Vegetarians & Vegans, can you justify your means?!

Say you're an environmental activist. You recycle. You conserve paper, heat, electricity and water. You compost. And then your job sends you on a business trip where you fly on a plane, one of the worst causes of air pollution. Because you need to fly on that plane, does that mean you should stop recycling and doing everything else you do? Do you reason, "Well, I guess I'm a no-good polluter," and start throwing plastic water bottles in the trash and dumping chemicals in rivers?

Of course not. That's just silly. It's about doing the best you can. A lack of perfection is a lousy excuse for a lack of effort.

I can

don't have a pet
don't wear make up
scientists can kiss my ****
medicine- hey, I was a human guinea pig for clinical trials- no fool should ever take American medicines, they're always dangerous and always being recalled. I don't even take aspirin.

Some people don't eat diary or meat because they don't like it.

I was going to cut and paste this question for insomnia moments, as it's that boring.
But since I'm here- Vegan, by definition of the man who invented the vegan society and the word "vegan" ( an English gentleman_ is to use as far as you possibly can, no animal products, and to not take from animals whenever you possible can.

I think you've got the words "nazi extremist" and "vegan" mixed up and shoved up your hole somewhere.

some vegans or vegetarians don't own pets. i have 2 dogs and i feed them dog food, i don't think i would go so far as to change my dog to a vegetarian ha ha...
i don't use many many cosmetics. my toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and deodorant are all animal friendly. i buy animal friendly when i can.
actually, there are humans that volunteer for testing, however it doesn't eliminate animal testing because they're tested on animals first. and yeah, of course i would say no. no one should suffer like that.
its not necessary to test on living things anymore because with our technology is advanced enough to simulate a human cell and test on it instead, so nothing suffers.
its almost IMPOSSIBLE to get medication that's not tested on animals, because just about every FDA certified medication goes through the testing process to be approved.


doing what you can is better than doing nothing at all. sometimes you cant do everything..

I am not a vegan or a vegatarian, in fact I teach the Hunter Education Program in Alberta.

The biggest error in your whole tirade is assuming that all vegetarians and vegans make their dietary choices for the same reason. They are not all radical animal activists.

Some do it because they believe in reducing cruelty to animals. Subsets of that group would be people that refuse meat because of feed lots, but don't worry about medical testing. Some eat vegetarian due to religous or cultural reasons. Some just like the way the diet works with their own body chemistry.

There are also people like myself that believe that hunting (as long as it is skillfully and thoughtfully done) is far more humane that feed lot production. Although I will eat commercially raised meat if that is what is available.

Really, the bottom line is that vegans and vegetarians are really under no obligation to justify their choices any more than I am obligated to justify mine.

I don't have a 'pet'; when I had a cat I fed him with meat; cats are obligate carnivores. Doesn't mean I have to be.

Indeed I do not use 'many, many cosmetics'; I wouldn't even if i was a meat-eater. Please list the cosmetics you believe I 'need'.

I take prescribed medicine when necessary. The word vegan is not synonymous with the word martyr. All medications are tested on animals. Vegans minimise their contribution to animal suffering and exploitation as far as is practical and reasonable . Refusing necessary medication is neither.

I am currently taking part in a medical clinical trial.

Not quite the Gotcha! you thought it was, this question, huh?

I buy organic dog food for my dog, and also feed her cooked green beans and other vegetables. She loves them and it makes her coat silky and her breath more tolerable. I do not force my diet onto my dog, but I try to mix in some fresh veggies as often as I can, as dogs are omnivores and some of them love vegetables, like my dog!
I do not wear make up, I have only ever worn make up when I was younger for special occasions but I never wear it anymore. Its a waste of time and money in my opinion. I also volunteer to test vaccines, such as the H1N1 vaccine prototype almost two years ago, which made me quite sick actually, but didn't really do anything else detrimental to my health, and various other small things such as vitamins. I donate my money to animal shelters, and to charities that assist humans as well. I volunteer at an animal shelter, I adopt all of my dogs and don't buy from breeders or pet stores. I don't take medication for anything unless it is a debilitating injury ( haven't had to take medicine for that yet but just throwing it in there) because I believe letting my body work a virus out of my system aides in better recovery. I support and put my money into small industries that work in an environment that doesn't require animal exploitation and that has a no animal testing policy.

I am far from perfect, every single vegan, vegetarian and omnivore is, but it is the small things in life that we all strive to perfect that make a difference.
No one needs to justify their lifestyle, the only reason people find the need to do so is when others become accusing and each side becomes defensive.

Vegetarian

i don;t need to justify myself but i'll answer this anyways. no, it doesn't cancel it out, i don't have any pets (and not all pets eat meat) but if i did and they eat meat i would still be buying less that if i eat it too. so yes, i would use a local farm but since i don't want to i'd probably get an herbivore if i really wanted a pet.
not all cosmetics are tested on animals, check it out: http://veganessentials.com/
and who says you need cosmetics.all i use is lip balm but i could go without.

we could try and use methods that don't lead to medical misinformation. have you ever heard of thalidomide? tested safe in animals but cause birth defects in humans. Animal testing also leads to human testing anyways and many people do go out and test new drugs and get paid for it.

so your last question seems like this to me. i'm am also for human rights but if someone breaks into my house and tries to hurt me would i not be for human rights anymore if i defended myself? does that mean i should go around attacking people because i will never be able to be 100% nice to all humans? same thing. saying you shouldn't try cause you can't do it all is a bad excuse? should i not donate $10 to Japan since i can't donate $10 million?

These are pretty much common questions on this forum everday
1) a pet often is a carnivore, if i have a carnivore pet like a dog i'm not going to be feeding it vegetarian options despite them showing omnivorous traits. It doesn't cancel my ethics at all as i'd be neglecting my pet otherwise, even at that herbivore pets like rabbits exist
2) not all vegetarians are against animal suffering, for example somebody who drinks milk will be aware that an animal has to go through birth to give milk. Most vegetarians are against terminating sentient life simply for meat. Even still people are becoming a lot more aware especially women when buying cosmetics as they want natural sources more & more these days
guys for the most part don't have to worry bout cosmetics
3) I haven't got a strong enough opinion on animal testing for medicinal purpose, if possible of course many would opt for cruelty-free or less crueller methods of testing products which exist though as to what success i cannot say as i'm not educated here, hence the whole storm being kicked up in the EU on cosmetic-testing by ordinary citizens.

You have to recognise not all vegetarians are so for ethics, many are but many do so for health & others for environement etc. Therein lies the flaw in the questions you pose, they are all ethics related. Lastly it all comes back to the goold old saying ''if you cant do everything don't do nothing, do something'' Just because i in practice have flaws in my vegetarianism, doesn't mean that is a justification to do nothing & eat meat etc.

yes and no

i cant change soceity by myself and i still have to live in it, so yes

and no, cos i can always do more

i feed my pet whatever she likes
how does that cancle out my being vege?

do i agree with keeping other animals as pets, no,
but again,
we have a soceity that does that, that has done that for thousands of years ,
we domesticated certain animals, and so i try to take care of the ones we have and treat them liek family rather than 'pets'

not all cosmetics are, again, it comes down to soceity, they make non animal tested ones very expensive, if i coudl afford them all the time, i would buy them, i cant, so i cant
i do what i can when i can
and i try to do a little more regularly

truthfully, you dont actually know me/other people, so dont know what i / they will or wont say, it would be nicer if you didnt assume things about me/other people
plenty people do human trials nowadays

i take meds cos i need them to stay alive and healthy
again, it comes down to soceity, and how i still have to live in it

your welcome ;-)