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Thread: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

  1. #101
    Blueshark
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I was ignorant, complacent, then in denial and then I confronted the truth and was free.

  2. #102
    peaches22's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    First, I was too young. Then, my controling mother wouldn't let me. Then, I moved in with my dad, and I became vegetarian, then vegan.

  3. #103
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I was kidding myself that there was no suffering involved.

    I was talking about people eating meat and not being 'enlightened' to some vegetarian friends. One of them casually said "I guess that's how vegans feel about vegetarians" and I realised how blinkered I had been.

    I was lucky enough to live in a vegetarian only house at the time. Had I lived where I do now I probably wouldn't have been having those sorts of conversations.

  4. #104
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I can relate to all the reasons given above.

    I can't quite believe I remained so ignorant for so long. I wish someone had enlightened me years ago - I know I would have listened.

  5. #105
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I don't think I've replied to this -

    Well I was too young when I first thought veganism was good at about 7 maybe, then I became a vegetarian for lent i think a few years back, then I stopped drinking much milk or anything, then i went vegan, turned back vegetarian for reasons of my own then vegan again.
    "It's not that people suddenly start breeding like rabbits; it's just that people stopped dropping like flies" - population explosion

  6. #106
    Pilaf
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I didn't know any better...I grew up being lied to.

  7. #107

    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I know I'm probably a "wuss" or something, but I've never been able to stomach watching something like "meet your meat." I became mostly vegetarian after just hearing about how animals were treated and, as many of you stated, thought that dairy and eggs were OK because no animal died. Well, I should say that I was in denial about dairy and eggs since I had seen part of a news show that showed the rotten eggs and male chicks being squished (actually, on the special, the chick they showed was "missed" by the crusher thing ) and my uncle, who used to work in the Agriculture Department tried to tell me about the dairy industry--though he was trying to convince me that being a vegetarian was useless. Then I stopped eating even occasional fish after seeing Finding Nemo. Finally, after my mom's cardiac bypass surgery, I started reading about diet and found The China Study, which outlines how dairy is actually at least as culpable in disease as meat and eggs: that being vegan is the healthiest way to be. Once I started reading, I lost my denial about how the dairy industry treats cows and how it does end up in cows being killed--once their milk production stops and their male calves--as well as the egg and honey industries. So I was in denial and now I'm not and I feel much better about it
    When you are guided by compassion and loving-kindness, you are able to look deeply into the heart of reality and see the truth.--Thich Nhat Hanh

  8. #108
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    That's so true about denial! I figured to research the dairy industry would leave me with nothing to eat...so I pretended nothing happens to dairy cows and the chicks from hen houses.

    I keep seeing people post about The China Study. I'm going to have to look that up!
    Call me Candi! :D

    Also, add me on your MySpace account! http://www.myspace.com/vegancandi :)

  9. #109
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    i was thinking about this the other day, because i remember when i was 14 slagging off a friend for being veggie, saying it wasn't natural etc, because of what i'd been told by family. i feel awful thinking back and i think the main reason is ignorance. then i became veggie from 15 and had been one for 6 years. i wasn't aware of what really went on, if i'd seen pictures and was fully aware i'd have been vegan sooner. i've only just become vegan (4 months) and i wouldn't go back, i know too much now. i feel so bad that i wasn't vegan for longer. i want to raise any children i have as vegan so they can be enlightened from birth

  10. #110

    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    Sylkan I am so glad you brought that up. I am a type O and my homeopathic doctor (who is vegetenarian btw) insisted I give up my vegan ways and eat meat. All based on this book about blood types!

    I really have never liked meats at all. At first with me it was not because of animal cruelty...sorry to say. I grew up on a farm and my parents raised and slaughtered animals regularly...it had been that way for their parents and so on for as far back as anyone could remember. For some reason though I always gravitated to the veggies and would not eat meat unless forced to...it just seemed to hurt me. Back then I didn't even know such a thing as vegan even existed..ignorance. I was to young to realize that there were other ways of living in harmony with nature and myself.

    I was very excited and happy to find that there were others like me as I continued to grow and learn. Or I should say I am because I am still growing and learning. There is a wealth of resources now it seems and no reason I can see to eat meat or hurt an animal for my own pleasure.

