Being Vegan in the Workplace

I just posted a new article on The Dodo. Hope you like it.

I have encountered a lot of vegans whose biggest difficulty with their new lifestyle is to make it compatible with their work place as, generally speaking, most of them don’t work in Vegan businesses. Oh, I wish we all could do it! But how do we make the best of it in the meantime (while we support vegan businesses so we have more of them)?

https://www.thedodo.com/community/VeganEmpowerment/being-vegan-in-the-workplace-528667096.html

Indoctrination: Easier than we think

This blog was originally posted on my website on April 16, 2013 at http://www.yourveglife.com/blog/2013/04/indoctrination-easier-than-we-think

I was watching the documentary Fahrenheit 911 directed by Michael Moore in 2004 and got a fresh reminder of how we can get so easily lied to and fooled by a version of events. When this country decided to invade Iraq, I bought into the propaganda myself. Like a lot of people, I thought it was justified and necessary. Watching Fahrenheit 911 is, in fact, what woke me up from my trance. I am grateful to the person who made me watch this movie then. I wish I could remember who it was to thank her. Looking back, it is hard for me to comprehend how I could believe the lies that were perpetrated to take us to war. I remember fighting with my brother who was against it. I was that indoctrinated. And now, as a Vegan, it is even more bewildering to me to see how asleep I was.

Today I was reflecting on the Boston Events and how terrible what happened is. But really, is it surprising? We are constantly creating our own destinies and our own programming. We are all part of this constant indoctrination which drives some of us crazy enough to commit despicable acts of cruelty. Are we so different from these people? I don’t think so. We are ticking bombs ourselves. We constantly inject this society’s programming and we live completely unnatural lives, completely disconnected from the natural world.

Each day, we are being told stories. These stories, whether they reflect a version of the truth or not are in fact irrelevant as they do not reflect our inner truths. We should reject them. They add nothing but negativity to the world at large. The truth is that we are not who we think we are. We are the manufactured products of this society. And like over-processed food products in a supermarket, we contain a lot of calories, but not many nutrients. And like these products, our lives become shallow reflections of what we should be. To be authentic, we have to become unprocessed foods.

If that food analogy is too much, think about what most people eat. They go to their local supermarket, pick up overly packaged junk food and dead animals packaged in neat cellophane. These “foods” have zero health benefits. They only make us sick, fat and eventually kill us. Our lives have become like these foods: overly packaged with propaganda, lies, extra busy routines, dead end jobs (the calories). But at the end of the day, we get no nourishment from them. But when we endeavor to “unprocess” our lives, we can relearn to live simply, think simply (not stupidly) and reconnect with our inner selves. Rejecting the constant daily mental junk does as much, if not more, than rejecting the daily junk food. One gets influenced by the other. If you do one, you will eventually be driven to do both.

I remember someone telling me once that no one could make him believe anything. But that person was eating other animals, was pro-war and had faith in the capitalist system. Was he really thinking nothing had a hold of him? He was obviously delusional. As we can all be unless we become aware of that illusion.

Being indoctrinated is easy if one is not careful. All day long we receive messages to make us act a certain way. Just opening the television set is enough to put hundreds of foreign messages into our brains. Commercials are the prime example of this kind of cultural programming. But the subtler ones are the most dangerous. Whether you are watching the “news” or some television show, ask yourself how it serves you. If it doesn’t serve you or doesn’t enhance your awareness of yourself and the world, you likely really just waste your time and receive distorted messages. You are accepting messages of lies all day long without question. I understand the desire for entertainment. I like a good movie too. That is human nature to be enjoying works of art. But some of it is really toxic.

When you see teenage girls dressing up like some musical idols, you end up with teenage girls looking like prostitutes more than young girls. When you have young boys emulating some rappers on television, you end up with young men who learn to devalue women and embrace a violent sexist ideology. When you listen and approve of commercials dealing with animal foods and drugs, you become the next potential schizophrenic victim from eating violence, drugs, antibiotics, etc. When you listen to politicians, you program yourself to believe that they actually have the power to change things. They have none; you do, by your own choices.

