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The future of veganism
I’ve already expressed that I don’t resonate with radical approaches to veganism, I understand people who are raging about it because they have a myriad of reasons to be angry about the current state of food production, hell I am concerned and bothered by it too, but I simply don’t believe the way to show people that they can contribute to this cause is by shaming them and making them feel guilty.
This, in my experience, never works because nobody likes to be told they are doing something wrong, and it creates the biggest problem I can see: conflict. The establishment benefits tremendously from these conflicts, it feeds from it in the most archontic way, and we plebeians are left to fight this newly created War against animal products.
Does that word resonate with you, war? We have the War on Terrorism, the War on Drugs, the War on Poverty, the War on Cancer, and on and on it goes. Do we ever make progress on any of them? No, they only get worse over time and at best we get the illusion that we are somehow winning it by making some small changes in the field. We only perpetuate them by participating in them.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe that the adoption of a plant-based diet is not only necessary, but inevitable. Right now we are at the cusp of animal production and consumption, and as the population grows and other countries that are known for their vegetarian diets, like India, starts consuming by exterior influence more animal products, we are going to be left with a huge issue: sustainability.
In fact, currently the state of production is unsustainable, meaning that we can’t produce the same amount without wiping out the planet of its agricultural land. Right now we don’t see it, thus we don’t take urgent action on it, just like we have done so many times in the past, and not surprisingly we have been left to suffer the consequences of the irrational decisions made by our predecessors.
This doesn’t mean we aren’t shifting towards reducing this unsustainability, a lot of people are consciously removing animal products from their diets and taking the blindfold off to see the plethora of reasons why consuming these foods are detrimental to their health and the planet as a whole.
The transition to a plant-based diet is inevitable in my perspective, it’s only a matter of time. Our descendants and generations to come will wonder why we took so long to realize this with the advent of a globalized community powered by the free information exchange we call the Internet.
Just like right now we question why the war in Vietnam was even conceivable and supported, or how Baby Boomers destroyed the economy, or any other malady that other generations did in the past, our future generations will question how and why it took so much time to understand the dire need to transition, out of the Industry’s influence to consume animal products in an unreasonable way, to a more logical approach.
I know most people are not seeing the full picture, and it’s not because they don’t know it or admit it, ask anybody and the majority will agree that factory farming and other practices are wrong and should be banned. That’s why we have all these organic, grass fed, cage free, and all the other marketing nonsense labels that makes people feel like they are doing something.
People care, but the marketing industry, the FDA, and loopholes are used to create the illusion that we are in fact doing something for the greater good, when in fact they are just gimmicks to keep selling the same products under different arrangements in their production methods. How do I know this? Because I was one of them for years in the big pharma sector.
It’s not until one does the research and find out whether something is acceptable or not. We have been pampered too much by current trends in society, and nobody likes confronting the reality of how depressing it is to see videos of where their food comes from. And I don’t blame them, I’ve rarely seen them myself as I don’t have the heart to watch them.
I sometimes entertain the idea that most people would have a heart attack if they learned that the guy making their sandwich wore no gloves, or if they find a hair in their food. Now imagine people finding out where the food they buy in supermarkets comes from, how it’s treated, packed, and all the nasty stuff that goes on in the industry before they wrap it neatly and beautifully in presentation form before it’s shipped for consumption.
Instead, we are only shown the overly advertised piece of product that we recognize in the supermarket, and at the head of the shelves we are presented with beautiful, happy, and almost cartoon-like pictures of farm animals in meadows, like they were so delighted to be slaughtered and butchered for our convenience.
Something very important is that activism must change to stop attacking farmers, as this is what the System wants, continue to create patriarchy dominant conflicts with battles against each other for our differences, even in dietary approaches. On the other hand, creating more support groups for them will benefit better the cause. Most of them don’t want to do it, but they are in the same situation most of us are: working for a living.
Just like we want to quit our repetitive and mundane 8:00 to 5:00 jobs, they would love to have the alternative of doing something else. This mini documentary (only 15 minutes, go watch it) 73 Cows showed how a simple farmer made the decision to something that agreed with his heart and set an example for other farmers. This is a step in the right direction, supporting this shift sounds viable to me.
Just to recap on my take about the direction in which we are going, I want to reiterate that anybody who is sane enough wants this planet, and all that lives here, to recover from the vast devastation the industry has done. Even the most apathetic people accept that the need is too great as it threatens their own existence and stability.
This is the idea of veganism at its core when it comes to food and the state of the world as a whole. So, becoming vegan is not a proud thing to wave around, nor is there a specific parameter that gives you credentials to be a Vegan. It’s about reducing animal product consumption when you become aware in any way that it’s causing extreme damage to the ecosystem of Gaia.
A promising but questionable alternative
In the midst of this plant-based diet boom there is a prospect that has been attracting millions of dollars in funding, and promises a reduction and eventual substitution for factory farming: lab grown meat. The premise here is that by taking a sample cell from an animal (pig, cow, chicken, and so on), we can replicate in vitro the cells and voila! We have meat that didn’t come from a dead animal.
This looks like an elegant and modern solution to the disaster we are causing in the world with our farming practices. In 2013 it was hundreds of thousands of dollars to grow a simple burger size patty, today the price has plummeted to a low $11 or less, making it a huge candidate to compete against our archaic method of meat production.
Just like Elon Musk has done with Tesla’s electric cars, where he took the boring concept and created such an elegant design that made gasoline cars look obsolete, the industry is now appealing to meat-eaters with full-fledged synthetic meat. Since the taste is basically indistinguishable from real animals, or so they say, people will likely start switching to it.