    BTW now I am looking for a new homeopathic doctor.

  11. #111

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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    [QUOTE=Jane M] I am a type O and my homeopathic doctor (who is vegetenarian btw) insisted I give up my vegan ways and eat meat. All based on this book about blood types!

    There is a lot of controversy about the blood type diet so I wouldn't be overly concerned.
    Don't blame me for avian flu :(

  12. #112
    VeganLiz
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I went vegan at 20 when I met vegans at university who showed me vegetarianism wasn't friendly to animals. Before that i didn't even know calves were taken from their mothers and killed so we could drink milk!

    Liz

  13. #113
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    Quote VeganLiz
    I went vegan at 20 when I met vegans at university who showed me vegetarianism wasn't friendly to animals. Before that i didn't even know calves were taken from their mothers and killed so we could drink milk!

    Liz
    That's the frustrating thing kids (& even teenagers) are shielded from so much.
    For instance, would they really continue to eat those gooey sweets, such as cola bottles, if they knew they contained boiled down animal remains?
    Or if they were made aware that farms are nolonger like those shown in childrens story books - perhaps they'd all stop eating animals!

  14. #114

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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    At first, I didn't think I had the willpower, and it took me a while to shake off the "you need eggs and dairy" conditioning. Once I researched the nutrition, and found out that hypoglycemics can do fine on a vegan diet, there wasn't any other choice to make. It was only afterward that I found out, thanks to yummy subsitute products, I can still have all my old favorites.

  15. #115
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I became vegetarian at 13, as soon as I really became aware of the connection between a sheep in a field and the lamb on my plate. I always thought being vegan would be too hard, and I never thought to research the dairy industry (assuming that because the animals didn't die, it would be ok).

    It was only just before Christmas that I finally did a bit more research and realised what a fool I'd been all these years. I can only equate it to a religious experience, I feel like I've been enlightened, and now I can never go back. I don't crave any dairy products at all, becoming vegan has been the easiest transistion I could have imagined. I'm just ashamed I buried my head in the sand for so long, and didn't do it sooner.

  16. #116
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I 'realised' at about age 7 someting wasn't right about meat, but I didn't know about vegetarians and thought I just had to eat meat. At 13 I went vegetarian. When I met my husband he ate meat, but turned veggie just a few months later. He said my just not eating meat was enough to make him realise he didn't want to eat it either.
    We went vegan a couple of months ago.
    Up untill recently I thought cows just made milk anyway, I had no idea that they are constantly inpregnated duh!!! Then a couple of years ago I met an animal rights activist and I went on a few demo's with him. He told me he was vegan and when I realised the truth I was horrified but too lazy to change my habits. Then I went to a local vegan food fayre run by the activist I just mentioned. The food was delicious and my husband and I realised once and for all we had absoultely no excuses. We started eating more and more vegan meals, swapped our milk, yoghurts etc and we are almost vegan. I say almost because we still have some leather belts and shoes that we can't afford to throw out. I also use sudocream on my daughter and I recently had a steriod injection when my hand siezed up with arthritis.

  17. #117

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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I was vegetarian for many years, then began to eat organic meats when I visited my parents - they live in a rural area and it felt good to support the farming families, many of whom are passionate about making changes. I went along like this for some years until it became impossible to continue kidding myself that organic farms are happy, fun-filled earth-bound answers to Arcadia. I don't think that all meat is categorically murder. I do however think that all the meat commercially available to us at the present certainly is, organic or not.

  18. #118
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    Its difficult to be direct when it comes down to why or why we shouldnt eat meat. Guess meat producing is an industry where farmers make profit as they have bein doing for generations. Consumers think meat and other animal products are vital for health and cheaper then vegan products apparently.... The debate between reformists and activists is endless.

    At the the end of the day animals have us vegans and veges if they didnt i can imagine there will more reduced numbers of endangered animals out there.

    Its easier to cope with animal suffering if you are surrounded by at leat one vegan friend, coz when your not i guess it drives you insane.

