Face it, people hate it when their beliefs are proven wrong. That is a fact. And no one is more in denial than hardcore vegans and vegetarians. I sometimes wonder if they are in some kind of cult, because they all seem to think and feel the same way. Not saying they are all bad, I have some vegan friends, and as people I like them as much as I like all my other friends. Just like all groups of people, some are good and some are bad. Some are just downright evil. I finally just eliminated one of the most evil people that I've ever met on YouTube, and that was MsPearlsGirl. Anyone who says they want to see someone's kids die is truly screwed up and needs to seek professional help. She wasn't just bad. She was pure evil! I know I am a little nutty, and I usually like other people who are just as crazy as I am. I even sometimes joke to my sis Eva that she needs to find other homes for some of her kids. But that's just a joke, and Eva knows it!! But MsPearlsGirl is the kind of crazy that needs to be behind bars, with the key thrown away or melted away, one or the other. She truly gives vegans a bad name, and they know it.
Anyway, I recently made a 2-part episode debunking the myths one man, named Gary Yourofsky, told about veganism. Gary Yourofsky is one of those vegans who acts out for animal rights. If he was doing it for animals that really need help, like endangered mountain gorillas, I would be on his side. Though there is no chance that I would become vegan. But he's doing it for animals that we slaughter for food. And yes, in my research I found we truly need meat in our diet. Yourofsky has been arrested 13 times, and banned from 5 countries. I'm thinking OMG! That's nothing to be proud of!
Well, I knew that once I posted up my videos debunking Yourofsky's theories, that the vegan shit-fit-fest was going to start up again. Sure enough, it did! I knew my theories and research was going to be challenged. It didn't take long for that to happen either. I'm surprised more vegans haven't shown up and shat their pants yet! In my research, I tend to stay away from ARA groups, because I know they are going to be biased, and usually complete douchebags! And I don't listen to douchebags! There was one site that I hit to actually try to prove that veganism is the best for our health, I wanted to do a comparison. The site was stevepavlina.com and he wrote a blogpost about humans supposing to be herbivores. Here is the link: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/09/are-humans-carnivores-or-herbivores-2/. The problem I have with his blog is he is a complete douchebag! Look at how disrespectful he is to people who disagree with him in the comment section. And as far as I see, most of the commenters are just trying to disagree in a civil manner. Not calling him names nor anything. Just give thier point of view. Steve Pavlina also argues in the comments section that humans have foreward-facing eyes so we can read better. As if to say we evolved binocular vision so we can read books!
Most of the time, when I argue veganism, I tend to look at our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees. Chimps are truly omnivorous. The only purely herbivorous ape is the gorilla, and we are not in any way closely related to gorillas. But gorillas do have the trademarks of a pure herbivore. They are big, slow-moving, and have pot bellies and powerful, crushing jaws. Plus they have to eat a lot, about 60 pounds of food per day, just to get all the nutrients they need. Chimps are a whole other story. They are smaller, move faster, and do not have the size bellies that gorillas have. Only the young specimens do. Check out this article about the comparison of our diet vs. that of chimps: http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~stanford/chimphunt.html. This guy even argues that a vegetarian diet is definitely good for us, which leads me to believe he is not biased. But at the same time he knows that a mixed diet is better. Chimps are the only apes besides ourselves that hunt. But almost all apes (except gorillas) are known to take in meat in one form or another. Orangs have been known to eat eggs, and grubs. Bonobos also hunt small animals, though their meat intake is less than that of chimpanzees. For information about that, check out Walker's Mammals of the World.
