Veganism...why?

[Secret world leader (shhh)]

Why is veganism a thing?

I understand that there are moral and nutritional reasons behind vegetarianism, but veganism just seems...unnescary? Is that the word? (EDIT: as so many of you kindly pointed out, unnecessary was the word ) I think we're animals and we have a place on the food chain that must be adhered to, it's our duty as humans to keep the lower species in check. There's no need to divorce ourselves from animals completely when it comes to food. Veganism just seems like vegetarianism taken to an almost sillly extreme to me.

Anyway, if someone could explain this to me it would be much appreciated.

 

[hazabaza1]

Why is there any moral viewpoint?
It's really something that varies person to person.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Unless vegans are growing their own food, on their own land, with no pesticides, they're hypocrites.

Countless animals are killed during the farming of grain and other plants.

As for why they do it.

No idea.

I understand vegetarianism to a degree, but not veganism.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Bloody hippies.

Seriously though, I'm not sure, I don't think I've ever met a vegan. A fair few of my friends are vegetarians and I assume the reasoning is similar, just taken to another level.

 

[Soopy]

I find it ironic.

One of the reasons we have have the ability to make such a choice is because our brains developed to the level needed by consuming large quantities of iron. Which we get/got from red meat...

 

[Relish in Chaos]

I honestly don't know, really. You'd have to ask one yourself. Where you'd fine one...beats me!

 

[Rowan93]

Unless vegans are growing their own food, on their own land, with no pesticides, they're hypocrites.

Countless animals are killed during the farming of grain and other plants.

As for why they do it.

No idea.

I understand vegetarianism to a degree, but not veganism.

So, what, just because any way of producing food kills animals, it's hypocritical to try and kill less of them? And what about all of the people that can't afford to buy their own land and grow their own food? (which basically does mean all of the people)

I imagine everything that applies for vegetarianism applies more so for veganism. More efficient use of land, less animal suffering, etc.

 

[Hazy992]

Unless vegans are growing their own food, on their own land, with no pesticides, they're hypocrites.

Countless animals are killed during the farming of grain and other plants.

As for why they do it.

No idea.

I understand vegetarianism to a degree, but not veganism.

I assume they don't like the way animals are treated to get food from them. It's not really that hard to see that some people may object to the way cows are treated to get milk or chickens are treated to get eggs.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I honestly don't know, really. You'd have to ask one yourself. Where you'd fine one...beats me!

Give this thread a few hours and then you'll find a few. These threads always bring out the most vocal supporters and detractors for both sides.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Unless vegans are growing their own food, on their own land, with no pesticides, they're hypocrites.

Countless animals are killed during the farming of grain and other plants.

As for why they do it.

No idea.

I understand vegetarianism to a degree, but not veganism.

So, what, just because any way of producing food kills animals, it's hypocritical to try and kill less of them? And what about all of the people that can't afford to buy their own land and grow their own food? (which basically does mean all of the people)

I imagine everything that applies for vegetarianism applies more so for veganism. More efficient use of land, less animal suffering, etc.

Look, I understand the ideology surrounding it, and I have no problems with those who keep it to themselves, but the ideology is flawed.

'Oh, well, my diet kills less animals than yours.'

Okay, I'll accept that.

What about milk? Milk doesn't harm any animals, but they still refuse to drink it.

Just look at organisations like PETA.

They're hialriously hypocritcal, but I understand that they only represent a minority of vegans.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Unless vegans are growing their own food, on their own land, with no pesticides, they're hypocrites.

Countless animals are killed during the farming of grain and other plants.

As for why they do it.

No idea.

I understand vegetarianism to a degree, but not veganism.

I assume they don't like the way animals are treated to get food from them. It's not really that hard to see that some people may object to the way cows are treated to get milk or chickens are treated to get eggs.

Then you buy your dairy products from places you know the animals are treated properly.

It doesn't help that every single vegan I've ever met has been just so...

Condescendingly smug.

Kind of like Gypsies, I'm sure there are nice vegans. I just haven't met any yet

 

[Hazy992]

Unless vegans are growing their own food, on their own land, with no pesticides, they're hypocrites.

Countless animals are killed during the farming of grain and other plants.

As for why they do it.

No idea.

I understand vegetarianism to a degree, but not veganism.

I assume they don't like the way animals are treated to get food from them. It's not really that hard to see that some people may object to the way cows are treated to get milk or chickens are treated to get eggs.

Then you buy your dairy products from places you know the animals are treated properly.

It doesn't help that every single vegan I've ever met has been just so...

Condescendingly smug.

