Gone vegan

[paleogirl]

I just watched this: http://www.meat.org/

I guess it won't surprise a lot of you vegans, but there are tears streaming down my face. I am joining you.

Quite honestly, right now I feel ashamed to be human.

[Tombi]

Welcome to the fold and better health and well being!

[konmai]

I couldn't even finish watching that video. :(

[summergrogan]

wow! i am at a loss of words! that is so horrible! :(

[Rawadventures]

My son and dh will be watching this video. I am quite sick to my stomach now. :mad:

[codajess]

Congratulations!

[paleogirl]

Konmai, my instinct was to turn off too, but I forced myself to watch the whole thing. I knew it would be distressing, but at the point where the cow is branded and cries out with pain, I had this surge of emotion and said to myself "That's it! I can't indirectly support this any longer". A switch was flicked. And as the video went on that feeling got stronger. I have for years now only bought organic meat but I know that only effects what they are fed, lack of antibiotics, etc. They are probably treated as badly at the 'farm' and certainly have the same horrendous experience at the slaughterhouse, as they use the same facilities (albeit cleaned up from the previous non-organic slaughtering). How could anyone work in that industry and go home and sleep? I guess it's just a stronger form of denial than the one I've been living with all these years. :(

It's funny, I had a similar (albeit not as life-changing) experience a few months ago, right before I went raw. I was driving on the highway and overtook a cattle truck. I turned to look at it and locked eyes with a cow. I felt this huge pang of love/sorrow/remorse/anger. For the rest of the journey I seriously toyed with the idea of veganism (the leap is from meat eater to vegan for me since I am allergic to all dairy and eggs). I justified not doing it because I can't have grains, but this was before I discovered raw. Now I feel confident I could do it.

[jaurequi]

paleogirl,

That is so wonderful. Thank you for making the change. Sometimes it takes being shocked to make the difference.

Your story about the cow's eyes brought tears to mine and gave me a chill.


Best,

[Up LEAP 100 Billion]

I'll try and get my girlfriend to watch this but I'll doubt she'll be willing to (she thinks eating meat is normal and gets sick of me telling her it is very unnatural).

[levamssg]

Thank you for posting the link to this video.

Recommended reading to take Alissa's Level II Certification is "Diet for a New America" by John Robbins.
I suggest EVERYONE read this book. He writes about exactly what is on this video --- and in Extreme Detail.

I'm reading it now. I am totally sick, upset, angry ... humiliated that I am part of a human race that inflicts these unspeakable horrible things unto these beautiful animal creatures. I went into a grocery store yesterday and almost threw up when I had to walk past the meat counters.

Folks here, on this board, already are vegan - don't contribute to this atrosity by consuming the end product.

It's those people, SAD eaters, who ARE consuming these products that need re-educating -- that need to see this. Unfortunately, I suspect they wouldn't watch/read, and if they did, would not believe, and if they did - simply wouldn't care. It is so sad. It is hard not to cry when you think of the enormity of it all.

[sport]

But this goes further than just eating meat. Who has leather furniture or leather car seats.
I have already specified that our next car will not have leather seats.

[light food]

I actually lived in rural dairy country for years when I was a kid, my dad wasn't a farmer, he had a regular job, but we kept goats for milk for about 4 years. The hardest part was getting rid of the male kids. One of my most haunting memories is when I was about 7 and accompanied my mother to my aunt's farm for a calving. It was the cow's first calf and they needed to pull it out with ropes (meaning they looped a rope around the calf's foot and pulled when there was a contraction). Immediately after this ordeal the cow turned around to find her calf and they separated the mom and calf. My mom told me that it was better that they be separated immediately so that they forget about each other. This was a new thing for me because our goats always stayed together for awhile. I always felt queasy about the darker aspects of what I saw around me, but I always thought that humans needed to eat milk, eggs and meat, that we would die without it. So I tried to ignore what I saw.

I was soooo happy when I got older to learn that I didn't have to eat meat, I went vegan the next day. I still wondered if my health would suffer, but various websites said I would be OK so I gave it a shot and my health got a lot better, I even had skin growths which healed and I wasn't even raw!

