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The war on vegans is at hand!

June 9th, 2008
By JAZZ SHAW, Assistant Editor

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To arms, citizens, to arms!

I will confess that I do, on occasion, make jokes with some of my more Libertarian leaning friends about rounding up all the conservatives and liberals and sending them off to reeducation camps once President Barr is sworn into office. All humor aside, though, I’m opposed to internment for anyone. Stories like this, however, make it awfully tempting to start rounding up some vegans and putting them on trains heading west.

Parents of ill vegan girl may face police

A 12-YEAR-OLD girl in Scotland brought up by her parents on a strict vegan diet has been admitted to hospital with a degenerative bone condition said to have left her with the spine of an 80-year-old woman.

The girl, who has been fed on a strict meat and dairy-free diet from birth, is said to have a severe form of rickets and to have suffered a number of fractured bones.

Even given my natural distaste for the subject, I tend to adopt a “live and let live” attitude toward vegans, providing they are independent adults. As I see it, it simply means less competition for the available supply of Kansas City ribeyes for yours truly. What you do with your own body is your business. But when this philosophy is taken to extremes and applied to children who may have no choice and not know any better (particularly during their formative years when nutrition is so critical) the stakes go up. How people can continue this madness when we keep hearing about case after case after case of vegans literally starving their children to death is a mystery to me.

And don’t even get me started on the complete loons who try to force a vegan diet on their dogs and cats! (I need to start typing more quickly at this point so I can finish this column before my head explodes, so please forgive any typos.) You might be able to dance around some of the realities of omnivore living when it comes to your own body, but your helpless canine and feline wards are carnivores, like it or not. The odd bit of grass they may chew on to relieve indigestion on occasion does nothing to change the fact that, in the wild, they live on a diet of other animals.

Personal liberty and freedom are wonderful things, and a cornerstone of our society. You can go out and join a plants’ rights movement if you really feel so inclined. But when you start imposing these rules on vulnerable children and helpless animals, you have crossed a line which society should not accept.

To arms, citizens! Herd those vegans into the internment camps before it’s too late!



This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 4:06 am and is filed under Pets, United Kingdom, Society, Parenting. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 9 Comments

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    As I see it, it simply means less competition for the available supply of Kansas City ribeyes for yours truly.

    Hear hear! Plus, if they decide to switch back to omnivorism they'll be starting off weaker and under-muscled, and thus be easier to compete against.
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    I am a bit baffled about the necessity of rounding up people in Scotland and sending them west.
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    Well, if they are in Scotland and you send them west, they're in the ocean. Too good a fate by half for some of them, I say!

    (Damn, I'm feeling snarky today for some reason.)
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    So, what do you have to say about parents who feed their children too much red meat, pork and ham? These children are also helpless victims who face a future risk of high blood pressure and heart disease, all because their parents force-fed them an excess of animal fats.

    My point is that every type of diet needs to be practiced in moderation. These parents were obviously deranged extremists, but that doesn't mean all or most vegans would do this.
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    "So, what do you have to say about parents who feed their children too much red meat, pork and ham?"

    Fat kids are better off than dead ones. Starvation has to be one of the worst ways to go in the world. This was child cruelty and these people are getting what they deserve.
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    Veganism always causes omnivores, even otherwise normally level-headed, rational omnivores, to hastily raise their defenses and crumble into irrational, mentally blocked, nonsense spewing idiots.
    If Jazz Shaw would look into the issue for a nano-second he would see many factual errors with his sensationalist piece of wanna-be journalistic endeavor here.
    First of all, don't omnivores get rickets? Omnivores and Lacto-Ovo vegetarians suffer from vitamin D deficiencies more often than vegans. Would Jazzy blame their diets of rotting animal bodies and their reproductive secretions on the illnesses? Also, cows milk is fortified with vitamin D, in case you didn't know, and there are many fortified vegan foods as well. The best source is sunlight and sunlight, Jazzy boy, is VEGAN!
    Second, there are many thriving vegan children since birth who put their non-vegan counterparts to shame. Ever heard of the vegan communtiy, The Farm, in TN? Of course not, because most people only look at the surface of an issue. How about something more main stream; Ever heard of Joaquin Pheonix?
    Third, the exact details of the diet these parents gave their child is not clear. There are people of all dietary persuasions that have sick children. Once again, the ever feared veganism is the scapegoat. If a parent feeds their children a diet rich in fat and cholesterol and processed foods, they are rarely accused of child abuse. If a parent raises their children on all whole plant foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, and legumes, then they must be monsters... Give me a break! Everyone knows that animal flesh and their secretions are detrimenal to human health and that eating more plant foods is advantageous.
    Fourth, The American Dietetic Association concluded that well planned Vegan diets are suitable for humans of all ages, and actually advantageous to health, many years ago.
    Fifth, we humans bring dogs and cats into existense for the sole purpose of selling them as pets, as property, as commodities. They barely exist in the wild, especially here in the West, unless they are the millions who are unwanted and roam the streets because of our selfish need to breed and "own" them. To try and assume what they would eat naturally is logically impossible since they are no longer natural beings. They are beings we've bred and domesticated to be dependant on us for everything.
    My 2 dogs are vegan and they are as healthy as can be. As a matter of fact, the world's oldest living dog is a (what do you know?) VEGAN! Google it.
    Go back to the drawing board, Jazz. Your knee jerk, reactionary mentality is truly obsolete. We need critical thinkers these days, not pompous jerks who proudly give their loaded opinions from behind the safety of their computer screens.
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    WOW - speaking of "knee jerk" reactions.....

