Powerful vegan/vegetarian statements

[Essy Strudel]

I would like people to post powerful pro-vegan statements or literature here. Something you deeply relate to or have found particularly moving (possibly even turned you vegan) etc.

One of my favourites is apparently what Plutarch (Greek Historian 60AD - 120AD) said in defence of Pythagoras (mathematician and philosopher 580-572BC - 500-490BC) and his own vegetarian diet;


"Can you really ask what reason Pythagoras had for abstaining from flesh? For my part I rather wonder both by what accident and in what state of soul or mind the first man did so, touched his mouth to gore and brought his lips to the flesh of a dead creature, he who set forth tables of dead, stale bodies and ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived. How could his eyes endure the slaughter when throats were slit and hides flayed and limbs torn from limb? How could his nose endure the stench? How was it that the pollution did not turn away his taste, which made contact with the sores of others and sucked juices and serums from mortal wounds? It is certainly not lions and wolves that we eat out of self-defence; on the contrary, we ignore these and slaughter harmless, tame creatures without stings or teeth to harm us, creatures that, I swear, Nature appears to have produced for the sake of their beauty and grace. But nothing abashed us, not the flower-like like tinting of the flesh, not the persuasiveness of the harmonious voice, not the cleanliness of their habits or the unusual intelligence that may be found in the poor wretches. No, for the sake of a little flesh we deprive them of sun, of light, of the duration of life to which they are entitled by birth and being." - Plutarch


I find it reassuring that people have been able to see the facts for thousands of years:). Not so reassuring that lots of people still don't though!:mad:

[tsunami]

Wow that's really amazing and mind opening. Thanks for posting this.

[Stu]

Absolutely superb quotation. I'm keeping that one. Thanks!

[bryzee86]

Love it.

[eve]

"organisations are sending their members information about atrocities and asking for money, and then the next month they'd send them more atrocities stories, and it wasn't focused on changing anything. It was focused on generating outrage, as if outrage alone could be productive. ... "
Henry Spira

[RubyDuby]

what a great idea for a thread.

[Essy Strudel]

Thankyou everyone! Yes, I found the one by Plutarch quite moving. Please keep posting your thoughts on it, or something you personally find moving. It doesn't have to be by a famous person; (your best friend may have said or written something amazing etc). :)

[Zan]

That's a wonderful statement. Stunned into silence because I can't think of anything as powerful.

[clare155]

Wow thats a great quote - I always think it would be amazing to be able to put how you feel into a powerful statement like that - are there any good writers on this board?

[Zan]

"Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight". ~Albert Schweitzer

[Yaksongs]

My two all time favourite veggie/vegan quotes are:

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." -- Albert Einstein

I am always disturbed that this quote is almost unheard of outside the veggie community - it's like it is taboo. I mean it's only Albert Einstein .. only one of the greatest scientific mind to walk the planet - yet he is ignored by the masses in this respect - odd innit - particularly when so much effort is going into working out how to save the planet/environment

The 2nd is:
"You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car." -- Harvey Diamond

This also says so much about natural behaviour of a human vs. how we become brain washed by our parents, advertising & the media etc (accepting we weren't born into a vegan community)

Like the thread !

M

[Essy Strudel]

My two all time favourite veggie/vegan quotes are:

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." -- Albert Einstein

I am always disturbed that this quote is almost unheard of outside the veggie community - it's like it is taboo. I mean it's only Albert Einstein .. only one of the greatest scientific mind to walk the planet - yet he is ignored by the masses in this respect - odd innit - particularly when so much effort is going into working out how to save the planet/environment

The 2nd is:
"You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car." -- Harvey Diamond

This also says so much about natural behaviour of a human vs. how we become brain washed by our parents, advertising & the media etc (accepting we weren't born into a vegan community)

Like the thread !

M

Yes, it's interesting that all great vegetarians in history are recognised for everything except their vegetarianism! Just proves people pick and choose morals that suit their lifestyles, not ones that actually make a difference!

[RubyDuby]

I mean it's only Albert Einstein .. only one of the greatest scientific mind to walk the planet - yet he is ignored by the masses in this respect - odd innit - particularly when so much effort is going into working out how to save the planet/environment good point! I guess a lot of people think it's silly to think humans shouldnt eat animals... like that's just going too far. :rolleyes:


The 2nd is:
"You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car." -- Harvey Diamond

I tried using that on somebody once and they made the point that babies don't eat apples either. Any point can be argued if u try hard enough. Some people just don't want to "get it".

if u want some more good ones theres another thread with quotes here: http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=377736#post377736

and vegan comebacks here: http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=389903#post389903

[Yaksongs]

Yes, it's interesting that all great vegetarians in history are recognised for everything except their vegetarianism! Just proves people pick and choose morals that suit their lifestyles, not ones that actually make a difference!

Yes - that's very true. I actually almost got on Radio 4 last week on the back of my crusade to highlight the Einstein quote.

I was listening to some appalling old hag on the radio (farmers wife) who was going on about what a shame it was that her light lambs were having to be burned (light lambs meaning that they had to stay up on the hills during the recent FMD movement restrictions & now these are lifted they haven't had a chance to fatten them up for slaughter etc). She said it was terrible to see their little sweet faces & then to think of them being burned. She thought it would be much better to send them to Mediterranean countries where she explained the people cook a whole or sometimes a half of a lamb in a pot ! - Even the presenter said, but it doesn't make much difference to the lamb surely - oh it does, she retorted, getting angry, it's so much nicer for them to be used to benefit the people...

