Angel

Cynthia! You just posted cringe!

You are going to loose subscriber!

I'm rather confused.

This statement:

Eating cows and other mammals is absolutely a bad thing. Poultry is a gray area. Most seafood is probably safe to eat.

Are you saying this is what vegans believe or it's what you believe? I think eating all of those are bad things, period, and I'm a vegan. The statement you put before "the line that vegans draw around the animal kingdom is mostly arbitrary" makes it rather ambiguous though.

Honestly, let's be real—this is completely true.

I think the issue with vegetarianism is that it doesn't accept the premise that animals should not be exploited. Vegetarianism supports much of the exact same inhumane and cruel acts that the meat industry commits, and they're inextricably tied. It's really odd to say "Killing and exploiting animals is fine as long as flesh isn't actually on my plate." In all honesty, a vegetarian's hypothetical inverse, i.e. someone who eats meat but not dairy, eggs, and honey, could be more "ethical" than them in the grand scheme of things. Due to the fact that vegetarianism tends to manifest symbolically ("as long as flesh isn't actually on my plate..."), there will be less of a desire for people to adhere to it with serious ethical principles in mind. It's hard to say "Killing animals is wrong, and that's why I'm a vegetarian" when vegetarianism still more-or-less funds industries that are, once again, inextricably tied to the blood that the meat industry has on its hands.

And just to clear up this misconception while I'm at it, veganism isn't "perfect" either, but I don't see it as such. I see it as a moral baseline actually. Especially under capitalism, no one can avoid the cruel acts that happen to animals in its perfect entirety, but veganism seems to be a practical direction to start (for many at least, I will concede that not literally every single person on the planet can go vegan), but it's very difficult for carnists to accept the premise of ethical veganism. That's why excuses that aren't really good are seen as adequate justifications for carnists to not be vegan. Bottom line is that, since I already see veganism as imperfect, I don't really see vegetarianism as a reasonable thing to enable or promote.

Me breeding puppies into existence just to burn 'em all after getting your approval.

Thanks for reassuring me that it's not wrong!

I am vegan and from an abolitionist standpoint too.

My veganism is something I've directly tied to my own oppression. I have a lot of intersections (black, queer, trans, neurodivergent, all that shit), and dehumanization has been a common theme of me feeling like my life is not worth it. People like me have been dehumanized throughout history, and lowering people to this status has been a constant tool used to justify oppression constantly. Non-human animals continue to be exploited because humans have established that they are allowed to on the basis of such hierarchical domination, hierarchical domination that scares me because of my own oppression.

I have become that more "radical pushy veg00n" with time, reading books on the matter (especially ones that tie it to leftism and social justice issues like race), watching videos that are highly informative, and of course, viewing documentaries when I'm emotionally able to (I'm a very sensitive person who cried simply seeing calves on a truck to a slaughterhouse, so I handle this with caution). I have no doubt that veganism is the correct position, and I find that every point a carnist gives to justify themselves not being vegan mostly ends up being a cope masquerading as an actual argument.

As far as living a vegan lifestyle goes? It's easy as hell. I don't see animal flesh and secretions as food anymore, nor do I want to wear animals or use any hygiene products that come with their expense. Veganism itself is easy; the hard part is getting used to it socially and getting frustrating questions. I also absolutely refuse to date carnists, so my dating pool is very narrow, but that's the least of my concerns. Even when I was going through some of my poorest moments (as I know "It's ExpeNsivE" is a common thing people say as if it inherently cannot be worked around), I saw no reason to contribute to such exploitation and cruelty. Beans, rice, pasta, other grains, and all sorts of vegetables got me where I needed to be.

The original UK release cover

This reminds me of a rule I made for when I get tattoos: do not get tattoos dedicated to people, and that includes celebrities.

There are some really badass musicians I admire, ones who even tend to be really nice people in their personal life, and the thought of paying some sort of tribute to them by getting some permanent inking of them somewhere on my leg or something doesn't sound so bad as I know them now, but I always ponder disasters like this pic.

Hell, I even avoid it for dead celebrities because you never know what could be dug up, but of course, the chances are slimmer there.

I give some leeway to works—things like album art and what not, as long as they don't pull a lostprophets. However, I'd expect there to be no problem with me getting a very popular classic like Master of Puppets tattooed on my back for instance. I was actually planning on doing that with Octopus.

I definitely don't wanna hear about any of Joe's heated gamer moments. Who knows what he's shouting on the mic?

I somewhat relate to this from a bit of a different angle.

I'm pansexual, so truthfully, I don't actually care what my partner's gender is itself, but I have a lot of standards which are not inherently related to gender per se. Far more women meet these standards than men, so in a sense, it makes me de-facto exclusively into women.

To give some examples, I'd love a partner who is vegan, has long hair, and doesn't have toxic masculinity. A man has the capacity to have all of these traits obviously, but if you think on the chances, I guess that narrows down the gender of my dating pool to be overwhelmingly women.

I saw these kinds of weirdos all the time when I was on roommate sites way back.