The Face on your Plate, or The Case for Veganism

[SellTheBenefits]

*eats steak*

Yummy

[armcurl]

This video doesn't appear to have ANYTHING to do with The Face On Your Plate - it's all about his previous book.

[Morethanenough1]

I kill a lot of what I eat...and look at it when I eat it...Sheeps Head Stew...yumm:)

[nEWwORLDhOARDER]

Just checked out this awesome audio book from the library.

[purplelilstar]

The Meat Industry can turn around and help being green by changing cattle farming into organic farming. I wait to see the light on this day my dream will come true! I pray

[komaster23]

So you pray for a creature that you're higher power to kill a creature that he made... have some logic

[purplelilstar]

@komaster23

what?.... I dont understaand what your sayin.

[Zmainy]

Hmm, this guy seems to have his facts all wrong. Donald Griffin died when he was 88 at his home.

[moebaby67]

Is that really important in respect to his main message?

[donivendetta]

no offense but being a vegan but not loving animals..is like being a meateater and say that you love animals

[franklanguage]

Most meateaters say they love animals...they taste great!

[Mentat1231]

Here's a monkey wrench for you: I love animals, but it is completely unrelated to my veganism. I am a vegan in the first, last, and only place for selfish reasons.



The ability of a creature to experience something does not mean it should not be eaten by those designed to eat them (otherwise I would have to love half of the animals, and hate the other half (the "carnies")).

But, I am not designed to eat them. That is the ONLY factor in my vegan choice.

[moebaby67]

So you "experience something" and I suspect you wouldn't want to be eaten. What differentiates you from an animal in this respect? We are in an illusion and the terror and torture ends when we choose love, compassion and connection. When we see ourselves in everything. Until then this is what dualism looks like. I choose to see the world and practice a non-dualistic perspective. Thank you for sharing with the community that you acknowledge that you "are not designed to eat them" (animals)

[Mentat1231]

No other animal is able to contemplate being eaten. They avoid it because they are driven by instinct to do so (the selfish gene ensuring its survival, etc).

They may or may not "experience" (that depends on how you define "experience"; and I'm sure it could be hotly contested regardless), but the lion or the tiger is going to eat them anyway. And it is not "wrong" for them to do so. If we were truly designed to thrive on a meat-based diet, it would not be "wrong" for us to eat animals either.

[kimberlily1983]

It's not wrong for a tiger, a lion, or any carnivore to eat animals because they are not moral agents. They can't question the ethics of killing sentient creatures the way humans can.

I'm glad you're spreading the word that humans don't need animal products to survive (& are better off without them). But even if we did require meat to survive, we would still be in a different position than tigers, etc. As moral agents, we could question the ethics of killing another to preserve ourselves.

[Mentat1231]

1) Who decides that it is "immoral" to kill? Your morals were invented by social herbivores (humans). Who's to say what would have been "moral" or "ethical" if the intelligent/sentient beings on this planet descended from tigers, instead of monkeys?

2) "Even if we did require..." I'm sorry, but if a species invents a morality that leads to its own extinction, a mistake was made somewhere! If we need it to keep living (in other words, it's good for us), then how could we deem it morally "bad"?

[indigobeauty1]

@Mentat1231

my opinion on the topic is if a person has the choice and access to vegan foods then that is what they should eat. for the people who don't they have to eat meat, but they don't eat it no where close to the amounts of people who have access to meat, veggies and fruit. most people don't even know why they eat meat, that's just the way they were raised and trained. PEACE

[Mentat1231]

@indigobeauty1

There are places (you might call them the "fringes of civilization") where people have no choice but to subsist on a high-meat diet. Eskimos are an example, and they eat even more meat than the "SAD" (Standard American Diet). However, they also have higher rates of osteoporosis and heart disease.

[shikamaruXnara92]

Yes we can

[Mentat1231]

First off, we are animals.

Secondly, carnivores are animals too.

Some animals (including some humans) are vegans. It typically has nothing to do with loving other animals (giraffes eat ruffage because that is what they are designed to eat, etc), just as meat-eating typically has nothing to do with hating animals (cheetah's aren't animal-haters).

It seems many of us are ignoring these facts in our comments.

[shikamaruXnara92]

I eat meat and I don't hate animals!

[indigobeauty1]

@shikamaruXnara92 you probably don't hate animals but you sure don't love animals. there is cannibalism. how would you like it if they found you one night alone and decided to eat you for dinner? PEACE

[shikamaruXnara92]

I wouldn't care. Stop forcing your fucking lifestyles on me! God wants us to eat animals so deal with it! You don't eat meat then fine, but I do so get the fuck over it!

