Yes, you can go vegan and stop supporting animal exploitation.
It's always cruel. There's literally no way to make it not cruel, just less cruel in certain ways. Never "humane", only "more inhumane or less inhumane", and varying degrees of inhumanity
You've been deceived like most people, you really need to watch this documentary if you care about animals (especially cows and their calves), ethics, environment, etc. Even if health is not a concern to you.
This documentary, Maa Ka Doodh, goes into how the standard inherent practices in India's dairy industry are abominably cruel. There is simply no way to do it ethically, something vegans are well aware of, not to mention the majority is mass-produced and even more cruel than the very extremely rare cases that are barely commercially viable and can only cater to a select few wealthy people, and even those are still highly cruel, just less so. Is less cruel = not cruel? No. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maa_Ka_Doodh
They made it viewable for free on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhTOLeevtQw
Additionally, Arvind Animal Activist on YouTube educates the public about the ethical, environmental and health imperatives to go vegan from an Indian perspective:
And here is the full quote:
There are multiple benefits of a vegan or vegetarian diet in the management of CKD: (1) Intake of animal fat is associated with albuminuria, and other components related to meat such as choline and carnitine are converted by gut flora into trimethylamine and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) that are associated with atherosclerosis and renal fibrosis.10 (2) Vegan dieting leads to a decreased acid load, whereas ingestion of animal-based foods increases acidogenesis and ammonia production, and this favorable alkalization of vegan diet may have additional effects beyond what would be provided by mere intake of sodium bicarbonate.11 (3) There is less absorbable phosphorus in plant-based protein given the preponderance of indigestible phytate as the main source of phosphorus and given that fresh fruits or vegetables are less likely to have added phosphorus-based preservatives that are often used for meat processing.12,13 (4) Higher dietary fiber intake, in addition to a favorable modulation of advanced glycation end products,14 enhances gastrointestinal motility and lowers the likelihood of constipation, which is a likely contributor to hyperkalemia. (5) A vegan diet based on fresh fruits and vegetables lessen the likelihood of exposure to potassium-based additives.15,16 (6) There are potentially favorable impacts on the gut microbiome leading to lower generation of uremic toxins such as indoxyl sulfate, p-cresol sulfate, TMAO, and other unfavorable substances.17 TMAO is not only elevated as a consequence of renal insufficiency but also likely contributes to the progression of CKD and the risk of mortality in patients with CKD.18 There are other benefits from a higher intake of plant-based protein, such as lowering the likelihood of kidney stones and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease due to higher intake of natural antioxidants including carotenoids, tocopherols, and ascorbic acid.19
Hi https://lemmy.world/u/TheTechnician27 (I don't know how to tag users, sorry), I just wanted to point out that one of your links is broken:
" * There are multiple benefits of a vegan or vegetarian diet [six listed, too long to quote here] in the management of CKD [...] —Journal of Renal Nutrition (2019) "
This sends us to a broken link:
https://www.jrnjournal.org/article/S1051-2276(19
Here is the fixed link I believe: https://www.jrnjournal.org/article/S1051-2276(19)30026-3/fulltext
Hope that helps, and to make it easier to find and correct if you want to, the broken link in your post is the 15th from the top, or 10th from the bottom, I think. :)
You might be healthy now but evidence shows you would be at more risk of health issues, diseases etc, and mortality risk, especially later in life, than if you ate a plant based diet, and have worse health-and-life expectancy.
Additionally, you're contributing to some of the worst environmental practices harming our planet and causing climate change.
Finally, the abuses of animals in other industries beyond meat production, not only are usually still contributing to the killing of animals for meat indirectly since animals are used for overlapping purposes, but are horrifically cruel in their own ways too.
Please watch this: Dairy Is Scary
You might as well say modern men are men by every scientific definition (and subsequently evolved to be able to dominate women). Regardless if that's true, that doesn't mean that men inherently need to dominate women. Just like omnivorous humans don't inherently need to dominate non-human animals. They can choose to be respectful and ethical instead since we're moral agents capable of rising beyond our basal, animalistic instincts and even our evolutionarily-programmed nature. We're also able to make more rational and informed choices about what benefits ourselves, other animals, and the planet the most, regardless of what's natural. Natural doesn't automatically equal better, in a lot of cases it's worse. This (your argument) is just an appeal to nature fallacy.
To be clear, us being omnivores means we've evolved to be able to eat from plant- or animal-based (as well as fungal, algal, etc) sources. That doesn't mean we need to eat all of them, we're capable of surviving on either, and evidence shows we actually thrive on a plant-based diet. It's also worth acknowledging that we originally evolved from frugivorous herbivores before we started hunting animals (yes, really), and our bodies, while they have developed some omnivorous adaptations, are still closer to that of herbivores than carnivores and lean more towards the herbivorous side even compared to most other omnivores. But that's mostly irrelevant to what we're actually able to do, what we're shown to be healthiest (and most longevous/long-lived) when doing today, what's most ethical, sustainable, etc. Just some food for thought.
