If you say vegans are cruel and akin to terrorists, what would you say of carnists?
In my humble opinion, even the most intellectual, talented and aware persons can be awfully ignorant of the fundamental precept of veganism i.e. compassion and non-violence. So the people who keep bashing veganism need to educate themselves that how ignorant are they when they show their contempt for veganism.
But it has became a fad to put vegans and veganism in bad light. The latest to join this brigade is the talented information security expert, bitcoin enthusiast and the author Mr. Andreas M Antonopoulos. In the recently held Blockchain Meet-up at Berlin, he said that vegans are among the top ten most horrifying things. Here is a 2 minute clip of the same:
Actually, intellectual and talented personalities like these completely miss the fundamentals of a noble and a sustainable cause like veganism and they start bad mouthing it. I seriously feel people like Antonopoulos need some load balancing on their top floor servers for a smooth and error free functioning before making such reckless and stupid comments.
How do you feel about it guys? If you feel that what Antonopoulos did was something unfortunate and wrong, do express your opinion directly to Antonopoulos, so that he does not repeat such things in future and honour what needs to be honoured. Here is his twitter handle:
If you are an animal rights activist or a veganist and he happens to be visiting your city, do take some time out to meet him in person and educate him on veganism. Here you can check his schedule of events:
https://antonopoulos.com/events/
I'd be glad to know your stand on this subject in the comments below. Do open up freely.
I have so much respect for Andreas, he is an incredible intelligent and eloquent person. But like many intelligent people that I know, they tend to be narrow focused. By focusing on a subject that they are obsessed with they fill the gaps in their knowledge of other important areas with the popular opinion of equally uneducated peers.
Cryptocurrency is not going to make the world a kinder place. And veganism is not going to save us from economic slavery. Therefore the sooner single issue activists realise that we're all in this together and we need to learn from and support each other's issues, the quicker we'll create the fairer, kinder world we all want.
Yes, I too love this guy for the way he talks and demystifies the crpytocurrency for common-man with utmost passion and clarity of thinking. You rightly put that cooperation and understanding for each others cause is required to achieve the dream of a better, fairer and kinder world. Let's hope for the best.
No, you should fight him, he is trying to debase you all, be patriotic and electrocute him publicly, I will make you wealthy
this is very true, you can create a platform that can be FAIR but it's only going to be if the people using it are themselves.
I have been a vegan for 7 years and I love inspiring people just by getting on with my own life and being as healthy as I can so people can see that being vegan doesn't have t o be limiting or that you will waste away and look ill. I do come accroos a community of vegans with a SJW leaning who will just constantly attack people who are not vegan and I feel they make me sometimes assume people might judge me when I say I am vegan. I remember when I was transitioning and going into a vegan forum and saying I ate honey, rather than congratulate me on going vegan and giving some markers I got people saying I should die a cruel death and general abuse. I find this kind of attitude some vegans have to no tbe what veganism is about. Veganism should be a movement towards being ethical and kind to all living creatures.
Sorry for your harsh experiences with some people and there are plenty of their kind. Veganism is not just a logical or intellectual decision but its a matter of heart. Some vegans don't evolve beyond their logical reasoning which they acquired intellectually while turning vegan and then start thinking themselves as some superior beings. Some of these get so frustrated & aggrieved that they start hating all non-vegans. Don't take them seriously. We need to be compassionate with these people too! Actually the term SJW itself include a very aggressive word viz. "warrior" and wars can't bring in peace. We need a language & action of peace, kindness & compassion to deal with all situations.
yeah i totally agree, it was crazy out there in some of the vegan forums I stopped asking for advice, it's a shame ppl couldn't focus on the steps already being made rather than the tiny bits they felt were 'wrong'. Of course it is't everyone and there are more and more people converting to veganism now and it is moving away from that highly judgmental place I feel. The inner duality will create the external wars!
intelligence is not wisdom. without heart balance intelligence can be entirely destructive. a nuclear bomb requires great intelligence, but includes no love and thus no wisdom.
Correct! Both IQ as well as EQ makes one a complete, well-balanced personality. I hope, some day intelligent people will find some time for themselves and do some soul-searching and will probably get it there.
I believe man is naturally born as an emotional being but society makes us to focus more on our intelligence. Unfortunately, intelligence has more economic value than emotions and sentiments. We probably need a system in our society which can provide us a neutral environment to develop our natural personalities. But I really don't know how we are going to achieve that.
I specialise in healing this precise issue. The need is to evolve heart presence since heart is the bonding center and balance point for thought and emotion. You can read my ongoing series in heart healing for more on this or visit my social network at https://www.ureka.org. <3
Good to know you! Am following you now. More power to you!
