Jezebel 
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New York, 2:31 AM
Thu Nov 26
64 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/24/09
If you have the opportunity to do a bit of good in the world, you should do it. Just because I can't singlehandedly end world poverty doesn't mean I shouldn't make donations to groups who want to ease the suffering of some.
If you can reduce meat consumption from your diet, that's great. At the very least, you're definitely doing your part to help save the environment. And unless you live in the Arctic and hunt your own animals, you don't need a fur coat (I consider the fur industry to be one of the utmost cruelest thing one can contribute their money to).
11/24/09
I'm not a vegetarian but I deliberately reduce my meat/animal product consumption for environmental reasons. And I'm not perfect. I love the Peter Singer idea put forward in 'The Ethics of What We Eat'. Everyone has budget constraints and a history (personal and familial) that defines their eating but we can always do BETTER. Not be perfect, be better. So you try not to fuck up, but sometimes you do.
11/24/09
Any little thing we can due to ease the suffering we should do.
We aren't going to stop factory farms by not eating turkey on Thursday, but we may just get a few people thinking about what they are eating - not talking being preachy here, just by simple example. If not, that's ok too.
It'd be nice if people could see some of the images taken from fur factories prior to contributing to them.
Horrific!
Synthetic materials are getting better and better. We don't live on the tundra (most of us anyway) so that excuse is bunk. Plus there's heating in most every building these days.
11/24/09
11/23/09
I think, whatever way people try to live more ethically, is a positive thing. Whether it's being strict vegan, vegetarian, occasional meat eater, whatever. If we try to maintain some moral hierarchy then we've sort of lost the point. The point is to get more people actively involved in doing more ethical things, as a habit. Because even just not eating meat 2 days a week makes an impact. Which is what we need to focus on, not trying to make everyone do it the same way.
I don't need everyone else to be a vegetarian just because I am, nor do I feel like a superior person for doing so. Not everyone is going to stop eating meat and, so long as they don't try to force me to, I don't really care. It seems more useful, to me, to teach people how all of this stuff if interconnected and important so they'll make better decisions overall.
11/24/09
It's too bad about PETA, because I think their website is actually pretty informative, but I'd never point anyone there because of the (well-earned) PETA stigma.
11/23/09
So, righteous vegans, please step to the left over there with the Hasidim and the MMA fighters.
11/23/09
11/23/09
OF COURSE consumer choices are limited by class and access. The system responsible for factory farming is the very same one that makes people so poor that they can only buy shit to eat. They're only separate issues if your perspective of them is very narrow.
11/23/09
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11/23/09
So, if someone uses that fallacious argument ("but, there are more important issues!") just ask them:
"Oh yea, so what are you doing to prevent an asteroid strike?"
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#tips
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#tips
11/23/09
"One lapidary conclusion to be drawn here is that people take deadly seriously the prerogative to use animals as sources of satisfaction. Not only for food, but as beasts of burden, as raw materials and as sources of captive entertainment — which is the way animals are used in zoos, circuses and the like."
So...no more animals as beasts of burden? Why don't we just erase thousands of years of human progress? I see a huge difference between a bear on a leash in a circus and an ox pulling a plow on some subsistence farm in a developing country. Humans have been using animals since what, Ancient Mesopotamia and before? Domestication != mistreatment. (Oh, and the author has a pet cat.)
11/23/09
11/23/09
(She types as her cat sits there looking at her expectantly, demanding both food and cuddles in that order.)
11/23/09
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#tips
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#tips
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11/23/09
I don't like factory farming, either, but there are too many animals and not enough open space. I have lots of vegetarian and vegan friends, but I get so annoyed when people run around screaming "but the animals, but the animals!" without even considering the difficulties of fixing the system.
One vegan friend of mine was always trying to convince me to join her, but I was in ED recovery and my nutritionist and doctor wouldn't think of letting me risk protein or calcium deficiency. So, also don't forget about PEOPLE when considering the animals.
