Former vegan gone bad.

[Gia the Punk Rock Chef]

Okay, anyone that has read my posts know for sure I am not vegan. I was however for 3 years and it is still very dear to me. One of my purposes for becoming a chef was to develop vegan friendly foods and I have fully immursed myself in that endeavor. See my post in 'recipes'.

I must confess however, I have not totally been truthful to others about it. You see, in my quest to become more aware and involved with current vegan trends, I was scouting on myspace for a group to help me out just as I have taken so many notes from the forums here.

I finally found what I thought would be a really awesome group, people that seemed really cool and understanding but sticking to their vegan values. That is so entirely awesome and I fully embrace and support that.

However in one particular forum this group of older men and seasoned vegans took it amongst themselves to badger and birate a 15 year old girl for her open struggles of veganism. They were even going as far to verbally harrass her and condemn her family, the medical field, and society in general due to the fact that this young teen was having severe health problems and hairloss due to her vegan lifestyle and was asking the forum for help.

I am a bleeding heart and even in the internet world didn't feel it was right and went as far to join and write a VERY long response to their ridiculous behavior. As expected they attacked me defending their reactions to the point of the posts shifting to me. I did however apologize to the young girl for referencing her as a child and told her she was. She didn't have a problem, they did. I'll admit, I totally lied and told them I am still a vegan for the sake that they would have totally tuned me out and not listened at all if I had said differently.

I was a vegan, I am proud of the vegan lifestyle and I have dear friends that are vegan. But hate is still hate and I cannot understand this influx of violent command that is validated amongst the vegans on this site. When is it ever right to belittle and harrass young children and innocents, or anyone for that matter? I don't agree with animal exploitation as well as the next person, but in response all I get is overspoken recycled and mangled rhetoric. I even asked them questions like "You condemn a child that is struggling with her health to be vegan, yet you celebrate convicted felons that have killed in the name of animal liberation?" Yet they find ways to validate this very dangerous and violent behavior?

I may have lied, but I'd do it again if it helped just one person out. But where do you draw the line? When have we gone too far? Am I wrong, I know I stepped in, but I hate to think of things being seen this way for something I respect so much. What are your thoughts??

[CaterpillarGirl]

I think you had every right to do so.
Some-one's gotta have the (metaphorical?) balls to stand up for the underdog! Good on you for doing so.
I think there's something really pathetic about people who rip into others on the net. It seems like a kind of spineless thing to do, to me.
I'm not vegan, and I don't know that I ever would be, but I don't hold it against anyone who is, and I would hope they wouldn't hold my anmal product consumerism against me.

Ahh, the world is full of narrow-minded morons :\

[Elegance Wasted]

You were definitely not in the wrong to say such things.
You were a vegan and one of your goals as a chef is to help the vegan lifestyle. You are attatched to that lifestyle because of that.

I think anyone and everyone has the right to step up and help a person. It's just the way things are.

I actually congratulate you for standing up. I am sure that girl now has a very narrowminded perception as to how asshole-ish and narrow-minded and rude and hurtful vegans are. You stood up and showed her that not all vegans are pompous assholes who hate anyone who dare say does not have the body capable of veganism. Hell, I know people who went through the same thing as that girl. One of my dad's ex-girlfriends was a fitness trainer/ is a fitness trainer. She turned to veganism to help her healthy lifestyle, and she plumtted. She needed to stay at vegetarianism because after being a vegan for a few months, she became extremely ill.

That doesn't make her a bad person. At all.
It's terrible anyone wouldbe pissed off at someone because "God forbid you need to drink milk." Sorrry. I hate people like this. More so than I even hate hardcore crazy edge kids, because at least drugs and stuff can SERIOUSLY SERIOUSLY immediately harm you. Sure, meat infected with e.coli can, too. But eating a hamburger and snorting coke are different.

Wow. Go you.

I mean, I have no problems with veganism. Hell, maybe one day, I will get to that point, as well. I just don't like elitism anywhere. It's very unfriendly. You were right for stepping in. Honestly, it's not like you made a huge lie. You were a vegan and lived that life, and you made your point from that point-of-view.

And to be completely truthful, I had to help people in the same way with self mutilation. Everyone here knows from my posts that I stopped. However, sometimes people dont want help from a "survivor," they want it from someone in the same situation. So, I use my past experiences with it. I never directly say I still do, but I definitely make sure I keep out the fact that I overcame and no longer multilate my body. It's a different situation, but I use my past experiences to help people. And sadly, some peopel differentiate between the past and now so widly, you have to scew details.