The farming industry is crazy! We don't need to keep animals for milk, we need to plant almond trees. I have seen, firsthand, the enormous amount of labor which goes into dairy farming and I wonder why no one thought of this before. First, there is the gathering of food and hay during the summer to keep the animals through the winter, then you have to muck out the barn all the time, finally there is the milking which means that you are tied down to your animals 365 days of the year, you have to schedule your life around milkings and must appear at 6 am and 6 pm in the cold barn. In all the centuries of dairy farming, did no one ever snuggle deeper under the covers one winter morning and say "I'll just plant a few nut trees and ignore them all year until fall and then I will spend just a few weeks gathering enough nuts to last all year!"

[rawpriestess]

congratulations

[rawpriestess]

you can tell the love of life and humanity of a country, by the way it treats it's animals

[dreamrawalwz]

I tried to get my mom to watch this one and to read The China Study. She WON"T do it. she also won't admit she's "addicted' and 'needs" her chicken and fish. :(

[rose]

I have to be honest and say I went to view this a few months ago and had to stop....I watched the end today.
If only people knew - but many are resistant to even being made conscious-sometimes I can see why our nation has a lot of bad karma- and I am a very grounded/practical sort of person -but one can't help but think with all that hell that goes on (Like a concentration camp) with those animals, the bad energy gets turned back at us in the form of disease etc.
Thanks for your post.

[rose]

Reading books is fine and great - but nothing like seeing it on film - goes straight to ones heart and soul. Thank you....

[spicyfull]

I haven't eaten flesh since 1979. I LOVE MY LEATHER SHOES, COATS, AND ANYTHING ELSE LEATHER. Someone has to recycle these things. I can't tell anyone else what to eat. I ate all sorts of animals until I knew better. They kept me alive until I knew better and made a choice.
Man was created above the animails. I think a mans life is more valuable than an animal, so lets STOP KILLING EACH OTHER. Its a man's choice what he eats, when he eats it etc. And that's my Openion.................

[RawFoodieMom]

I tried to get my mom to watch this one and to read The China Study. She WON"T do it. she also won't admit she's "addicted' and 'needs" her chicken and fish. :(

What's the China Study? Is it a book?

[RawNut]

I just watched this: http://www.meat.org/

I guess it won't surprise a lot of you vegans, but there are tears streaming down my face. I am joining you.

Quite honestly, right now I feel ashamed to be human.

That is the most totally and utterly disgusting thing I've seen about these animals!

Congratulations by the way!

I've seen some on regular TV but nothing like this. However did you find it? If I had seen "meat.org" on a seach, I probably would have assumed that it was about steaks or whatnot.

I haven't read the rest of the posts so sorry if I'm being redundant.

Craig

[endcruelty]

welcome to the light side :D

you guys seen Earthlings??? its horrible but a must see http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3251419433163515470

[RawNut]

welcome to the light side :D

you guys seen Earthlings??? its horrible but a must see http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3251419433163515470
I've just seen the first 2 minutes of it...I thought it was going to be about aliens. I assume it's even worse than the original. We are ALL Earthings! I'll come back and edit this after I've seen it...if I still have a stomach left.

Craig

[berrymarymac]

oh God...I'm to the point of being very sick after watching that and crying...wow! I've seen a lot of PETA's videos...but nothing like that one! Thank you for making a change!

[paleogirl]

That is the most totally and utterly disgusting thing I've seen about these animals!

Congratulations by the way!

I've seen some on regular TV but nothing like this. However did you find it? If I had seen "meat.org" on a seach, I probably would have assumed that it was about steaks or whatnot.

I haven't read the rest of the posts so sorry if I'm being redundant.

Craig

Hi Craig,

I found it at another raw forum, albeit a not strictly vegan one. Ironically, I was surfing around trying to answer my "raw with sashimi" question (another recent thread). Someone was talking about adding eggs into their raw diet, and another person simply posted the link. I actually thought it was a pro-meat site by the address! Once I got there I realised what it was, and thought about not watching the video, but I just knew I had to. It didn't really hit me until the cows, simply because I've seen battery farming videos before and since that day only purchased free range (and not eaten any since Dec due to an allergy).