11/23/09
11/23/09
I learned a long time ago not to feel like a terrible person for accidentally using or consuming things that come from animals, because as this piece mentions, those by-products are sneaky mofos. They're in the things you'd least expect (like isinglass - wine, really??). My thing is to do everything I can to avoid perpetuating the cycle of animal suffering and exploitation, and if I happen to slip up, I feel better knowing that I've learned a lesson about what products to avoid. That's really all you can do.
11/23/09
11/23/09
And dude! I had no idea about bandaids and razors. WTF?! Does anyone have a vegan razor they recommend?
11/23/09
Vegan groceries to the rescue!
11/23/09
11/23/09
ETA: Holy shit! That place is in my town! I can go browse the aisles in person! Excellent! Loud noises!
11/23/09
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11/23/09
@bookling: I'm sure it isn't; but slaughterhouses are messy places, and it is only leftovers that make it into sausages, burgers, etc. Basically, I don't trust anything minced up. Not to worry - Hebrew National make the best dogs, anyway!
11/23/09
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11/23/09
I love vegans! I love moms! I don't care for annoying assholes.
11/23/09
11/23/09
As a person that has to live with a fairly strict adherence to a diet, I understand the challenge that vegans face. It's not the same thing, but I too cannot have cross contamination in my life. That said, I would much prefer either good manners or shuttingTFU.
11/23/09
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11/23/09
I take real issue with this statement because I think there's a widespread misconception that humans don't fall under the scope of animal rights. We're animals, and I believe just as strongly in human rights as I do non-human rights. All life is sacred, and all exploitation is interconnected.
So, I'm with you on the whole 'vegans who ignore human rights' thing - they're missing the point.
11/23/09
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#tips
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#tips
11/23/09
unless you were kidding....
11/23/09
"...shouldn't not killing those who are most like us be easier than not killing those who are not?"
"Comrade! Let us band together against the animals, for great justice!"
Yeah, I don't see that approach solving the Israeli/Palistine conflict anytime soon, sorry.
11/25/09
11/23/09
I eat meat, so I take the attitude that if an animal is going to die for me I should use as much of it and not waste anything. I don't believe that it's ethically wrong to kill an well cared for animal for food and clothing and by-products, but I would find it wrong to be wasteful with that animal. As my granny said when killing a pig...you should use everything but the oink.
However that doesn't mean you need to have meat with every single meal you eat. I'm trying to cut back for reduce my carbon footprint. I'm also probably not sounding very clear on my stance here either.
11/23/09
I love the idea of living off the land, of hunting and not wasting a bit of that animal, but that has no real world practicality right now, at least not if you're the average consumer. It's hard worrying about being an ethical consumer on top of monetary and personal problems and whatever else! Which is why I am a beegan.
Like, if I have a sore throat, you know I'm gonna down that honey. Or if I'm baking and out of agave. Fuck bees, get honey.
11/23/09
capitalist meat-production—in practice, and in the very, bottom-line nature of capital—don't use the whole animal. waste is enormous. and i bet the sheepskin in a regular pair of uggs did not come from a sheep that was made into mutton, or marbles, that the sinews weren't used, that nobody ate the brain, tongue or eyeballs (all edible).
i completely agree with the stance that _every_ animal life taken (and all the expensive resources that come along with raising that animal), should it be used in the service of human consumption, should be used in a way that reduces waste both of the animal and of those same resources. it is, absolutely, an ethical view to take. but i doubt that most people (kudos, though, if i'm wrong about your consumption habits) take those matters into their own hands. and since they don't, it means that they don't abide by this same ethical principle.
11/23/09
Recommend.
You don't always need meat. I say this as a somewhat ashamed lover of hot dogs.
11/23/09
Also, I'll never forget one day, about 1993, this woman came into the Tower Records I worked at, wearing leather head to toe, leather purse, shoes, belt, clothes, everything. On her purse was a large pin that said, "Save the Whales." Yeah, I thought, "Fuck the cows."
11/23/09
First and foremost, I want to know what I am buying.