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“Enjoying the BEST chicken dinner.” ~R.W.P
October 16– “Enjoying the BEST chicken dinner — at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.”
October 16– “Back for lunch, an amazing Cuban pork sandwich with homemade chips, so good — at Porto’s Bakery.”
October 15– “Onion loaf — at Tony Roma’s Ribs, Seafood & Steak.”
October 13– “Filet mignon with crab cakes. All gone.”
October 12– “Enjoying desserts — at Porto’s Bakery and Cafe in Burbank,CA.”
October 12– “Having biscuits and gravy — at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.”
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Day after day this week, a “Facebook friend” (an acquaintance from high school) made a point to commentate as he ate his way through his southern California vacation. I held back my strong urge to post a comment on his picture of the dead cow with the dead crab. The picture of the dead chicken (above)– however– was more than I could take. After all, I see the chicken trucks regularly on my way to work. So, I made this comment:
I’m just picturing what those poor tortured birds went through…
The response I got was this:
“Elisa, we get it. You don’t eat meat. Please keep your negativity to your own page. You are not going to change anyones mind.”
My second comment:
My “negativity” is simply the truth. Those birds were tortured for your meal…no doubt about it. Yes, you’re absolutely correct– I won’t change any minds that are closed to empathy and compassion. And yet– I have changed minds. Those people have told me so.
R.W.P’s next response was to “unfriend” me.
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I’m going to expand on my original response here, now that I’ve had the chance to reflect for a while. Here are some questions and comments that come to mind.
- No, I don’t think R.W.P does “get it” at all. If he truly got “it,” then he wouldn’t be eating animals either.
- “It” is not about me. “It” is not about what I eat. “It” is about empathizing with other living beings and acting with compassion.
- What is the “we” all about? “Elisa, we get it.” Is R.W.P attempting to speak for all of my non-vegan Facebook friends? Instead of the dialogue staying between us, is he recruiting his own imaginary crew of backers so that he can feel more supported in his animal consumption? As if animal consumers aren’t already in the majority? (Yet– in that one Facebook moment, there was just 1 animal advocate and 1 animal consumer.)
- Take notice of what R.W.P didn’t say. He didn’t say, “No, Elisa, you’re wrong. Those birds weren’t tortured.” Think about that.
- Did I spoil some of R.W.P’s palate pleasure with my negative truth telling? Did I temper his Facebooking enthusiasm by exposing the experience of the chicken underneath the breading? For even just a few seconds– did I force R.W.P to also picture what those poor tortured birds went through?
- I’m not going to change ANYone‘s mind? Not even one? What a horrible world to imagine 😦
- I’m not going to change anyone’s minds about what? (“What” could mean just about anything.)
- Finally…
I’m noticing a pattern on Facebook. “Keep it on your Facebook page.” R.W.P isn’t the first FB friend to type that, and he certainly won’t be the last. But, I’ve figured out one thing with certainty through this latest Facebook experience:
As long as my “voice” on behalf of animals stays on my Facebook page, then no one else has to “listen.” Close-minded people can just scroll down the page. Pretend not to see. Refuse to look. Deny.
On the other hand, when I comment on a friend’s Facebook page, it’s different. My voice, the animal’s voice, can no longer be ignored. The ugly, violent, bloody, negative (!) reality demands acknowledgement, whether the friend on the receiving end makes a written comment about it or not.
The “problem” for some people is that they’re suddenly forced to take some of the personal responsibility that they’d been avoiding. They can no longer pretend that they aren’t an active participant in the violence. They can no longer pass the buck. The buck just stopped with them. It’s threatening.
What might happen next? You get unfriended.
“Friends like these, huh, Gary?”
Bottom line: It’s not about me and it’s not about you. It’s about the bird. It’s about the living being. That piece of “chicken” belonged to an animal who cared about her own life. Please picture the kind of life that the chicken would have wanted. Please protect that life.
The Paleo Solution Podcast #148
9/3/12
Responding to question #7, Robb Wolf said (at ~55 minutes into the above noted episode):
“An underfed baby will not have adequate..will not have normal cognitive development. That is, ya know, the classic scenario when you’re looking at an underfed baby– which interestingly you actually see a lot of this stuff in like the vegan community, because even if the mother is breastfeeding, the mother’s breast milk is so nutrient deficient that the baby’s not doing well, and then beyond that..um..you know it’s a clear indication that when the baby is, has a failure to thrive, there’s a lack of body weight gain, and there’s a lack of normal, kind of psychomotor development…”
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WHAT?! Did Robb Wolf actually say that the breast milk of vegan mothers is nutrient deficient?? Is he saying that “you see a lot of” vegan babies who are underfed…failing to thrive…lacking body weight gain…and lacking normal psychomotor development? Seriously?
That’s a bold statement: “You actually see a lot of this stuff in like the vegan community.” Someone making a statement like that needs to back it up with some facts!
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On 9/11/12 I went to the Robb Wolf website to ask for the reference:
ME:
“What exactly is the reference to Robb Wolf’s statement about “seeing a lot of this stuff in the vegan community?””
CHRIS WILLIAMS (from the Robb Wolf website):
“Hi Elisa, here are a couple of examples (not to mention Robb’s own experiences and things he’s seen personally)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/29/vegans-trial-death-baby-breast-milk
http://adc.bmj.com/content/63/8/921.full.pdf
It’s not an attack against vegans, but it’s pretty much impossible to get everything necessary for human thrival on a diet without animal products without supplementation.”
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So…what do YOU think about those examples?
The first example— of “seeing a lot of this stuff in like the vegan community”– is the case of one baby who died in France. The unfortunate 11 month-old died of a pneumonia-related illness. She was underweight and suffering from vitamin A and vitamin B12 deficiencies. She was reportedly fed “only on her mother’s milk.” Her mother just happened to be vegan.
Is this a fair example? NO!! This baby should have been started on solid food months before. Breast milk shouldn’t be the exclusive food source for an 11 month-old infant. This is NOT a failure of the vegan diet. This is a failure of parenting, in general.
The second example— of “seeing a lot of this stuff in like the vegan community”– is the case of one baby (a 5 month-old) with a vitamin B12 deficiency. The deficiency was “due to low vitamin B12 concentrations in the maternal breast milk.” The case did not indicate whether the mother actually came from “the vegan community” or not.
What the case did indicate was that the mother was found to have classical (Addisonian) pernicious anaemia and hypothyroidism. Is pernicious anemia unique to vegans? NO!!
Is this a fair example? NO!! Fortunately, the baby in the second case example was treated with B12 and showed a “rapid clinical and haematological improvement.”
Let’s still learn from this…
- Everyone needs vitamin B12. Everyone should have vitamin B12 levels checked periodically.
- Vegans should supplement with a B12 supplement.
- Non-vegans may also need to supplement, because vitamin B12 deficiency is not only a “vegan issue.” Besides cases of pernicious anemia, people over age 50 lose the ability to absorb vitamin B12 from foods.
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Dear Robb Wolf,
Please stop talking out of your paleo ass about vegan babies.
Dear Chris Williams,
To use your words..it’s “pretty much impossible” to take you seriously when you provide such ridiculous examples.
Sincerely,
Freeheel Vegan
(thriving without killing animals…with the intermittent help of a modern world supplement that is cheap and readily available 🙂 )
Freeheel Vegan 