What if you decide differently today. When you buy pesticide free unprocessed vegetables and fruits from a Farmers’ Market, you make a choice. When you turn off the television and stop being brainwashed, you make a choice. When you refuse to accept the status quo by being Vegan, you make a powerful choice. That choice is to not follow the herd. That is the beginning of freedom.

Annual Los Angeles Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck

« I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of a bad moral character…like those among men who live by…robbing. The turkey…is a much more respectable bird…a true original native of America. » -Benjamin Franklin (vegetarian), 1782, wanted the U.S. to adopt the turkey as its national symbol (quoted from Grivetti et al) »

With a lot of anticipation, I finally got to participate again in one of the biggest events for Vegans in Los Angeles: The annual Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck. For Vegans, Thanksgiving is a painful reminder that millions of turkeys are murdered for a ridiculous ritual that need not have to be this way.

Andy Mars of Vegkids.org once again organized this event brilliantly and reminded us during our circle that thanksgiving was celebrated by Native Americans, not as people believe it is now, but to be thankful for the harvest. There was never any turkey involved in this celebration. They celebrated the « three sisters »: Corn, Squash and Beans. These were the principal foods of the Iroquois and other tribes leaving in the northeastern United States. To use an animal that is fattened and made obese, tortured and then killed to say « thanks » is an absolute distortion of the real meaning of Thanksgiving which came to be mostly in the twentieth century. And let’s not forget what eating these poor animals also does to our obesity problems and so on. That is aberration. The beautiful Fumani sang (a capella aka with no music) during the circle and we said a silent prayer.

Vegans deal with this by getting together as much as possible and celebrate this holiday in a cruelty free, compassionate and family-like atmosphere. For most Vegans, as it was for us today, this is indeed a family reunion. We bring our best dishes, share delectable Vegan foods, talk about our work on behalf of the animals and the Earth (and humans) and remember that each day, more new Vegans join this family. We have been growing and we will keep growing because compassion is universal, cruelty dies off.

We had the pleasure of listening to the wonderful Fumani again, this time on the microphone. Her voice signaled that this event would be special. Thank you sweet lady for gracing us with your presence again. It was great to see old friends and to make new friends. I am reminded how lucky i am to live in Los Angeles where being Vegan is a breeze compared to other places but I do hope that Vegans anywhere did make it special.

My good friend,&nb
sp;Dr. Armaiti May, the Vegan Vet and the host of Animal Issues was also here and talked about her new radio program which I highly recommend.

There were favorite dishes proclaimed by our very own Veggie Eddie. The Field Roast Casserole from Chris was a favorite.

Check out the dance moves as well. Salsa anyone? The dogs also got some time in starring roles and were the kings of the fest.

The children were not left out and some clearly displayed singing talents. They also knew their alphabet very well. Cute!

You could also get a massage!

It was also wonderful to see old friends from prior Potlucks and other Vegan events past.

I took the opportunity to shoot a few pictures for my friend Jordan Wyatt of the Invercargill Vegan Society with his InvSoc Pin. These are for you Jordan. We thought about you and InvSoc as we celebrated Thanksgiving!

A VEGAN'S VIEW OF STAR TREK

The first passion I ever had in my life was Star Trek. That show with the silly costumes and the weird aliens contained so much intelligence that people were able to go beyond the 60’s hairstyles and the flashy uniforms to get to the message. It helped me when my parents were fighting, gave me an escape from being an isolated teen, you name it. Star Trek taught me about ethics, tolerance, etc… Many fans can relate. Star Trek fans, in fact, were my first « family ». They took me in and accepted me, therefore reducing my own social alienation and I met my first Vegetarian and Vegan friends. That was the early 90s.

Thirty years later, I am a passionate and relentless Vegan. It is my lifestyle, my raison d’etre. I consider Veganism the path humans have to take to evolve spiritually, physically, mentally. It is the only sustainable way we will be continuing on this planet. So how does Star Trek fit into this?

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation, i felt compelled to revisit my old favorites and see how my perception has changed (or not and realize, geez i am older!). It is fair to say that a Vegan’s vision of the world is not as clouded by the persistent lies of the food industry, pharmaceutical industry, corporate bought politicians and their cohorts and the general conditioning in all of society as most non-Vegans’ is. Even liberals, with their progressive ideas about the environment, health care, women’s rights, etc.., fail, for the most part, to see the connection between what is on their plates and the movements they fight for.