Like everything, this meat will become cheaper to produce to the point that it will reach competitive levels with regular ones. Sure, it will meet resistance from some hardcore troglodytes, but in the end all that matters is money and affordability, if it’s cheaper and tastes similar or even better, they’ll buy it.
This will help lessen a lot the current production, unnecessary animal suffering, reduce farm land waste, and the rest of the issues we currently have. It will probably get a lot of funding and support from politicians and institutions, who will see this as a means to boost their popularity and power, by creating the solution people want to end factory farming.
By now you may already be sensing that there’s something that can and will go wrong here, and your intuition doesn’t fail you.
I can’t make many assumptions as to how this can end up being manipulated by molecular engineering, there’s always the possibility that either naively tinkering with meat properties result in unfavorable human metabolic responses, or intentionally adding some sort of trait that can cause issues as we know soy and gluten has been.
The mere fact that the food is synthesized makes me wary of what they can do to it, I simply don’t trust the leading hand that controls its production, nor do I trust their knowledge of what this may mean for the human body in the short and long term.
This doesn’t take away the stratum where meat belongs in the food chain, it will very likely retain the inherent low frequency of its nature, provide nothing but plain macronutrients, and likely the same detrimental effects.
Still, I like the idea of people eating this cultured meat rather than animals if possible, even if it causes the same problems or more than before, at least it’s just them suffering and not animals as well. As always, it’s people’s choice and we all live with the repercussions of our decisions.
While I think it’s for sure a good solution to reduce animal farming and I am all for it, it doesn’t change my perspective that really nourishing food comes from the yields that Gaia gives us through natural processes, that requires the least solar energy conversion, such as a plant-based diet.
The vegan zealotry
There is a clear distinction between the zealot approach to veganism, and the internally motivated one. Fortunately, only a few vegans are vocal and aggressive about expressing their views and thoughts, something that is clearly met with resistance, mockery, counter arguments, and the rest of the conflicting behaviors we humans have been conditioned to react with when presented with a challenge to our views.
Unfortunately, it takes only a few zealots to create a mass reaction to the claims and radical propositions they make, and this is what usually creates opposition to an otherwise well-intentioned notion.
The truth is that we are all into this with at least some consideration to reduce animal product consumption, which means that if some people would rather have some items removed and not all, even if for a short amount of time, it serves the greater cause.
The simple act of claiming one is vegan and boasting righteousness has a sense of superiority in it, think about it, the majority of people once they hear that, immediately realize they aren’t, and by default it means they are doing something wrong, bad or simply negative.
This is why some people who are prone to aggressive behaviors start trashing on veganism, they feel insulted that others might feel superior and their natural reaction is to be contemptuous. They are right in that nobody is above no one else, nor under.
Others who are not so belligerent may feel ashamed, embarrassed, or guilty, all of which are terrible feelings and should not be pressed on anybody. For those vegan zealots, there are plenty of things they do that are utterly negative from the view point of another more spiritually illuminated or advanced being or entity. Should they realize this, the feeling would be saddening at least.
Perhaps the best way, as it seems the case when expressing unity, harmony, love, gratefulness, and positivism, is to radiate it. Just being oneself without giving more information than requested, and having a positive attitude towards it, respecting our brothers and sisters in their views and lifestyles.
An expected direction
Like I said before, I am fairly certain that a transition into some sort of vegan diet is inevitable. Right now it’s not acknowledged by mainstream science how detrimental animal products are to human health, and the benefits of a plant-based diet are merely surfacing out. Remember that science takes decades to finally conclude with certainty if something is or isn’t, I mean, we still don’t know what the rings of Saturn are made of. That’s why we are the way we are right now.
This will be like how Ignaz Semmelweis advised medical doctors to wash their hands and equipment before surgery, after he saw a reduction of infections in the ward he was working on, that was implementing this now evident practice of disinfecting things before operating people. He was ridiculed, shamed, and thrown into a mental institute. He eventually died 2 weeks after his confinement, ironically from an infection.
History repeats itself over and over with different, yet obvious similarities in how novel ideas are presented by evidence. I have always cherished science and research, we all do, but at the same time we know how lobbying and funding can alter the interpretation of evidence for the purposes of preserving business and industry perpetuation.
In 2016 an analysis by John Dunham & Associates showed that the U.S. meat and poultry industry accounted for $1.02 trillion in total economic output, which was 5.6% of the GDP that year. The industry and government are evidently reluctant to lose profit, and so they obscure people’s perception of what’s good for their health if it threatens their incomes. Nothing new here.
But eventually this will phase out, and just like many other industries have come and gone, this one as we know it will morph into something else or cease to exist. Whichever its destiny might be, animal products will go the way of the dodo one day, and all the dark and hidden effects of consuming today’s animal product’s will start to come out as shockingly new.
Depending on where the state of consciousness of humankind may be at the time, we may be introduced with a substitute (lab-grown meat smells funny here) that will still accomplish the agenda of corporations: profit through mass consumption, and while they are at it, others will seek to add extra goodies that will continue to suppress people’s health.
At this point there’s no surprise when we say that our food, air and water has been contaminated in plain sight of those who allegedly control the regulations of public health, to deny this in 2019 is to still be under the influence of the 20th century’s propaganda that your government has your best interests in mind. I have yet to find one person who wholeheartedly believes this.
A rise in awareness, as it’s rapidly happening right now, needs to take place for us to identify and take action to avoid these contaminants and detrimental compounds added in the food industry, from unnecessary chemicals to irrelevant animal product additives.
For now we are only left with the choices we can make based on current understandings, and certainly not the industry’s, to avoid anything that can pose a threat to our health, the state of animal welfare, and the future of our precious Mother Earth.
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