r/Anticonsumption • u/usernames-are-tricky • Sep 07 '26

Satire The Way Things Are Going

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For the screen readers it says: "FDA Advises Meat is Only for Animal Cruelty Purposes, Not Consumption"

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281

u/lovelysardines Sep 07 '26

Animal agriculture has spent a lot of money on hiding these facts, but i honestly feel like even if people knew most wouldn’t care or have the will to change

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '26 edited Sep 08 '26

[deleted]

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u/lovelysardines Sep 07 '26

Im the same. I wont say im vegan cuz people will get indignant if they even catch wind that you are. I wont discuss it in person with people cuz most of the time they will just ask about it to argue with you and justify themselves even when you refuse to say anything about it. I find the behavior so strange and best not to engage

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u/usernames-are-tricky Sep 07 '26

I've found the opposite approach works better to instead it up more casually when it's relevant like it's the normal thing that it is. The conversations tend to eventually calm down over time with that

But I'm also generally good at not letting others get to me too much, so your mileage may vary

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u/LadenWithSorrow Sep 07 '26

Same, I only mention it if we’re ordering pizza or something and it naturally comes up. I never want to bring it up and make people think I’m being preachy, pushy or condescending.

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u/My_life_for_Nerzhul Sep 08 '26

What a twisted world in which we live where those doing the morally right thing have to walk on eggshells around those perpetuating an atrocity, injustice and oppression on a systematic and unimaginable scale…

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u/TheVeganPhysicist Sep 08 '26

You just need to learn to talk about it. If you start by finding common ground, this is less likely to happen. Whenever someone brings up veganism, or whenever I start to talk about it myself, the first thing I say is "Do you agree that animals deserve respect? Do you think it's possible to respect them if you're paying for products and services that exploit them?"

The victims of the animal holocaust depend on you speaking up. Learn how. Activism 101 - Anonymous for the Voiceless

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u/lovelysardines Sep 08 '26

Most people are already defensive just seeing you live your life this way. The discussions they want to bring up are usually in bad faith. Im not opposed to having a genuine conversation about it if they actually seem open or curious about it. I think just being healthy and living your life already does a lot to show people that it is possible and you’re not suffering or deficient from it.

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u/TheVeganPhysicist Sep 08 '26

Asking "Do you agree that animals deserve respect" in response to their question can completely change the course of the conversation. Try it.

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u/howareyouhaha Sep 12 '26

There's an activist i see on instagram who stands in public places with a sign that reads "i agree with animal abuse" or something like that. It gets people talking. Your into makes me think of that.

It kinda goes like this:

Do you agree with animal abuse?

No.

Are you vegan?

No.

So you pay someone to abuse animals.

....and the conversations go on. He does really well with it. I think he has great talking points, if anyone would like to adopt them.

(Except I can't think of his name.)

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u/TheVeganPhysicist Sep 13 '26

That's Cliff Grant. He's pretty good but he gets distracted a bit too easily.

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u/howareyouhaha Sep 14 '26

That's right! Distracted too easily? I haven't caught that, but when I see him again I'll pay attention with that in mind. Why do you think so?

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u/TheVeganPhysicist Sep 16 '26

Great example right here:

Instagram

He (and a lot of others) like using this "What if it was a dog?" line, instead of addressing the root of the issue which is the idea of respecting other sentient beings' preferences for their conditions. Not that I think this kid has any potential to be decent, but I would have asked him whether he thinks empathy is a good thing in general.

Here he does it again: Instagram

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u/Badtacocatdab Sep 07 '26

You might want to look into the dairy and egg industry given that you care about animal welfare.

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u/cellmates_ Sep 08 '26

100%. I was veggie before I went vegan because I had no idea about the dairy and egg industries and how cruel they are 😔

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u/asthma_hound Sep 07 '26

People often do not respond well when facing their own hypocrisy.

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u/Deep_Argument_6672 Sep 08 '26

I went vegetarian this year and I found it kinda funny and ridiculous, but also sad with how many people got... protective? When you say to them that you quit it. Like they literally start bombarding you with "faxxx" about plant-based food actually being unsustainable compared to meat industry and that "it's out nature to be omnivores and it's stupid to deny that".

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u/VeganEatin Sep 08 '26

If you are still eating dairy and eggs, you might as well eat meat too. There is just as much cruelty and effect on the environment with dairy, if not more.

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u/Deep_Argument_6672 Sep 08 '26

That's a very toxic position that, if anything, will just alienate more people from lessening their consumption of animal-based food. You literally harming the good cause with such radicalism.

Person who are mostly vegan with exception for, dunno, cheese, are still better for environment and animals than person who actively consumes cheese, eggs and goes for KFC or McDonalds every day or two.