  19. #119
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    Default Re: my thoughts

    Quote Unregistered
    sometimes i ask myself the question you've asked above - Why aren't these people vegan? They're intelligent, educated, opinionated. What is happening?
    i've been vegan for about 3 weeks...before that i was washing down my bacon sandwiches with meatshakes

    the catalyst? one accidental viewing of "meet your meat" the decision was instant

    but here i am - 36, intelligent, well-read, relatively liberal, and most of all compassionate...so what the hell took me so long? Answer - the information was never placed in front of me and i never sought it out...simple as that really.

    The issue never gets any positive or constructive media coverage, so people are walking around in the world open to the idea (like myself) but never make the change because the information never finds it's way into their laps.

    I even have 3 friends who are Vegan, but they've always avoided the subject like the plague. Now they're kicking themselves in the nuts wondering if they could have converted me years ago.

    I'm wondering the same thing. I really don't know if a verbal discussion of the issue would have converted me, and i kind of doubt it. Verbal discussions with me are often objective, distant, logical discussions of abstract concepts. And when things get argumentative, people sometimes feel entrenched, lose objectivity, and take up the opposing arguments like they were actually their own...when really they aren't...they're more-or-less playing devil's advocate, but don't recognize it because they're being defensive.

    Now a verbal discussion of the issue and a followup email with some links to online information would have probably convinced me.

    Anyhow it's an interesting study, because we all know damn well that there's a whole world full of compassionate, intelligent meat eaters out there that would be willing to go vegan if only we could figure out how to present the information to them.
    Viva Vegan!

  20. #120
    FR
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I’d say complete ignorance on my part. I did not think about what I was eating too much, although I was picky as all hell. The first 18 years of my life I ate the same things over and over pretty much. Then I went lacto-vegetarian (eeeew, gross, I know), again still being ignorant. Then all of the sudden I woke up a little over six years ago and stopped eating that crap, too. After becoming vegan, I began consuming a much larger variety of foods and eating has never been easier. We have thousands of choices and are the most creative eaters in the world.

  21. #121

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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    It really is a lack of information, within our society. If people don't know about it then how can they make a conscientious decision on where they stand in the issue.


    When you're growing up, nobody informs you that the meat you just ate has steroids in it, or the detergent you put in your washing machine is not only bad for the enviroment but at the expense of a living, breathing animal.
    ▼Laurin▼

  22. #122

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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I ate meat because I didn't know it was a dead animal. I was a bit thick. I never once made the connection between the food "lamb" and the animal "lamb". Or "chicken leg" and "the leg of a chicken".

    I knew fish was dead fish so I wouldn't eat it. I knew seafood was living creatures so I wouldn't eat any, was horrified at the idea of eating mussells etc.

    I ate eggs and milk for 2 years after I became vegetarian because I didn't know there was anything wrong with them. You don't kill the cow or the hen to get them so I couldn't understand why people were vegan. I had read the Enid Blyton farm books endlessly when I was little so I thought cows and hens lived cosy happy lives and the calves drank their share of the milk, and the farmer took the rest by hand. Somebody told me that the cows want to be milked, and if they're not, the weight of the milk is uncomfortable to them, and they come to the milking parlous and moo and complain until they're milked.

    Soon as I read the vegan literature, telling the truth about milk and eggs I stopped consuming them.

    Most people, meateaters and vegetarians alike, genuinely don't know.

  23. #123
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    True, and maybe even more important: many people who knows, just don't focus on these things. Maybe they are vegan/vegetarian for a while, but then they get a new girlfriend or move to another city or don't have time to teach themselves how to make tasty veg*n food, and just lose focus. They know what they need to know, they feel it's wrong, but consciously or unconsciously don't focus on what they know and what they feel is right.

  24. #124
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    Default Re: Why are you vegan! Or is it 'Why AREN'T you vegan?'

    [quote=kriz]


    5, I was a vegetarian for a few years... I didn't feel good... and my
    doctor told me to start eating fish.

    quote]

    The one I really hate is "I used to be vegan but I got really sick and my doctor told me to start eating meat."

    When I ask why they got so sick they say "Oh, well actually I wasn't really eating anything. I was an anorexic teenager."

    Shockingly I have heard this one 2-3 times.

    Well, to be honest I have had the same problem, which is probably why it bothers me so much but I have gotten past it and I wish others would too rather than tell people that veganism made them sick. I certainly never told others that.

