Wednesday July 8, 2009, 5:21 pm
Very interesting post.
Noted with a lot of thanks Dearest Cher.
Love,
Black Dalia:)

Thursday July 9, 2009, 6:41 am
Quote from the article
================
The Numbers

Vastly more animals are raised and killed for food in the United States each year than for any other form of exploitation. Ninety-nine of every 100 animals killed annually in the United States are slaughtered for human consumption. That’s 10 billion animals, more individuals than the entire human population of the Earth.

The Suffering

Animals raised for food endure unfathomable suffering. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of advocating on behalf of these animals is trying to describe the indescribable: the overcrowding and confinement, the stench, the racket, the extremes of heat and cold, the attacks and even cannibalism, the hunger and starvation, the disease…the horror of every day of their lives. Indeed, every year, hundreds of millions of animals – many times more than the total number killed for fur, in shelters, and in laboratories – don’t even make it to slaughter. They actually suffer to death.

Effective Advocacy

Knowing this, the issue for thoughtful, compassionate people isn’t, "Is this vegan?" Rather, the important question is: "Which choice leads to less suffering?" Our guide shouldn’t be an endless list of ingredients, but rather doing our absolute best to stop cruelty to animals. Veganism is important, not as an end in itself, but as a powerful tool for opposing the horrors of factory farms and industrial slaughterhouses.

This moves the discussion away from finding a definition or avoiding a certain product, and into the realm of effective advocacy. In other words, the focus isn’t so much our personal beliefs or specific choices, but rather the animals and their suffering.

Thursday July 9, 2009, 6:50 pm
This was excellent !!!! Thank you so much Cher!!!

Thursday July 9, 2009, 11:35 pm
my own vegan ethic compels me that the question is not "Which choice leads to less suffering?"
it is rather, which choice leads to NO suffering?
first & foremost with our diet... it is entirely possible for the majority, if not the whole, of world population to transition into a plant based diet in practicality & principle....
in practicality, since it's a given there isn't enuf farmland & grazing land on planet earth to raise enuf happy meat (free range, organic feed, no hormones, no antibiotics, no gmo) to supply world demand then that land & those resources, which happens to account for the majority of farmland in production in the u.s., should be diverted away from feed production & grazing for animals to food production for humans... this would have to be organic to be sustainable & would eventually become a veganic biodynamic agricultural system becuz fertilzers would be all plant based & green manure would replace animal manure as a result of eliminating the practice of breeding animals for food & the subsequent sharp decline in those animal populations...
& in principle, living by the simple truth that abolition is the antispeciesist path & the only way to truly end exploitation... basing decisions, as the author suggests, on a reduction of suffering & the perspective that exploitation without "cruelty" is acceptable is welfarist thought & does nothing to reinforce the concept that animal welfare amounts to speciesism & abolition would end suffering period...
these so called vegans that advocate a half-assed approach & don't question "what's in the bun", then call me bad for the movement for insisting to know "what's in the bun", they are the ones that truly hurt the movement by confusing the issue with the mixed message of "reduced cruelty" & other welfarist thought...
i mean what if this were a child...?
what if it was your child?
reminds me of a quote by kevin kjonaas...

"all this for animals?
it's the same sort of question though that i imagine abolitionists were asked, "all this for a black?", or men involved in the suffrage movement, "all this so women can vote?... all this so kids don't have to work in those sweatshops?, so these people can have fair labor laws?, for the irish?, for the jews?" same questions have been asked over & over again, (of) every other social justice movement, & now it's finally being asked of animals...
YES, all this for an animal!"
- Kevin Kjonaas, member of the SHAC7, serving a 6 year sentence for nonviolent direct action campaigns against Huntingdon Life Sciences animal testing labs.

Friday July 10, 2009, 9:16 am
Thought provoking article.

Saturday July 11, 2009, 3:16 pm
reality is a perception of the individual mind , as there are no two minds alike there are no two perception of reality alike...

veganism is no different- every vegan has its own perception of veganism.. or activism.. or what ever.. we are differen and all do what we think is best.