Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. Today’s video is
another installment of my interview with vegan activist Gary Yourofsky. Now, if you’re vegan
or even considering being vegan, chances are you’ve come up against some anti-vegan
arguments. Perhaps you’ve even posed some of them yourself in the time leading
up to being vegan. While legitimate questions and concerns from non-vegans can serve as
teaching moments and are valuable opportunities for education, some anti-vegan arguments are
purely baseless and made only to provoke. In his vast experience working with non-vegans,
Gary Yourofsky has probably heard every line of reasoning in the book. So, I decided to
ask him what is the best anti-vegan argument. Let’s check out his answer and then I’ll
jump back in with what I think is the strongest argument against veganism.
Emily: So you would know more than anyone else that there are a lot of stupid arguments
against veganism. What would you say is the best argument against veganism, if there is
one? Gary: There’s not, honestly. I swear I racked
my brain over this, there is none. In fact I had a professor down here, from university
of central Florida, who once told me the only reason he became veg is because all the arguments
he heard against it were stupid. That was his reason. He was a philosopher, he said:
“I cannot continue to do this because everyone’s reason for eating meat, cheese,
milk, eggs and honey is absolutely fucking stupid” I really don’t know of one good,
logical argument. It doesn’t exist. But do¬n’t think that I’m exaggerating or being
hyperbolic when I say this, because there is not one good argument for raping a child.
There is not one good argument for murdering a homosexual in Uganda. There is none justifiable
argument for denying women the right to be quality in Afghanistan, to right to go to
school, the right to vote in Middle Eastern countries. So there is not one logical reason
to enslave, murder and oppress the animals and consume their body parts.
Emily: I hope you enjoyed hearing Gary’s take on this matter. I have to say that my thinking
is rather in line with what Gary shared. In my recent interview with the popular blog
Vegan Street, when asked what I thought was the biggest strength of the vegan movement,
I said it was that we have the truth on our side. There’s no way to logically justify
what we do to animals for our food, fashion, medicine, and entertainment. All the facts
and all the legitimate arguments are on our side. This is reflected in the absurdity that
often arises when people try to justify their behaviors.
You can read my answers to the other 9 questions in the interview on the Vegan Street blog,
which I’ve linked to in the video description below.
Now all of that said, I do have to admit there is one argument someone can lay down for eating
animal products that I have absolutely no defense against. And that is the statement
“I don’t care.” If someone simply does not care what happens to the animals, the environment,
or even their own health by the continued breeding, torturing, exploitation and slaughter
of billions of animals, I certainly can’t say anything that's going to change that. Complete
and utter apathy cannot be argued away.
Now of course it’s not an actual defeat of vegan principles. As Gary and I have said,
veganism has logic on our side. All the arguments against it are shell games, admittedly by some
honestly curious, well-intentioned individuals genuinely wanting to know if this way of life
is possible. And for those people, I will always have time and patience
Now I’d love to hear from you on this. Have you ever come up against a formidable argument
against veganism? Perhaps you have one yourself? I’d love to hear it. …Unless it’s “bacon.”
That’s a word, not an argument. But someone’s going to post it anyways.
Oh YouTube's comments section, you are the bathroom wall of the internet.
Anyways, let’s go close it out with Gary!
Gary I just want to thank you so much for giving us your time and I've been asked on
behalf of so many of my viewers to just thank you for everything that you do. So, thank
you so much. Gary: Thank you. Keep on. Everybody, pass
her stuff around. It's tight stuff, honestly. BiteSizeVegan.com- share it!
Give the video a thumbs up if you liked it and please share it around to spread the message.
Stay tuned to the Bite Size Vegan channel for more installments of my interview with
Gary. I’ll also be posting bonus footage and questions that didn’t make it to the
channel in the ViV Area of BiteSizeVegan.com which you can access for free by clicking
below. And for even more behind-the-scenes action and the best discussion of all things
vegan, join us in the Nugget Army on Patreon. If you’re new here, be sure to hit that
big red subscribe button down there for more awesome vegan content every Monday and Wednesday and
some Fridays. I would love to have you as a subscriber. Now go live vegan and I’ll
see you soon
I thought you were gonna ask me what the dumbest was.
10 Questions: Vegan Rockstar Edition with Emily Moran Barwick of Bite Size Vegan
Subtitles by the Amara.org community