Kind of like Gypsies

I'm sure there are nice vegans. I just haven't met any yet

Free range chickens etc still aren't treated brilliantly. Not to mention that some people just have objections to using animals for human gain.

I agree though most vegans I've come across have been smug condescending pricks.

 

[him over there]

If plants could feel pain would veganism even exist? It's just some people have a moral problem with eating things that were raised their entires lives with the express purpose of being killed for food. As for no milk or eggs or whatever? I think it stems from that mindset of how we nourish animals specifically to eat what they produce. It all comes down to morals. Personally I have no qualms about eating living things because it is absolutely necessary but I by from places that I know at least treat the plants and animals with some respect and don't abuse them.

 

[Soopy]

I gotta laugh at people who think dairy cows are miss treated. I've worked on a few dairy farms and they get better medical care then most minimum wage employee's. They get fed better then allot of kids and aren't left to suffer debilitating illnesses as they would in the wild.

Battery hens suffer horribly, but there are alternatives.

As for eating meat. Human beings are predators, our eyes are on the front of our heads for a reason.
We are, where we are because we're omnivorous. Our diet has stimulated our evolution which in turn allowed us be capable of empathy, the very reason allot of people choose to become vegetarians/vegans. It's almost like we've evolved to a point where some of our species has deliberately chosen to devolve.

Here's something to consider. What if plants are sentient but we have no way to tell? What if they can feel pain and experience emotions?

Is it just a case of "out of sight, out of mind" for vegetarians?

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

I understand vegetarianism. Ive flirted with the idea recently. I just feel a deep emotional empathy with animals. I feel sad when i think of them hurt or dying. Im no fool, i understand free range is treated well and kindly and their deaths are mostly painless. But i cant help but feel a little guilty. I know that if i had to look at an animal right in the eye and kill it (not for survival obviously, id kill an animal for ABSOLUTE survival with only a few qualms) just because its tastey and not because i HAVE to eat it i probably wouldnt. Id say "Why shold i bloody my hands when nutrition is easy to obtain without doing so?".

Veganism ill never understand. Chicks just lay eggs normally. Free range eggs are fair and kind to the animal. Basically im funding the better treatment of animals by buying free range eggs. I would never be a vegan. Im thinking about vegetarianism though.

 

[DANEgerous]

Because even if it is not less harmful they believe it is less harmful. I fully realize this is mass generalization but many have no clue what they are talking about. I have heard things like "we should all take the diet of Chimps and Apes" which includes meat and cannibalism which they will deny even in the presence of video evidence or "Milking is a slow death to dairy cattle!" which is such inane bullshit that it make it impossible to take a person seriously about any form of farming.

Do get the empathy they have for animals? I suppose I do to an extent but the fact that I fully realize I am an animal fully developed to eat meat and that almost all the animals we eat are not going to be humanly killed if they are to be killed in the wail by other animals I just fins it hard to care. I am a predator the only difference in me an fellow predators is that i raise what they hunt.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Dairy cattle are sometimes pumped full of hormones to increase milk production, which can cause inflamation of the breast tissue due to infecction or lameness in the cattle. Even in places where this is not done, the reasoning is that it's probably not very pleasant to be kept in a state of perpetual state of lactation and culling rates are high for the cows that are unable to produce enough milk.

Chickens are kept in crowded conditions and you can really never know how reliable the "free range" label is unless you go to the farm yourself, and incase you haven't noticed farms tend to be located in buttfuck nowhere.

People use the argument that even though it's possible to live healthily without eating meat, we still need all the other byproducts we get from slaughtering animals. Vegans are proving otherwise.

I am not a vegan but I admire anyone with the discipline to pull it off. As it stands I already do a really crappy job of being a vegetarian so I need my milk and eggs for protein and vitamins.

Edit: Oh right, as for the argument that chickens lay eggs naturally and so egg farming isn't inherently harmful to the chickens, what about the 50% of the chicks that emerge as males and get casually tossed into a grinder? That is an unavoidable consequence of mass breeding chickens. Not all of them turn out female.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

50% of the chicks that emerge as males and get casually tossed into a grinder? That is an unavoidable consequence of mass breeding chickens. Not all of them turn out female.

Why cant we eat roosters? That may seem stupid but ive never understood this practice. Youve invested money in getting an egg to hatch into a rooser. Why not just free range farm them for consumption? Isnt it a huge waste not to?

EDIT: Hormonal roosters are angry creatures who have a denser muscle mass and metabolism (less meat over time) and also have an urge to murder eachother if confined together. Makes for a BAD farm yard animal.