We just posted Vegan Freak Radio #99 over at our podcast site.
On today’s show, we feature an interview with Mark Love, a fitness trainer with over ten years of experience in training all kinds of people, from athletes to sedentary adults and people recovering from illness or injury. Mark gives tips on how to get motivated and keep yourself motivated to exercise, and discusses what it’s like to be a vegan in the fitness industry.
We also have our usual Vegan Freak fare: we discuss articles about dog rental services and about the subjectivity of our perception of food, and in response to listener voicemails we talk about standing up for what you want in a restaurant, the “manliness” of eating what you want and dying young, and why it isn’t healthy to channel your anger and sadness over the state of the world inward.
Hope you enjoy, and see you next for the big 100 show!
Enjoy!
Posted by Bob Torres 
Filed under: Every so often, kind readers or listeners will forward us particular bits of the news that make me wish that I had nothing to do with the so-called animal “rights” movement (when it comes down to it, it really seems to be a movement that is less about rights and more about humane treatment). Here are 3 things that are not only embarrassing for us as animal rights activists, but damaging to our overall message and potential impact:
1. PETA ad compares Greyhound bus attack to slaughtering animals
Playing off of the heinous stabbing-decapitation death aboard a Greyhound bus in Canada, PETA came up with an ad comparing the suffering of the decapitated passenger to the suffering that animals experience in slaughter. While there is little doubt that animals do suffer significantly during slaughter, the subject of this ad makes PETA not only appear to be completely fucking bonkers, but also insensitive to the plight of human suffering. It drives home the idea that any and all animal rights activists focus on animal suffering to the exclusion of all other suffering. None of this does the animal rights movement on the whole any favors, and PETA gets what PETA always wants: attention. The question is, at what cost?
2. PETA wants to advertise vegan message on border fence
Speaking of PETA’s stupidity, we again see them riding the coattails of another current news item in a desperate attempt to draw attention to themselves. This time around, PETA wants to put up billboards near the US border with Mexico that say “If the Border Patrol doesn’t get you, the chicken and burgers will—go vegan.” In the article linked above, PETA tries to play this off as concern that the undocumented workers from Mexico will be leaving behind a relatively healthier diet in favor of the standard American fast food fare. While there may be something to this on a factual basis, it stretches the bounds of rational comprehension to imagine that PETA actually cares about the well being of undocumented immigrants. As far as I can tell, they care about one thing and one thing only: shamelessly forcing themselves into the spotlight, so much so that any message that they originally had about animals or vegetarianism is lost.
3. Firebombings at Homes of 2 California Researchers
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The police and federal authorities are investigating firebombings at the homes of two researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The attacks, which the university described as “antiscience violence,” occurred nearly simultaneously before dawn on Saturday, just days after the police in Santa Cruz discovered pamphlets in a coffee shop warning of attacks against “animal abusers everywhere.” The pamphlets included the names, addresses and other personal information of several researchers at the university, according to a news release put out on Friday by the university.
In my book Making A Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights, I discuss why violent property destruction is a poor solution to the problem of animal exploitation. First and foremost, it makes animal rights activists look like hypocrites. If we claim to care about “life,” there’s certainly no point in doing things that threaten human life. As I wrote in the book:
Today, most people see the violence and torture done for their palates as absolutely acceptable: animal exploitation is the norm, despite the contradictions inherent in it. Given how overwhelmingly strong the societal currents run against treating animals as anything more than commodities and property, the kind of change we need will require more than violence, more than property destruction, and certainly more than a re-creation of the exploitative dynamics that got us here to begin with. If we are to ever win or advance, we must do so by changing the social relations that are at the heart of the problems we face. If we re-create those damaging social relations by relying on the dominance and oppression of violence, we are essentially doing nothing but deepening the problem we are, more often than not, claiming to fight.
In short, we can’t force people to make decisions about morality while they’re staring down the barrel of a gun (or on the receiving end of a bomb). We have to do the hard and often inglorious work of creating a broad-based social movement that will call into question the speciesist dynamics that underlie our social and cultural norms. Bombs or guns or violence or completely shameless attention whoring cannot achieve this, ever.
