s your life, your body
teehee
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@Amber – Yeah… I don’t view consuming animal-based protein as some inherently evil act. (Some people do, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why…) But the WAY it’s obtained these days? *shudder* In the documentary Earthlings, they had some hidden footage inside the largest Kosher slaughterhouse in the US. There are VERY specific Kosher requirements for slaughter. And this place was judged perfect on its examinations, but undercover? They’re a bunch of dickheads who want to make slaughter easier on the people, not the animals, and they do some really cruel and disgusting things. People are a sad, selfish race sometimes. I mean, come on, it’s supposed to be Kosher! Someone’s religion is riding on you doing your job right. Why don’t you go to a church and piss in the holy water while you’re at it, dude?
And if I felt deprived for even a minute, I don’t think I could do it either. If it weren’t a choice based entirely on ethics, I would probably still feel a “need” for animal products. I was shocked as HELL, actually, that I don’t. I dunno why, just scared of “failing” I guess. But once the decision was made based on ethics, I simply do not want to participate in that any more. I had tried being vegan once before. It didn’t stick, and I definitely felt deprived, because my reasons weren’t the same.
@Kris – I’ll shoot you an email soon.
@Amber Part II – Typos rock. Don’t let anyone tell you different. They’re all the rage. All the cool kids are doing it.
@DK – Heh. Filthy meat-eater, hey? Well, I think you’re adorable. As I said to Amber, if I felt deprived for even one minute, I don’t think I could do it either. But even after only just a week, I’m kind of repulsed by the idea of eating flesh. If someone had told me that a month ago? I’d have laughed. But it’s become true. I don’t see animals or their byproducts as food anymore. That’s why it doesn’t feel like deprivation.
AND… I think I should go tell Antonio that cum is off the table (and piss too). Just to see what he says. My GOD can you imagine the look on his face if I said “Sorry, Sir, no more cum for me. Or piss for that matter. And let’s not kiss, saliva is a byproduct!”
Excuse me while I dissolve into fits of giggles…
OMG LOL.
Whew. Anyway, nah, I can still consume cum, urine, saliva – and basically anything else of his he wants to stick in my mouth.
If being vegan excluded the consented use/exchange of human-to-human byproducts, I’d have to be against donating blood, donating organs, volunteering for scientific studies, etc.
It’s all about consent. We, as humans, have a common language to communicate our feelings and desires in intricate enough detail that we are able to create entire systems (like blood donation) surrounding the use and exchange of each other’s byproducts. There is a large-scale mutualism within our species. It’s not exploitation, because there is a mutual benefit we have all agreed on.
I realize you were asking in jest, but still.
Yep, cum is fine for drinking. As is urine, sweat, blood, tears, fingernails, hair, feces, etc. Though, I swear to God, if he ever tries to get me to drink a whole bunch of his blood, or he sits around crying so I can lick the tears, OR he thinks I should eat a bunch of fingernails, hair and poop… I’m pretty sure you’ll hear me scrambling for some kind of argument that makes those things HIGHLY unethical and I just can’t do them, omg, no matter what, or I’ll DIE OMG.
@subtle – Yeah… I’m a new vegan, so the only people I’ve told have been family – Antonio, Mom, Dad, Harrison, and Patrick. The Man, the parents, and the brothers. They have all been exceedingly cool about it. And that surprised me a little, since Antonio, Dad, Harrison, and Patrick are HUGE meat eaters. I mean, they teased a little at first, just because that’s how we interact… But they all seemed genuinely interested and seemed to think it was a cool choice. And Harrison did the cutest thing. He pulled a wishbone out of a chicken and said “Well, guess I gotta do this one by myself since you’re vegan now. At least I know I’ll win.”
You know what’s funny? The person I’m MOST terrified to tell is my dear friend Anne. She’s a l/o-vegetarian, and has been for years. And I realized, I just always accepted her l/o-veg lifestyle and the most we’d really talk about it was I’d make sure anywhere we went to eat had vegetarian options. But I’ve never dived into the ethics of it with her, not really… I got the feeling she just didn’t like meat, then didn’t like the idea of killing animals, so eliminated things that directly killed them like meat, rennet, gelatin, etc. But never eliminated the things that indirectly kill them, like dairy. I’m sort off terrified for that discussion, because… I’m afraid anything I say about why I am vegan will come off sounding like “I’m awesum and ur doin’ it wrong.” Time will tell…
Jesus Christ, I need to get comments fixed…
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I have done the vegetarian thing on and off over the years but I hate beans and nuts so it kinda fucks up my diet a bit too much. I eat a fuckload of vegies still though and I don’t need nor want meat alot and if I do I prefer white meat. Organic even better. NZ is still good in the way that we get an amazing choice of foods here. But I get where you are at. And good on you. I have a food fetish I like meat but the idea of whats done to animals makes me ill. Ima gonna go hunt out that doco and mindfuck myself some more x
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Eventually you will eat meat its enevitable, we are created omnivores. Let it give you comfort in the Arby’s drive thru..
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@impy – The documentary is PAINFUL. I found it enlightening, though… And it was a must-see for me.
@bella – Eating meat is inevitable? No. It’s POSSIBLE, that’s for sure. I am a hormonal freakshow, so I won’t pretend to know what pregnancy would do to me. I might decide I need a steak covered in applesauce and pickles for lunch every day when I’m pregnant. I have no idea. Also, Antonio could order me to eat meat again, and I would. I might get sick, but I would if he said so.
But this is not something I’m doing that I don’t want to do, and then I’ll ‘cave’ and eat a dead animal. I find the idea repulsive. I can eat meat all I want. I simply don’t WANT to.
And humans are not designed to eat ANYTHING specifically. An omnivore mearly has adapted to be ABLE to derive nutrition from lots of sources. Humans are designed to be ABLE to meet their nutritional requirements a VARIETY of ways. This is so that those with different tastes, allergies, likes and dislikes can ALL thrive wonderfully.
And we ARE designed with a broad range of nutritional needs, that’s for sure. We need certain vitamins and minerals. We need fiber to help our digestive system. Adults need the eight essential amino acids, yes. Our bodies are not designed to synthesize them. Anything containing the eight essentials is considered a “complete protein” because it has ALL the proteins (amino acids) humans cannot synthesize. However, WHERE we get them is entirely up to the human being. For instance, soy milk is a complete protein. Rice and beans is a complete protein. Hummus and pita bread is a complete protein. Toast with peanut butter is a complete protein. The list goes one.
Meat and animal products are useful to say, a close relative of ours – chimpanzees. They have a digestive system very close to ours. They obtain most of their nutrients through plant-based sources. They eat fruits, veggies, grains. And sometimes, they stick a twig in an anthill and chow some termites. But it’s a relatively small percentage of their diet. And it’s necessary because they do not have another option.
As a human, I have similar digestive and nutritional needs. In the wild, as a primitive human, I would need lots of fruits and veggies and maybe an occasional piece of meat or some insects to supplement. HOWEVER, as a modern human? I “hunt” in my grocery store. There is ZERO need for my life and lifestyle to revolve around the death of my fellow Earthlings. It is, without a doubt unnecessary in this day and age. I choose this life, a more compassionate life, because it makes me MUCH happier. I have not had a moment of craving, or a desire to eat animal flesh at all. I do not view it as an appropriate food source anymore.
And, for the record? I’ve never even once been to an Arby’s. The only place you can “drive-thru” in my town is the bank!
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