There really are very few purely herbivorous primates, less than 50% of the known primate species are herbivorous. That is, they do not take in any form of animal protein at all, except maybe an occasional accident. Here is a list of purely herbivorous primates:
Family: Lemuridae
Varecia (2 species)
Lepilemur (26 species)
Hapalemur (5 species)
Prolemur (1 species)
Family: Indriidae
Indri (1 species)
Propithecus (8 species)
Avahi (9 species)
Family: Cebidae
Cacajo (2 species)
Alouatta (9 species)
Family: Cercopithecidae
Colobus (5 species)
Procolobus (10 species)
Trachypithecus (17 species)
Presbytis (11 species)
Semnopithecus (7 species)
Pygathrix (3 species)
Rhinopithecus (5 species)
Nasalis (1 species)
Simias (1 species)
Hominidae
Gorilla (2 species)
Total is 125 purely herbivorous primates. Really out of those, the only ones that really count are those closest to us, the gorillas. Some families aren't even listed because those families of primates have no purely herbivorous species. Those families are the Cheirogalidae, Lorisidae, Galagidae, Callithricidae, Tarsiidae, Daubentoniidae and Hylobatidae. Of course I didn't count subspecies, I figured the separate species were enough. But a total of 125 purely herbivorous primates in an order of about 350 species closest in relation to humans is enough to tell me that humans are not deer, or cattle. We were never meant to live purely herbivorous. Animals that are purely herbivorous have specialized digestive tracts and methods they use to fully digest plant matter. For example, the colobine monkeys (the monkeys listed under the family Cercopithecidae) have digestive tracts almost exactly like those of rumnents. Other herbivores, like rabbits and gorillas, reingest their own feces to get all the nutrients they need. Not that we couldn't do that, but would we? Who is going to eat their own feces?
On top of that, Yourofsky also equated human emotions onto animals. While there is no doubt that animals feel sadness and joy as we do, he implied that animals that have never been off a farm before, know that they are heading to slaughter. This is so not true! Animals cannot read. They have no idea what they are being put on a truck for. Animals cannot know what the word "slaughter" means. Yourofsky says animals are "self-aware". But they are not. Not in the same way humans are. You tell an animal he's stupid, and he'll just look at you and continue what he's doing. He won't care if you call him that! Because he doesn't understand what you are saying. Some animals can learn to recognize sounds, like their names, and learn to come when they hear their names. But that's after some training time. And that only goes for some animals. But no animal out there is ever going to learn to associate the word "slaughter" with "death". Or even the word "kill" with "death". I think Yourofsky watched Charlotte's Web too many times!
Not only Charlotte's Web, but also Dr. Doolittle 2! For him to use the word "speciesism" in his speech was a little too off the wall. In my video, I stated that word was made up by Eddie Murphy for the sake of comedy in Dr. Doolittle 2. It's not a real word! It's one thing to be a racist, but there is no such thing as a speciesist! Never was, and never will be. I said in the video that I hate panthers, I can't stand lions, leopards or tigers. People get arrested for being racists, but am I suddenly going to be arrested because I hate panthers? And as for us thinking our species being superior, it's natural to look after our own species. No other creature in nature is going to sacrifice it's self for another species. I said I want to see a video of one species (other than a human) purposefully sacrifice it's own life to save the life of another species. I've never seen any other animal do that except human ARAs. Though I will even sacrifice my life to save my dogs, but that's a different story. I chose to bring these dogs into my home, I chose them to be a part of my "pack". And as their pack leader, I will defend them viciously from harm. But I have no pet cows, pigs or chickens, and I will not bother to sacrifice myself for them. Thus I will not sacrifice my health for them.
As for the health benefits of becoming a vegan, opposed to maintaining a mixed diet, my grandma had an aunt, everyone affectionately called her "aunt Dump", her real name was Mary, and she ate meat every single day of her life. It wasn't all she ate, but she did have meat, veggies and bread for every single meal. She died in 1995 at the age of 102 years old! She was a healthy woman then too. In fact, for her 100th birthday, she went for a helicopter ride. It was something she wanted to do her entire life, and when she turned 100 years old, the family took her for a helicopter ride! While I will not say that there aren't some people who can survive nicely on a strictly vegetarian/vegan diet, I don't recommend everyone try it because not everyone is the same. Just as some people can spend their entire lives smoking and not get lung cancer, some people can follow a purely vegan diet and not have any ill effects. But since being a vegan almost killed my grandma, I fear it may have nearly the same ill effects on myself. I choose not to take that chance. For another former vegan's point of view, I urge you to visit this blog: http://voraciouseats.com/2010/11/19/a-vegan-no-more/. I believe I have posted this before. But I say again, check out her blog.
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