Dah. Long post. Sorry.

<3. Teh Bo0tab3gga

[janarbananar]

I see a lot of that on some boards that I frequent. Being vegan should be a personal choice, not something that you have to use to make other people who are trying to make a choice feel bad. I HATE the vegan police. It turns people away who are trying to get support or help. On behalf of all vegans like me, I'm sorry you had to see that.

[Gia the Punk Rock Chef]

Thanks I was kind of feeling like an asshole after the fact.

Here's the link if any of you want to check it out, but please don't rat me out or the point will probably be lost.

http://groups.myspace.com/index.cfm?fus ... 1149597234

or

Group Url: http://groups.myspace.com/veganrepresent

It's under the busiest post of "Happened to any of you lot?" and my posts are under the name of *The return of Gia De Los Muertos*

[miss joy]

i think you did the right thing. that group really shows why vegans are stereotyped as dreadful, militant and humorless.

that being said, i tend to eat vegan when i'm at home, but i'm vegetarian outside.

[good_punx]

I respect that girl a lot for asking for help before giving up on something that is obviously a SERIOUS commitment. I respect anyone who can go vegan.

That one person that said "You obviously care more about your hairloss then the suffering of animals. Good to know." That's so terrible! That kind of thinking could put the poor girl on the road to serious health problems. You don't just loss your hair.....!

And also, my family has had chickens for years, and they live better then I do! The rooster we have is more happy crowing (24/7 I will add....), then he is getting busy with the fine ladies of the hen house. I see no problem in eating organic, unfertilized eggs.

Although, I have to admit, I am not a vegetarian. And after reading the comments of those people, I definatly don't want to be a vegan!

And another thing, these people are seriously just fighting about who is more vegan then the next, so their opinions are basically uselss.

[CaterpillarGirl]

Some of these people are unbelievable.

What I really hate is how they keep saying non-vegans are 'eating animal fluids'. That, to me, sounds like we drink their blood and urine. Gross :\

It seems to me that these people are criticising everyone else for being exactly what they are - narrowminded elitists.

Being vegan doesn't make you a better person. I'm not saying that because I am antivegan, not at all, but it's true.

[CaterpillarGirl]

<snip>
And also, my family has had chickens for years, and they live better then I do! The rooster we have is more happy crowing (24/7 I will add....), then he is getting busy with the fine ladies of the hen house. I see no problem in eating organic, unfertilized eggs.

I know... my family has had chickens for as long as I've been around. They spend all day walking around our large property, eating the fruit/vegetable etc in my Mum's gardens, plus all the bugs and stuff in the soils. They get our foodscraps too, plus chicken feed and grit. They have the best life ever, there's nothing that could really worry them, except ferrets and such, and we don't have many of them.

It seems to me there are some people who care more about animals then about their fellow humans :\

[Elegance Wasted]

I may have an interesting point of view here...
being I do eat "animal fluids" and I disagree with most of PETA's ideas.

However, I must say you were in the right. These men think its cool to bash someone real hard. They are elitists. They aren't cool anywhere.

I feel bad for this girl. Talk about being backed into a corner.

Not to mention, wait until that guy is faced with something that isn't a reccomended shot for a disease that is near-eliminated from America. Wait til it's diabeties or cancer. Let's check that out. See his reaction then.
BAH. I cannot stand some people.

They also all seem very... lied to. A lot of information presented was true, but they are scared that "the man" is trying to hold them down. Also, a lot of PETAs videos and information is slanted. I know that because my aunt was a hardcore activist til ALF bombed a local plant (local being like 2 hours away) without her knowing of it prior. People were inside and a ton of people got hurt and some died. It was bad.

Also, there are still farms that don't mutilate their chickens. There really are.

Gah. People are so dumb.

-Teh Bo0tab3gga

PS: Again, no offense to any vegans. However, please be more likeminded not to say "ALL CHICKENS ARE MUTILATED AND DEEEAD." Small farm chickens aren't mtulated and dead. Luckily, I live near Lancastar and New Jersey. I have farms around me. It's good.

