So a few weeks ago I posted this tweet about Veganism:
As vegans cannot stomach even the slightest criticism of their world view, I was roundly attacked by its proponents. I’d say I was surprised at the responses, but that would be a lie. Such sensitivity is one of my problems with vegans.
There’s many more.
When they attacked me, I questioned – why were they so vitriolic? Alongside cookie cutter arguments were insults against my character. I began to wonder just how many vegan-haters have been spawned as a result of this mentality. What starts as mild criticism quickly descends into a total dismissal of their entire ideology. Why? Because vegan’s behaviour turns people into enemies.
Now, I’ll go into detail why people tend to stay enemies of veganism later, but you can see how this attitude is pretty self-defeating. When they act as mobs of petulant children – or attack steakhouses or smallholders – they turn off reasonable people from their view.
During my life I’ve been lucky enough to live in several different countries and cultures around the world. As I’m a pretty relaxed and flexible person I’ve always been able to adapt. I’ve lived in predominantly Muslim countries, predominantly Buddhist countries and I’m from Britain – a culturally Christian country. Everywhere I’ve lived, whether I’ve been able to speak the language or not, it’s been food that has brought me closer to the people around me.
I’ve never felt this more keenly than now. Thai culture is pretty closed to foreigners; one of the few times they open up to outsiders is at meal times. It’s when cultural boundaries shrink and we all eat together as humans. It’s a moment to collectively view our similarities, socialise and make merry.
But when vegans impose an arbitrary value system on others, they ostracise themselves from a collective human experience.
In fact, I believe a large part of vegan sensitivity stems from this self-imposed separation. It is undeniably difficult to balance happiness with a worldview which isolates you from others in such an integral area of life.
Now, many people have specific foods they do not eat based on their religious or cultural principles. As I mentioned, I have lived in a predominantly Muslim country and resultantly most people didn’t eat pork. In replies to my post it was pointed out that religion limits eating in the same way as vegans. Aside from the easy swipe that veganism is more of a cult, than a religion, this notion gets to the heart of veganism.
It is a quasi-religious – although deeply unspiritual – sect.
This helps explain why they’re so happy to liken their perspective to a religious one – despite the spuriousness of that claim.
However, a faith that limits certain foods is easy to get around. If you’re Muslim that’s fine – I can cook beef or chicken and everybody else is going to be happy too. If I invite a Hindu, lamb or chicken would suffice. Everyone eats goat and that shit is an underrated meat. Jamaican style goat curry was a staple of mine growing up. It’s top banana.
Vegans, however, are orders of magnitude harder to cater for.
It’s incomparable.
There is no food that I’ve ever cooked in my life that is vegan. Ever. Let me repeat that again. I have NEVER cooked a vegan meal. And I cook every day, three times a day. Even a ploughman’s lunch – which was the only vegetarian meal I regularly used to eat in England – has copious amounts of cheese. In fact, I can’t think of a single meal (not just a solitary ingredient which would form part of a meal) from a traditional cuisine that is fully vegan. If there is, it’s the exception.
To cook for vegans you have to go far outside of any cooking repertoire just to cater to their specific and demanding wants and desires.
Such chronic narcissism offends me.
And this leads to my next point.
I consider vegans mentally ill.
This may seem harsh, but at the very best they’re suffering from an eating disorder – and at worst a mild psychosis (something which is not isolated to vegans in this degenerate post-modern age we live).
So let’s take a look at the definition of psychosis. The dictionary describes it as: “a severe mental disorder in which thought and emotions are so impaired that contact is lost with external reality.” In truth I would skip the severe part. Instead I’d describe them as suffering from a mild form of psychosis – although some are truly gone. Why do I say this?
Well, there are several foundational premises behind veganism, all of which I would argue are fundamentally flawed positions that have lost contact with external reality.
To understand why I think this, we need to get deep and think about the meaning of life, human existence and evolution, maaan.
Suffering
Vegan principle numero uno: we should create a world without suffering. Animal products cause suffering; ergo, we must stop eating animal products.
Well on the surface it seems hard to disagree with their initial premise. Causing needless suffering is bad. I can’t argue with that – I consider myself a moral person. But the key word is needless. Eating meat isn’t a luxury for humans. It’s necessary, as I’ll detail later. But let’s unpack their argument first.
Vegans believe we need to remove the suffering of animals. Well, if their argument was to reduce their suffering I would say that’s fine. Some factory farming practices are pretty abhorrent and I’d argue against them.