Thanks for the congrats. I've told one non-cyber friend of my plans so far and they were less than supportive, but I didn't care. I know what I need to do - and I have you guys... :o I haven't tried to explain the raw part of the diet to them either, just mentioned vegan. They're basing their views on other vegan friends who are tired and weak because they're full of cooked grains. Little do they know what I'm gonna turn into!! I've slimmed down but gained 2lbs at the gym in 2 days, all fuelled by raw! :D Roar!!! ;)

[berrymarymac]

on-cyber friend of my plans so far and they were less than supportive, but I didn't care. I know what I need to do - and I have you guys... :o I haven't tried to explain the raw part of the diet to them either, just mentioned vegan. They're basing their views on other vegan friends who are tired and weak because they're full of cooked grains. Little do they know what I'm gonna turn into!! I've slimmed down but gained 2lbs at the gym in 2 days, all fuelled by raw! :D Roar!!! ;)

I understand completely about friends not understanding...I think most of us do. I was picked on when I was 12 and on about being a vegetarian. But people are just too stubborn to take another view point I guess. If ya ever need to talk...IM me on AIM @ berrymarymac

[maydolphin10]

congrats on ur decision!!! my bf wont even watch it :( o well i try not to b pushy

[Linda1970]

I feel really nauseated after just finishing watching this.

Is this really true? Is this standard practice? Is this exaggerated? It is just so hard for me to believe that people can be this cruel.

[RawFoodieMom]

I do wonder if this is just the worst of the worst. These are things that really go on, but whether it's the norm or not at most slaughter houses and meat/dairy manufacturers, I don't know...

[paleogirl]

I was thinking the same thing. I expect this is a 'worst of' collection, but some aspects of it looked very routine, ie: castrating and branding bulls without painkillers, debeaking hens, the atrotious living and transport conditions, lack of medical attention, etc. Whether or not a farm worker killing a piglet by slamming it against a concrete floor is 'standard procedure' or a sick one-off, the fact that none of the other workers stopped him (and he's not in jail!) makes me assume it's not that uncommon. Similarly, the way those guys were throwing the birds into the transporter boxes looked like an 'all in a day's work' kind of thing. :( :mad:

I think re: the slaughterhouses, the simple fact that such huge numbers of animals are processed every day and the stun gun doesn't get to every one is answer enough. Even if it's only 1 in every 100 (or 1000, whatever) pigs/cows/chickens that are missed and therefore totally conscious as they're bled to death/boiled/whatever, that's one too many. :(

[mrsalf97]

I will have to watch it when my six year old vegetarian isn't standing over me. He would be very upset over it and I really think he's too young to see it. We live next door to my inlaws and my fil has cows. :( This is part of the reason my dh won't give up meat. I'm just going to stop here because it really upsets me.

[vgloveforlife]

I don't think it's exaggerated at all.

Read about this guy who is a former Tyson worker and now an animals activist. He knows the truth!
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1208-07.htm

[konmai]

My uncle owns a farm in TN. The animals do have a lot of space, but I didn't really go into investigating what he fed them or anything else really. All I remember was when I was very young, he was beating a goose w/ a stick until he/she died.

I do love my uncle very much despite what I saw, but I did feel very bad for the goose & didn't eat that meal. Though some of the family were teasing me as being light-hearted, when I saw that & how I reacted. :(

That's all the experience I have w/ farm animals. Oh yes, BTW, right now I'm in TX. I see a lot of cows grazing peacefully. Maybe they're free-range animals? Though I'm not sure if they get to live out their life until they're made available as food.

Paleogirl -- after you wrote that you saw the whole video, I went back to watch it as well. It was very difficult, & I got a headache just watching it through. :confused:

[Faithfullyfit]

I just watched this: http://www.meat.org/

I guess it won't surprise a lot of you vegans, but there are tears streaming down my face. I am joining you.

Quite honestly, right now I feel ashamed to be human.