[indigobeauty1]

@shikamaruXnara92

i don't think asking you a question is forcing you to do anything. i think you have some anger issues and need to find some peace. 1LOVE

[komaster23]

@shikamaruXnara92 God isn't real dumbass

[shikamaruXnara92]

@komaster23 Oh, really? Can you prove his non existence? Do you know what happens when you die and where you end up and can you prove it to me? I'm no Christian but I'm not an Atheist either!

[srgstgst]

@komaster23 Making absolute claims about the existence (or lack thereof) of God is illogical, "dumbass".

[KelferMookie]

@komaster23 Prove it.

[srgstgst]

@shikamaruXnara92 No, God doesn't "want us to eat animals". I'm very familiar with Christian arguments for and against eating animals. The very most you can claim is that God is "indifferent to" or "allows" the eating of meat. Nowhere does it say or imply that he wants us to. Otherwise I imagine eating meat would have been part of life in the Garden of Eden...

[donivendetta]

i am vegan first for the animals...and good health follows

[Tehn00busters]

Me too :] <3

[Mentat1231]

@donivendetta

Could you explain this position for me, please?

[shikamaruXnara92]

Ha ha ha ha no! That's where your wrong!

[Boolze]

(To anyone reading my comments and STILL thinking I'm vegan because of the animals - I don't give much of a damn for any specific species - I even dislike pets. I care about my own health, my fellow men and women, and the earth.)

[Boolze]

I dislike unnecessary suffering, though, which humans, not being carnivores and not being omnivores, cause if they eat meat, along with the environmental destruction.

(Note how Argonnosi offered nothing to refute my points/sources, simply resorting to calling me a liar. Sigh. Anyway, I'll be off "getting a life now". :p)

[anouck86]

I´m sorry but you can´t care about the earth if you´re not caring about animals...the fate of the earth is automatically linked to the fate of animals

[Boolze]

Actually, I meant that to be implied when I mentioned "earth". Biodiversty and the host of microorganisms that aid the current homeostasis are obviously very important for humans.

[bummercucumber]

Agreed.

[xxxIzekeIxxx]

whatever helps you sleep at night, argonnosi...

[thebeastisyettocome]

you vegans delude yourselves thinking eating animal products is wrong. how do you suppose we got this far without b12 supplements? hey? that's what i thought. the rational position is to take in protein from animals treated humanely but you do-gooders can't wrap your tofu-clogged craniums around that one can you. the sad, cruel fact, kids, is that something has to die for something to live. go chew on that for awhile.

[yogiclife]

Untill we degraded the topsoil in the world (starting with, but not limited to the "green revolution" in the early 1950s) B12 actually existed in large enough quantities to be transmitted to our veggies. Now, the animals you eat get supplements too, bc, we've robbed the soil. But, no worries, you get more than B12 from meat and dairy. You will also get much deserved obbesity, cancers and heart disese, ect. PS- unless you have the facts, don't act like you know what you're talking about.

[guitarobsessed85]

@yogiclife We can use bacteria now to produce absorbable b12. All other B vitamins can be consumed in nutritional yeasts.

[iamlumin]

There's a huge difference between eating animals and eating plants. Anyone who uses that excuse is simply in denial. Animals eat each other but unlike us they're hard wired to do so. Surely they don't have the thought processes that humans do. If animals had thoughts processes like humans we'd scarcely be able to leave our homes given all the crap we've done to animals and their habitats. When we eat an animal or their babies it's a conscious choice. That's a big difference!

[Baratgab]

Well said. :) Sad to see that so many otherwise intelligent people brings up this kind of silly argue (including most of us, earlier). Self-justification is a very dangerous practice; even slave-holders thought that they just in their manners. Fortunately, Peter Singer has very clearly explained (in Animal Liberation and Practical Ethics) that our basic moral principle of equal consideration can only be denied from other sentient beings by arbitrary discrimination, which we call: speciesism.

[iamlumin]

Yes, on the surface it seems as though man has evolved but underneath it's the same old barbaric tendencies and self-aggrandizing urges. If animals had a religion humanity would surely represent the devil.

[Argonnosi]

Except that I really am superior to the creatures that I eat.

[Argonnosi]

The fact that other animals experience emotions is not really very surprising. Emotions, especially in social animals, are very useful survival adaptations. However, that doesn't make it wrong to eat them. They eat each other without regard for what they might feel. Why should we not do the same?

Also consider, blessed are those with voice. Plants are just as alive as any animal. Is it possible that no one says it is immoral to eat them because they cannot object?

[nonatin]

I would like to think that is the very reason why someone decided to pray before meals. Also, it reminds me of the native americans being thankful, and using all parts of the animal in reverence. Thank you for your comment. It shows intelligence and compassion. If I were your prey, I would find you deserving of the food I could offer.

[Lisamarie1968]

Animals eat other animals in the wild out of necessity and instinct.

We humans eat them out of mere CHOICE, when we do NOT have to; we can be perfectly healthy, and in fact MORE so, if we eat what we're designed to eat, which are PLANT-based foods.

