Life is Equal
Life is life, all is important, and should be valued equally. Unfortunately, the world we live in today strives on the killing, and cruelty to/of animals. At the top of the list, for food. An animal is just an animal right? Who cares if they die, it doesn't effect me... that however, is incorrect. On top of the fact that it's disgusting, horrible, and inhumane, the methods used in factory farming to raise these animals, to dispose of their feces, to MURDER them for food, etc. is EXTREMELY harmful to the environment and your very own body.
You have most likely seen animal rights Nazis, and thought to yourself "what the hell... psycho much?" and dismiss everything you've heard or seen from them. When really, you should be digging deeper. There's a REASON they're out there, there's a REASON that people like that exist. All that I ask is for you to read and watch the information below, without judgment, and decide for yourself if you want to continue living such a damaging life style. Thank you.
Meet Your Meat
Dairy Secrets Revealed
The Vegan Philosophy
The Philosophy of Vegan Values
This is the text of the video above.
The term "Vegan" is often used to mean a set of basic values and attitudes toward life, nature and society. In this sense Veganism is a "Philosophy of Life," guided by an essential core of values and principles: Vegans see life as phenomenon to be treasured, revered, and respected. We do not see animals as either "the enemy" to be subdued, or the materials for Food, Fabric, or Fun who were put on earth for humans to use.
Vegans see themselves as a part of the natural world rather than it's owners or it's masters. Veganism recognizes no expendable or superfluous species that humans are free to hurt or destroy. Species or life forms need not justify their existence, nor plead for protection from extinction on the grounds of their potential usefulness, as food or medicine for humans. We continue to be burdened and misguided by adages such as, "a weed is a plant we have not yet found use for.".
Veganism acknowledges the intrinsic legitimacy of all life. It rejects any hierarchy of acceptable suffering among sentient creatures. It is no more acceptable to torment or kill creatures with "primitive nervous systems" than those with "highly developed nervous systems.". The value of life to its possessor is the same, wether it be the life of a clam, a crayfish, a carp, a cow, a chicken, or a child.
Veganism understands that gentleness cannot be a product of violence, harmony cannot be a product of strife, and peace cannot be a product of contention and conflict. Vegan ideals encompass much more than advocacy of a diet free of animal products, or a fervent defense of animal rights. Veganism excludes no sentient being-animal or human - from it's commitment to compassionate gentle benevolence. To show tender regard for the suffering of animals yet treat humans with callous contempt, is a disheartening contradiction of Vegan principles.
Every time we bend down to pick something up, it is connected to something else. There is an equivalent "ecology" to our behavior. Everything we do connects to something else; every action touches on the world around us either close at hand and noticeable, or far away and unperceived, immediate in it's effect or distant in time. If Veganism has a prime value, it is simply that life-respecting compassion overrides individual issues of custom convenience, comfort, or cuisine.
If there is a single article of faith, it is that commitment to Vegan values will bring us closer to a world in which the fate and fortune of a planet and all it's life forms do not hang on the judgment or the generosity of one species. If there is one single concept that both generates and sustains to the meaning and the power of the Vegan world-view, it is found in the world mindfulness.
As Vegans, we strive to be thoughtful, aware and concerned the impact of our choices, our actions, and our decisions. The fruit of this awareness is inner peace, and the quiet strength of ethical confidence, and an uplifting sense of fulfillment. "The Four Immeasurable" May all sentient beings have happiness and it's causes, may all sentient beings be free of suffering and it's causes, may all sentient beings never be separated from bliss that is without suffering, may all sentient beings live in equanimity, free of bias, attachment and anger.
The Philosophy of Vegan Values by Dr S M Sapon.
Vegetarian Quotes
His Holiness The XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet, 1935-
I do not see any reason why animals should be slaughtered to serve as human diet when there are so many substitutes. After all, man can live without meat. It is only some carnivorous animals that have to subsist on flesh. Killing animals for sport, for pleasure, for adventures, and for hides and furs is a phenomenon which is at once disgusting and distressing.
The Vegetarian Way, 1967
Doris Day, 1927-2004-
Killing an animal to make a coat is a sin. It wasn't meant to be and we have no right to do it. A woman gains great status when she refuses to see anything beautiful killed to be put on her back. Then she's truly beautiful!
Isadora Duncan, 1878-1927-
Who loves this terrible thing called War? Probably the meat-eaters, who having killed, feel the need to kill... The butcher with his bloody apron incites bloodshed, murder. Why not? From cutting the throat of a calf to cutting the throats of our brothers and sisters is but a step. While we are ourselves the living graves of murdered animals, how can we expect any ideal conditions on Earth?
