Any traumatic experiences leading to veg*nism?
After reading this quote by Josh Hartnett:
"I gave up meat when I was twelve. & One day I was cutting up a chicken for my mom, and I hit a tumor with the knife. There was and blood all over the place. That was enough for me."
I got to thinking about some experiences I've had that led me to veganism. One example... when I was a young kid, my mother was dating a complete IDIOT LOSER who thought he could hit my dog when he was "bad". I saw him do this once and was deeply hurt and surprised, and every time the dog would do something to invoke this man's wrath I would physically lie on top of my dog and shield him with my body for hours so he wouldn't be able to be hit, until the guy went away. It showed me how evil and ignorant humans could be regarding animals.
Anyone else with stories to share?
yay for trauma! haha...not really. Sucks that your mom didn't like chop that guys dick off and send him packing..
I saw this documentary about elephants as a kid in third grade and one scene was about how they train baby elephants. They "break" them buy beating the elephant. Like they tie it up and people have to take shifts beating it because it takes so long to break an elephants spirit that one person couldn't do it.....and the baby elephant was screaming and crying....I was little and I was crying cause I didn't want to watch it. None of the other kids seemed effected at all. When I mentioned how disturbing it was I was told that it wasn't the point of the movie, and that is how they do that and elephants are important to that culture and I'm a racist bigot for judging the people who were doing that to the poor baby elephant....then the other kids started making fun of me and saying Id grow up to be an animal right activist....
Later, in highschool we had to watch this video about bullfighting when studying Spain. I told my teacher that it was disgustingly barbaric and I didn't want to watch it. he told me I could chose not to watch it but that id get a failing mark for the test about it...Whatever.s o people can be such jerks...
This stuff didn't make me vegan. Id have become a vegan/ animal right s activist anyways but it did make me feel very alone and freakish...
I saw this documentary about elephants as a kid in third grade and one scene was about how they train baby elephants. They "break" them buy beating the elephant. Like they tie it up and people have to take shifts beating it because it takes so long to break an elephants spirit that one person couldn't do it.....and the baby elephant was screaming and crying
It's weird that you mentioned that because the night I decided I wasn't going to eat meat anymore, I was watching When Animals Attack with my friend and they had all these circus elephants that were rampaging because of the horrible things done to them to "train" them. They showed a video of this guy just beating the elephant with a stick. I thought the worst part was the show made it seem the elephants were monsters for taking off with a family on it's back, while it was clear to me it was trying to escape a horrible life of torture.
There was also this video of a woman with a pit bull that sent it out to attack a woman with animal control, this woman was obviously a mental case, but the dog was the one put down because people treat animals like slaves
Kylissa, you were a very brave little girl. Who knows if the man wouldn't have hurt you to get to your dog. What a mean man!
Elephants..it breaks my heart how they break their spirit and physically hurt them.
I gave up beef, lamb and pork about 14 years ago. I still ate chicken and fish. As I home cook for my critters, a friend told me about an outlet where I could buy chicken at a better price. I asked her if I would see chickens there. She said absolutely not. That was about 10 or 12 years ago.
I got there and what pulls up next to my car? A truck load of chickens and one was crying. You know chicken crying. Her wing was all bent out of shape. Probably broken. This is an outlet where you go upstairs, order the chicken and then wait outside until they call your number. I stood outside with tears streaming down my face. People were staring at me like I was an idiot. I stopped eating chicken then except for a few slip ups. I still go there to get my critters food and pray to the powers that be, a truck won't show up. I don't know why they call it a farm because it is a slaughterhouse. I have never seen anyone else upset there when a truck pulls up. People even bring their kids. They stand outside laughing and joking.
I once had my two little dogs in the car when I went. Willie started shaking. They sense death.
Another thing that totally traumatizes me is when a chicken truck, pig truck or cow truck is on the highway beside me. I can't help looking and when I see the pigs noses sticking out or see the cows eyes I start crying and stay depressed for quite a while.
Also, boiling lobsters alive. My sister's street has a lobster party every year. She knows not to invite me that weekend. Every year, I send her an article or something to say there is a kinder way to do it but they still do the boil it alive thing.
