Quit lying to the kids!

Did you know the “store” makes eggs? I sure didn’t. Why must we lie to our children about where our food comes from? A hen had to suffer in horrible conditions to produce those eggs that you so ignorantly agreed came from the store, and no, I don’t care if they were free range or “humanely raised” whatever that means. Anyone who cares to analyze the situation objectively will easily see that by resorting to lying to our children or telling them half-truths about where their food comes from we tell the world that the truth is too horrendous for a child to take. I understand the need for keeping concepts at age appropriate levels. Depicting cow slaughter to a child under ten years old most likely would be a bad idea for example. I do think however, that an age appropriate explanation of where the slab of flesh on said child’s plate comes from is important. For that matter I think an explanation of where Nikes come from is important as well, but that’s a different topic.

The problem is (for the exploiters anyways) is that kids get this stuff. They haven’t had the years of cognitive dissonance to be able to shrug off the truth like some adults can. No, when our children are told the truth they see things such as this for what they really are, atrocities of the highest scale. That’s why we are scared to tell them because they, unlike many of us, will put two and two together and realize that the animal you just told them about, a being that they understand to be an individual with the ability to suffer, is nothing but a distant relative of the animal that was killed to feed them.

The world can’t have honesty when it comes to food production. If we told our children, what really happens many more people would grow up Vegan today. We all know the saying that goes “if slaughterhouses had glass walls more people would be Vegan.” Well I bet if more people were honest about where our food comes from at a young age, more people would be Vegan too.

-Matt Hastings

When “restrictive” actually means liberating.

Ask any Vegan and I doubt they could count how any times that someone has told them their diet is too restrictive for that person. I understand the reaction, I had it myself before I was Vegan in fact. Many of us did. As all of us Vegans soon find out though, outward appearances can be very deceiving. Lets face it, the idea of eating nothing but salads for the rest of your life makes you a bit apprehensive even if it meant you would be given a million dollars. Most people, when they think about a Vegan diet believe than we eat “twigs and berries” or salads all day. Even as an ethical Vegan, I try to steer any conversation about my Veganism or the possibility of the person I’m talking to going Vegan to questions about diet first. Wile I would personally prefer to talk about animal rights and abolitionist theory I think that it helps if wile you are talking about these important issues the person is not contemplating a life of twigs, berries, and salads.
I know many of you might see this as a minor point, “animals are getting slaughtered, we don’t have time to talk about my lunch.” But we need to see things though the eyes of our ignorant Vegan in training. Take a moment to think about some of the questions you asked as a vegetarian transitioning into Veganism, or even as a new Vegan. Now think about the discussions you have with people about Veganism. Do your main points of conversation cover the common beginner questions, or do you leave the person you are talking to with the same questions you had because you were too eager to talk about AR?

If people understand that there is a whole universe of food to explore outside of animal products that you are enthusiastic about, they will be less likely to worry about the things that turn into non-issues once you become Vegan (such as eating some really great food) and more concerned about the important stuff such as Animal Rights. Think about it.

-Matt Hastings

Were your vitums at? (Or why retail really sucks)

*We now break from our regularly scheduled PG program for a rant. You’ve been warned.*

Yep, Vitums. What the hell is a Vitum you ask? In do time my friend, in do time.
So I’m standing there straightening an isle when some lady walks around the corner and calls out from about fifteen feet away and asks... “Were you vitums at?” yep just like that. I have no motherfucking clue what the hell she is talking about. “Vitums?” I ask. Hoping she will clarify herself, but no such luck. “Yeah, vitums wher’d day at?” She asks again. I figure, fuck it, I’ll just start guessing things right? I mean if she can’t be bothered to speak clearly using normally accepted words in the English language I don’t have to be that nice to her do I? After a few guesses it dawns on me that she is asking for vitamins. You might be thinking, yeah, duh dumbass, but trust me you wouldn’t have known what she was talking about either so shut up. I hate people like that.

Retail sucks. The pay sucks, the job sucks. They expect more work done with less people getting paid less money. Guess what? They get what they want. How, I have no idea. Big Box retail is the perfect model of everything that is wrong with the capitalist system, and I have to work at one right now. I wish we could burn the fuckers down.
Anyways, I’m write something about Veganism soon since this is suppose to be a vegan blog.

Talk to you later.

-Matt