However, complete removal of suffering? This is delusion. Nature is not some fluffy bunny Disney cartoon movie where the lion laughs and smiles with his friend, the gazelle.
No, it’s brutal. Have you ever seen a lion eat an animal on the plains? They bring it down and tear literal chunks out of it whilst it’s still alive and breathing. There’s a lot of suffering involved in that process.
And this is not unique to African apex predators. All of the animal kingdom is like that. Its predator or prey, hunt or be hunted, kill or be killed.
So unless vegans want to turn the entirety of the world’s fauna into herbivores – never mind the fact that plants are alive, although apparently fair game – they’ve got some pretty unrealistic goals in wanting to remove suffering from the planet.
To support this, I would argue that we are an extension, and the apex predator, of the natural world – as much as we consider ourselves superior and separate. We were born from nature and we live in it – even in our megalopolises. But by attempting to remove suffering, vegans want humans to detach from the system that is encoded in our very genetics.
They’ve lost contact with reality.
Industrial Agriculture
But there’s more. A vegan diet requires a huge volume of plant foods to be consumed. This sheer weight of food required has knock on effects to our health and the environment.
For example, where does this food come from?
Well, it’s obtained from monocropped industrial agricultural farming practices which – guess what – cause huge levels of wanton suffering.
Firstly, it requires natural habitats to be reclaimed as farmland, destroying all bio-diversity. Secondly, they’re routinely sprayed with chemical pesticides. Thirdly, artificial fertilisers strip the soil of its natural richness. Fourthly, during the harvesting process all the insects, small mammals and birds that cannot fly away are torn up by combine harvesters.
What sounds more humane? A bolt to the head or being shredded alive by mechanical blades?
Now, if it seems to you that I’m apeing vegan morality here – that’s the point. I’m not saying these things are terrible and therefore should be stopped – although I am critical of the practices. No, I’m merely pointing out the flaws of their moralistic argument.
In my opinion, this is one of the problems with viewing life in an entirely moral light. There is always some new angle which has not yet been explored. Each time one is unearthed, it has the potential to flip opinion greatly. If positions can be changed so easily, the reasoning behind them is problematic.
This doesn’t mean we mustn’t view anything through the prism of ethics. It should still be a factor – and for some arguments a big one – but we must be careful with having opinions entirely premised in moral positions. Ethics must be taken in conjunction with real and practical considerations. Only then can we create a balanced and pragmatic worldview.
Health
So what exactly are these practical considerations of veganism? Well, it just so happens to be the second main reason most vegans give for their ideology: health.
If this doesn’t highlight “a severe mental disorder in which thought and emotions are so impaired that contact is lost with external reality,” then I’m not sure what does. Why do I say that?
Well, let’s list some of the health consequences associated with a vegan diet:
- Increased risk of leaky gut syndrome;
- Increased risk of Irritable Bowel Syndrome;
- Hormone disruption including oestrogen and thyroid problems;
- Heightened risk of Anaemia;
- Increased risk of depression;
- Increased risk of anxiety;
- Inhibition of vitamin absorption;
- Increased risk of diabetes due to increased carbohydrate consumption;
- Increased risk of metabolic syndrome;
- Teeth issues;
- Sarcopenia ;
- Fatigue;
- Early onset Alzheimer’s.
The list goes on – I just took the most well-known. Now, I don’t know about you, but that looks like it would inflict some human suffering to me.
And I’m not alone in this thought.
As 90% of vegans don’t stick it out – in itself incredibly telling (I would have a certain amount of begrudging respect for those that do, if it wasn’t for their insufferable nature) – there are significantly sized online groups catering towards ‘ex-vegans’. And what do they mostly handle? The consequences of years of malnourishment and the associated health effects.
This is not insignificant. It’s a serious, endemic problem with the lifestyle which cannot be reconciled with our biology. It’s unbelievably deluded to think so.
It’s worth noting at this point that – yes – we live in a society where a significant proportion of its members suffer as a result of lifestyle. The ‘standard American diet’ (which isn’t limited to America) most people subsist on isn’t remotely healthy. It’s not one I eat, and I would never recommend it to anyone. I certainly will not be feeding my future children it.
But using that sad fact to force people on to a non-species appropriate diet is cruel. It would be to animals and it is to humans.
Yet this is exactly what vegans propose. They’ve lost contact with reality.
Primates
So let’s look at why I think that meat and other animal products are a species appropriate diet for humans.
