Intolerant to Violence

I do not tolerate nonveganism well. I admit it 100%. I see no reason to selfishly cause unnecessary suffering, and I am easily agitated in the presence of the 'screaming'. That said, I have some random thoughts.


I was standing at my window this morning watching the birds. Suddenly thinking, “What if someone walked into my yard right now and viciously killed one of the birds?”


Obviously I would completely lose my mind. I would call the police (oh yes I would), and the person would be lucky to get off my property without being seriously harmed. What if it were my dog? My cat? My husband? Most of us would be completely distressed under such circumstances.


True vegans (in the quickest summary possible) believe that every life holds inherent meaning, to the individual whose life it is. Vegans generally avoid harming any being intentionally, as we believe we would not want to be irrationally harmed by another. A ‘do unto others’ kind of thing…nonviolence, nondiscriminatory, equality and justice and peace for all who live. It is more than that but for a summary that will suffice.


Anyways, if that is true - if we truly view lives as we would the lives of our dog, cat, wildlife, even our family – how do we tolerate nonvegans?


Hear me out – I would NEVER go to a gathering of pedophiles, or rapists, or murderers. None of us would. But if we make the connection, how do we then tolerate the presence of nonveganism? The presence of such horror and fear and death? Yet many tolerate it and even soothe nonvegans in an ongoing effort to be ‘nice’.


Some will respond that this is because society is overall blinded by a culture based upon animal use. So I pose this scenario…


You grew up being partially raised by loving well-treated slaves. You loved them as family. In your late teens you realized…you saw the reality of the ‘wrong’. What do you do? I suppose (as with everything), that is dependent on each individual. But knowing what we know about slavery…if you knew…do you continue unfettered to your slavery-run gatherings and events?


I am increasingly intolerant to being around anything nonvegan. I certainly believe in tolerance when no one is being harmed, or even sometimes when one is only harming themselves. I DO NOT believe in tolerance when it involves the harm of other innocent beings, injustice, oppression, and/or violence.


If it rape, abuse, oppression, murder, violence, destruction, etc. - and IT IS – why is it any more tolerable? I am not going to attend the next racist meeting I come across, or defend a serial killer, or try to understand or offer support to a rapist.


While some of this is just random thinking, because I am certainly kind to people overall, please do not expect me to be tolerant to the abuse of fellow Earthlings and the health of our planet, because I DO understand it IS injustice, abuse, cruelty, rape, murder, oppression, discrimination, along with this incredibly annoying human ego trip that I find utterly distasteful and intolerable. We are (thus far) a shameful species.

Willful Ignorance

It is rather easy to formulate an opinion, especially if you never seek rational thought and science to support that opinion. If truly decent people saw the amount of devastation our daily choices inflict on Earth and all other Earthlings, truly decent people would find themselves incapable of further rationalizing such nonsensical harm - they would have to change. So, instead, there exists a refusal to actually look or consider the truth, a failure to want to know facts, a sad state of being - “willful ignorance”.


The willfully ignorant say this is because they are “comfortable” with their choices – “I am OK with it”. How can one be “OK” with something they actually know very little about? Are they saying they CHOOSE to be violent and destructive and oppressive and harmful and apathetic? If the willfully ignorant are really so comfortable with their choices, doesn't that mean they could both look at all the facts, give due consideration to the moral contradictions within themselves, AND continue their current lifestyle unfettered? If the willfully ignorant are so confident in what they believe, no amount of new information should be able to shake that belief system, right?


But clearly that is not the case – a large portion of society overwhelmingly refuse to look at facts or consider these very rational thoughts - of nonviolence, of not harming the innocent when so utterly unnecessary, of the devastating result of our choices on our Earth and ecosystems, or on our health and health care crisis.


They don’t want to take responsibility. I have no comprehension of being that kind of person. I value knowledge, I value science, and I value ongoing self-improvement to always do better and life a deeply meaningful life. I value the connection created by my Earth-friendly, nonviolent lifestyle. I can no longer imagine being any other way.


I certainly have a lot to improve upon, and I will work on the betterment of me until the day I die. I hope to NEVER be completely “comfortable”, because learning and growth often forces change, especially when you refuse to live in denial, when you refuse to be soothed or quieted by the dumbing-down machine, and when you seek truth and justice and education and deeper values.


The willfully ignorant have convinced themselves they have made choices. I am convinced they themselves have been oppressed and lack free thought. Many have yet to realize they are flesh-eating, family- and Earth- destroying corporate slaves who unknowingly defend and support the most unethical and abhorrent for-profit tactics that brings harm to EVERYTHING that should actually MATTER to them.


"Big egos have little ears."
- Robert Schuller