Yet this is awesome:
Hahaha, so conflicting!
I've been thinking a lot for the past few days, and I know that most vegans would cringe at the idea of being an a la carte vegan like I am planning. I know that there will still be some dairy and eggs in my diet here and there, though I most certainly will not be consuming meat again, even if it comes from a humane "butcher." The dairy thing is where I am the most conflicted, though. I know that I can get milk and eggs from a farm market or the Amish and know that their animals aren't being tortured and deprived of their basic animal rights to give such things when I absolutely need some, no big deal. If I know the animal isn't in pain to give me their by-product, I am okay with having it in small amounts. Honey, for example. We will still have honey in the house sometimes, I'm assuming. I haven't really done research about what goes into harvesting honey, though. Are bees harmed for this? If any of you can shed some light here, I'd appreciate it.
I just have a huge issue with getting mass-produced milk in the store anymore after knowing that the poor mother cows, who typically have a lifespan of a couple decades (if not more) are "wasted" after only 4-5 years because they're too tired to keep up with the production, or standing on concrete for so long has eroded their hooves, or they get mastitis from the constant pumping and do not get medicine. Mothers reading this, have you had mastitis? I've had it a total of nine times. NINE TIMES. I needed a stronger antibiotic every time, and was still in excruciating pain. Those poor cows just have to deal with the pain, and if the infection doesn't magically go away on its own, they are slaughtered. Ugh.
And the chickens-- sometimes from the filth, they will get abscesses where they lay their eggs, sometimes eggs get "stuck" (and they die a slow, painful death), sometimes they get stuck to their cages and can't get to the food and water and they starve. I'm of course talking about the major factory farming operations, since that is all I've read about so far. I am sure that at smaller, family-owned operations that they treat their animals with more respect than that. At least I hope so. I just can't stand the idea that a chicken has to constantly pop out eggs in a room where they aren't even given space to really stand or spread their wings, and they have a high chance of infection and death after only a fraction of their typical lifespan, just so that I can put an egg in my stir-fry.
I'm still experiencing some shock over this information, so of course I seem biased, but I am in no way "buying into scare tactics" and being fooled by animal rights groups, as someone (I think) seemed to think yesterday after me posting the PDF file. This stuff happens and most people turn a blind eye to it. What if breastmilk was the hot commodity? Would we keep impregnating women, let them nurse until their milk comes in, then take their baby away for them to never see again and keep them hooked up to breast-pumps for hours a day, ignoring the fact that she gets infections, or bedsores, or an abscessed milk-duct, ignoring their cries of pain? Of course not! That'd be inhumane! Yet we do it to animals, because they can't say no. Just like infant circumcision... disgusting... but I won't go there.
Sure, I'm passionate. Just like a lot of you are passionate about guns, hunting, cars, etc... gun owners are horrified over the talk of stricter gun laws, yeah? And you're willing to speak out about it, because you're passionate about owning guns? Well, I'm passionate about animals being treated with the respect they deserve as beings of this planet.
Woo! Now that I got that off my chest, dinner plans for tonight are baked tofu "nuggets" and vegetable sushi rolls. Yum yum yum! :)
Comments are welcome, but please be respectful!
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