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u/VeganEatin Sep 08 '26

There's no such thing as mostly vegan. Those people would be mostly plant based. And if people choose animal abuse because a random internet stranger merely told them the truth, well chances are they are just making the choice they wanted to make, and were always going to make, and are just pointing their finger to deflect.

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u/sunnybacillus Sep 08 '26

i wouldn't say "you might as well eat meat too", but "you might as well cut out dairy and eggs too"

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u/VeganEatin Sep 08 '26

My point being she's basically doing nothing. Bragging that she has been a vegetarian for 20 years is essentially the same as bragging you've been a meat eater for 20 years.

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u/LadenWithSorrow Sep 08 '26

Your response is exactly why people don’t want to go vegan or vegetarian. Not eating meat drastically reduces your carbon footprint, even if you still eat dairy and eggs. Convincing others to support saving the planet starts by celebrating other’s efforts instead of criticizing that they should be doing more.

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u/My_life_for_Nerzhul Sep 08 '26

I recognize that her comment was a bit harsh, perhaps, and I do agree that she should have encouraged further improvements instead. But I do hope you can empathize with the frustration vegans feel when we see people who should know better, not doing better. After all, there are incredibly horrific things happening in the dairy and egg industry, too.

Given your comments here, your heart is clearly in the right place. I hope you are able to make the necessary changes to go vegan someday. It’s never been easier, and it’s the very least we can do for them (the individuals who are exploited).

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u/LadenWithSorrow Sep 08 '26

Absolutely! As I’ve mentioned on other comments I’m pretty clean from animal products I eat eggs occasionally and honey. I 100% support going vegan. My doctor is concerned about my anemia and wants me to keep eating eggs.

I just think criticism makes people did their heels in and become stubborn.

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u/VeganEatin Sep 08 '26

Dairy is just as harmful as meat. Would we praise and try to encourage a parent that beats only one of their kids instead of all of them?

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u/LadenWithSorrow Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26

That’s not the same thing. Some people need to start slowly. If they start reducing their animal product intake they should be supported in that transition. People are less likely to continue their journey if they are being shamed into it.

Have you ever heard of positive and negative reinforcement? Studies have shown people respond better to positive reinforcement for changing behaviors than negative reinforcement.

I know you want what is best for the animals but other people need a softer touch when being convinced to try something new.

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u/shreksprincessa Sep 08 '26

It’s awesome that you are vegetarian, but please consider giving up dairy and eggs. Dairy relies on the sexual exploitation of females - artificial insemination involves forcible penetration and that is by definition rape. The mother cow’s baby is stolen from her within 24 hours. I’m not exaggerating - these are standard practices and most dairy farms will admit they use them.

I understand people do need a bit of time for transition, but complete transition should be the goal. If you were being exploited, you would want to stop being exploited right now.

And Environmentally speaking, cows are the worst animals to breed for the planet by a loooot but I’m sure you’re already aware

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u/LadenWithSorrow Sep 08 '26

Oh, absolutely! I’m lactose intolerant anyways, so I don’t eat dairy. I also think the concept of eating/drinking baby calf juice is gross.

I do still eat eggs, occasionally, since chickens will lay eggs without human interference and my doctor is concerned about my protein/iron levels since I’m anemic

The only other thing I’m not clean of is honey.

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u/VeganEatin Sep 08 '26

The original post I was replying to had 20 effin YEARS of supposedly doing it for the animals. How slow do you wanna go? And how's that working out so far?

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u/[deleted] Sep 08 '26

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u/[deleted] Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26

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u/n00b678 Sep 08 '26

Yes, we should try to encourage somebody who beats only one kid to stop beating their kids altogether, instead of saying "if you beat one of them, you might as well beat both."

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u/My_life_for_Nerzhul Sep 08 '26

Hey u/VeganEatin, fellow vegan here. I 100% understand and share your frustration. Vegetarians should know better. That said, we may want to encourage them to further change for the better instead of being discouraging because they haven’t done enough.

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u/electricheat Sep 08 '26

Your point confuses me. Could you elaborate, perhaps with some approximate numbers based on averages?

Like, if a person eats 500 grams of cheese per month, they might as well eat 4.4kg of chicken and 2kg of beef as well.

And then support that argument in some manner? I'm really racking my brain to see how "in for a penny in for a pound" applies to meat consumption.

The only way I can understand it is if you don't care about environmental effects and only care about the moral angle, and view it as a binary. But I'm open to being convinced.

Signed, a vegetarian who I guess could start eating a bunch of meat again if there was a good argument for it.

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u/usernames-are-tricky Sep 08 '26

Not the person you are replying to, but I think they were intending to mean it somewhat hyperbole and just trying to pointing out the harms in those industries

(I don't think anyone should be advocating for an increase in any animal product consumption)

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u/Enlightened_Gardener Sep 08 '26

Yep, if eating cheese is morally the same as eating steak, I might as well eat steak as well. That way I can have a steak and cheese sandwich.