I felt compelled to revisit Star Trek after many years and was stunned to discover that the very first season of ST:TNG contains this line from First Officer William Riker (played by Jonathan Frakes): « We no longer enslave animals for food purposes« . How did I ever miss this line? Last time I saw that episode (« Lonely Among Us » Season 1), I was still a well conditioned meat eater and had no clue about animal cruelty, the environment or the cost of junk food. The original title of this blog was in fact « Why we don’t connect the dots when we have the facts » which I may still write. But I felt more inclined to go over the mythology of Star Trek and how his creator Gene Roddenberry influenced his two creations (Original Trek and Next Gen). What I realized is how much of his philosophy got washed down by his successors. I am not attacking Rick Berman who co-produced the Next Generation and co-created Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise, but something along the way got lost or put to the side.

Gene Roddenberry created Mr. Spock and allowed actor Leonard Nimoy to help him develop the personality and culture of his creation. The Vulcans went on to evolve into this elegant, sober and logical civilization which is still the most beloved one by the fans. However, on Star Trek: Enterprise, a clear effort was made to tarnish their ethics which really bothered a lot of fans including myself and served no purpose (but that is a long story). According to the original show, Vulcans are Vegans (or at least Vegetarians, it is never stated clearly in the original show although T’Pol (Enterprise) is known as a Vegetarian) and they are also not driven by their emotions. It is interesting to note that the eating of meat is associated with aggression and violence. Therefore it makes perfect sense that Vulcans, who are peace lovers and diplomats, would be Vegans or Vegetarians. Gene Roddenberry was a Buddhist AND a Vegetarian and that is definitely reflected in how the Vulcans were created. They follow a code of logic which seeks to embrace all life forms but they look at everything with detachment and peace. This is not dissimilar to Buddhism’s ideals of peace and commitment to include animals as well. It falls then that Gene was a visionary. Fans called Gene Roddenberry « The Great Bird of The Galaxy » (Bird is fitting).

He embraced women’s rights as well. In the very first pilot of Star Trek, « The Cage », (with Jeffrey Hunter, pilot rejected by the network as being too « cerebral »), women were wearing pants, not mini-skirts. Captain Pike’s (Jeffrey Hunter) first officer was a woman (Majel Barrett). The original pilot was more visionary than its second pilot with Kirk. The mini-skirts and silly hairstyles showed up on Pilot #2 (with Shatner) but Gene managed to keep a woman on the bridge (and an African one!) however restricted he was by 60’s conventions and the television network. He had liberal ideas and included also a (then Communist) Russian on his bridge in season two (Chekov played by Walter Koenig). This was also the first TV show to be clearly multiracial and inclusive, although still sexist. The only two times animals are mentioned as (potential) food in the show are when a supernatural teenager transforms fake turkeys into real ones (according to the cook) to piss off Captain Kirk and the Tribbles (remember the cute furry breading nightmare?) invade Kirk’s chicken sandwich which had just been created by the replicator machine (and therefore no animal was ever killed for his meal). On the show, the food looks more like small pieces of starches or plastic than anything else. It doesn’t look very appetizing but it is clearly cruelty free!

The enduring effect of the original show is linked to its progressive, visionaries and inclusive ideas which in fact didn’t make the show a success on its first run as it was probably too ahead of its time (still is in some ways if you ignore the look of the show and its pre-women’s lib inherent sexism). It is like being given a secret message, fall asleep with it, only to wake up a few years later and realize what it meant.

