Before I say anything about vegans being hypocrites, let me remind you that this website is mainly for information, artistic and entertainment purposes. I write because I like to write and I am not preaching to anyone. The words that you read come from thoughts in my head that I enjoy sharing with you through this medium. I do not intend to change your mind or your behavior, you are free to do what you do like I am free to do what I do. If you don’t like what this fruitarian blog says, you are equally welcome to stop reading, just as much as you are welcome to complain, debate, ask questions or say thank you. What you do is up to you. All that being said, I will add, that My Ultimate Goal, Beyond Diets and Beliefs is to love you and be at peace with you. I don’t wish to offend you, I am just sharing some ideas.

Enjoy 🙂

Introduction to Speciesism

About a year ago I became a “strict vegan” after listening to “The Best Speech You Will Ever Hear” by Gary Yourofsky. I had been looking into the vegan diet for a few years, but Gary’s words turned me to the vegan side. After that, I never went back.

Gary’s speech was powerful, and the images he showed were intense and disturbing. His arguments were sound and his logic clear as water. During the speech, there was one word that stood out to me, a word Gary himself found so important, that he wrote it twice on the board of that Georgia Tech’s classroom where he became famous to the vegan world.

“Speciesism”  is the concept of discriminating against other beings based on their species.  It’s primarily meant to apply to humans, and they discriminate against certain animals. Vegans complain that most humans have a tendency to put some species above others, they love dogs, but they eat cows. Above all, humans tend to favor one specie in particular: human beings.

Speciesism is a strong idea in favor of veganism. By realizing that all species have the same rights to life, love, peace and joy it is less likely that we will continue to murder, rape and abuse animals (or pay someone to do it for us). I personally LOVE this idea and I agree with it 99.9% (I am keeping an open mind and my God-given-right to be skeptical). Since becoming a strict vegan, I have often found myself thinking that if I had to choose between killing an animal to save myself, and dying, I would choose death. I don’t know what would actually happen in that circumstance, but that is the thought I tend to have.

Are All Vegans Hypocrites?

The idea of speciesism has helped me stick to the vegan diet for almost a full year (it will be exactly 12 months on April 4, 2017). In the mean time, I have learned a ton about animal rights, compassion, empathy and putting myself in another beings’ “shoes”. However, six months ago, I came across an even more powerful idea: Eden Fruitarianism.

Eden Fruitarianism is a concept coined by Mango Wodzak, it takes the ideas behind the fruitarian diet to their utopic limit. In his book, Destination Eden, Mango explains that plans have “thoughts” and “feelings” SIMILAR to those of humans, giving us a fair reason to stop or habit of killing them for human consumption. This idea can easily be considered “extreme” by vegans, just like veganism can be considered “extreme” by non-vegans.

Since reading Mango’s book I have been pondering on this idea, wondering if plans do in fact think and feel similarly to humans. Many books like The Secret Life of Plants, The Secret Life of Trees and What Plants Know tend to point in this direction. Yet, there are many scientists and experts in the field who soundly contradict these theories. I have read arguments on both sides of the spectrum, and after much consideration, I have come to the conclusion that speciesism should include plant life and that all vegans are hypocrites, unless they are fruitarians. Let’s go deeper into this, shall we? 🙂

Vegans, Non-Vegans & Fruitarians. Who is Right?

When it comes to vegans, animals and plants, there always seems to be two sides to the discussion. On one hand, there are the vegans, who say that people should stop eating animal products because it is harming the animals. On the other hand is the opposition, those who enjoy eating animal products. They say that vegans are also contributing to pain and suffering by eating a plant-based diet. The discussions go back and forth, in endless cycles that lead nowhere.

The perspective that few are willing to take on is that of the fruitarian. Fruitarians don’t harm animals nor plants. They are able to empathize with vegans and non-vegans by seeing that in fact, both animals and plants suffer in one way or another when they are murdered by humans. This perspective is rare, and because of this fruitarians are few in number, which means there are more people available to disagree and argue with us. Fair enough, I will take it. 🙂

Arguments Against and in Favor of Plant Life

I wish that stating the word “speciesism” to vegans was enough to help them see that plants have the same rights that we do, unfortunately, that is not the case. Vegans are just as likely to “kick and screen” in defense of their beliefs just as much as non vegans are likely to “kick and screem” in defense of theirs. Why? Because vegan and non-vegans share something in common, they are all humans.  It is said that the brain doesn’t like change and it is easy to see that most of us enjoy keeping our good-old beliefs and patterns. Changing, adapting and evolving is simply too much work.

Why vegan? Part 3: Ethics and Speciesism

You cannot avoid Speciesism

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/speciesism