I was veggo and vegan for years, there’s one way, and one way only to permanently convert people, and that’s to be the glowiest damn person in the room, with the yummiest food, and you don’t ever use the “V word” unless someone asks you.

You cannot shame or shock people into conversion, but you can make it seem like they will be slim, healthy, happy and the food is great, and they’ll be beating down your door to ask for a vegan cookbook.

I was vegan back in the 90’s, it was really rare and really difficult. In those days, only very spiritual people were vegans, and they were vegan for wholly spritual reasons, and it was fucking difficult to keep a vegan diet. It was rice n beans, or soy. No quinoa, no hemp, no acai, no chia, no chocco nut mylks and oreos. It sucked, quite frankly, but its made me a really good cook, for sure.

There were two whole vegan cookbooks in the whole world, one on Japanese Temple Food and the Diamond Family American Vegetarian Cookbook, which was actually vegan, but the word “vegan” didn’t exist everywhere; and indeed you could meet people who called themselves vegetarian who were actually vegan, and they called all the other vegetarians “lacto-ovo vegetarians”. Very confusing.

Gradually people started becoming vegan for ecological, or ethical reasons, especially after the publication of the Veganomicon brought vegan cooking to a much wider audience.

These days, its vanishingly rare to find people who are vegan for spiritual reasons; everyone is vegan for ethical or ecological reasons. So you end up with situations like one I came across where an Indian lady, vegetarian from birth and a strict Hindu, got attacked for her moral choices by a co-worker who had converted to veganism 3 months earlier, and who clearly didn’t understand that her co-worker was vegetarian for spiritual reasons, not moral reasons.

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u/lovelysardines Sep 09 '26

You said was. Did you revert back to omni?

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u/Enlightened_Gardener Sep 09 '26

Yeah had to, got very, very ill.

BUT, I still love making vegan food. I love bringing something super yummy along to potlucks. It doesn’t mean that we can’t all have some delicious vegan meals, just that I can’t live off vegan food 😊

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u/VeganEatin Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26

Google can probably help you with those numbers. You can even guess at them when reflecting on how dairy is obtained. A cow is repeatedly forcibly impregnated (raped) and her baby is taken away, and she is hooked up to machines until she is worn out and sent for slaughter (meat). That baby might be sent to a tiny pen where it cant move, to become veal. When you buy dairy, you support the meat industry as well. It's just meat with extra abusive steps built in. Dairy IS the meat industry. So if you are vegetarian for the environment, why do you eat dairy?

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u/PugsnPawgs Sep 08 '26

Very true. I finally made the switch after some people turned it into a social media trend to go green every March in my country (Belgium). It changed cultural percepties on meat, normalized veggie options in restaurants, then in supermarkets.

There's also been alot of talks about how consuming pork causes colon cancer in men, which resulted in less pork consumption.

As a result of these campaigns, I'm very light on meat (maybe once a month or so) and only eat fish or seafood every week or so. Most of it's being replaced by veggie alternatives or actual veggies and nuts.

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u/usernames-are-tricky Sep 07 '26

It takes time and repetition for most people to really internalize things. There have been plenty of people I thought were not going to receptive about it (and were not at first) who have started to actually change

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u/lovelysardines Sep 07 '26

For sure. I’d tried so many times though out my life and failed. I don’t know what finally made it click for me but I can’t unsee it at this point. I think it started with anti consumption tho and just being aware of what i consume

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u/LadenWithSorrow Sep 07 '26 edited Sep 07 '26

I unfortunately think you’re right. Whenever people find out I’m vegetarian the first response I get is, “that’s great, I could never stop eating meat”.

Edit, since I’m getting downvoted, I didn’t say I’m vegan because I still eat honey.

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u/GewoehnlicherDost Sep 07 '26

This response is just an auto-defensive reaction. It means that the person has had some inner conflicts about the topic but is not yet ready to change their habits. Honey kills ecosystems, btw.

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u/LadenWithSorrow Sep 07 '26

I only buy honey from local beekeepers. Like my neighbor who has a small hive that he grew. I don’t think I’m doing much damage with that?

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u/usernames-are-tricky Sep 07 '26

Not who you are replying to, but honey production in general negative impacts on nearby ecosystems. The native pollinators do not produce honey

We found compelling evidence that honey bee introductions indirectly decrease pollination by reducing nectar and pollen availability and competitively excluding visits from more effective native bees. In contrast, the direct impact of honey bee visits on pollination was negligible, and, if anything, negative. Honey bees were ineffective pollinators, and increasing visit quantity could not compensate for inferior visit quality

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecy.3939

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u/electricheat Sep 08 '26

Where do you live? If you're in an area where honeybees are native I don't think it's an issue at all, so long as you're ok with the treatment of the bees.

Just mentioning this since the other reply seemed to assume you're living somewhere where honeybees are an invasive species.