Let’s fast forward a century later. On Star Trek:The Next Generation, Gene got to create more of his vision. Women finally become active participants, not just second to the men, more species are represented. We still see mini-skirts on crew members but some men also wear them (that, I thought, was a cool reversal slap). However, exit the Vulcans who become secondary characters or cameos and enter a more serene and enlightened human race.. or is it? Yes, we know and it is established from the start that 24th century humans don’t enslave animals for food anymore. But have they resolved their superiority complex over the animal kingdom? the answer is no. Gene Roddenberry became sick in the early 90s (around the 2nd or 3rd season of the show – he died in 1991) and this is apparent that, even though he retained his status as creator and executive producer, he was too sick already to keep it going with season one’s ideology and co-producer Rick Berman was clearly more in charge as heir apparent. As soon as the show enters season two, we see Riker cook eggs (alien eggs but still eggs) which are not computer generated (he says so) but from real animals. Surely, I thought, these were computer created eggs not real, but no, alas, they were real. Worse, in yet another episode, the Enterprise rescues colonists who returned to a « simpler » time and are raising farm animals (reminiscent of the so-called humane farmers of today). The poor frightened pigs (attached to cords), chickens and geeze (who are in cages) arrive on board the ship (questions of animal cruelty on the set were apparently not the producers’ problem) and once again we see that humans have not learned to live without animal exploitation. I am not suggesting, by the way, that Rick Berman allowed these changes to happen as there are so many people involved on these shows but he was one of the main producers and obviously not concerned about ethical animal issues.

What happened to not exploiting animals for food? Oh, sorry, it was only confinement which would mean they got rid of the CAFOs but not of the idea of exploiting animals to a certain degree (humane or not). In another episode of season two, we see Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) riding a horse (reminiscent of his horse ride with Captain Kirk in Generations) and both he and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) refer to the (holographic) horse as just a thing (not once do they address the animal as a sentient being, even if he is holographic) pretty much during the entire conversation. Picard admits he needs companionship and that the horse he is about to ride is it. Troi even says: « I never thought of you as an animal person ». Is the 24th century still not clear on whether animals are more than just pets or food? If the show didn’t have so many great stories, I don’t think I could pass on that and keep watching as I did in my disconnected days. The beauty of Star Trek: The next Generation is the character’s drive to evolve, grow and learn. And they do rather well (by 21st century standard) but could have done so much more. Did the ship’s doctor forget to mention to Riker how bad Eggs are for his cholesterol? How about the white bread sandwiches that Picard feeds to Wesley Crusher (Will Weaton)? Haven’t they learned about diet? (ok, it’s a TV show, I keep forgetting, 24th century with a 20th century mindset, bla bla bla).

In this technology advanced 24th century society, i guess they found a pill to cure a cholesterol that is too high which, just like now, doesn‘t entice people to improve their diets. But it must be better though. If, as they say on the show, humans are no longer starving, meat consumption HAD to be reduced and Confined Animal Factories eliminated. There is no way around it. But it is never mentioned, so I am just speculating based on the facts that we know today. Case in point is that I have never seen a fat human or alien (unless it was a villain, which brings up the idea of stereotypes in a bad way) . One tendency of Star Trek is to be secular (and I’m not against it). Not one God is revered except the God of science. As Dr. Will Tuttle pointed out in the World Peace Diet, science and religion are the two bickering brothers who at their core are also behind animal exploitation. Fortunately, the writers of the show often put into questions the dehumanizing of a tech obsessed society. They do however put emphasis on the respect of sentient life forms and forget the life forms from our own planet. Speciesims in our own backyard: planet Earth, but tolerance for others: aliens. By the way, I am not attacking ST:TNG particularly, I just happen to watch the show again at the moment, so these scenes are fresh on my mind. I actually think that Deep Space Nine goes more in the bad direction with their Ferengi capitalism, Klingon violence and, even worse, the fact that the Federation gets corrupted! But it’s a long story.

Sometimes, though, a great line slips in and reminds us that Gene Roddenberry’s ghost still wanders over the show. On Star Trek: Enterprise’s pilot, T’Pol (finally a female Vulcan and played remarquably well by Jolene Blalock) says to Captain Archer (Scott Bakula): « Humans claim to be an enlightened species, yet they still consume the flesh of animals ». I went « hurray! » until she got verbally slapped on her Vegan face by the stupid human response from Trip Tucker (Connor Trineer): » Never judge a species by what it eats ». (facepalms). It is like the creators of the show wanted to make sure to acknowledge that Vulcans are Vegetarians but that it didn’t matter in the end. However, in a later episode, a new effort is clearly made in that direction. The Enterprise encounters a ship of renegate Vulcans who embrace emotions and eat meat in front of a clearly upset T’Pol. The writers of that episode, however, have understood the Vulcan ethic and by the end of the episode it is revealed that these emotional Vulcans (however liked they are by the humans on Enterprise) are also emotionally violent. Captain Archer is forced to admit that T’Pol and other logical Vulcans « have a point » and confess to her that he never understood her before, but that he now finally does. We clearly see that strong emotions can lead to violence and that aggressive people love animal flesh. There is a glimpse of understanding that is a precursor to what was done by Gene Roddenberry in the 60’s. Too bad they didn’t pursue it. I guess this crew is less evolved as the show is supposed to be in the 22nd century and therefore before Kirk and Spock. But come on! We could hope to have evolved then unless, like a lot of the show history reveals, we have a third World War and a post apocalyptic Earth.