  25. #125
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    Talking Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    Quote Shisha Fiend

    Anyway then I bought this book about all different sorts of animal cruelty and found otu the whole deal with eggs, milk, wool, and everything else. And I told my mum I wanted to go vegan and she said it was unhealthy and that I had to wait till I was 16 at which point I could do what I liked as she was no longer responsible. So I persuaded her that I could at least give up eggs, and I gave up eggs, wool, and all other sorts of animal products- till I turned 16 and then I gave up dairy too, and became a vegan.

    So the initial reason was ignorance, and then parental pressure not to.
    When I was 14 I read about how they keep chickens in little cages and clip their beaks. I clearly remember walking with my mom in the super market and somehow the subject came up and she totally degraded me to the point that I cried. Like I just had the most ridiculous ideas. I didn't become vegan until I was 17 (different situation, more idependent at the time) at which point my mom went out and bought me all kinds of icecream and muffin mixes which took milk. All of which remained untouched

    One more before I go Hehehehehe

  26. #126

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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    Yes I hate that.

    It happens a lot with the raw food diet too. People don't eat properly, get grossly deficient and then blame the fact the food is raw. If they were eating the same foods cooked they'd be even more deficient!

  27. #127
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    Default Re: Why aren't other people vegan?

    Quote kokopelli
    I agree coconut, if schoolchildren were taken to slaughterhouses as part of the curriculum, meat-eating would be brought to a speedy end.

    And if people saw the baby male calves being taken away from their distraught crying mothers, fattened up and slaughtered, they'd soon go off milk too. Especially if they got to see the state of the average dairy farm, running with excrement, the snotty-nosed cows limping with shit-coated udders through the grim industrial farmyard, pissing over one another and the quadbike riding dairyman. I just witnessed that scene yet again, this afternoon...milking time.
    My dear father, who (I realize now in my old age) was actually supportive of my vegetarianism when I was growing up; made an interesting comment the other day. We had gone to taco bell on the way to visit family, and I ordered chalupas with beans *growls appreciatively* And some sort of burrito. Anyway, the burrito was mixed up and had cheese on it. I hadn't told dad I was vegan yet and offered it to him, saying I wasn't hungry. Somehow it got out that I didn't want it because it had cheese (even though I had just eaten two chalupas, which, if you are not aware, are Fried ). He says to me, gently and with some amazement "You don't want this burrito because there is cheese on it?" (Have I mentioned I come from a long line of farmers?) He then tells me, with all innocence, that cows like to be milked because otherwise their udders will swell up." Like he believed it. I was a bit flabbergasted, both by his initial support (in tone) and by the fact that he would make such an ignorant statement. I stuttered about the fact that her udders wouldn't be swollen if they hadn't sold her calf to the veal industry. He appeared thoughtful and maybe a bit suprised that this had occured to me, said something along the lines of "That is true, but.." but of course nothing reasonable could have followed that statement so I don't even remember it.
    However, like I said, I'm old now and I can remember my dad buying me mock crab not knowing it was fish. Mostly it was my mother that was off about the whole thing. Big animal lover too, would go to the pound and cry.
    Oh one other thing (back on topic) we stopped at a grocery store and I scoped it out (something I enjoy) finding no tofu or icecream but I found some soymilk (had the oppurtunity to witness to the cashier too ).
    Later grandma sees me pull it out and says "I have a gallon of milk already in there." I tell her that it is soymilk and come around to asking her if she would like to try it. She says "No, I don't like milk." Very odd, she actually doesn't like milk. You should hear her rant about "Dirty cows with their dirty bags" etc(farmers, the lot of them) Seems like soymilk would be her thing. Anyway I left it in her fridge when I left.

  28. #128
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    Why wasn't I vegan before? Because I was stupid. Because I believed everything everyone told me. Because my eyes were closed - willingly and habitually - to the consequences of my actions. Because I thought I would be healthy forever, and that nothing could harm me. Because I believed I was nice and gentle and kind to animals. Because, until I opened my eyes, I never knew the absolute horror I committed every day of my life. And I can never go back.

    Most humans today should be ashamed of themselves, and I pride myself on being separate from the breast-milk engorging, unfertilized ovary swallowing, slave-driving, murdering herd.


  29. #129
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I've never really enjoyed food, and used to binge all the time just so I felt full.

