I recently was communicating with Vegan Action from vegan.org about how they can approve a product with a U-D label on it and still be vegan. You can find most of their information on their website. This I have updated along with other posts found on the vegan compilation posts page. It still brings up more discussion that many people ignore. I was searching for clarification and it didn’t take long to find support in the research, but also doesn’t take long to find misinformed websites that are full of good information. Well is it misinformation or is the problem in what companies really don’t know about their own products. Some business persons might be on an island somewhere putting their brand on something that has been compiled from outsourced parts that even the most informed customer service representative has no idea about. They don’t visit their own factory nor their partnerships’ factories. It is possible the source product is hidden behind several tiers of who knows what? So we have to make everything ourselves from the building blocks and still communicate about every part. Don’t think that reading someone’s blog and buying a pair of shoes will guarantee you have a really well loved product. If you have seen an image of a white rabbit’s hair burned down to the skin and you have a ton of income with a company without at least thoughts of how to make your company avoid this everyday, you are corrupt in some way. Especially if you have a scripted email to ‘deal’ with an email from someone like me. Another problem which has improved is customer service representations not answering all the questions you ask or failing to read what you wrote them. Is it because there is that much bad feedback?
My basic notes this morning are these:
Cruelty-free vs vegan: aren’t they the same? Some companies, websites, labels and even communications are confused or confusing. I think if a company or product isn’t 100% vegan than it isn’t cruelty-free. Read below about honey and milk to see and think about this topic. So how does this affect me living in Nebraska where they haul cows in masses in the back of prison trucks? Well, I don’t have many choices and even the vegan cereal or granola I consume every day has another variety in the same brand that has honey in the product line. There is even one with a ‘save the bees’ campaign that has honey in one of their cereals. Go figure out how this makes one sleep at night. Even when I cut out nearly everything there isn’t much left out here in the country. If it is ‘vegan approved’ then it has probably been on a machine leased by a different brand that is shared with at the minimum some dairy product and cleaned with most likely cruel cleaning products. Part of the reason is money, but not most of the time. I really think it is awareness and the fact that most people can’t start this journey. Our culture is to ingrained or even souled by demons if you are a believer to act, feel and live a certain way. That will lead me to the next vegan post on why shared machinery needs to be changed and what I think Jesus has to do with all of this battle.
Example on a website that is confusing or confused: https://logicalharmony.net/cruelty-free-vegan-brand-list/
I recently emailed her about this because there is a list that says it is cruelty free with some that are marked 100% vegan. Well they should all be both, so unless I am reading something wrong, she has been misled.
Here is a link about how honey is not so innocent. This is stuff that just thinking about reasons why a vegan wouldn’t eat honey come to mind, but for nearly thirty something years of my life, I never thought of once. So, if you are wondering why I am blogging all the time about this it is because I feel a responsibility to share not only what I am told is the truth, but what I feel has been spoken to my soul from God. That brings up more questions to others: Why now?
https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/animals-used-food-factsheets/honey-factory-farmed-bees/
Type in the google search box for example: “Is milk cruel”
Top results:
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/is-there-more-cruelty-in-a-glass-of-milk-or-pound-of-beef/
https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/animals-used-food-factsheets/cows-milk-cruel-unhealthy-product/
https://www.peta.org/features/dairy-industry-cruelty/
Biggest conflicts below for me personally, that if I stop buying them, I may not be eating. The bible says we can fast for up to 30 days, but there is really ‘no safe way to do this’ and it makes working very difficult to impossible. See the posts around the time when I experienced that for more information.
-Brands that say they are vegan and sell honey options
-U-D and certified vegan
Other things to consider: Parent companies, umbrella brands or mega-corporations that all OK or are required by law to test on animals. This is where we have a problem with the law.
-Shoe brands or other products that use leather products for fashion or use cruel products in them. If you don’t have a problem with it or don’t care to find out, how about a law that makes it required to tell all of us which ones are cruel and do have animal products so it is more expensive to kill or hurt than not to kill or not to hurt.
Bottom line for me in this is: I don’t know how I am going to proceed. I see long time vegans eating at restaurants with products named after the non-vegan ones and I think I would never go to one. I worked in a vegan restaurant and since becoming stricter, I probably would have been in outrage about some of the things I saw there enough to quit. In turn though I would have had to eat at local free food/soup kitchens/shelter meals etc. and given up my vegan status. The person from vegan action said on says on their website that certain ideals I hold would be more harmful then helpful to making others want to become vegan and the vegan community, but I don’t know because we are behind the times and it has taken me less than two years to catch up. So, how fast do you think our children will find out and feel betrayed or react even more strongly? I think of boycotts, picketing, mass starvations or suicides. Also, everyone loves their animals at home more than their own children or significant other sometimes, so is it because you never owned a cow you can’t give up McDonalds? I think that until there are at least 50% fast food places that are strict vegan and affordable; we are a lazy, unbelieving human race.
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Besides giving up all of this stuff that I would rather not consume, buy or have on my body etc.., the good news is that with the rest of this month I am thinking of sharing some top ten lists until the end of the year along with the rest of the main mixes and possibly some different entertaining subjects. These top ten lists or approximately that number will be of my own life from being born in 1980 to now.
Top 10 lists
80s / 90s
Singer songwriters of childhood
Or pop singers / boy band / girl band
Scene changers in music ex: Weird Al
Top rock bands of high school or previous
Top oldies and classic rock
Top ten life changers in entertainment
Movies lists and other TV shows I watched growing up
Sports legends of childhood