How did we ever get to being such a cruel race?
Also, boiling lobsters alive. My sister's street has a lobster party every year. She knows not to invite me that weekend. Every year, I send her an article or something to say there is a kinder way to do it but they still do the boil it alive thing.
How did we ever get to being such a cruel race?
Oh god, why did you mention that?? That sound is horrible!
When I was 14 or so, mom brought home a bunch of blue crab from the farmers market to cook; they were alive. The memory is actually kind of funny, because the crabs almost won, they were jumping out of the pot, scampering across the floor, freaking out the cat. I couldn't eat them after that.
Then, as "just desserts", so to speak, long after I'd gone veg, I was walking on the beach with my dog and came across a brilliant blue crab. As I was pointing him out to my companion, he jumped from the water and pinched my finger, drawing blood. Ornery SOB...but who could blame him?
This isn't why I am vegan, but it is traumatic and happens a lot. I live across the street from a truckstop where the truckers stop to get their travel papers. I had to listen to a truck load of pigs scream the other week. It might be cows, might be pigs or chickens, but it happens all the time. It makes me sick.
I was in the fifth grade the teacher was talking about how meat comes from cows. (Don't ask how the subject came about).
I'm thinking meat comes from cows EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. I'm not eating meat again.
After Daniel Pearl was beheaded I was done with violence.
john steinbeck's The Red Pony
and the scene in Crime and Punishment where someone is beating a horse to death
and one of our cats was shot in the face with a bb gun once
it's just hard to see violence against animals, when i feel like they represent something far more pure than our own race
Also, boiling lobsters alive. My sister's street has a lobster party every year. She knows not to invite me that weekend. Every year, I send her an article or something to say there is a kinder way to do it but they still do the boil it alive thing.
How did we ever get to being such a cruel race?
I recently read this "fact" that says "Lobsters, like grasshoppers — feel no pain. They have a decentralized nervous system with no cerebral cortex, which in humans is where a reaction to painful stimuli proceeds"
I have no idea how true it is, though. You'll never catch me gnawing on a lobster tail because it IS stll ending a life, but if it is true it makes me feel a little better passing lobster tanks in the store.
Seeing my baby break out into hives after my milk-tainted lips kissed her pretty little cheek....then six months later being scared sh!tless when she got so sick (hives, uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhea) after trying her first bite of scrambled eggs. So being literally afraid for her life (due to the unpredictability of her allergic reactions) led me to cut out all dairy and eggs (and peanuts) from our diet and thus my exploration of veganism via safe recipes and such.
Another experience that gave me a kick in the a$$ in the vegan direction was seeing the animals at a local small town fair a few weeks ago. They had all of these 4H animals penned up and tied up and in itty bitty cages....and I was repulsed by the way these 'show animals' were treated! Several pigs to a pen in hot conditions...the food and water dishes overturned or filled with feces....the pigs ears had wedges cut out. Cows tied up all day long...unable to lie down....their snouts rubbed raw from trying to turn their heads to get the flies off. Rabbits and fowl piled on top of each other in wire cages...no food or water or bedding. Someone walking by the pigpens said "How can something that looks so ugly taste so good?" I wanted to puke.
Also, boiling lobsters alive. My sister's street has a lobster party every year. She knows not to invite me that weekend. Every year, I send her an article or something to say there is a kinder way to do it but they still do the boil it alive thing.
How did we ever get to being such a cruel race?
I recently read this "fact" that says "Lobsters, like grasshoppers — feel no pain. They have a decentralized nervous system with no cerebral cortex, which in humans is where a reaction to painful stimuli proceeds"
I have no idea how true it is, though. You'll never catch me gnawing on a lobster tail because it IS stll ending a life, but if it is true it makes me feel a little better passing lobster tanks in the store.
I read study a few years ago. Think it was from a University that yes, indeed lobsters feel pain. Even that gorgeous Australian chef (Curtis on Take Home Chef) cooked lobsters one day and made a point to do it humanely. He puts them in the freezer first where the cold makes them fall asleep. Sort of a comatose state. Then he drops them in the boiling water. I still had to turn my head.