I don't advocate breeding pets to put into our homes anyway, as it's an animal rights abuse and cruel in my view, but there is substantial scientific literature on the topic of feeding commercially produced, appropriately-fortified vegan pet foods to cats and dogs that are specifically tailored to them, indicating that it can be perfectly healthy when done appropriately and even produces better health outcomes in a lot of cases: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9860667/#:~:text=They had more ideal body,that were fed vegan diets. There is also research showing they enjoy it just as much if you find a kind that they take a liking to, much like animal-based versions. Animal-based pet food usually contains the scraps and leftover, rejected parts from the meat industry and feeds to these animals what would be considered unfit for human consumption due to its health risks. So it's not surprising that conventional commercial pet foods are associated with a range of health problems that vegan pet food largely bypasses. However, even pets fed raw meat diets appeared to fare worse than those fed appropriate vegan diets according to balanced appraisals of all the evidence.
The ASPCA are, much like the RSPCA, known to promote animal agriculture propaganda and are involved heavily with industries that exploit animals. A large part of their funding comes from grants & partnerships with animal agriculture. Not only are they an incredibly biased source, but they're also clearly not a scientific one.
In more precise terms, we have been granted, as a species, the key to ascend to what might be called a creator race. We possess the unique capacity to observe, understand, and influence the intricate exchanges that govern all living things. With this knowledge, we can elevate our existence, crafting a future that benefits all.
Just wondering, you say here that we have the ability and know-how to basically control (or steward) all of nature and all the life that exists within it. You then say that using this knowledge, we can elevate ourselves (presumably implying humanity), but then also "crafting a future that benefits all". Is this all referring to just the human species, or to all sentient/conscious beings (meaning at least the majority of non-human animals in addition to humans)? Surely to have the ability to help all "living things" but to only help ourselves would be an abuse of power, no? Especially if what came with neglecting to help the other individuals we coexist with was a sense of entitlement to dominate them for being somehow inferior to us, in an arbitrary way that we likely wouldn't apply to members of our own species that exhibited the same characteristics that we based the reasoning or justification for these actions on. Just checking 🤔
To those people saying "normalcy bias could lead to our doom".
Hi sorry if this is offtopic but it's the only place I know and have access to that some people will understand and not just downvote me & start arguing, criticising or mocking me.
The vegan reddit is apparently the largest online community of vegans; it's definitely the largest and most supportive one I know of, and that means it's the only real safe space I have to talk about issues I'm facing with likeminded people, of whom I know none in real life. (There is also the Vystopia reddit which is often even more understanding, apart from a few non-vegan trolls showing up occasionally once they discovered it. And a few other subs). I used the vegan reddit community as an outlet and support network to deal with and get help and advice for what is basically extreme depression/sadness, anxiety & stress, isolation & loneliness related to being the only vegan I know, the hate and bullying I get from non-vegans, and the difficulty accepting the fact that most people are so cold and callous when the topic of veganism and animal rights comes up (not that I usually bring it up myself, believe me); or what could all probably be summarised by the experience of vystopia, which even most mental health professionals are not familiar with or trained in since ethical vegans are such a minority.
This community is the only place I know of now to ask questions, get help or just vent about the struggles of being vegan in a carnist, speciesist and largely anti-vegan society. However the problem is that this community doesn't have that many vegans using it, and from what I've seen there are a lot of carnist trolls (and just non-vegans in general) who "brigade" the posts even when someone says they're just wanting to talk to likeminded vegans. This happens on Reddit too but the community is big enough, with enough vegans using it, that those comments get largely drowned out and even when they don't, there will be supportive vegans there to defend you, defend veganism/the animal rights position, correct misinformation, etc. I think there aren't enough people using Lemmy in general, to the point that when someone posts in this community, it's one of the only posts on "all" (or whatever the equivalent is) and so sometimes it seems like the majority of people seeing/engaging with it are non-vegans and trolls and it takes a while for the vegans to get here. I hope this is slowly changing as this community grows, but I wonder if there is a way to limit a post's exposure to non-vegans by having it only show up in this community and not "all"?
Anyway I'm posting here because I have no way of posting to Reddit since I was banned sitewide for unknown reasons. I sent multiple appeals to be unbanned or at least request to know the nature of my ban, as well as attempting to think of what could have possibly gotten me banned and acknowledging those things & promising to never do them again (it's a small and stupid list of things that wouldn't realistically warrant a sitewide ban like posting a few animal rights messages in topical posts of non-topical subreddits, or accidentally voting twice on the same comment a few times when switching accounts and forgetting). It really doesn't make any sense. I've sent heartfelt emails explaining my position to different places but never any response. I don't think they even accept appeals anymore after a few months.
With this in mind, I've given up hope that Reddit would ever hear my case and unban me and let them post or comment (or even like anything) ever again. So I don't know what else I can do besides trying to circumvent the ban somehow because I'm desperate, I feel like a crucial support network has been cut off that I rely upon for mental health support in a world where nearly no one understands what we're going through. I've tried VPNs, Tor browsers, using different devices, new accounts of course, but somehow it always connects back to me via IPs, accounts, data trails or something and figures out who I am and bans any new account I try to create after a short period of time (less than a day, sometimes instantly).
Any advice would be much appreciated, and I know this isn't really the kind of community that would know what to do about this issue, but if I said it anywhere else, they would definitely refuse to help me unless I explained my reasoning, and then if I did they would just bully me and use it as an opportunity to diss veganism and tell me I deserve it for being vegan or whatever.