To ask what you think about these vegan protests

[Pontingss]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6589687/Vegans-storm-ethical-grocery-store-protest-hurl-abuse-customers-staff.html

Sorry don’t know how to do a clicky link. I admire vegans but don’t have the willpower myself to give up cheese and fish and realistically never will. Witnessing this kind of protest would irritate me though, especially if I was trying to get on with my shopping. What do you think, admirable or annoying?

Btw, vegans should not have pets.

If we lived in a perfect world where there were no unwanted/stray/homeless/feral cats and dogs (to take an example) then I would probably agree with you. However, unfortunately, we are miles from that situation. Hundreds of thousands of cats and dogs have to be put down every year in the UK alone because there simply aren't enough homes to go round. If a vegan is vegan because they want to do their best for animal welfare then, in theory, they should take as many rescue pets as they can manage, both in order to reduce the numbers needing to be put down and to enable the rescues to take more in that are in desperate need of help.

If you do all of this you are 99 % vegan. 100% is not achievable for anyone, but just because that 1% is unachievable doesnt mean its not worth putting the other 99% into practice. Its about intention not perfection.

Very well said and so true.

They make me angry, targeting the easy prey of independent shops as they don’t have the chutzpah to go after multinationals or places that deal with halal meat.

They won’t win anyone over, but they don’t really care about that, they’re just out to make themselves feel useful and to try to get their woke photo into the media.

Makes me want bacon all the more. Twats.

Re medicines: the vegan society definition of vegan is that you avoid animal exploitation/products as far as possible and practical. So if you need medicine, you can ask for no animal products but it has probably been tested on animals, there is no way of avoiding that, it’s not in vegans control and there isn’t a vegan option. Vegan society say that vegans should take necessary medicine as a dead /ill vegan isn’t any use to anyone!

The protesters in the shop are standing quietly with placards that actually show the truth about animal exploitation. I can't see anyone "hurling abuse" can you? And since when did the Daily Mail become a beacon of truth and justice? I imagine that the bad press and indignation shown here by pp is exactly the sort of feelings that the suffragettes used to incite in those that are unwilling to accept that a change might be coming that they do not want.

I'm not quite vegan hoping to be one day but definitely don't eat dairy and meat. I do it because I don't agree with the cruelty involved in raising and killing animals for nutrition that I can get elsewhere.

I've never protested and doubt I ever will. I find calmly explaining to people IF they ask about my diet/view point is actually far more productive.

I miss the taste of meat but once you realise how the animals suffer it makes it very difficult to go back to eat them.

I have a cat he eats meat. I got him before I turned to a veggie based diet so...

I think most of the protesters genuinely feel frustrated and often distraught at the sheer volume of animals killed for food and that's why they protest. Some will do it just because but most have the animals best interest at heart but I also agree with other posters that theyre usually young and probably lack life experience in many ways.

Bitching about them protesting implying that they're stupid and lazy etc is disrespectful imo. I'm grateful that we have the freedom to protest in this country.

Why don't they protest about homeless people?

How do you know they don't do both??

In Regards to medication keeping pets etc etc veganism is about doing the least harm possible it's not about being perfect. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think it’s almost impossible to be 100% vegan, and people like this need reminding of this.
Everything we do, eat, wear etc has an impact on an animal or another human.
I’ve met vegans who need knocking off their high horses (although not actual horses as they can’t ride them can they?) in regards to this.
Vegans need to start pushing for kindness and consideration for animals and other humans, rather than criticise who don’t do exactly what they do

As an aside, I have a vegan friend who thinks when we all become vegan that farmers will let animals go and they will run free in the countryside

They are so hypocritical it hurts. I have no issues with vegans or their ideology. But they remind me of the evangelical Christians I used to see with their boards on street corners in the States. Often fighting for a cause they didn’t really understand, with a complete sustain for anyone with a different view point. I remember seeing that article about a vegan who had a fox and it was slowly dying eating a vegetable diet. I’ve also seen this happen to cats. There was also thatvegan couple who’s baby died due to the vegan diet they fed him (mother couldn’t breastfeed)
Vegan horse riders, heavy use of plastic, soy etc.
I remember reading an article about vegans who had destroyed some commercial bee hives......did they not ponder what would happen to the bee colonies we are so desperately trying to protect

Vegans need to start pushing for kindness and consideration for animals and other humans, rather than criticise who don’t do exactly what they do

Agree, although that advice needn't be limited to just vegans.