Great, thanks - following you too :)
For me its not a big issue. He has his own opinion and views on anything. I myself also has my own opinion and views on vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, fruitarian, liquitarian, breatharian, flexitarian and maybe many others that are still evolving.
@ronel said a very interesting thing: I myself also has my own opinion and views on vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, fruitarian, liquitarian, breatharian, flexitarian and maybe many others that are still evolving.
Why all these labels? Why we have to live under a specific label and create a dogma out of it? So then we stick to it, considering everybody else ignorant or cold at heart. Then I'm not surprised someone might define vegans "terrorists" or morons. It's just the same process: a wall against a wall.
Let's make it simple, let's start to talk about compassion and non-violence, just as you did @xyzashu. Let's start to call it a plant-based diet. Diet, cause this is all what it is. Not a dogma or a religion. It's a diet and a lifestyle. I think if we want the "cruel carnists" to open their minds, we should first open our minds a little bit.
Btw he is listing veganism among the 10 horryfing things he could think about in that moment and he's being sarcastic and clearly ironic. Now if he thinks that veganism is horrifying, that's just his opinion, just as you think eating meat is horrifying. This doesn't make him ignorant or not wise, I think, but just not aware of the problem. If he compares vegans to terrorists, again it's not his fault, it's extremists fault. It's some extreme actvists fault.
I think this is a very important issue and I wrote more about it in my first posts on Steemit. I would rather not link it here because I don't want to spam stuff and deceive the attention from this post. Go to my blog and check it out if you want.
I do agree with you and @ronel that everyone has right to his / her opinion on everything. But how, when and where the opinion is expressed in our civilized society may be of some concern. e.g. if some one is publicly making a false allegation or insulting or resorting to name-calling or just offending the sentiments of others for the sake of his or her own fun, would you still defend the offender on the pretext of right to personal opinion? It may be a different story if opinion is expressed explaining the interpretations and circumstances applied to arrive to that particular conclusion.
And of course, as you said, no labels are necessary. But labels are just for the convenience of expression and are part of a language. When I turned vegan, I wasn't even aware that people of my kind are labelled as vegans as I didn't know this word then. So if this word was used to describe people like me, I didn't had any objection. But labels doesn't imply that it's a religion or some kind of dogma. It's just a word with some meaning. Just as you said, it's some kind of a lifestyle and that's it.
But if a lifestyle is interpreted as anti-social or horrifying, when it is not, then I think defending and dispelling the misinterpretation to be my duty. As it not only put myself in bad light but the whole of vegan community. And when Andreas was trying to list 10 most horrifying things, veganism came to his mind. This speaks volumes about how he perceives vegans. What if a person unknowingly walk into him some day and "dare" to introduce herself as vegan, would it be safe or a pleasant experience? Can vegans now ever think of hosting and organizing his talks despite their willingness to do that?
And even if it was a sarcasm ...a bad one though, he is riding on some per-conceived negative image of vegans and solidifying that mindset in public. With this he is also trying to establish negative connotations to veganism in all of his audience, including the ones who didn't have yet made any image about vegans. That's how a celebrity influences his/her fans to adopt his/her personal thought process which has nothing to do with his/her work.
I'd really appreciate if you can link your related posts here. I couldn't find them at your blog though I tried only a little. Thanks!
Hi @xyzashu thanks for getting back to me. You are 100% right that unfortunately he is influencing his fans, because this is how unfortunately again the celebrity works: You worship someone and you tend to take as true or valid whatever he says. It is true and he has to be aware of that. Because vegans are not monsters , but I think a person like him is actually aware of this. He is maybe instead not aware of the fact that due to celebrity someone might take way to seriously his irony.
Also you said he is riding on some pre-conceived negative image of vegans. And I agree with that too. And this is actually the enemy to fight: this preconception. Because the common mindset about vegans is like "a bunch of boring people judging everybody from what they eat", right? This is sad and it needs to be changed because the prime mover of such a choice is actually humanity and love for animals and nature.
So my opinion is that attacking this guy publicly or making him notice that he did something wrong, will only make him kind of hero or martyr against those bad bad angry vegans, you know what I mean?
I think the best way to fight a bad sarcasm back is with a good sarcasm or with irony.
What if we tweet to his account that we are those horrifying vegans and we are coming to his house with an army of calves and sweet little lambs to torture him until he becomes vegan for the love of them? lol now I'm just saying bullshit, but I hope I made my point clear.