    After being very ill I looked into food and health, and was amazed at what I saw. Becoming Vegan was the most natural thing for me to do.

    Therefore I wasn't Vegan because I didn't know any better.

  30. #130

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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    Why wasn't I vegan before I became vegan? Because I was an idiot.

    Somehow I never equated my eating dairy and eggs as being bad for animals. I started thinking about becoming vegan and said I wanted to but I kept wondering how I'd be able to do all the baking I liked to do. (As I've already said, IDIOT)

    When I made the connection in my mind that "I can't eat this because it is hurting animals" I was able to stop immediately. It wasn't enough to know that dairy/eggs wasn't healthy for me. I cared more about the effect my choices had on animals.

    Every event in my family for holidays or special occasions was accompanied by a long dessert table filled with all sorts of junk. I would happily dig in and even though a little voice in my head said "that's not good for you" I ignored it. Then when I decided to go vegan and found myself at a family event the voice in my head said "that is hurting animals" and I wasn't even tempted to eat anything. All the goodies didn't look so good anymore.

    So as spjessop says above, I wasn't vegan because I didn't know any better.


  31. #131
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    Default Re: Why aren't other people vegan?

    I think I didn't go vegan sooner because I have been ill for so long and was unsure if a healthy vegan diet would be obtainable and wasn't sure if the diet change would help or hinder my health. Luckily my husband is great at cooking me healthy nutritious meals. My health has taken a dip since going vegan but I don't think it's related.

    Quote Haniska
    He then tells me, with all innocence, that cows like to be milked because otherwise their udders will swell up." Like he believed it. I was a bit flabbergasted, both by his initial support (in tone) and by the fact that he would make such an ignorant statement.
    Actually your father isn't as ignorant as you think. Often cows will produce more milk than is needed for one calf. When this happens (non dairy cows) the cow has to be milked manually (which they do enjoy if their udder's too full & they don't have any mastitis) or a second calf has to be bought from the market. Still doesn't excuse the cruelty of mass produced milk but is an important point when trying to argue your point with a farmer!

  32. #132
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I had blindly assumed that all vegans were alittle bit mad. I hadn't really thought deeply about my choices and had gone along doing what everyone else did. I met my husband when I was 17, married at 21 and just fitted in to his life. I didn't question anything.

    I had always been interested in vegetarianism, but I just ignored my feelings for a long time. Last September I met up with a friend from uni who was vegan and when I read all about it I couldn't believe I had been so blind. I spent a few months being half-heartedly vegan, but now I am as vegan as I can be. I make mistakes and sometimes suffer the most horrendous cravings , but I am doing okay.

  33. #133

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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    Why wasn't I a vegan before I became vegan?

    Well, simply put....I was a meat addict. I thought that every meal had to have meat in it. And there were very few veggies that I really liked (or so I thought). But thinking like that not only contributed to the needless suffering of thousands of animals everywhere, but also caused me to gain weight and become obese. I'm still fat, quite honestly. But I am working to lose that as well. It's not easy to lose weight on a fat-filled meat diet. But it will be much easier now that I am a vegan.

    By the way, I only decided to become a vegan about 4 days ago so I am quite new at this.

  34. #134
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    When I was a vegetarian, and I heard about vegans, I thought:

    "Wow, those people are so stupid. What is it, some kind of superior act?
    "I don't even eat things that Come from animals"
    As if they think that milk is the same thing as lard! Hahaha! Fools!"
    it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble

  35. #135
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I had yet to conceive or to encounter a conception of the ethical universe which provided a meaningful and logical valuation of life not on the basis of contractualism and civil society but on the basis of underlying quantifiable principles of worth and interest.

    Without any bioethical premises, one can merely take a constitutionalist view of society, wherein we agree that it is our responsibility to seek to arrive at a concensus regarding the valuation of the interests of such beings as are able to participate in the generation of that concensus regarding inherent rights. This does not help us decide what to do about beings who cannot express their interests, much less participate in the creation of a view of mutual justice. Consequently, people without a larger conception of the ethical universe than is provided by social concensus may be vegan, but are primarily carnivorous, as it is not within the powers of any other animals to participate in concensus-building activity which would result in the valuation of their existence.