-.-

[Dr. Frankie Stein]

I think you were completly right to stand up for that girl. When your health is on the line you listen to your doctor (in her case a family member) instead of people spouting retoric. That's what any logical person would do. What people lose sight of is that everyone has a choice. When some one chooses a path and decides to defend it or inform others of their choice that is perfectly natural and alright. But when people become so blinded by their choice or have allowed themselves to be brainwashed to the point that they become completly militant and threatening to the well being of others then they have major problems. We see this every day weather it be caused by religion, politics, what we choose to eat, weather or not to choose to have a baby or an abortion. There are zealots in every walk of life and though they more than likely started out trying to improve the world through their views, they end up doing more harm than good. Like the pro-lifer who started out just wanting to inform people of alternative options then ended up bombing the clinic or the pro-choice person who like the pro-lifer just wanted to inform people of their options and ended up talking someone into an abortion for the sake of abortion. I'm sorry I know I'm ranting and this probably doesn't make a lick of sense to anyone. All I'm trying to say is that it takes all kinds. The universe seeks balance. Anyone who thinks that their way is the only way has serious issues. I mean just look at Pres. Bush.

[Gia the Punk Rock Chef]

I think you were completly right to stand up for that girl. When your health is on the line you listen to your doctor (in her case a family member) instead of people spouting retoric. That's what any logical person would do. What people lose sight of is that everyone has a choice. When some one chooses a path and decides to defend it or inform others of their choice that is perfectly natural and alright. But when people become so blinded by their choice or have allowed themselves to be brainwashed to the point that they become completly militant and threatening to the well being of others then they have major problems. We see this every day weather it be caused by religion, politics, what we choose to eat, weather or not to choose to have a baby or an abortion. There are zealots in every walk of life and though they more than likely started out trying to improve the world through their views, they end up doing more harm than good. Like the pro-lifer who started out just wanting to inform people of alternative options then ended up bombing the clinic or the pro-choice person who like the pro-lifer just wanted to inform people of their options and ended up talking someone into an abortion for the sake of abortion. I'm sorry I know I'm ranting and this probably doesn't make a lick of sense to anyone. All I'm trying to say is that it takes all kinds. The universe seeks balance. Anyone who thinks that their way is the only way has serious issues. I mean just look at Pres. Bush.

No, you weren't ranting. I totally get you, that's about how I think. All you ladies had great things to say. And yes the whole thing about eating animal menstruation and such grossed me out too. Anybody see the episode of bullshit about peta? Look it up on youtube.com worth the watch.

[Elegance Wasted]

I think you were completly right to stand up for that girl. When your health is on the line you listen to your doctor (in her case a family member) instead of people spouting retoric. That's what any logical person would do. What people lose sight of is that everyone has a choice. When some one chooses a path and decides to defend it or inform others of their choice that is perfectly natural and alright. But when people become so blinded by their choice or have allowed themselves to be brainwashed to the point that they become completly militant and threatening to the well being of others then they have major problems. We see this every day weather it be caused by religion, politics, what we choose to eat, weather or not to choose to have a baby or an abortion. There are zealots in every walk of life and though they more than likely started out trying to improve the world through their views, they end up doing more harm than good. Like the pro-lifer who started out just wanting to inform people of alternative options then ended up bombing the clinic or the pro-choice person who like the pro-lifer just wanted to inform people of their options and ended up talking someone into an abortion for the sake of abortion. I'm sorry I know I'm ranting and this probably doesn't make a lick of sense to anyone. All I'm trying to say is that it takes all kinds. The universe seeks balance. Anyone who thinks that their way is the only way has serious issues. I mean just look at Pres. Bush.

No, you weren't ranting. I totally get you, that's about how I think. All you ladies had great things to say. And yes the whole thing about eating animal menstruation and such grossed me out too. Anybody see the episode of bullshit about peta? Look it up on youtube.com worth the watch.

One of the best Bullshit episodes out there. (I am a fan)
-Teh Bo0tab3gga

[hxchristy]

you had every right to stand up for this poor girl.. i wouldnt worry about it for you. there needs to be more people who stick up for the little guys. i had to give up vegetarianism as well for health reasons. and was very proud of the fact that i did it for so long. but lack of iron and other essential nuterients started to take its toll...

[missmuffcake]

I am vegan however I don't really post to vegan groups and such because I feel that some of my personal choices will be looked down upon, like feeding my cats meet or buying my boyfriend pizza with meat. I am vegan for myself and taht is what it comes down to.

I get a bit pissy when people are like 'well, I could never be vegan/ or I used to be vegan but it/I was unhealthy'. I think personally that as with any lifestyle/diet you need to plan your meals and vit/min intake. I think it is a cop out to say something that can be healthy and good for one is bad because of a persoanl expierence. I guess this comes from personal-comments I get and have anger towards.

I wish more chefs (in my area) would try and do vegan. I have limited options...I would love to go out and nosh on some tasty vegan-vitals.