As a scuba diver, I have seen lobster holding hands in their hidey holes, walking together holding hands and freaking out when you get too close. Every time I see one, I say through my hose, don't worry, I will never hurt you. Just taking your picture. They remind me of the robot on Lost in Space. They come out of their holes a bit waving their antenae as if to say 'Warning Warning'. I also saw someone harass one and grab it out of it's hiding place. It was visably stressed. Then the Bast*rd twisted it's head off and stuffed the meat in his BCD pocket. He had a restaurant cook it for him that night. I started crying. Tears dropping down the inside of my mask. After the dive, I gave him sh*t and gave our dive instructor sh*t! Another our our instructors, an older gentlemen was equally disgusted and gave them both sh*t. To make matters worse, we were in a protected national park in St. Lucia. There was no one there to complain to. Very awkward situation because I was on the trip with my dive shop (I don't go to that dive shop anymore).
Lobsters can live for 50 to 70 years old. They are very affectionate toward each other.
Years ago, a man in an restaurant in Toronto saw a huge one in a tank. He must have known about lobsters because he estimated this poor guy was about 50 years old. He bought it and I think it was Air Canada that volunteered to fly the lobster to Nova Scotia where he was released in the ocean. Hope he got to live his remaining years safely.
I get teary walking by lobster tanks. They should have the whole ocean and their claws should not be bound together so they won't damage themselves. They are touchy feely and would be touching the other lobsters given a chance.
Two months ago, eating a some bread pudding from my favourite bakery. I was picking out all of the raisins when I realized one "raisin" had legs and wings!!!! That's right, a fly!
GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I shudder at the thought. Now I make my own meals, thank you very much.
This reminds me of the episode of "Friends" when Phoebe was talking about Ross being Rachel's Lobster. She then briefly explained how lobsters choose their mate. "He's her lobster!" haha
That's really fascinating (and so sad) Diver! I never knew lobsters could live that long. Lobster tanks anger me too. That reminds me of a scene in School for Scoundrels where two people on a date end up stealing lobsters from the restaurant tank and running out to free them in the ocean.
When I lay on my bed with my dog beside me (yes, I let him sleep on the bed), I look into those loving brown eyes of his and I cannot believe that anyone could look at a live animal and then slaughter it.
I had two friends who both worked in a slaughter house (one took photographs for a brochure, one actually killed the animals). Both became vegetarians overnight and never went back to their meat eating ways. However, both of them are still extremely traumatised by what they experienced and saw there.
I recently hit the edge of a nervous breakdown and realised that one of the things that would help me recover would be stopping any activity in my life that caused death or pain to any other living creature, including animals. I'm on the mend, and I don't know why I didn't embrace this life sooner.
In grade 7 or 8 I gave up meat for lent - I'm not religious AT ALL, but it was an excuse to try living without meat, as an "experiment." I'd always been impressed with vegetarianism, loved animals, etc. sometime after the 40 days, I had chicken from kfc. I don't remember why, but it was there, and I ate some. a few days later I went to an environmental conference for school, and saw a video of animals being butchered, and took part in a discussion about animal cruelty. I felt SO guilty and disgusted about the chicken. I've had a personal hate towards kfc ever since...
it made sense that I turned to vegetarianism. animals have always been important to me. I mean, when I was a wee little kid, I really, really cried watching Homeward Bound (the movie with talking animals). when the cat, Sassy, goes over a waterfall I thought she died. I don't cry in movies, but I cried then.
Also, boiling lobsters alive. My sister's street has a lobster party every year. She knows not to invite me that weekend. Every year, I send her an article or something to say there is a kinder way to do it but they still do the boil it alive thing.
How did we ever get to being such a cruel race?
I recently read this "fact" that says "Lobsters, like grasshoppers — feel no pain. They have a decentralized nervous system with no cerebral cortex, which in humans is where a reaction to painful stimuli proceeds"
I have no idea how true it is, though. You'll never catch me gnawing on a lobster tail because it IS stll ending a life, but if it is true it makes me feel a little better passing lobster tanks in the store.
