there are many threads on the site about this subject. today i will come across as an asshole(in the eyes of some)...
if the klan or national front or whoever shows up, people get offended and stand up against them. if they kill a person of color, people are outraged and in disbelief.
speciesism is no different. use your minds. the blood is on your hands.
Thank you Shawn for making a succinct point.
I have been a vegetarian for 22 years and a vegan for 10 for ethical reasons, but has other positive attributes such as excellent health and lessening ones environmental impact.
I am going to include a recent writing by a friend, Kirk Olson. Enjoy.
Health Care Begins On Your ForkShare
by Kirk Olson
Facebook Saturday, August 29, 2009 at 2:25pm
Warning: this is perhaps the most difficult (and necessary) note I've written. And I've written quite a few "toughies."
When I was in the military, I was surrounded every day by relatively healthy people. We had yearly dental and physical exams, got our shots, were required to exercise and had our fitness level (including body fat percentage) tested twice a year. Illness was somebody with the sniffles. Anything worse and you saw the doc and got a day or two of bed rest (we called it "SIQ": Sick In Quarters).
So it was a shock when I retired and rejoined the civilian workforce after 20 years of near total insulation from disease. The ugly truth slapped me rudely in the face: civilians are simply NOT well people.
Where I currently work, in an office of about a dozen folks from a fairly varied mix of gender, ethnic background, and age, somebody complains about their poor health every single day. Two are cancer "survivors" (a woman in remission and a man in the middle of his second round of treatments), at least eight are clinically obese, one is (like me) a 20-year veteran-retiree who might as well rent a room at the VA since he practically lives there, and one misses an average of a day a week due to age-related degenerative issues. The rest are I guess what you'd call "average". They randomly complain about their Gastric-Reflux Disease, headaches, insomnia, indigestion, arthritis, and those mysterious "flu-like" symptoms that seem to make the rounds in the office every other month or so.
Not surprisingly, I am the only one in my office who shows any concern at all about diet. At first, I hid the fact that I was a vegetarian. I just wanted to blend in. After a few encounters in the break room as I was reheating my meat-free leftovers in the microwave ("Wow, that curry smells fantastic!" "Lentils, huh? Interesting."), word got out: Kirk is a "health nut". It was mildly uncomfortable for me at first. Especially when the (now totally hairless) guy going through chemo sits down to his vending-machine-provided lunch of Doritos and Dr. Pepper right at the exact moment I choose to walk by his desk. The daily lunch runs that start with order-taking at 10:30 every morning were a gauntlet - after a few weeks they learned to not even ask me what kind of junk food I wanted.
The guy in my office battling GERD said the other day he was cutting out Taco Bell. I almost gave him a standing ovation until I saw the bag of cholesterol-infused death he just returned with from Five Guys. Our monthly office "pig-ins" have become opportunities for education. "Ribs or wings?" Um, neither thanks! "Oh really?" Cue educational speech.
And then, on May 1st, I committed to a 100% vegan lifestyle. My coworkers hardly noticed. Until "pizza day". Seems "vegan" is not an available topping at the local pizza joint. So I educate. In fact, over half of my non-work related conversations at work are related to healthy diet, longevity, and avoiding illness. It is my service to provide information. And when that information is eagerly received, it gives me joy.
Nobody needs to endure a life of disease. Nobody needs to die before they've finished living a full life. Nobody needs to trade "convenience" for health. It is NOT a zero-sum game.
The "National Health Care Debate" is on the front page of the news every day and I am frustrated with the assumptions that both sides are making. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will have to pay for the poor decisions of millions of my fellow Americans. What can I do? Move to another country? I suppose. But how about continuing to educate? It's cheaper, easier, and less defeatist. I have just enough faith in the human race to hope for healthy outcomes for every life. People already know that they are committing slow-motion suicide with a fork at every meal. Making a change really isn't that hard. Every day is a battle, I realize that. Meat tastes good. I realize that. But I also realize that heart disease, cancer, obesity, and diabetes are all directly related to diet. What you eat can determine how you die. And death is forever.
If you are obese, you will die early. If you are obese and sedentary, you will die early and painfully. If you are obese, sedentary, and eat the "American Diet" you will die early, painfully, and very expensively. Forget Obama's "Death Panels", that menu at the drive-thru has already rendered its verdict.
Those who demand evidence can check the links at the bottom of this note. The research has been done. It is not up for debate: an animal-based diet results in disease and early death. A vegan diet can help protect you from from the "Big Four" diet-driven killers in America: heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stroke.
And the good news doesn't end there. By selectively eating "super foods" we can replace prescription drugs. Again, the research has been done, and this is not debatable. Big Pharma would like to program you to think there is a pill for every little thing that can ever go wrong inside your body. Screw those fat cats. Get off prescription drugs.
Eat correctly and eliminate the source of the problem. And then stay healthy by "self-medicating" with foods that have healing properties (see links below).
And let's not forget the danger of unclean food. My education wouldn't do much good if I failed to add the caveat "organic only" to everything I say. If it's not organic and you are eating it, you are almost certainly poisoning yourself, or worse - doing permanent damage to your DNA. Yes, you can "go vegan" and still be at risk if you are buying commercially available fruits and vegetables from industrial farms that use pesticides, herbicides, and genetically modified organisms. Unless you are intentionally trying to destroy your reproductive system, your immune system, and every other system in your body, CUT IT OUT. I don't want to keep paying for your mistakes.
So, the choice is yours. Gorge daily on toxic garbage "foods", die early (and painfully), and leave a massive hospital bill for your loved ones (and us taxpayers). Or eat smart, stay healthy, and fully enjoy every single one of those 100 or so years your body was designed to live on this earth.
Both my heart and my wallet want you to make the right choice.
http://www.vegsource.com/harris/cancer_vegdiet.htm
http://www.foodrevolution.org/
http://www.goveg.com/VeggieSuperstars.asp
http://eatthis.womenshealthmag.com/...he-Food-Industry-Doesn-t-Want-You-to-Know-143
http://www.happycow.net/vegan_nutrition.html
http://thefoodsite.net/2008/10/foods-that-prevent-cancer/
http://www.diseaseproof.com/articles/research/
I didn't even know that.