Incensed, I e mailed radio 4 to say that if I was a lamb & the choice was to die here, or be shipped on an appalling journey, scared out of my mind & then be killed in a foreign abattoir where they didn't even have the same levels of regulation that we do in this country (not that ours are great) I would choose option 1. Then I went on about Albert's quote & also on about no-one wanting to talk about the fact that livestock farming contributes more greenhouse gasses than the whole of the transport industry etc etc & hit send.

Next day, they call me on the mobile & ask to do an interview for the you & yours program. I said OK, but suggested they talk to Fiona, my partner as she is 10 times more eloquent than me & quicker witted in an interview situation - so they called her & did the interview - but decided not to run with it. Why? because they didn't like what she said when they asked her about the meat industry & the point she made about not needing to eat meat to be healthy etc - they came back with "But what about these people's livelihoods? have you considered what it would be like to loose your livelihood? - Fiona's response was, Yes - her dad was a miner (which he was)& he went on strike & never worked again. What of the Steel workers? The car industry in the UK? - Didn't see many farmers standing shoulder to shoulder with the miners in solidarity during their industries demise... - they didn't like that !! Typical bloody radio 4

Still - I'll continue my crusade

M

[Yaksongs]

good point! I guess a lot of people think it's silly to think humans shouldnt eat animals... like that's just going too far. :rolleyes:

I tried using that on somebody once and they made the point that babies don't eat apples either. Any point can be argued if u try hard enough. Some people just don't want to "get it".



I guess it depends on the age of the baby !! - perhaps toddler is a more appropriate word as they do eat apples !

By the way where is lala land exactly?

M

[RubyDuby]

Incensed, I e mailed radio 4 to say that if I was a lamb & the choice was to die here, or be shipped on an appalling journey, scared out of my mind & then be killed in a foreign abattoir where they didn't even have the same levels of regulation that we do in this country (not that ours are great) I would choose option 1. Then I went on about Albert's quote & also on about no-one wanting to talk about the fact that livestock farming contributes more greenhouse gasses than the whole of the transport industry etc etc & hit send.

Next day, they call me on the mobile & ask to do an interview for the you & yours program. I said OK, but suggested they talk to Fiona, my partner as she is 10 times more eloquent than me & quicker witted in an interview situation - so they called her & did the interview - but decided not to run with it. Why? because they didn't like what she said when they asked her about the meat industry & the point she made about not needing to eat meat to be healthy etc - they came back with "But what about these people's livelihoods? have you considered what it would be like to loose your livelihood? - Fiona's response was, Yes - her dad was a miner (which he was)& he went on strike & never worked again. What of the Steel workers? The car industry in the UK? - Didn't see many farmers standing shoulder to shoulder with the miners in solidarity during their industries demise... - they didn't like that !! Typical bloody radio 4

Still - I'll continue my crusade

M

of course they didn't :mad: Why did they bother wasting your time? The media is infuriating.



By the way where is lala land exactly?


Los Angeles. appropriate nickname :rolleyes:

[Yaksongs]

Los Angeles. appropriate nickname :rolleyes:

Oh - you mean this isn't you then? http://www.inlalaland.com/

[RubyDuby]

haha, no. I almost wish!

[sandra]

[quote=RubyDuby;390408]I tried using that on somebody once and they made the point that babies don't eat apples either. Any point can be argued if u try hard enough. Some people just don't want to "get it".


This is true RubyDuby, but if you make the baby a 2 or 3 year old..........they would eat the apple! :)

[RubyDuby]

a 2 year old is a baby?? no!
can't babies eat solids at 4 or 5 months? or whenever they get teeth (I'm very baby ignorant)
besides, the person wasn't really trying to hear what i was saying anyway. i was shocked at how reasonable his response was actually!!

[sandra]

I thought you meant the person was trying to say a baby 'couldn't' eat the apple............so I thought if you made the child old enough to eat solid food people couldn't use that argument! :)
You are right a child from about 1 year old can eat any food (except nuts which they might choke on).
That's the mother in me coming out again! I'm such a worrier! :D

[Yaksongs]

I just thought of something - what if the rabbit eats the apple first & the baby gets cross? oh dear this is all going south - eheh

What about making it a mango? - No, not an Apple & a Mango silly...

[sandra]

:D

[Essy Strudel]

What's wrong with a mango?:confused: I'm pretty sure a 9 month old would figure out how to eat a mango before he considered eating the rabbit.;) That's not the point though, the point is, if you leave a kid with a plant based food and a live animal, it's not going to eat the latter!:) Omni's that pick the statement apart are just being obtuse!:mad:

[Yaksongs]

What's wrong with a mango?:confused: I'm pretty sure a 9 month old would figure out how to eat a mango before he considered eating the rabbit.;) That's not the point though, the point is, if you leave a kid with a plant based food and a live animal, it's not going to eat the latter!:) Omni's that pick the statement apart are just being obtuse!:mad:

Absolutely ! - nothings wrong with a mango btw, some of my best friends are mango's - I was just being silly...for a change...:D