Be aware that there are some very disturbing scenes in this video should you decide to watch it. It is also over an hour long….
Gary Yourofsky is an animal activist and vegan.
With my step-daughter and her boyfriend having recently gone vegan (about a year now) and coming across other vegans lately, I have decided to be open to exploring the rationale behind such a drastic decision that affects one’s health as I am quite serious about eating healthy and living a healthy life. However, I have never been convinced that being vegan qualifies as “healthy”.
Most vegans I have come across in my life say they chose to become so due to animal cruelty. The disturbing videos shown in Gary Yourofsky’s speech of farms treating animals horribly are indeed difficult to watch. However, his claim that it is meat-eaters fault that this is happening to animals is a far stretch. That is like saying that a rape is the fault of every woman who dresses alluringly, which is an extremely outdated way of thinking….
There are also a number of other problems with his talk in my opinion….
I am not saying that it is okay to treat animals cruelly, but let’s remember that when we say “humane”, we are qualifying them as humans, which they are not. The whole premise is that humans and animals are equal on this earth; not accepting that makes it hard to buy into his argument. We can still treat animals respectfully as living beings on this earth, but there are better ways to go about making sure this happens than to go vegan.
At the beginning, he tries to quote the Bible, which is poorly done. He forgets to acknowledge that God gave man rule over the animals. God did not make animals equal to humans. True, that He did not say treat them cruelly and eat in excess; but no where does it say that man was meant to not eat the animals. If that were the case, we would also need to not eat plants as well as they are considered to be living beings – are they not? Do we discuss how plants can be forced to grow in undesirable conditions and tear them at the roots from their natural homes?
Also, despite promoting the fact we should eat raw food and food that is natural to the earth (because we do not eat meat raw), he goes on to show products that come in the freezer or prepared meal sections. All the products shown as meat substitutes are processed foods = NOT NATURAL! Also, almost all of the products are made of soy products or rice, which is not healthy for the body in such large quantities as there is proof that digesting these types of food is hard on the body.
He further claims vegans should go all out in not using animal products and makes light of chemicals that are added to substitute in products. However, how can chemicals be better than using natural animal products…? Also, how many vegans do you know actually do this? Isn’t that a bit hypocritical, then?
He claims that eating meat, joints, etc. is gross even though it is as NATURAL as eating fruit and vegetables. In other words, it is not processed!!!
At 1:00:00 he says this:
“Keep in mind veganism isn’t about your health – that would be selfish. Now, I’m trying to get people to be unselfish for a change, to be altruistic. Do something kind for somebody else and when you do that, don’t expect something in return. But when it comes to cruelty I think there is more cruelty in a glass of milk and a steak…”.
This sums it up for me. He does not discuss health to one’s body at all. He is all about the animals, which is indeed a noble cause. I am totally for not being cruel to animals or humans alike. However, I am also about health of the individual so that the human is able to make a proper difference to the world and change in ways that are productive other than by NOT doing something…why not turn it around and actually DO something?
Recently, I listened to this podcast on how a vegan gave it up due to health reasons and found other ways to be an activist without harming her body. When humans are healthy and ethical, then they can really make a difference to animals and the world. If humans and animals are equal, what are the animals doing to make a difference in the world? (Sorry, couldn’t help the sarcasm here… 😛 ).
What I would like is for a vegan to be so without preaching to me or others as to why they have made the ‘right’ choice for the sake of the animals and yet do not follow through 100% nor care nearly as much for their fellow humans.
I am Paleo and I will stay Paleo. There is much more evidence that eating a balanced natural diet is better for the body and health (mental and emotional as well) than being vegan (who seem to be angry and unbalanced most of the time…).
At least, I gave it a go to try to fully understand, but sorry Vegans, I am just not convinced.
~T 😀