Quoted in The Indelible Complex, by Carol Adams
Chrissie Hynde, 1951-
The way I feel about [eating meat] is, if you're going to kill someone's child and eat it, you might as well kill your own child and eat it. I mean, I'm a mother. I know. I have a pretty good idea of the kind of emotions that it would put me through to have somebody take my baby away from me. Now why, as even a remotely sensitive creature, would I wish to inflict that kind of suffering on any other creature - be it human or whatever?... There's no way anyone who has humanity or any compassion can stand here and take a calf away from its mother and think that's all right.
Interview reported in Vegetarian Times, September 1987
Glenda Jackson, 1936-
No one really needs a mink coat in this world... except minks.
From a syndicated newspaper interview
Franz Kafka, 1883-1924-
Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you any more.
Reported remark made while admiring fish in an aquarium
Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865-
I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.
Complete Works
Plutarch, c.46-c.120 A.D.-
I, for my part, wonder of what sort of feeling, mind or reason, that man was possessed who was first to pollute his mouth with gore and to allow his lips to touch the flesh of a murdered being; who spread his table with the mangled forms of dead bodies, and claimed as daily food and dainty dishes what but now were beings endowed with movement, with perception and with voice.
Moralia
Anna Sewell, 1820-1878-
My doctrine in this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.
Black Beauty
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, 1828-1910-
A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetites. And to act so is immoral.
On Civil Disobedience
John Austin Baker, Bishop of Salisbury, 1928-
Christians, then, who close their minds and hearts to the cause of animal welfare and the evil it seeks to combat are ignoring the fundamental spiritual teaching of Christ himself. They are also refusing the role in the world for which God gave us brains and our moral sense, to be God's agents to look after the world in the divine Spirit of wisdom and love. As we know, Christians like others are apt to justify leaving animal welfare aside on the ground that human needs are more urgent. We must hammer home that love is indivisible. It is not 'either-or', it is 'both-and', because a society that cannot find the moral energy to care about gross animal suffering and exploitation will do little better about human need.
Sermon in Salisbury Cathedral, 4 October 1986, World Day of Prayers for Animals
Brigitte Bardot, 1934-
I gave my beauty and youth to men. Now I am giving my wisdom and experience - the best of me - to animals.
Quoted during auction of her property in aid of animal protection
"Put any label (kosher, free range, organic, etc) you want on it, but at the end of the day, how could any compassionate person eat the body of a tortured animal for no good reason? Taste is not an excuse."
Hunger Statistics
Number of people worldwide who will die as a result of malnutrition this year: 20 million.
Number of people who could be adequately fed using land freed if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 100 million.
Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 80.
Percentage of oats grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 95.
How frequently a child dies as a result of malnutrition: every 2.3 seconds.
Pounds of potatoes that can be grown on an acre: 40,000.
Pounds of beef produced on an acre: 250.
Percentage of U.S. farmland devoted to beef production: 56.
Pounds of grain and soybeans needed to produce a pound of beef: 16.
User of more than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S.: livestock production.
Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25.
Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of California beef: 5,000.
Years the world's known oil reserves would last if every human ate a meat-centered diet: 13.
Years they would last if human beings no longer ate meat: 260.
Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78.
To get 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2.
Environmental Statistics
Cause of global warming: greenhouse effect
Primary cause of greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels
Fossil fuels needed to produce meat-centered diet vs. a meat-free diet: 3 times more
Percentage of U.S. topsoil lost to date: 75
Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly related to livestock raising: 85
Number of acres of U.S. forest cleared for cropland to produce meat-centered diet: 260 million
Amount of meat imported to U.S. annually from Central and South America: 300,000,000 pounds
Percentage of Central American children under the age of five who are undernourished: 75
Area of tropical rainforest consumed in every quarter-pound of rainforest beef: 55 square feet
Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rainforests for meat grazing and other uses: 1,000 per year
Resources
GoVeg - Free Vegetarian Starter Kit
The Vegetarian Resource Group
Caring Consumer - Guide to Kind Living
Peta2 - Get Involved
Companies That Do/Don't Test on Animals
The ASPCA
If you would like to suggest a website you find to be helpful in animal rights, vegetarianism/veganism, etc. please feel free to send me a message.
Making A Difference
This spot will contain information on different events the group will do to help spread awareness, etc. about animal cruelty and many other related subjects.
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