Anyway these are the articles I wrote about being veg and why you should not be one and why you should actually be one! :)
PART I https://steemit.com/vegan/@thefranek/4-reasons-why-you-should-not-go-veg-and-the-only-reason-why-you-shouldn-t-actually-be-a-meat-eater-part-i
PART II https://steemit.com/vegan/@thefranek/4-reasons-why-you-should-not-go-veg-and-the-only-reason-why-you-shouldn-t-actually-be-a-meat-eater-part-ii
I liked your idea of counter sarcasm 😊 Please go ahead with that.
And now looking at your blog posts, I found that I had already read them. Thanks anyway to pointing me back there! Loved it.
Thanks @xzyashu! I'm happy you liked them. And I'll think about something for the counter sarcasm. VEGAN TERROR IS COMING 🌿🌿🌿 😂😂
Yeah, it may not be a big issue for you but for me, it is. And just like you said, I too have a right to my opinion. Don't I?
Yep!
But for me, I don't really being bothered by Andreas statement.
It gets me sick if I treat it as bad or not good or anything that's needs to be stop or something like that. I don't want to hurt my heart on that single statement which could easily passed through my other ear. I don't really care what's the opinion of other people, I respect all opinions. If I don't respect opinions, its my own loss because disrespecting is a negative behavior, I don't want that.
It's a wise stand to ignore all disturbing things going around you because there is so much of it all around us that we think we are better off ignoring it all. But may be it's not good in the long term ... the direction in which we are progressing as a society and as a civilization should be taken care of. But to each his own. Sometimes you won't react but there will definitely be a time when you will find yourself agitated.
But it's really cool of you to maintain equanimity all over. Hope you can do it all though your life. And then positively respond to situations (which could have been disturbing) without being agitated yourself. Being still and poised in all circumstances and yet doing what ought to be done is greatest virtue of all, IMHO.
Thank you and I like your comment. :)
Too much familiarity to something will lead to addiction which will ruin our purpose as a human being. Sometimes we focus much on the topic or shall we say for example, like the statement of Andreas, we tend to catch right away the negative word or statement that he said and we try to correct it, then it penetrates into our hearts then we express it through words or even actions. Then everybody knows it and they make their opinions about it then we read different views, we even shared it to our friends and families, then it scattered all over the entire universe. What's the effect? Bad reaction, bad behavior, different kinds of arguments. We're no longer aware of this because our mind are already covered with those thoughts and ideas because of that too much familiarity of that word or statement or comment that has been scattered all over the universe. It affects us all.
I respect vegans. Especially the people that have made it a life style. It takes a decent level of discipline and self control to change your habits. I know that developing self discipline can be stressful, just use that same level of discipline to not make someone else feel bad for what they're eating. If I'm out to eat with a friend. I don't mind what they choose to eat. I'll ignore the temptation to feel embarrassed if they have to customize their order. No this / extra that/ replace this with that. I'm fine with that, but please use that same discipline that enabled to discover your new lifestyle to catch your thoughts before they exit your mouth as my dish arrives at our table. I don't go out to eat much. I'm frugal aka broke. If I ordered a dish it's cause I like it. If we are out to eat together its obvious we have something else in common other lets talk about that instead.
Everyone knows they moment of bliss when your food arrives and it looks good and smells good and your about to discover if it taste as good as it looks. Don't rob someone of that moment, that's what their spending their hard earned money for. Some people just lack the self control to control What comes out your mouth. You have great control over what goes in. People will feel more comfortable around you and be more open to your ideas. :)
Good to learn that you respect vegans as well as all others. But I'd clarify one thing here. Veganism is not just about self-discipline but it's also about respecting the basic rights of survival for all sentient beings. So they don't care as long as the other person's personal choice does not make any significant impact on the lives of others but if someone is encroaching upon the right to life of some one else, then they take it as their moral duty to protest the act of offender.
And there is one more reason to be worried about. As non-smokers are worried about the adverse impact of passive smoking or the second-hand smoking on their and their environment's health, so is the habit of non-vegan (carnists) impacting the health of the environment adversely. So in a way a carnis is not only encroaching upon the right of another being, he/she is also taking away more share of common environment then he/she is entitled to (as we all share this planet and its environment with all others). This can be called "second-hand eating".
So I totally agree with you to not to rob someone of "that" precious moment ...and that moment means trading the whole life from someone! A life being robbed can not be ignored and certainly deserves more attention then a fun moment for some carnist.
Haha but yeah in the video he's not bashing vegans he's listing labels that the media uses to detach the listener and keep them from relating to someone. The media tries to label and classify people so we won't see as people but as ....
I read your post before watching the video.. hehe oops
Thanks for reading the post before watching the video .LOL!
But on a serious note, whether it's media or anyone, labeling vegans or Muslims or lesbians or anyone else for that matter is unjustified.
I never have seen a thing that evolvs only stupidy is a thing that is evolving.
Well said! Human stupidity has no bounds!
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