I was quoted in a recent article in Metro Newspaper (along with Denyse of Urbanvegan) about which diet is most affected by the rise in food costs. The article doesn’t delve very deep into the issue, but basically the conclusion seems to be that vegans are the most affected by these increases in food costs, because our costs are higher to begin with and we are hit harder when there’s bad weather that wipes out crops. Of course, none of this is borne out by actual studies, which would actually be interesting to see.
Our grocery bill has definitely increased over the last several months, which I’m pretty sure is due to the cost of fuel that affects everyone no matter what they eat (unless you grow absolutely everything you eat yourself). But from what I understand, there are other factors involved in the high prices. Increased demand for wheat around the world is making flour more expensive. Bad weather has hurt rice prices. Floods in the midwest have ruined a lot of grain crops. The price of milk, meat, and eggs is increasing because the cost of the animals’ food (corn and other grains) is increasing from all of these factors.
Now, it seems to me that if you eat a diet heavy on meat, dairy, eggs, and processed foods (SAD, anyone?) that tend to contain a lot of wheat, corn, and soy by-products, then your prices are going to be through the roof.
Our diet mostly consists of fresh produce, beans and other legumes, a few grains, and a few processed things like tofu, veggie burgers, and seitan. Unless bad weather affects every single crop we eat (which is unlikely), then I don’t see how vegans are affected any worse than your average omni consumer. It seems to me that everyone is affected in different ways by higher prices, but that vegans really don’t take a bigger hit than other groups unless you subsist solely on bread and processed foods.
I get frustrated when people have the misconception that veganism has to be expensive. It can be, certainly, depending on how you structure you diet, just like if you’re an omni with a penchant for Kobe beef and truffles, it can be expensive. (And unfortunately in this country, it is often more expensive to eat healthy than unhealthy, but that is a topic for another blog entry.) But there are plenty of things that vegans can do to lower their grocery bill no matter what state the economy is in. As I said in the article and in a previous blog entry, you can eat locally, and try to eat what is in season, since it will tend to be the cheapest (and most tasty!) then. You can stock up on bulk grains and dried legumes. You can plan out your meals before you go to the store, and not buy on impulse. You can stay away from expensive frozen or boxed processed foods. You can make large batches of things like soup one day to eat throughout the week so you aren’t tempted to go out to lunch. You can eat high fiber fresh veggies that fill you up so you aren’t eating more later in the day. Veganism doesn’t have to be incredibly expensive or complicated if you get into the habit of knowing where your money is going and what to look for.
There’s a response on Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s blog Disease Proof to the study that links soy and infertility that we discussed in Vegan Freak Radio 97:
Disease Proof: Does Soy Really Lower Sperm Count?
Dr. Fuhrman points out that more likely mitigating factor for low sperm count was the obesity of the test subjects, and that the study used highly processed soy, rather than tofu or soy beans themselves. I like how he emphasizes staying away from highly processed foods rather than soy itself, as well as reminding people to eat a variety of legumes rather than just relying on one.
According to this piece in the New York Times labor abuses were rampant at Agriprocessors Inc., the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse. According to the article, underaged workers sometimes worked as long as 17 hours a day, and worked while injured:
“‘My work was very hard, because they didn’t give me my breaks, and I wasn’t getting very much sleep,’ he said. ‘They told us they were going to call immigration if we complained.’
Elmer L. said that he was clearing cow innards from the slaughter floor last Aug. 26 when a supervisor he described as a rabbi began yelling at him, then kicked him from behind. The blow caused a freshly-sharpened knife to fly up and cut his elbow.
He was sent to a hospital where doctors closed the laceration with eight stitches. But he said that when he returned, his elbow still stinging, to ask for some time off, his supervisor ordered him back to work.
The next day, as he was lifting a cow’s tongue, the stitches ruptured, Elmer L. said, and the wound bled again. He said he was given a bandage at the plant and sent back to work. The incident is confirmed in a worker’s injury report filed on Aug. 31, 2007, by Agriprocessors with the Iowa labor department.”
It is important to note that these abuses are the necessary by-product of the cheap meat that consumers rely on and demand. A giant disassembly line, slaughterhouse work is dangerous, violent, dirty, and exhausting, as workers are often butchering animals that are still alive, and often still kicking, mooing, or otherwise resisting. This work must be done quickly, as the contemporary slaughterhouse relies upon quickly moving animals in one side and animal flesh out the other. Illegal immigrants are often chosen for this work, for two reasons: first, they work cheap; and second, they are less likely to complain to authorities about abusive and dangerous work situations. Like every other sector of the animal economy, profit is the motivating factor:
Another Guatemalan, Joel R., who gave his age as 15, said he dropped out of school in Postville after the eighth grade and took a job at Agriprocessors because his mother became ill. He said he worked from 5.30 p.m. to 6.30 a.m. in a section called “quality control,” a job he described as relatively easy that he got because he speaks English.