:eek: I could not finish watching this video.....I am heartbroken!!!! and yes, shedding many tears right now. How could anyone possibly do this? How extremely heartless...........! I am in Texas now but grew up in NW Arkansas- Home of Tyson's chicken and always heard that the conditions of the chickens in some of his farms were in horrible conditions as poultry consumption increased due to the "Red meat is bad for you" promotion....but, I thought most of the stories of beak removal were urban legends...YIKES- it is TRUE! I am appalled!!! :confused:

[Rainbow]

I was feeling so pain on heart and could not stop weeping. I feel shamed for human being and I do not escape from responsiblity of myself, as 7 years ago, I was eating meat too. Thanks to my husband who enlightened me to live as vegan. Changing to raw vegan diet and get health without medicine become more firm on me. A lot of medicine are tested with animals. I believe the raw vegan diet can make us and others lest suffering.

I want to share this with my famliy as they do not believe in kamer law but they can see the cruelty.

With peace and love

[paleogirl]

vgloveforlife - great link, thanks. I read a lot of his blog last night. Even more heartbreaking than the meat.org video in a way as it describes the horrible INTENTIONAL cruelty and torture that ROUTINELY takes place. Also it confirms that ALL CHICKENS ARE FULLY CONSCIOUS when they have their throats slit. And that some don't pass out in time to avoid consciousness when the are boiled alive.

I also went on to the PETA site and following links there watched a bunch of animal testing videos (http://www.covancecruelty.com/). I knew what they did to them in terms of testing, but once again I had no idea at the widespread extra curricular torture that goes on. The workers there were hitting the monkeys, swearing at them, calling them names... That's the side of it that I can't get my head around. Maybe that's the only way you can do your 'job' at these places is that you make yourself view the animal as the enemy? :confused:

[paleogirl]

I just told my mother about the videos and stuff I've read this week, and without even seeing the videos for herself, she said she's joining me!! She said she's known this stuff in the back of her mind for years but just tried to block it out. But now she's stepping up to the (vegan) plate with me. :) She is so cool. :cool: I sent her the links so she can show her husband and maybe try and convince him too. I'm not hell bent on converting people, but I will see that everyone I know hears the facts and then it is up to their conscience.

[madmel]

I couldn't watch the movie, I started sobbing after the turkeys already. I turned the sound off and still it was too much.

Why is mankind so mean to other creatures? I am happy that there are people who care about others, no matter whether they have no, 2 or 4 legs (or a hundred).

mel

[RawFoodieMom]

I really don't understand it either. They must have convinced themselves that the animals have no feelings or something. I don't understand how they live with themselves or how they sleep at night.

My husband got a job once at a chicken factory for one of the major chicken producers before he met me. He only worked there for about 2 hours. He left for his first break on his very first day and did not go back. Without going into detail, he couldn't stomach what the other workers were doing to the chickens while they were still alive. So I know 100% without a doubt, since my husband has first-hand experience inside one of these places, that some really cruel stuff goes on. :(

[lissomllama]

I've watched all those videos before and they were so hard to sit through, I just cringed and cried for those poor precious animals but it takes that reality to show people what goes on. Also, it doesn't matter if it isn't always that bad, it still happens alot and we can help change things with the way that we live. I hate that I still have to buy meat for the two feline carnivores that I love and care for but I always buy organic, free range and that is the best I can do because I wouldn't dream of depriving my kitties by denying them what they need by nature but as for myself I live and eat as totally vegan as possible and I'm getting ever better as time goes by. It takes a little time and money to make your consumer life animal friendly, but it is worth it. The animals know who's side you're on when they look into your eyes and the animals that I look at would tell you that they see a friend, guardian and activist for their rights when they look in my eyes. I love that feeling.

[pamojamo]

:eek: .but, I thought most of the stories of beak removal were urban legends...YIKES- it is TRUE! I am appalled!!! :confused:

Unfortunately, this is not an urban legend. The beaks are removed because the chickens are packed so tightly into the cages, that they go crazy and attempt to peck each other to death.

[jaurequi]

Yes, this is all common practice and is quite routine. Factory farms should be outlawed. :(

Best,

[Alba]

I wonder what those guys think at night, having brushed their teeth and kissed their kids goodnight - "Arh, yet another day of cruelty againts innocent creatures - To think of all the pain I have inflicted, all the deaths.*yawning* Oh well, better go to sleep night, gotta be all fresh and prepared for a nother day of inhuman acts- Night Honey!"

I am flabbergasted....
Who the **** are these people???