To start, there is no discovered indigenous cultures in the entire world that removes animal foods from their diet.
Not one.
Probably coincidence, right?
Or, it could be native populations have an understanding of biology that outstrips our own – at least in terms of results and health, if not mechanistically.
To appreciate why this is, we have to examine human evolution – something vegans happily ignore. They prefer instead to point to our primate cousins who do eat predominantly vegetable based diets. What they fail to mention is that our closest ancestors, chimpanzees and bonobos – also the most intelligent greater primates – eat meat. We’ll revisit this intelligence factor later…
But for now we’ll take a quick peek at the vegan favourite: mountain gorillas. These majestic animals eat predominantly plant foods, as well as some insects, but have you ever seen one up close? Have you seen how fat their stomachs are? Well, the reason for that is the size of their intestines.
A healthy gorilla is supposed to be fat. A healthy human isn’t. A gorilla’s stomach is so big because it requires a disproportionately large digestive system. Without one, it would be unable to extract the nutrition necessary for it’s calorific upkeep from vegetation alone. In contrast, we have a much smaller system. In fact, our digestive tract is more akin to a dog’s.
That’s because, like dogs, we get the overwhelming majority of our nutrition from meat. Meat needs a lot less space to house all the microbes required to break it down, hence healthy humans being slim and lean.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There’s no doubt that humans can eat plant foods. Most indigenous communities get around 30% of their calories from plant sources. We are adaptably omnivorous.
But that means 70% of their calories comes from animal products. Removing them entirely seems foolish at best.
Modern society has a tendency to look upon itself as the pinnacle of civilization. We think we know far better than our primitive ancestors – and in many areas we do. But there has to be balance. As we’ve developed technologically, we’ve regressed in aspects of our humanity.
The most visible regression is nutritional. You only have to look around you on any given day to see that. The sad fact is modern humans are overwhelmingly obese, ugly and unhealthy.
Now vegans would point to this as an argument in favour of their position. It’s not, of course. As I’ve already mentioned, the modern diet is in no way representative of what I’d propose we eat. Processed foods of all kinds are poison, whether vegetable oils, sugar or artificial flavourings and preservatives.
Yet – whether by accident or design – all these foods are vegan. The very substances which have caused this health imbalance are absolutely compatible with their diet.
This is made even more dangerous by the fact that some of veganism’s biggest proponents – and biggest financers – are the same companies that sell these highly profitable and extremely dangerous foods.
Coincidence? Perhaps.
I’m not a big believer in coincidences. They only occur when we do not yet understand causal motives. Well, the motivation here is pretty clear. Profit.
The Human Diet
Putting my digressions aside, let’s carry on looking at why meat is species appropriate for us. Props to Garrett Dailey here (@Libera_Rex on Twitter. PS if you haven’t read his blog www.masterthyself.com get on to it, he’s one smart cookie with excellent writing).
Humans have a disproportionately large brain compared to body mass. As you may be aware, this is a huge energy drain. In fact, if our intelligence didn’t provide advantages for accessing nutrition, such a sink would be evolutionarily backwards.
But we need to get that excess energy from somewhere. We’re not plants, we don’t photosynthesise. No, we consume. And what is the highest energy dense foodstuff? Fat. Where does fat come from? Animals.
And what does our intelligence allow us to do? Hunt and kill animals which our body mass would not be capable of alone. Our mental acuity grants unparalleled communicative abilities – integral to social animals who require teamwork to successfully hunt big game.
This too explains why men have deep voices. Low pitches carry over distance better than high tones, and in the heat of the hunt this could be the difference between life and death, satiation and starvation.
Thus, it is extremely likely our increase in brain size is correlated with eating animal products (coupled with our control of fire, but that’s a topic for another time).
This is why we – and bonobos and chimps – are so intelligent. We all eat meat. And as a human diet consists of a proportionally larger amount of meat, so too is our intelligence proportionally higher.
All these factors point to meat being species appropriate for humans and provides the reason why vegans suffer so many health problems.
Moral Crusaders
So far we’ve debunked two main reasons for being vegan – to remove suffering and improve health. What is their third? Well, just the mere issue of saving the fucking world. Such moral high ground! Such a divine right they have for their crusade – after all, what is more threatened than the planet? What higher calling than to save it? A mission this sacrosanct justifies all tactics.