But he said he and other workers were under constant pressure from supervisors. “They yell at us when we don’t hurry up, when we don’t work fast enough for them,” said Joel R. He and Gilda O. did not want their last names published because they are illegal immigrants and they were not arrested in the raid.
Animal rights activists often say that there’s a little veal in every glass of milk. By this, they mean that the production of milk relies on the production of veal. Similarly, it appears there’s also a little blood in the meat. It is the blood not only of the slaughtered animal, but of the exploited, abused, and powerless worker who suffered to bring that meat to market.
We just posted Vegan Freak Radio #97 over at our podcast site.
Yes, there are more sensationalistic headlines in the news these days about the evils of soy, and we use some of our critical thinking skills to analyze why the studies aren’t necessarily what they seem on the surface.
No voicemails this show, but we do finally get around to some positive email stories and other articles that listeners have sent us, including some very pragmatic nutritional advice, jewelry made of cicadas (?!), and female butchers who feel like cavewomen.
PETA’s Sexy Lettuce Ladies Give Away KFC’s New Faux-Chicken Sandwiches:
“Quebec City, Quebec--Wearing nothing but skimpy bikinis made of vegetable leaves, PETA’s lovely Lettuce Ladies will hand out delicious samples of the new Classic Vegetarian Sandwich, which is now available at KFC restaurants in Quebec City.”
PETA obviously has never been afraid to use sexism to sell their own campaigns and to promote their own brand, but now they’re out on the streets using sex to promote their own brand plus the brand of a multinational fast food chain that, last I checked, still sells dead animals. On top of it all, I’m sure the samples the “lettuce ladies” are handing out are not actually vegan.
But you know, times are changing. Expecting an animal rights organization to promote veganism is almost like expecting the United States to stick to the Geneva Conventions. Both are apparently artifacts of a more “quaint” time when we could actually have ideals and principles.
Thanks to the Vegan Wookiee for passing this along to us.
Thanks to the few of you who alerted us to the wonky RSS feed. Looks like in some readers there were no paragraph breaks or other formatting making it through. This morning, I fixed the formatting, and for most of you, it should look fine now.
The sole exception here seems to be with Google Reader, which seems to cache the feed site-wide. I guess those of you who are using Google’s reader will just have to hang on until the cache expires; I have no idea how long this is, but it shouldn’t be too long (I hope).
We’re a movement dominated by professional activists — paid by large organizations — to do the bidding of those organizations. This is fine if you think that dressing up in chicken costumes makes sense, or if you believe the latest animal gassing scheme is a good thing, or if you happen to agree that Wayne Pacelle actually deserves a compensation package worth more than $230,000 annually. (The previous link is a PDF. I got the Pacelle number from Statement 71 on page 94.) But if, like me, you have doubts about highly paid activists, about so-called “victories” that still leave animals as commodities and property, and forms of activism that use one form of exploitation (sexism) to combat another (speciesism), there’s only one solution: be your own activist. (Plus, do you really think that throwing more money at PETA to put up half a million naked Alicia Silverstone ads will accomplish anything? Do you really think that the people masturbating to these ads are actually thinking “wow, I should go vegan?” My guess is that they’re not.)
Activism should not be left as the mere province of paid, professional activists. If we are to have the effect that we’re hoping for, we need to make the movement for veganism a genuine, grassroots social movement, driven by everyday people like you and me, working in our communities and in our lives to help create a base of vegan education and outreach. Only by working in our lives and in the spaces that we know best can we hope to affect real change and build a genuine movement built of people who genuinely wish to change the essential relationship of domination that humans have over animals. Without a genuine pool of social activists, without people who are willing to put their own talents and skills to use, we are going to be stuck with the so-called “victories” of PETA and HSUS, victories that celebrate killing more gently. Shouldn’t we be celebrating not killing at all? Shouldn’t we be celebrating veganism?