Also, plants do NOT feel pain or emotion; this is a self-justifying arguement.

They are not able to move about and object to suffering and death like animals and people can, and therefore animals are NOT here for US to eat or use in any other ways.

[Argonnosi]

You can't get everything you need from plants alone. Also, consider the hundreds of rabbits that are killed every day by combines harvesting lettuce. There is just as much blood on your vegetables as there is in a steak, and we have a use for almost every part of the animals we butcher (the idea that we waste a lot of the animal by-products is a myth). Actually, the animal death toll for a steak is probably much smaller than it is for a salad.

[Lisamarie1968]

You're simply WRONG. We CAN, and should get all the nutrients we need from plant-based foods. In fact, these foods cut out alot of the things that are BAD for us and kill thousands of people a year. We're not dying from deficiency diseases in this country; we die from cancer, heart disease, stroke, etc and these are ALL diseases that are caused by eating animal products!

Also, ALOT less land is used to produce plants than animals.

[Lisamarie1968]

Unfortunately, yes, things are still killed by growing and harvesting plants; we can't be perfect, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't do as much as we CAN to ease/reduce unnecessary suffering on animals.

[Argonnosi]

Cancer? Caused by eating meat? What have you been smoking. Heart disease can happen in anyone, as can a stroke. Diet is a factor, not the cause.

B12

Oh, and most of the animals that we keep to eat also provide us with a number of byproducts (many of them used in manufacturing processes) that we would still need to kill them for. It would be wasteful to discard everything else.

[Boolze]

And most everybody is deficient in B12. This doesn't have that much to do with whether you eat meat or not (in fact, those who eat a lot of meat are usually deficient in it as well), but rather with our civilisation's obsession with clinical sterility. Check ecopolitan (dot) com for information on this and much, much more.

[Boolze]

"You can't get everything you need from plants alone."

Actually, yes, you can. Man is a [herbi]-frugivore. Through cultural evolution, which is much more prone to errors than biological evolution, meat-eating and some agricultural practices have almost become religious in nature.

[Argonnosi]

This statement is simply a lie. And before you start saying that people wold function best on a vegetarian diet, get off it. That's not how we determine whether a species is an herbivore, omnivore, or carnivore. It's about what they can survive on. We can survive in numerous environments and on a ridiculous variety of foods, including meat. This makes us omnivores.

[Boolze]

It is not a lie. You have been lied to.

The case is made by seeing what is the optimal diet, the healthiest one, the one we've evolved on for the most significant amount of time and retain genetic coding for handling.

We are only omnivores in the sense that we can eat just about anything and get *something* out of it - but meat, poultry, fish (yes, even fish, which we've been told is so healthy), and dairy hurt us in the long run.

[Boolze]

The only animal products which is arguably quite beneficial to us are bee products - honey (the raw, unheated, unfiltered variety, not the one you usually find in the grocery store, which is processed to look pretty), bee pollen, and bee propolis. This is partly because these products are pretty much plant products in essence, only slightly processed by the bees.

[Argonnosi]

Oh, now I understand. You enjoy making up new definitions for scientific terms that are not agreed upon by the scientific community at large. Either that, or you just enjoy being wrong.

[Boolze]

I've got no reason to lie, as I'm not affiliated with anyone in the nutritional business, big pharma, etc.. I also speak from personal experience. I only wish to help, and though Argonnosi doesn't want to take a look at the facts, I can only hope some other people gains something from my comments. G'day.

[Boolze]

For those with an open mind, for those with a sense of intuition that not been brainwashed away by cultural missteps and societal pressure, for those with their evolutionary instinct intact:

Check out sites such as

ecologos (dot) org - run by a former Monsanto (!) employee, with a strong background in electronics, engineering, and many, many years of nutritional study and self-experimentation with diets. Now a raw vegan fruitarian.

[Boolze]

You can spend hours reading the articles and studying the charts there. Links to useful software and a discussion group for discussing the science of veg*an diets, as well.

&

ecopolitan (dot) com - run by Dr. Tel-Oren, M.D.. Vegeterian since childhood, vegan since adulthood, raw vegan since several years back. Hours of detailed lectures for FREE, along with many pertinent articles.

[ViolinCyndee]

Love his writing!!!

[VedicResurrection]

Hahaha!!!! Man you are cracking me up. You posted this message on several videos. Dude, you are funny.

[grubelsucht]

A recent New Yorker article points to the current demand exceeding the supple of Italian olive oil. The makers of olive oil consequently substitute sunflower and other oils without labeling the product as such. because of economic pressure. The real olive oil stays in Italy. We must perforce take the statements or "olive oil" in this video with a grain of salt.

[italndiva]

*weep*. So sorry such a fabulous book.

[italndiva]

Such a great book..why elephants cry. He is an amazing person who gives his life to the animals. Bravo!