Alba

[Rainbow]

hi lissomllama,

Just for your information. I have a vegan friend who changed a forsaken cat into vegan too. And her cat was healthest one once the vet said.
Even tiger can live with non-meat food.

All being have conciousness and can be elevated through the being around them.

Blesing to you,

[sunflowery]

I have a vegan friend who changed a forsaken cat into vegan too. And her cat was healthest one once the vet said.
Even tiger can live with non-meat food.
Wow :confused: My cat eats some raw-vegan stuff too, I always think he was an exception. What does her cat eats?

[Seren]

That is the worst thing I have ever watched in my whole life, and because of it I vow to become vegan for the rest of my life, I am never eating dairy (or meat) ever again. Could not stop crying through the whole film, and I am still crying now. I didn't want to watch it but maybe its for the best seeing as it has turned me vegan. Ugh its so sad :(

[maryonherway]

Paleogirl, thanks for sharing that. I saw it some time ago, it was called "Meet Your Meat" and I think Alec Baldwin is the narrator. It is horrific what those animals go through and, like many of you, I sobbed through it. My son sent it to me after I had 'gone vegan' but I also vowed not to eat animal products again. I have slipped a couple of times and eaten shrimp, which I feel badly about. I tell myself that shrimp have smaller brains and probably don't recognize the danger they are in and maybe don't have nerve-endings like mammals, but I really don't know. Hence, my continued guilt & a(nother) vow to not do that again.

Here is a great organization that helps to rescue Factory Farm animals... My son, his fiance and I just went on a fundraising walk for them in SF a couple of weeks ago. Check out their site when you get a chance and see the great work that they do! info@farmsanctuary.org Another thing to think about, if you believe that these may be just extreme examples: maybe they are - but when you put a piece of dead pig in your mouth or drink the milk that some poor calf should be having, remember that you don't know if those products came from a Factory Farm or some nice little farm where all the animals are "happy" to give their lives for mankind.... Thanks again, Paleogirl!!

[Soulsearcher]

Yeap! Vegan is what I desire as well. I have been researching the protien and b 12 issue. So I am considering making my own kombacha tea for b 12. As far as protien from what I have been reading greens and fruit both have them and I think we are doing fine with that. I will keep my eyes and ears open for more ways of making sure my body has the nutrition it needs that is what make sense to me. It also makes the most sense to me that I was ment to eat what naturally grows out the ground.

[Nenyath]

I don't think I will ever be even tempted by meat again, how could I after waching some of this? I only got to the turkeys, that is where my heart was all broken. How can we do such things? I saw something about chickens a while back and I have been unable to touch it since.. I have wondered for a long time what would happen if you out a little videoscreen on the counter where you buy meat which shows under which conditions the animals lived and died. I wonder how many would spent just a little less and go organic or even better, go vegan instead! Thank you for sharing this and welcome to the bright side!

Fly forever free..

[unbitten]

my husband (who is less of a vegetarian, and more of an "i'll-eat-whatever-is-around" kind of person) recently found one of these type of videos on the internet, and he posed an interesting idea:
someone should make a movie where it shows human beings being treated the way the animals are treated. having their arms cut off so they can't beat each other up, being hung upside down and their throats slit while squirming and screaming, etc. he even mentioned one scene where a baby pig was grabbed by his hind legs and slammed against the ground. imagine how powerful the image would be to veg and non-veg people alike to see a human baby grabbed and slammed against the ground (we'd use a doll, of course! ) ;) imagine growing up in those conditions and never knowing why....

the other thing that comes to mind is this video we watched in meat class at culinary school, where we learned about the processing of meat...basically how it goes from a whole cow to those neatly cellophaned packages we see at the store. in one scene, it shows an assembly line where cow carcasses, still hung upside down, come past a line of people doing different things to them, and one guy has a chainsaw and he just cuts the carcass in two, over and over again. could you imagine having that job? i mean who is this guy? you'd have to be a psychopath not to be affected by chainsawing dead cows in half, all day everyday. it makes me shudder just to think about it.

i haven't watched the videos yet, but i'm about to. i've been having trouble going totally vegan, but i think, based on y'all's responses, that i'll have less trouble after that. :)