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u/LadenWithSorrow Sep 08 '26

I just double checked and Honeybees are native to my area

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u/electricheat Sep 08 '26

Baller. Yeah most of the arguments you'll hear are from people in North America where honeybees outcompete our native bees.

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u/usernames-are-tricky Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26

Your account talks about being from the US? Honeybees are not native to the US

EDIT: also studies have also found harm in Europe as well. It's not limited to where they are native

But recent studies conducted in Europe and North America seem to suggest that when honeybees are introduced into urban areas they can outcompete the wild bees.

[...]

In Munich, an increase in hives in the surrounding area reduced the number of wild bees recorded between May and July in the city’s botanical garden. Similarly, in Paris, fewer wild bees were observed when more hives were introduced across the city. The findings were echoed in Montreal, which between 2013 and 2020 witnessed a twelvefold increase in hives from 250 to almost 3,000. Sites with the largest increase had the biggest drop in wild bee species.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/07/help-bees-dont-become-a-beekeeper-honeybeee-hive-biodiversity

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u/LadenWithSorrow Sep 08 '26

Oh, maybe they aren’t then, the ecological nature preserve in my city listed them as part of the ecosystem keeping the wetlands thriving. I thought they were. I can quit honey.

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u/usernames-are-tricky Sep 08 '26

They might have been referring to a non-honey bee inadvertently as a honeybees? There are native bees in the US ,but they just don't produce honey. I've seen some websites confusing bee genus

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u/usernames-are-tricky Sep 08 '26

Studies have also found harm in Europe as well. It's not limited to where they are native

But recent studies conducted in Europe and North America seem to suggest that when honeybees are introduced into urban areas they can outcompete the wild bees.

[...]

In Munich, an increase in hives in the surrounding area reduced the number of wild bees recorded between May and July in the city’s botanical garden. Similarly, in Paris, fewer wild bees were observed when more hives were introduced across the city. The findings were echoed in Montreal, which between 2013 and 2020 witnessed a twelvefold increase in hives from 250 to almost 3,000. Sites with the largest increase had the biggest drop in wild bee species.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/07/help-bees-dont-become-a-beekeeper-honeybeee-hive-biodiversity

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u/osamabinpoohead Sep 08 '26

A bee makes food for themselves.... not humans. Same with a cows milk. Its for their baby, again, not humans.

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u/Massive-Act6899 Sep 08 '26

Nor could I, honestly. I eat a vegetarian diet every day of the week but if I’m out I’ll eat meat, or on odd occasions I’ll buy meat to cook a specific dish.

I feel like most people think they could never be vegetarian cause they assume they’d have to totally abstain from meat. Truth is you can have a vegetarian diet 95% of the time and still eat meat when you fancy it or when it’s given to you. I only eat vegetarian cause of financial and health reasons, so I’m not a true vegetarian I guess.

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u/electricheat Sep 08 '26

You're within the range of what people I've met who call themselves vegetarian do. Though I didn't use it to describe myself when I ate in that manner.

If we need a term, something like flexitarian is probably a bit closer and avoids the "true vegetarian" debate.

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u/Enlightened_Gardener Sep 08 '26

Flexitarian, Meatless Mondays, Taco Tuesdays…. so many ways to shift a tiny bit of suffering out of the system.

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u/LadenWithSorrow Sep 08 '26

I advocate for people to do what’s best for their health. If that’s what works for you, that’s great! Don’t let the people in this sub shame you for your choices.

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u/SomeDumbGamer Sep 07 '26

Honestly ending the subsidies would do a huge amount to reduce how much we consume.

Seitan is real tasty and can be made into tons of stuff. It would not be hard for people to adopt it and soy as their main proteins with how many ways we can enrich foods these days. Meat would simply become a luxury like it always has been throughout human history. Something to be enjoyed on weekends and special occasions.

We could even breed cold hardy almonds that could be grown all over the continent. There are solutions if people actually want to apply them.

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u/lovelysardines Sep 07 '26

For sure, but at this point I’m banking more on innovation in the industry (i.e lab meat and precision fermentation) than relying on government and the general public.

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u/Badtacocatdab Sep 07 '26

Be the change you want to see.

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u/hopeful-homesteader Sep 07 '26

Yep and sometimes it takes generations. We’re working on being better so our kids can take it even further. Moving onto five acres this year and we’re going to be as intentional as possible with the food we eat!

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u/mmmfritz Sep 08 '26

Humans have been eating animals long before factory farming became a thing. In efforts to drive profits down its become harder to source environmentally sound goods anywhere.

That’s ok I’ll just go start my own pig farm. Can you lend me the money?

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u/lovelysardines Sep 08 '26

Yeah and it’s becoming a huge problem so lets stop cuz we can if we cared enough.

Why would i lend you money when i just gave sound advice on how to avoid the whole issue all together?