I read study a few years ago. Think it was from a University that yes, indeed lobsters feel pain. Even that gorgeous Australian chef (Curtis on Take Home Chef) cooked lobsters one day and made a point to do it humanely. He puts them in the freezer first where the cold makes them fall asleep. Sort of a comatose state. Then he drops them in the boiling water. I still had to turn my head.
As a scuba diver, I have seen lobster holding hands in their hidey holes, walking together holding hands and freaking out when you get too close. Every time I see one, I say through my hose, don't worry, I will never hurt you. Just taking your picture. They remind me of the robot on Lost in Space. They come out of their holes a bit waving their antenae as if to say 'Warning Warning'. I also saw someone harass one and grab it out of it's hiding place. It was visably stressed. Then the Bast*rd twisted it's head off and stuffed the meat in his BCD pocket. He had a restaurant cook it for him that night. I started crying. Tears dropping down the inside of my mask. After the dive, I gave him sh*t and gave our dive instructor sh*t! Another our our instructors, an older gentlemen was equally disgusted and gave them both sh*t. To make matters worse, we were in a protected national park in St. Lucia. There was no one there to complain to. Very awkward situation because I was on the trip with my dive shop (I don't go to that dive shop anymore).
Lobsters can live for 50 to 70 years old. They are very affectionate toward each other.
Years ago, a man in an restaurant in Toronto saw a huge one in a tank. He must have known about lobsters because he estimated this poor guy was about 50 years old. He bought it and I think it was Air Canada that volunteered to fly the lobster to Nova Scotia where he was released in the ocean. Hope he got to live his remaining years safely.
I get teary walking by lobster tanks. They should have the whole ocean and their claws should not be bound together so they won't damage themselves. They are touchy feely and would be touching the other lobsters given a chance.
That's incredibly disturbing and sad, that makes me want to pull an Edward Furlong and go on a crustacean liberation
We used to have a roast dinner every Sunday with my grandparents and I never really thought too much about where meat came from until I was about 4 years old and I asked my Mum what was for dinner. She said "Roast Lamb". And I said "you mean like a little baby lamb? The kind you pet and cuddle?" and Mum replied "uh yeah..." and the penny kinda dropped that I was eating a baby animal.
Fortunately my Mum became vegetarian when I was nine and my sister and I ate mostly vego meals (unless at friends' houses) until I left home. It wasn't even something I really thought about until I realised one day I hadn't eaten meat in years and thought, hmm I must be a vegetarian then. My Mum, her partner, my sister, and aunt are all vegetarians. I thought it was normal and everyone ate like this.
When I was about fifteen I did a cooking class at school and we had an excursion to the pig slaughterhouse. It was traumatising. These poor animals, you could hear them screaming to their deaths and I witnessed pigs being electrocuted and then having their throats slit. I walked out crying and quit the class the same day. I still tear up thinking about it.
My friend and I were in town a couple of months ago and petted and cuddled these lovely little animals at a small petting enclosure, lambs, calfs, chickens etc and as we were stroking this gorgeous young calf I said "How could you ever eat meat after looking into those big brown eyes?" and her respose was "well as long as I didn't have to kill it myself, I wouldn't have a problem with it".
This made me very sad. :'(
That's incredibly disturbing and sad, that makes me want to pull an Edward Furlong and go on a crustacean liberation
I also meant to add that their claws are bound so they don't hurt the person putting them in the tank, taking them out of the tank and boiling them alive. Makes me sick. If they weren't bound, they would be fighting for their lives.
What a horribly sad story. Going to the slaughterhouse and also your friend's comment. Very sad indeed.
It reminded me of the time I was about 19. My friend's family had a little 'hobby' farm. Someone lived there to tend to the horses and the couple of cows. They basically used it as a cottage. Weekends and holidays. I went up once and rode her horse. Being the expert rider that I am, I fell off! :)
Anyway, I met Oscar, the calf. Cute as a button. That Christmas, my friend gave my mom a roast beef for Christmas. My mom thanked her and I didn't think much about it. Then my friend said, it was Oscar! Needless to say, I didn't have supper that night.