    Now why don't you tell us about all of the vitamins and supplements that you have to give to your dogs in order to make sure that they are healthy Human. I know that last summer, when there was the pet food poisoning scare, I looked into cooking for my dogs. In order to cook for them I would have had to buy almost $100.00 worth of supplements to make sure that whatever I cooked for them had all of the nutrition that they needed...and this was cooking ground chicken for them!

    Veganism on it's own is not healthy for ANY child. There are too many nutrients that they need that they simply can not get from a strict vegan diet. As you noted A WELL PLANNED vegan diet can be healthy....in adults.

    Your claim "Everyone knows that animal flesh and their secretions are detrimenal (sic) to human health and that eating more plant foods is advantageous" is patently false. Mankind has survived as omnivores for centuries. As long as we eat a BALANCED diet of meat and plants, we are fine. The key is BALANCE. Too much of one or the other is not the way we were made, nor is it the most healthy.

    Oh and for the record, my dogs are not "property". They are family and I would never do anything to harm my family.

    LL
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    Lady,
    (Though I hesitate to refer to you as such…)

    Have you even done the research about the vegan diet and supplements or are you just speaking from a spot where the sun doesn’t shine (NO NATURAL VITAMIN D THERE EITHER)?

    Feeding dogs a vegan diet doesn’t require hundreds of dollars worth of supplements as you MISTAKENLY assumed. You’d be surprised to know that in 2008 people actually are concerned with the environment and the well being of animals, so much in fact, that they feed their companion animals “cruelty free” VEGAN DOG FOOD. That’s right; it is sold widely out there on the market! This dog food actually contains ALL the nutrients any dog needs to survive and live the best life without all the unnatural ingredients, fillers, downer cows, and grade Z (Z is an exaggeration, since you are such a big stickler for spelling errors I thought I’d point this out...but you get the point) meat that are included in most commercial dog foods!

    Like Human said before, the oldest living dog was around 27 when he died, his name was Bramble and he was (get this) A VEGAN!

    I feed my dogs Pet Guard Organic Vegan wet dog food and Evolution Vegan dog food for a kibble from time to time. They contain all the recommended nutrients and I do not feed our companions any additional supplements and my vet is fine with this and she eats dead animals just like you. These foods are approved and in line with the requirements according to the Association of American Feed Control Officers (AAFCO) dog food nutrient profile for puppy growth and adult maintenance.

    In the years I have had both dogs they have NEVER been sick, EVER! Their coats are shiny and beautiful and they are completely PERFECT in every single way. Not only is this dog food healthy it only contains ingredients that are fit for human consumption as well, not the disgusting stuff that is in IAMS and all those other brands affected by the dog food recalls that you referred to. I would only feed my dog something I would eat. The vegan dog food possibilities are endless…

    http://www.petguard.com/dog-products/canned-foo...

    http://www.petfoodshop.com/index.cfm?fuseaction...

    Also – FYI I get all my vitamins and nutrients directly from the same source that nonhuman animals (you know the ones that you consume) get them from: FRUITS, VEGETABLES, BEANS, NUTS, LEGUMES, and WHOLE GRAINS and the only thing I add to my diet is nutritional yeast which is used to supply me with extra vitamin B12, which anyone (not just vegans) could and should use in whatever animal friendly form. Most animals that you eat are vegan anyway, why not go straight to the source for the nutrients and eliminate the suffering.

    In my eyes ethics comes first, and there is no room to balance death and health. That would be inconsistent and again, animal flesh and animal by-products have been proven time and time again just as Human said to be SEVERLY DETRIMENTAL TO HUMAN HEALTH! Do the research “Lady”.

    It may be a hard concept to grasp for a self-described, “MIDWEST SUBURBAN SOCCER MOM”, but if you really loved your dogs and felt that they were truly a part of your family you should consider other nonhuman animals and empathize with their plight and individual interests.

    Feel free to insert more unbalanced knee jerk assertions below in response to my reply…
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    Lady Illogician,

    Your post is the perfect example of a knee jerk reaction. You make all kinds of assertions but provide no valid explanation or proof. You make claims built solely on assumptions and that's painfully obvious to any reader. If you actually looked into veganism or (gasp!) tried it, you might be able to see things objectively.
    I did note that the ADA acknowledges that WELL PLANNED vegan diets (good planning is a good idea for all diets, especially those who consume the deadly Standard American Diet - S.A.D.- ironic acronym..I mean you can't just eat cheetos, cold cuts, and cola's and be healthy) are suitable for humans of ALL ages (read my post again), from conception through twilight years, and actually there are many benefits to vegan diets as compared to an omnivorous diet..
    I take no supplements and neither do my canine companions. They are fed kibble or wet food that contains no artificial ingredients, preservatives, animal byproducts, or, as VEGANGRRRL mentioned, sick, downed animals that weren't fit for human consumption (as if any of them are). All the nutrition they need is right there in the food i provide for them. Some would say that they have too much energy... It's worth mentioning that the 27 year old vegan dog was fed homemade food - Lentils and veggies, not packaged vegan food.

    You say,
    "Veganism on it's own is not healthy for ANY child. There are too many nutrients that they need that they simply can not get from a strict vegan diet."

    Where is your