"Veganism is a cult", "You can only get your protein from meat"...
Brut Nature asked this animal rights activist to respond to stereotypes about veganism. Here is what she had to say.
Brut Nature asked this animal rights activist to respond to stereotypes about veganism. Here is what she had to say.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Giving the right to vote to the pool would make no sense.
00:02On the other hand, what we want is a legal account of the interests of one and the other.
00:19Veganism is a sect.
00:23So no, there is no vegan club
00:28where we meet every day to pray the holy big broccoli.
00:31What we need to understand is that today our relationship to animals is based on exploitation.
00:39We consider animals as resources, commodities, at our disposal to satisfy our interests.
00:45And that brings enormous suffering for them.
00:48Veganism is therefore a philosophy of life, a way to establish another relationship with animals,
00:54a relationship that is more benevolent and pacified.
00:57And this is not something new.
00:59It is a reflection that great thinkers such as Pythagoras, Marguerite Fursenart, Victor Hugo
01:05already had in their time.
01:07They were already asking themselves the question of the place of the animal in society
01:11and they were already denouncing the injustice and the violence with which they are treated.
01:19We grew up with the idea that proteins are only in meat,
01:22when in fact they are not.
01:24Proteins can be of animal or plant origin and can be found in almost all foods.
01:30And especially for plant proteins, in legumes, cereals and oleagins.
01:34For calcium, it's the same.
01:36We think it's only in milk. Not at all.
01:38There are some in green vegetables, in oleagins and in yogurts and plant milks.
01:43In general, in France, on vegetarian diet, we are quite behind.
01:48Whereas in other countries, the question is not debated at all.
01:51For example, the American Association of Dietetics and Nutrition,
01:54which still brings together 100,000 health professionals,
01:57says very clearly that a well-conducted vegetarian diet
02:01is completely viable at all stages of life.
02:04And then, not only is it viable, but it's also very good.
02:06It's the food chain.
02:10When we are told that, we have the impression that it is because the human being is at the top of the food chain.
02:16In fact, it's wrong.
02:17If we take the trophic levels, which is a classification
02:20that allows us to determine the place of a species in the food chain,
02:24the human being is actually at the level of the anchovy.
02:28So, very far behind the big predators like the orc or the polar bear.
02:33And by the way, we can wonder if this notion of food chain is even relevant for the human species.
02:39Because, unlike the lion that hunts the gazelle to survive,
02:42we do our shopping in supermarkets, we buy our steaks under empty containers.
02:48So, unlike carnivores, we are omnivores,
02:52which means that we can eat everything, but not that we have to eat everything to be in good health.
02:56We have always eaten meat.
03:00Not because we have always done something, that we must continue to do it.
03:03There are a lot of things that we did before and that we don't do anymore today,
03:06because our way of life has evolved, thanks to technological progress or to our moral considerations.
03:12For example, before, we used to move around naked, for a long time women were not allowed to vote.
03:18Today, we do a Paris-Lyon in two hours, and as a woman, I have the right to vote, and everyone finds that normal.
03:25So, yesterday's lifestyles have nothing to do with today's,
03:28and tomorrow's will be different because society will continue to evolve.
03:32And precisely, one of the challenges of tomorrow's society is food,
03:36because meat consumption poses huge challenges, both ecological and ethical.
03:42Do you want equality between species?
03:46No, we are not saying that a cow equals a hen equals a human being.
03:51Of course, there are differences between species, but there are also similarities,
03:55such as the desire to live or the ability to feel emotions.
03:59And precisely, these are things that we should take into account in our consumption choices.
04:03So, to do that, we can imagine a balance.
04:06On the one hand, there is my desire to eat a steak, and on the other, there is the life of the animal.
04:11Logically, the life of the animal should win over my desire to enjoy myself for five minutes.
04:17So, we are not at all preaching for a pure and simple equality between all species.
04:23Giving the right to vote to the hen would make no sense.
04:25On the other hand, what we want is a legal account of the interests of one and the other.