Sometimes, I wonder if violence is the only thing that the human race actually understands. The latest massacre (Aurora) is a reminder that cultivating hate, drugging kids, promoting violence with weapons (constitutional or not – America needs to evolve beyond that), force feeding kids animal carcasses and therefore teaching them that life is cheap (children are not born with the desire to kill and eat other animals or they would kill house cats and dogs, they are born Vegan but taught to become addicted to flesh and dairy) with the help of a violent media and competition will get us nowhere as a civilization. However, cultivating in them compassion, care, respect, inclusion (including and foremost the inclusion of other sentient beings), life education (which includes diet, proper sexual education as opposed to the idiotic abstinence education and life skills) and cooperation to turn them into intelligent adults is what makes Gene Roddenberry’s vision just a dream and not a possible reality for our future. Then I am reminded that there is a potential in all of us to grow and learn to be better people just like Picard and Co. That is the legacy of Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek: the potential for growth and learning. Now I wonder if a Vegan will one day come up with a great science-fiction show with a real Vegan perspective. Imagine what it could be: Vibrant Earth, no more animal exploitation and animals living theirs lives as nature intended, humans not dying of preventable diseases or preventable starvation, cities filled with trees, plants, gardens, farmers’ markets as the norm, pollution free cars and other methods of transportation, people walking, taking the time to live, looking healthy and content, REAL art everywhere, no advertising… Oh, I’m sorry, that is called Utopia.

If that world is to be created, we, as Vegans, need to be the example for others. We can‘t preach to others, we can only educate them. A study recently revealed that when an opinion reaches a 10% approval in the population, a shift happens which makes it a lot more acceptable to the entire population. We have 7.5 million Vegans in the US alone. It is about 2% of the population I believe. Let’s keep growing this number until that shift happens. If that number can double in only 3 years, there is no reason it can‘t quadruple, etc… By the way, we don’t need replicators to replace animal flesh, we have Torfurkey! To a Vegan future!

A REAL VEGAN BUSINESS!

One of the difficult things about being an Ethical Vegan is that we try to avoid animal products and bi-products to the best of our abilities. As you all know, being an ethical Vegan is more than just eating an animal free diet. That people like the CEO of Whole Foods or Bill Clinton (or even Michelle Pfeiffer) call themselves Vegan is irrelevant. The point is that they are not! Veganism is about refusing animal exploitation as much as possible. We reject the Carnist ideology which objectify non-humans animals as things we can eat, wear or use for entertainment.

The challenge of Vegans in getting cruelty free products is nothing new. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. So far, a lot of us had to rely on Farmer’s Markets, regular Grocery stores or Whole Foods for our food and other household products. However, unvariably, we have to pass by the aisle where animal carcasses or their excretions are displayed in glorious admission that Carnism is alive and well. The CEO of Whole Foods calls himself a Vegan. I don’t know where he got his definition of Veganism but he obviously got a different definition than most of us. Veganism is an ethical stance. I would never call myself a Vegan and keep selling the tortured flesh of sentient beings just because I want to make a buck! That is no Veganism. That is a travesty.

Viva La Vegan in Rancho Cucamonga, CA is different because VLV is a 100% grocery store. They have been in business for a year already! I had no idea they existed. I also wish they were closer. The staff is friendly. The co-owner Arlo Toews, a strongly commited ethical Vegan, will have you try lots of goodies on demand, and the store is growing as a new wing just got added! For those who think Vegans have barely enough to subsist on, think again! This place has so much stuff! I never knew there were so many purely Vegan products on the market. That was a revelation. And for bonus points, they carry things that Whole Foods ignore (probably because they reserve the space for animal carcasses to satisfy the omnivores and the boss’ salary). How dare Whole Foods pretend to be humane friendly. They are the largest purchaser of animal flesh in the country. Viva La Vegan Grocery Store actually proves that people can have a 100% Vegan business without sacrificing their ethics!