    Nevertheless, this is where most people stop, as far as ethical views go. In fact, frankly, many vegans don't have any sort of meaningful conception of their bioethical premises either. Many folks like to just throw around the word "rights" however they feel necessary to signify whatever cause they happen to value, without perceiving a need to found that valuation in anything more fundamental. "Rights" are merely a tenet of constitutionalist society. All well and good if you believe them to have deeper ethical foundations and believe a concensus on them to be possible. But without deeper ethical foundations, it's just a word used to describe a principle of just behaviour on which society has agreed. Why a "right" is perceived to exist has to matter. Otherwise, you're simply living on faith.

    At any rate, I became vegan after moving from an essentially constitutionalist view of civil society to a preference utilitarian view of bioethics, as the foundation of my general belief system. Unsurprisingly, given that this resulted in veganism, this was a Singerian view of bioethics.

  36. #136
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    frankly i had no idea about what goes on in the 'dairy-industry' earlier on, or i would have become vegan sooner

    when i was 14 (in 1993) it when i became vegetarian (only animal product used was dairy after then)

    it was only in 2003 that i actually got more and more info about what goes on and immediately stopped using dairy as a result, hence 'upgrading' to vegan as of then.


    awareness is the key, that's why it's really up to all of us who care and know to keep doing our best to spread the truth..

  37. #137

    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    frankly i too had no idea about what goes on in the 'dairy-industry' and "factory farming ' and Slaughterhouses earlier on, or i would have become vegan sooner.


    Manish Jain

  38. #138
    Enchantress's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I come from a pescaterian famliy and was lacto-ovo-vegetarian for years before becoming vegan. To begin with, ignorance and apathy towards the egg and dairy industry stopped me progressing to veganism.

    After I became aware and decided I wanted to change there was a period of a few months before becoming vegan. This was because I was only 15 at the time and wasn't sure how my parents would react to it, so I kept my newly emerged desire to become vegan to myself. As I (and still do) lived at home and had my parents do all the grocery shopping and most of the cooking, it would have been very difficult for me to be vegan if they hadn't accepted it and started shopping and cooking to accommodate me.

    So I went through a period of avoiding animal products. I stopped drinking milkshakes, eating cheese sandwiches and fried eggs etc., but still put cow juice in my tea and ate whatever my mum cooked.

    One night I finally plucked up the courage to tell my mum I wanted to become a vegan. Fortunately she was very supportive of it and went shopping the next day to buy soya milk, dairy free margarine etc. I've been vegan ever since.

    I get a bit of stick from my family about being a vegan, but generally they're very supportive. If only they were so understanding and supportive in other areas of my life, but I'll complain about that somewhere else.

  39. #139

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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    MY family does not know yet that I have made th decision to become vegan. They all live down in Georgia and I live up in North Dakota so I don't see them very much anyway. But they will have to deal with it, even if they don't like it. I am sure they will have concerns, but once they see how much healthier I am because of it they should be all right with my choice. You are lucky, Enchantress, that your family is for the most part supportive. I hope that mine will be the same.

  40. #140
    Bluey's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    Because I thought that being vegetarian was enough, then I met my first vegan friend and realized it wasn't.
    What I can't understand is when ignorance is no longer an excuse people go on eating meat. We hear the whole 'it's too hard' and 'I have a iron problem' so many times yet living with a bad conscience is so much harder.

  41. #141
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I became vegan at the age of 45. Frankly, one of the few things I will regret about my life is that I didn't do this years ago! I am so impressed that there are so many young people on this forum with such strong convictions. Good for you!
    Everyone needs a little mercy.

  42. #142
    EyesWideOpen monkey60613's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    There were no vegans in my life to help me "turn the lightbulb on". I had never taken the time to just stop and think about the animals (the industries have done such a good job to "blind" us that it really never occurred to me).

