 First off, I want to preemptively say that just because I'm vegan, that doesn't mean that I think that people that aren't vegan are bad people at all. You know, who am I to say that? I used to eat animals more than probably anyone else here. Okay, and I just come out of gangs. I was using drugs. I'm the last person to act superior to anyone. So there's no animosity in my heart or judgment. But what I'll say might make you feel a bit uncomfortable as well, because the truth is uncomfortable to face. It was the best thing I did was face the truth. I prefer myself to look at the truth authentically, how it is, and I speak the truth authentically too. But we kill around 70 billion land animals every year. I haven't done as much activism in Asia as I have done this week in Hong Kong. This is vegan. You know vegan? How do you know it doesn't suffer? Because they don't have a brain? No, no, no. They don't have an essential nervous system? Even scientists will tell you that. No, no, no. There's no scientist alive that says plants are sentient. It's vegan. No animals in there. Where does the animal get the protein to make the meat for you? The food style? Well, it's very interesting. I went to the wet markets. Okay, and I've seen fish in captivity in small buckets suffocating, slowly suffering, and it made me very distressed. The things I saw in there were horrific, and I can't believe I could see them, but not many other people actually see these fish in these little tanks suffocating, and they're silent screams. If you look in their eyes, they're traumatised. They are suffering. It's senseless suffering. I've also seen fish cut in half lengthways and their bodies exposed and their hearts were still beating. I've also seen frogs kept in cages and they were having their heads cut off right out in public. Fish had been exploited and commodified to the point that they're not even considered animals. They're considered swimming vegetables. One thing I also noticed is that the pigs' faces were skinned and they were hanging on hooks and they had cartoon pictures of happy pigs above them. And I've seen five-year-old children looking at these chopped-up animals like it was normal and it made me wonder about how strongly we are conditioned to violence as a child. Okay, this is called bearing witness. You bear witness to the animals before they go into the slaughterhouse, okay, and we connect to the animals and we offer them compassion. Sometimes the only compassion that they'll receive in their entire life is by vegans outside of slaughterhouses for their last moments. Sometimes it's the only sunlight these animals will see on the truck on the way to the slaughterhouse. If you can't look at a pig and say, okay, there is as deserving as life as I am, I invite you to look at a pig and say, okay, what would it feel like if I was in that pig's position? And this is only called empathy. That's all it's called. Nothing else, just empathy. Now, what it does as a vegan, as an activist, is it builds conviction in you. You realise that, hey, these are who I'm speaking for, these animals are who I'm speaking for and they are suffering. If you've seen a human suffering, you can experience that suffering with this human. You can say, okay, I know what it's like to suffer. They are also suffering. With a pig, they are suffering the same. Suffering is universal. Okay, we all know when we see an animal suffering, limping, you know, sad, hungry. Okay, this is empathy. This is what I'm asking people to do. And also, we take pictures of the animals and we show people these are the animals that you are eating. These were real animals and they didn't want to die and it helps people make the connections. You look a suffering animal in the eyes and you tell me if it makes you hungry. Okay, because it would make a lion hungry. No, no, no, no. Now, we stay out in the front and we remain respectful to the slaughterhouse staff and to the police. All we are there for is to see the animals. We are compassionate beings. Okay, it's just we have been indoctrinated over time. I think the difference with the virtual reality is it gives you a three-dimensional view of the room. So you feel like you are in there with the animal and it helps you to empathize with their position. The biggest part of making the connection is to put yourself in the animal's position and ask if you would want it done to yourself. They see the footage and they say, oh, that was horrific. That was very cruel. It could be done better. But let's just talk about the most humane way that you make up in your mind. Okay, the animal fools asleep. They are killed against their will. Okay, we're taking their life from them against their will. And if they have come from this welfare farm where they've been treated really nicely, they've got more of an interest in living. That's how you find out if something is humane or not. Ask if you would want it done to you. Would there be a humane way to take my life if I didn't want to die? This is the same for animals. They don't want to die. So humane slaughter in itself is an oxymoron. The virtual reality experience does that and I feel like it affects people profoundly. Now, if this was supposed to be food, natural food that we are supposed to eat, why does it make us feel sick to see how it's produced? Humane means to show compassion, kindness, benevolence. Taking someone's life against their will is not compassion, especially for an unnecessary reason. When you see a beautiful fruit tree, that doesn't make you feel scared or sick or traumatised. But showing people where their pork comes from, where their beef comes from would make children traumatised. Now this is a strong indicator that we shouldn't be doing it. If you showed a child what happens in a slaughterhouse, they would not think that's food. In the gangs, I didn't have very much compassion. Now that I extend my compassion to animals, to pigs and lambs and fish, animals people have forgotten about, I feel like that my circle of compassion has extended to human beings as well. I feel like a more peaceful and aware person, aware of the harm I cause. And it's made me a kind of human being. And it's also made me have a purpose I didn't have before. Because I realised that these animals need our help and they can't speak for themselves. So it's given me a purpose in my life to speak for them. It's a circle of collective suffering. When you look at it like this, the animals are suffering. The vegans who know about it, who are trying to stop it, are also suffering. The humans that are eating the flesh are suffering in hospital, a preventable disease. It's a circle of suffering. Do you think it's justified to take an animal's life from them when we have something else to eat like rice and vegetables and we have vegan meats that don't involve animals' bodies? Vegan before? You haven't? You haven't after this conversation, did it make you think about it? A little bit? This is a resource I use. It's called Challenge 22. Alright everyone, I want to say thank you to all the Hong Kong vegans. You made me feel very at home and been very hospitable. I'm also very inspired by watching this happening in another country. It means the movement's happening worldwide. So don't ever think you're alone, we're all doing this together. We're doing this together in different countries. It just warms my heart to see everyone so motivated and inspired. You've been listening and you've been doing your Socratic method. I love you all. Thanks so much. We're destroying the planet, we're destroying ourselves and we're harming these innocent beings. And if we don't stop, we're doomed.