Well Done VLV! Please note that Bob Linden of Go Vegan Radio was there to do his show as well. Check out their website at Vivalavegangrocery.com and also Bob’s website at GoVeganRadio.com

For all the pictures, visit my facebook page.

Animal rights backlash and a reason for hope

As the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act came into law, it became clear for a lot of animal activists out there, that fighting to save animals had now become a dangerous issue. Will Potter, in his excellent book Green is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege , talks about how dangerous this new law is for the movement and the public at large as a Civil Liberty issue. However, the backlash that the movement has received in recent years is actually an excellent sign that things may change for the better.

As Melanie Joy explained, the “Humane Myth” is not so much bad news as it may be good news as it shows that the Vegan movement is garnishing more and more supporters and therefore the industry (with its sold out animal welfare cohorts aka the HSUS, PETA and others) is feeling threatened.

It is therefore VITAL that we continue to educate, enlighten people about the Carnistic ideology which keeps everyone (animals and humans) enslaved. It has never been a better time for Veganism to spread more as the number of Vegans has doubled in the US since 2009. Vegans still make up a tiny percentage of the US population but the growth is unprecedented. The number of Vegan products found in supermarkets has never been higher. The number of Vegan restaurants has grown exponentially over the last 5 years only and the Farmer’s markets are spreading all over the country as proofs that Americans are looking for a better alternative.

History shows that for every new movement to improve society, there is an equal and often stronger resistance to change and growth. You might say it is the universal law of good and evil, cause and effect, the opposite poles. However, to paraphrase Gandhi, injustice never lasts and is always replaced by a human leap towards a more inclusive world. Human slavery used to be considered normal, women’s submission and lack of rights also was considered normal. These inequalities still exist in parts of the world and have not disappeared but they are mostly considered unacceptable and mostly illegal by most of the world. One day, our treatment of animals will be regarded as being backward as well.

We have to realize this: As more and more compassionate people adopt a Vegan diet, more and more disconnected people will perpetuate cruelty to animals because they feel threatened in their Carnistic beliefs. This is temporary but inevitable. Injustice always reaches a peak until it crumbles and makes way for higher values. We have seen it all through history. The animal rights movement follows the same pattern. Suffragettes went to prison, African Americans died to be free. Animals are still dying by the billions but their plight is getting more and more exposed and denounced.

In my school, we listen to over 100 so-called dietary theories from the worst (Paleo) to the best (Barnard/Veganism). I was almost nauseous from just listening to Sally Fallon (of the Weston Price Foundation) describing the so-called “traditional” diets of our ancestors and how they supposedly apply to our modern time. This rhetoric is being pushed more and more as the Carnists are feeling more and more threatened by common sense. They bring up so called proofs of our ancestor’s dietary habits and ignore our biology as well as the fact that most of history has been written from one point of view (the male’s) and wrongly ignores the role of women as the provider of their families. The role of « man the hunter » is mostly a myth that has been exagerrated to propagate the supposed superiority of men over women for centuries in order to silence them. The more recent research from women (and men) shows a very different picture as Jim Mason’s book An Unnatural Order: Uncovering the Roots of Our Domination of Nature and Each Other and anthopologist Frank Marlowe’s research demonstrate. Our ancestors were in fact at least 95% vegetarians like our closest relative the gorillas. The hair analysis that was done on the oldest man preserved in ice from millions of years ago reveals that his diet was vegan. Even Dr. John McDougall, in recent lectures and articles, has talked about the Vegan gladiators and the ancient Egyptians primary plant based diets (unlike the Egyptian royalty which ate like modern Americans and consequently suffered from the same chronic diseases of affluence).

