AnimalsDream

I love orgmode to a point, but when I tried to learn how to do the more complex stuff, that syntax began to make my eyes bleed.

Emacs is available in Android now, right on F-Droid.

Right, and I’m just saying why expend so much energy on a Gordian knot, when there’s a much more effective, reasonable way to cut right through it? The puzzle is essentially saying, “how can I do a thing that is like the thing I’m trying to avoid doing.” Just do the thing! 😅

I dropped authoritative sources, and you’re just spouting conspiracy theories. Reality isn’t whatever you want it to be.

ethically speaking, lard being derived from pigs makes it automatically wrong to use, as well as being a contributor to the environmental and zoonitic disease problems that are inherent in animal agriculture.

But even purely from a health standpoint, lard is absolutely not healthy. It’s extremely high in saturated fats making it one of the worst choices for anyone trying to manage their heart health.

And don’t even start with that seed oil pseudoscientific fad nonsense. That garbage is thoroughly debunked.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/choosing-heart-healthy-oils-for-home-cooking

https://www.heart.org/en/news/2024/08/20/theres-no-reason-to-avoid-seed-oils-and-plenty-of-reasons-to-eat-them

https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/scientists-debunk-seed-oil-health-risks/

https://www.producer.com/news/harvard-study-finds-seed-oils-healthier-than-butter/

Just be sure to scrutinize the ingredients in those refried beans. A lot of them contain lard.

Also, don’t forget to include as many dark leafy greens in those rice and beans, which will help a lot in lowering cholesterol.

Yeah I’ve debated with antinatalists who used that argument. It’s definitely an absurd stance on the face of it, though some aspects are worth considering. For example if you struggle significantly with cognitive disorders, and life is hell for you, you might want to ask yourself if it’s a good idea to bring someone in the world who very likely will experience a similar hell. And of course socioeconomic concerns matter too. I’ve only ever had entry-level jobs, and owning my own house kind of feels like a distant dream, so having children is practically infeasible. Plus the whole living in what’s shaping up to be an all out fascist dictatorship thing.

Those are all fair points and something I think about as well. You do you.

Agreed. It’s depressing that everyone who continues relying on animal products and exploitation have so many psychological barriers put up to even facing and contemplating the other animal atrocities openly. It becomes more heart-wrenching the more you think about it.

Some perspective is important here. From the point of view of the average person, what a vegan might call the “carnist” worldview, there’s a cultural perception that being vegan is a kind of monolithic puritanical religion. As if to live a life without using animal products is comparable to the self-flagellations of the penitent Christian.

But it has to be recognized, that perception is a stereotype perpetuated from outside perspectives looking in. Inexperience vs experience.

In real life, there is constant disagreement and debate among vegans, so definitely not a monolith. With today’s food options (at least in western countries), there’s nothing puritanical or self-punishing about living a vegan lifestyle - to the point that “junkfood vegan” is a badge of pride from some. At the end of the day we’re just regular people, like everyone else. All we’ve done is decided that other animals should have basic universal rights, and then we try to live in accord with that.

It’s not perfection, it’s a moral baseline.

And it’s worth striving for that baseline, because reducetarianism doesn’t work.

While cultured meat really could be a game changer (as long as it’s being done in a way that doesn’t exploit and harm animals in and of itself), let’s not forget that plants in and of themselves are amazing, right now.

That’s a good general direction. But all the more reason to push for those things now, and then.

Also, saying it’s impossible under capitalism somewhat doesn’t give the animal liberation movements the credit they deserve. It’s worth looking into the history of veganism. While there have been plenty of people and groups in virtually every culture who were either vegan-adjacent or somewhere in the same direction, the vegan movement is quite recent in the grand scheme of things. Any snapshot of where we’re at might make it seem like we’re small and insignificant, but the growth of the movement has been quite rapid when looking at the big picture.

We’re just still in the early stages. But even 10 years ago was way different. Far fewer plant-based options. Far less awareness of the horror of factory farms. A lot less visibility in general. Now it’s getting harder for people to ignore us.

The prevalence of people telling everyone not to have kids in the context of our current culture is weird.

Alt-right: “Hey we’re trying to have as many kids as possible so there’s more of us, and less of you. Do us a favor and don’t have kids.”

Evidently a lot of people on the left: “Sounds good dude.”

May I propose a reasonable alternative? If you don’t want to have kids, cool, don’t have kids. If you want to have kids, have the financial and social security to do so responsibly, and a partner who wants the same thing, then have kids (but also go vegan, ride a bike, and raise them to do the same).

Aka, you do you.

Taste is subjective and adapts to what you eat. I didn’t particularly care for tofu at first, but it only took eating it a few times to start actively liking it (part of which has to do with getting better at cooking it).

Yeah commie definitely materializes every time the subject of animal rights comes up on here, and always has the most tired, long-debunked takes on it. Maybe trying to take a page from the alt-right: repeat a lie enough and it becomes truth.

Plants are great and sidestep this quandary entirely.

What are you talking about? Soy is great. Soy beans, soy curls, tofu, soy milk, soy sauce, miso. All kinds of great soy products.

That’s a pretty fair assessment, though it’s hard to imagine that being much less of an uphill battle. People still place a significant amount of their identity in what they eat. In the US at least, a culture of perceived personal freedoms still heavily prevails. Even though vegans are already relegated to trying to appeal to people to change their individual choices voluntarily, people still frequently accuse us of militancy and being tyrannical - even though we’ve virtually never even had real representation in government, aside from very small hard-won anti animal abuse laws that have resulted from extremely risky investigative operations.

Any governmental system that makes any attempts to shift us all in a more vegan direction would quite easily provoke significant backlash and possibly even the threat of overthrow.