Yes obviously @cushion .

This is a documentary called Land Of Hope and Glory about meat/dairy industry in the uk. Please try to watch.

I am not defending the aggressive way vegans protest btw.

I'm a vegan and I and all then numerous vegans I know do not behave like this.

Have you noticed how much contempt long term veggies and vegans have for these Johnny come lately types? One of my closest friends has been a vegan for 25 years and DH has been veggie for 33 years. They both think (correctly IMO) that these people are just faddists doing it because it’s trendy and will drop it when the fashion passes, they’re not really committed. Plus they tend to shout at other people about eggs and milk but bend the rules themselves.

Im actually all for veganism if people are up for it, but this sort of thing makes me want to set up a campaign for everybody to throw a big BBQ everytime vegan protesters do something ridiculous.

As an aside, I have a vegan friend who thinks when we all become vegan that farmers will let animals go and they will run free in the countryside confused

Youve got a stupid friend

I have a friend that thinks people should eat meat because tigers do

Not because she feels eating meat is good for you or the right thing to do...just that tigers do

I think that's fairly stupid as well

I know that veganism is about trying to do the best you can rather than perfection, but a lot of vegans do seem to work on the belief that animals are equal to humans. But if you truly believed that then you wouldn't take medicine that had been tested on animals would you, because you wouldn't believe that an animal should die for you? Or would you? I'm not sure!

It's sort of the same with, for example, Inuit people whose diet is very heavily meat based and who wouldn't be able to survive without killing animals for their use. If humans using animals is inherently wrong then those people shouldn't eat meat (and should therefore die out) but if you think that they should eat meat/kill animals to survive, then you don't actually believe that animals are in any way equal to humans? And if that's the case then what is inherently wrong with anyone eating animal products?

I'm not trying to 'catch anyone out' here (I dislike that as much as evangelical vegans) just wondering?

They're a bunch of idiots, and completely going about it the wrong way. They've targeted a shop that is trying to do the right thing, which they should be supporting, not vilifying.

What would be more productive is to stand there giving away free booklets with delicious sounding vegan recipes in them. I'd be more likely to try a recipe for a vegan meal presented to me like that, than I would be to not buy meat because some unemployed nitwit is standing between me and the meat counter.

Their actions are never going to convince someone to stop eating meat or animal products, in fact, it's more likely going to encourage people because they are pissed off. If they went about things the right way, and encouraged people to reduce their use of animal products, rather than cut it out altogether, and to buy ethical products over mass produced, would be a far more effective way of working towards their goals.

Beer you make some good points. In days gone by and in many parts of the world people still need /needed animals to survive. But for me it's about the here and now, in the U.K. with an abundance of other good food sources so do I still need to eat an animal or wear it's skin to survive and thrive. And the honest answer is no🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m totally going to say I eat meat because Tigers do now as well.
And give no other explanation.

To keep a pet cat healthy it needs to eat meat and will therefore eat parts of many other animals in its life time. With this logic if you adopt a cat from a rescue centre you are saying that the life of this animal is worth more than the life of a variety of farm animals, so from a vegan point of view it would surely be better for cats to be put to sleep.

slipper

She is lovely...she just thought that 'because tigers do it' was the end of the debate

I said 'well tigers shit in the woods should we do that'

Then she told me i was being silly

Just to clarify some of the misconceptions I’ve seen upthread, a healthy balanced vegan diet usually doesn’t require supplementation. Nor is it protein deficient or reduces lifespan . It is just as possible to be a junk-food vegan, though, as a junk-food omnivore or vegetarian. Now that the food industry has recognised the money to be made from plant-based products, there’s a lot of processed vegan stuff on the market.

Militant vegans don’t represent the vast majority of vegans either. I suspect that many of these protesters are newly vegan and keen to proselytise on that basis... There’s a difference between standing up for and articulating your principles, and being an annoying dick.

Can’t they find some other fad before the trust fund matures? Preferably one that doesn’t inconvenience others?

I think it's just fucking stupid.