In her book The Dispossessed, Ursula LeGuin has a quote that sums up my feelings perfectly about activism. She writes:
You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.
The revolution is in your spirit — I know it is. If you’re vegan, something got you to go vegan, to decide that you would not have a part in the human domination of animals. You knew it was wrong, and you decided to have no part of it. Find that original fire and use it! You must be the revolution if it is to mean anything or change anything in the long run. You have to do it; no one will do it for you. Considering that, here are three things that you can do to be the revolution:
0. Yeah, 0. If you’re not vegan, go vegan now. ‘nuf said.
1. Use your talents and skills to educate people about veganism
We’ve talked about this at length various times on our podcast, but we’ll repeat it again: every single one of you has some kind of talent that you can use to support this cause. You are a unique and special snowflake! We’re so used to beating ourselves down and to accepting that we don’t have much to offer that we often forget how we can be of use. You may think you have no skills to offer, but that’s impossible. We need everyone. We need people who can write and speak and cook and organize. We need people who can hand out literature. We need people who can sew and sing and entertain. In short, we need everyone. Get creative: use your skills to raise awareness or in support of others who are raising awareness or educating others. Which brings me to point two:
2. Work in small, consensus-based affinity groups
Find a group of people who share your vision, get together, and make some change. Leverage each other’s strengths to promote veganism and to be vegan educators. For example, one of you may be an excellent public speaker, one of you may be a quiet person but a fantastic cook, and one of you may have excellent organizational skills. Why not get together, get a room at your local library, give a talk on veganism or vegan cooking, and bring some food along to convince people that eating vegan isn’t as horrendously subpar as everyone imagines? There are a million different possibilities here and a million different talents. The point is to use your creativity and your understanding of the world to make the most impact.
3. Start asking questions
Why would an organization ostensibly opposed to animal suffering give an award to a slaughterhouse designer? Why would the so-called “father” of the animal rights movement say it was okay to eat animal products? Seems to induce a bit of what the psychologists call “cognitive dissonance,” doesn’t it? It is time that we all start asking questions and stop assuming that because PETA or HSUS or Peter Singer (or anyone, including me) says that something is good, it is. Think. Examine the issues. Ask hard questions. Consider the situation and the context, and think about the issues. I know that thinking is often scorned within this movement as a “luxury,” but you have to stop and think before you can act wisely. Don’t skimp on thinking: it is the most important thing you can do.
Effecting change is never easy and is often inglorious, but it doesn’t have to be onerous; you can work little by little to educate others, and you can work with others to deepen your impact. We need to build a vital movement of people doing genuine, abolitionist vegan education. We don’t need another set of stupid stunts, sexist ads full of naked people, or overcompensated suits declaring yet another false victory.
Welcome to the new Vegan Freak redesign! The old design was getting, well...a bit old. We started the last site when we released our book back in 2005, and we hadn’t really updated it much since then. We’ve now moved to a new content management system that will be easier to update and keep the site and blog current.
All of this is being done in advance of Vegan Freak Version 2.0, which is due out at some point in early 2009. We’re working on the rewrite now, which is a pretty big project. In the book industry, you can typically come out with a second edition when you’ve changed 20% or so of the original; in our case, we decided to simply blow that out of the water, and rewrite the whole thing. As you might imagine, some of our views about veganism and the animal rights movement have changed in the intervening three years, and while we stand by much of our advice in the first version, we’re looking forward to having the chance to say a bit more this time around.
So, keep your eyes peeled here for updates and more. We’ve decided to get back into blogging regularly, and as we work on the new edition of Vegan Freak, we’ll surely share some of what’s going on in these pages.
MakingA Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights explores the intersections between human and animal oppressions and their relation to the exploitative dynamics of capitalism. Combining nuts and bolts Marxist political economy, a pluralistic anarchist critique, as well as a searing assessment of the animal rights movement, Bob Torres challenges conventional anti-capitalist thinking and convincingly advocates for the abolition of animals in industry — and on the dinner plate.
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Vegan?
we don't eat nothin' that farts. or anything with a face. or anything from anything that farts or has a face. Basically, vegans avoid animal products to the greatest extent possible, with the overall goal of abolishing animal exploitation. No eggs, meat, dairy, honey, wool, leather, etc. This sounds onerous, but trust us, it isn't. Why kill to eat when you don't have to?
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