    One day I saw a PeTA billboard about the KFC scandal and that got me asking questions and researching stuff. Within a week I went vegetarian but it took two more years until I went vegan (which was only this past March) after my sister told me about rennet in cheese. I was shocked. I wento to PeTA's website to research rennet and there I read other stuff, saw the meat your meat video, the Pottersville kosher beef footatge and I was so upset I almost vomitted. It has snowballed from there. Now there is no question in my mind it is the right decision.
    "Destiny, or karma, depends upon what the soul has done about what it has become aware of."
    --
    Edgar Cayce

  43. #143

    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    My Mother wouldn't let me until I was 18 and living away from home, i had enough of a battle with her to become veg, she grounded me when i was 11 for not eating a sausage I couldn't wait to get out of home!
    "We ourselves may be loved only for a brief time...Even so, that will suffice...There is a land for the living and there is a land for the dead"

  44. #144
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I was raised on a farm and had my parents explaining that death was just a part of life and it was natural that we killed animals because that was just a part of the food chain. I also grew up believing that the meat that came from the supermarket came from animals just like we had on our farm, with plenty of open space, treated kindly, etc.

    Then two years ago (when I was 26) I realized that regardless of what I had been taught, I didn't think it was okay or natural for us to kill animals for food and became a vegetarian. I had never even heard of a vegan at this point (part of growing up in the country in the south). Then I read "Fast Food Nation" and found out about factory farms and the horrors that go on there. So I did some online research and learned about vegans and decided to make the transition. Somewhere along the lines my husband got on board with me and now we're both vegan!

    So like a lot of others here, I wasn't vegan because of pure ignorance and the way I had been raised.

  45. #145
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis and told by my doctor that I had to eat meat in order to keep my weight on. However, eating animal products made me feel ill and lose my appetite, which caused me to lose weight.

    Now that I'm vegan I'm keeping my weight on much better because I eat more.
    ""Who can be good if he knows not who he is?”
    -Epictetus

  46. #146

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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I had never taken the time to consider all of the negativity involved in using dairy and eggs. I had been a vegetarian for a while, and I've always been crazy about cookbooks. One day I purchased a vegan cookbook that had caught my eye. Not only was it full of delicious looking recipes, but it also had a lot of facts about the abuse of dairy cattle and battery hens. It was the first time that I've cried while finding a recipe for dinner. Like I told my mom, once you realize certain things, there is NO going back.

  47. #147
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I went dairy free years ago because of a reaction to sour cream. But at the time I was not even a vegetarian so becoming vegan never entered my mindset. As I began to look into why I had a reaction to milk products in my early 30's even though I had been drinking milk my whole life, I realized that cow's milk is for baby cows and therefore a female cow should only lactate when pregnant. And I began to wonder how in the world do you get millions of gallons of milk a year in this country if cows only produce milk only after having a baby calf? Then I discovered all the stuff they give cows to make them lactate. And that got me off of eating beef. Slowly, I dropped other meats year by year. It wasn't until 2003 that I realized that the only thing standing between me and veganism was fish, honey and eggs. All three were dropped that year. Been vegan ever since. The very last thing I dropped was honey mustard. LOL.
    Everything I eat has its beginnings in a seed.

  48. #148
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I was doing what everyone else did, following the herd. I hadn't really come across many veggies. I knew I didn't want to eat animals but at age 12 I thought it was a much bigger deal to stop eating meat! When I went away to boarding school I met some other vegetarians I realised how easy it was to just tell the catering staff to make me a meat-free option. I didn't really start looking into how much cruelty was involved in the meat industry until my late teens & obviously that led me to find out about dairy etc so I cut out my favourite food (cheese) just to see if I could handle it! Then I got rid of all the other nasty animal products & have been vegan about 4 years now.
    While there are still slaughter houses, there will still be battle fields - Tolstoy

  49. #149
    TillyVanilly tilly's Avatar
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    Red face Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    I wanted to be a vegetarian for as long as I can remember, thanks to hippies like Spider from Coronation Street and Neil from The Young Ones.

    It just seemed such a cool thing to be, and of course, I love animals.

    Veganism didn't really appeal to me for ages though. I didn't understand it to be honest. I thought (like the ignoramous I was) that the cows liked to be milk, and the chickens were giving us their eggs, DOH!

    I thought vegans were just health freaks

    But then I read something, somewhere, about the dairy and veal industries being linked, and I thought, "Shit!"

    And now I'm vegan.

    And I'll live happily ever after

  50. #150
    Souldancer Shadowsoul's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

    Simple ignorance. I didn't know how the defenseless animals suffer
    You can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals - Immanuel Kant

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