I should be honest here. This isn’t going to be popular, but I don’t wholly buy the arguments for climate change. We have an impact, but the Earth has hardly stayed static in the past 4.5 billion years. I’m more of the impression that the planet will be just fine. It’s pretty robust. It doesn’t need us to save it.
Sure the climate may warm, but it only takes one significant volcanic eruption and the Earth will cool by several degrees. No, I just see humans – as part of nature – being another extension of the Earth’s cycle (I do believe we impact the climate, by the way. I’m just yet to see a convincing solution that doesn’t involve an entire restructuring of the world economy – an impossible dream).
What is clear to me is that climate change is always used as a trump card to push specific agendas. Arguing against it is so counter to popular opinion that doing so is intellectual suicide. It’s such an emotionally charged issue that swathes of the population distrust anybody willing to criticise its orthodoxy.
So deep rooted is this belief that I am happy to bet some of you feel like this right now.
I maintain this is why vegans use climate change to push their agenda, particularly when we actually take the time to examine their evidence. The basis of their belief is the idea that “the world’s cows, pigs, and chickens probably surpass automobiles as a cause of climate change.” (https://www.vegan.com/why/) I particularly like the strategic use of the word ‘probably’ here.
It shows they ‘probably’ have some misgivings with saying this, and as veganism is premised in goodness lying is ‘probably’ wrong. However, it’s not wrong enough to make sure of their facts.
Well, check out the IPCC’s report which claims transport equates to 14% of all greenhouse emissions and livestock 5% (https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full.pdf). So that’s ‘probably’ not true.
But even if I accept the arguments of anthropomorphic climate change; even if I take vegans at face value; such a binary model – that all greenhouse gases are bad and any release of them is negative – does not grasp the complexity of environments. Burning fossil fuels and an animal’s digestive gases are not the same. Believing so is reductionist in the extreme.
In essence, the vegan argument for saving the climate is propagandist. It uses some truth and twists it to suit their narrative and push their agenda.
Now I’m no scientist. I’m not an expert. I don’t claim to be. This is just, like, my opinion man. But if you’re interested in learning more and listening to some actual scientists, I would recommend listening to these episodes of the Human Performance Outlier’s podcast. They break down the issues pretty well:
https://humanperformanceoutliers.libsyn.com/episode-78-professor-frank-mitloehner
https://humanperformanceoutliers.libsyn.com/episode-85-allan-savory
https://humanperformanceoutliers.libsyn.com/episode-75-peter-ballerstedt
In reality, the crux of the vegan argument is to remove suffering. When they tack on issues of climate change and health, they merely do so to provide the ability to shift debates onto different grounds. Their arguments don’t stand up to even the lightest scrutiny. It’s shocking to me they’ve been propagated this successfully.
But such is the power of properly-funded marketing.
Conclusion
Simply put, veganism is misanthropy dressed as empathy. It’s premised in a view of people which is inherently negative. Humans are ‘destroying’ the planet. Humans cause ‘needless’ suffering. Indigenous humans are ‘uncivilized.’
In doing so, they ignore the wonders we have wrought: the beauty, the art, the love.
Personally, I cannot entertain any misanthropic view. It’s the embodiment of self-loathing projected on to the world.
I love people. Sure, they have aspects that annoy me. Sure, sometimes they do stupid shit I disagree with. But fundamentally I love them. Because of this, I sincerely hope vegans wake up and realise their delusions.
The recent spate of prominent vegans renouncing their faith, becoming ‘ex-vegan’ and speaking out about their experiences is a great positive. I’m genuinely happy for these people. They’ve realised they were deceived and have given themselves a new chance at a better life.
I know the feeling. For years I deluded myself into believing it was fine to drink copiously every day. I see the same faulty reasoning besetting vegan rationalisations. Luckily, I woke up. I hope they do too.
Until that point, vegans seeks to divide us. They take one of the few unifying features of life – eating – and use it to sow division. They misappropriate societal ills and use them to further their agenda. They ignore human biology. They hate people, despite being one.
They’re suffering from psychosis.
And that’s why I can’t get down with veganism.
If you like what you read here, be sure to follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/ThinkInPeach
Don’t forget to check out Garrett Dailey http://www.twitter.com/libera_rex and his excellent blog: http://masterthyself.com/
Also, the photograph at the top of the page was taken by my friend Grigory Bykovskiy. Find him on Shutterstock and Instagram: https://www.shutterstock.com/g/GRIGORY+BYKOVSKIY — https://www.instagram.com/grigory_bykovskiy/
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Great article.
Thanks man.