Teenage Tree Hugger Blog

Hello, I am emailing to complain about something. I am 17 years old, I am Jewish, and I am a vegan. I read a couple of articles on the ADL website that condemn PETA and other animal rights organizations for comparing what animal go through to the Holocaust. What is different between what animals go through today and the Holocaust? In the animal abuse industry (hunting, fur, meat, experiments ect.) the victims go through the same thing such as being gassed and shot. What you are condemning in your articles is promoting discrimination-The same kind the Jews went through. Laws in Judaism are, to be honest, very hypocritical. In Jewish law, it is OK to kill an animal, as long as you do it humanely. In fact, I personally think what animals go through today is even WORSE than the Holocaust that our ancestors went through because it is all for profit and it is legal. Even if the animal feels no pain, (the victim always feels pain) you are still taking a life away. How is that humane? By that logic you could argue that shooting a child in his or her sleep is OK, because they don’t feel it. You could also argue that there is such a thing as “humane rape” or “humane molestation”. In addition to meat, there is nothing prohibiting consuming dairy products or eggs (besides the no milk and meat). They go through the same exact thing, and end up being killed anyway. They are tortured as long as they are living, and once they cannot any more of their “product” they are slaughtered for our consumption. Jews were considered worthless (and by some today, sadly, still are), so why should we be hypocrites and use that same logic on animals who feel the same pain we do? Like I said, I am Jewish, and I have some family members I never met because they perished with the other millions of people, but I am furious that one of the most famous anti-discrination groups, would be promoting speciesism. 

So I saw the movie Rio over the weekend. I went with 3 girls, and I went in having no idea what it was about, besides the fact that it is about talking animals. For the most part, I was bored with the movie, but there was one aspect of it that stuck out. Part of the plot was rescuing trapped birds from their cages, AKA Animal Liberation. Of course, this wasn’t the focus of the movie, and it is a rated G movie, so it was very kid friendly. I loved how they fit that in, but I wish they included it more.

1. We can do what we want with animals

2. God put animals on this earth for us to eat

3. Where do you get protein and calcium?

4. Animals are dumb and don’t feel pain

5. Lions eat meat, so I should be able to

6. Meat is to tasty to give up

7. I don’t want to know what happens to animals

8. People need meat to live

9. Our canine teeth are meant to chew up meat

10. If we didn’t eat them, they would overpopulate

11. By eating them, they have a purpose

12. It’s already dead. Me eating it isn’t going to make a difference

13. Vegans can’t eat anything

14. Everything has animal products in it

15. Plants have feelings too

16. Cows need to be milked

17. Vegans are annoying

18. Just me being vegan won’t make a difference.

19. If we didn’t eat meat, we wouldn’t be here today

20. Without meat, we wouldn’t have made it through the ice age

Thanks to everyone at veggieboards for helping me with this list.

So I was reading about this idea called meatless mondays. You get someone who eats meat to became veg*n for a day. I talked to both of my brothers about this, and surprisingly, they seemed pretty open to it. My meat eating brother said he would do it, and to motivate him more, I’m bringing him a bag of Sour Patch Kids every monday. I am trying to talk my vegetarian brother into being vegan, and he seems pretty open to it as well. I think it is a positive step towards veganism, especially for my meat eating brother who thought vegetarians are idiots. And even if they don’t ever become vegan, but they stick with the “meatless monday” idea, they will still save more animals then before.