As I was listening to Sally Fallon describing all sorts of disgusting “foods” (fish eyes?), I was reminded that the Nazis excused their experiments on the Jews with the same ideology which said the Jews were meant to be used and that it was normal. Considering that the Weston Price Foundation (I feel sorry for Doctor Price’s good name) is heavily founded by the meat and dairy industry, she just uses myths about our ancestors to justify the meat and dairy industry book. There is nothing exceptional or remarquable about these mythologists. They just want to maintain the status quo, nothing else. John Robbins researched the longest lived populations on Earth for his book Healthy at 100: The Scientifically Proven Secrets of the World’s Healthiest and Longest-Lived Peoples. He talked about the work of Dr. Price, which has been hijacked by the meat and dairy industry. What his wonderful book proves is that the people who currently live the longest are the ones who live on Vegan or near Vegan diets and have strong community and family connections.

I believe in reincarnation. I also believe that some very un-evolved souls are now back in our time to push their agendas of de-evolution. There are also more evolved souls fighting back against it with their more evolved understanding of nature and our place (and the place of the animals) in the world. What is more evolved eventually will prevail because this is just the way evolution is. We have to move forward, not backward. These non-evolved souls are here to learn that they need to grow and they will not back down without imposing their brainwashing theories on the rest of us. They are currently the ones prevailing.

I see hope for the future because the more evolved souls are opening up to the truth and making the changes necessary for the human race and the animal kingdom to move on to the next level. There is no peace with war on our plates. There is no peace as long as we tolerate violence of any kind.

Let’s start by eliminating violence and death from our meals. Let’s keep planting seeds and educate the dark souls. They are unconsciously craving the truth and that truth scares them. Once we all get to the higher dimension, the world will release a deep breath and the Earth will stop protesting its human virus.

7/31/12 Update: This blog was published as an article on Ezine.com

Welcome to the new blog

For years now, I have been reviewing books after books and I loved doing it. I decided to expand this blog to include also other things I may have enjoyed (or not!) and provide you with interesting information about events, products, and of course books! I hope you will enjoy this new version. I would love your comments.

COMMITTED: A Rabble-Rouser's Memoir – by DAN MATHEWS

This joy ride of a book was delivered to me through my local library as I was really looking forward to a good animal rights activism book. Recently, I saw HBO’s look at PETA’s president Ingrid Newkirk which I found deeply interesting from an activist’s point of view. I still think PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)is way more engaging than any other animal rights group on the planet! Everybody seems… well… too mainstream and too compromising. You can’t compromise with lives! I like action. So reading Dan Mathew’s personal account of his life as Vice-President of PETA, as a Gay man and just simply a guy was soooo refreshing and fun at the same time.

I couldn’t help but relate to Dan tremendously not because he is Gay but because a lot of his struggles hit home. His childhood particularly felt very much like mine as I was usually bullied by others (for being « weird ». I still wonder what was « weird » about me!). I guess Dan and I share a lot in common. He almost feels like the friend I wish I had in High School (Unlike him, I didn’t even have one – Pathetic!), We share a lot in common. I went through a phase of sexual identity crisis (it’s not over yet) and found myself migrating through the pain of others. And just like him, I embraced the animal rights cause and went from being a meat eater to Vegetarian and finally Vegan.

Dan Mathew’s story is very inspiring and I understand how he was able to make it to the top of PETA’s fight for animals alongside Ingrid Newkirk. I read his book in a just a few days (I’m usually slower) and loved each pages. It’s a lot of fun to find out how he got Calvin Klein to go fur-free, or how he got the likes of Nina Hagen, Chrissie Hynde (of The Pretenders) and Pamela Anderson to really even more around PETA’s cause. He also makes a good case for Veganism without trying to preach for anybody not there yet.

So, yes it is a good read. It’s entertaining and the man certainly has bravado. But more than that, it made me want to join a few naked protests!

10/29/2013 update about this post: I am amazed at how much my own position on PETA and their sexist campaigns has changed. I didn’t have an understanding about patriarchal sexist thinking and still didn’t understand feminism either, even thought I thought I identify as one. It took reading The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams to radically make me see the light. Also, since, I have learned about how PETA kills healthy companion animals. I also don’t think they are even « radical » any more. But at the time of writing, PETA was about the only frame of reference. Other than that, I still think that this book is a good read on various levels and it gives us a good look inside PETA’s thinking.