Testosterone, garbanzo beans... They’re all the same in a cult context.
Substitute the word ‘trans’ for ‘vegan’ in the transcript below. Notice any similarities? As you read, ponder: what is the transgenderism analogy for factory farming? Homophobia? What or who is the stand-in for the world’s hungry people that you’d save if you just changed your damn pronouns? Black trans women? Funny thing is, factory farming is real. Trans genocide is not. Funnier still, the solution—veganism—destroys far more land and people than factory farmed meat, the same way that trans harms more people than it helps, especially women and children. Which reminds me yet again of my fave quote of the last century:
Here I’ve transcribed what I felt were the most striking bits of conversation between former vegan and author of The Vegetarian Myth, Lierre Keith, in her podcast interview with Ken D. Berry MD. And yes her book did change my life, back when I still thought vegetarianism was real science.
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Lierre at 4:00:
When I was 16 I became vegan because I met another vegan. And that is the way that most people become either vegetarian or vegan, is that they meet somebody who is already kind of in that world and they get convinced. So I was converted. It took about a week and I was all in. So, it was another teenage girl. Her whole family was vegan. They were super into it. She had the whole thing, the whole spiel about it. And I was shown pictures about factory farming, which I think we can all agree is terrible and we should all be against that no matter what we eat, so the pictures were very compelling. And then she had all the facts and figures about it. So all the hungry people who could be fed if you were not eating meat. And all the things you’re going to do for your health if you stop eating animal products. And I didn’t know better, I was sixteen.
5:00
This was 1980… This is when… high-carb/low-fat was first on the scene… We were taught in school, in health class—we had a whole unit on—this was the way you were supposed to eat. And you’re gonna get diabetes, and you’re gonna get heart disease if you eat full-fat milk, cheese… You should limit your red meat consumption. And I just sat there. It was terror in my soul listening to this…
6:00
So when the teacher’s up there saying oh don’t eat animal fat, this is where all your problems [come from]—I believed it. Why would I not believe it? I didn’t know better. And then I meet the vegan, who’s like, oh, all that’s true. And also, you’re going to save the hungry people, and you’re gonna save all the animals and you’re gonna save the planet. All you have to do is this one simple thing. And that really appeals to the teenage mind. It’s very black and white when you’re that age… And I lived in a suburban environment. I had no idea where food came from. It’s not like I had some counter information to say, you know this is a little more complicated…
7:30
The thing is, it’s the right values. It’s compassion, and justice, and sustainability. And we all want this better world where there are no more hungry children.
8:00
[The question isn’t values.] The question is information. And I did not have enough information to be making this decision. Because everything I heard was wrong. And I didn’t have a way to question it. I didn’t have enough background on any of this to understand that they really weren’t telling me the truth.
9:00
My mother cried. She was so upset that I was doing this. She thought that there’s no way it’s a good idea not to eat butter. [She believed] all children should have milk and cheese, and that this is just crazy.
10:00:
The problem of course is that...with [the vegan] diet in particular, it’s not just about what you eat, but at the end of the day it really just becomes who you ARE. This is like your core identity. And this is when it gets scary. Because when it fails you, and it will, it’s really really hard to take a step back and try to engage with new information. I couldn’t do it. It took me twenty years and permanent damage to get to the point where I could actually take that step back and try to absorb more information about it—like why is this not working—I have to admit it has failed utterly, like profoundly failed. What now.
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What now indeed.
How many profound failures of utopian isms do we need before we stop killing ourselves? And how is it that these isms are so blindingly reflective of one another? It’s a funhouse mirror up in here—
Adolescent girl gets seduced by edgy lifestyle—the ism.
She is influenced by another adolescent girl whose parents are fully on board.
Her school affirms that this ism is GOOD and that the conventional, old fashioned way is BAD.
The government encourages the ism.
Medical professionals encourage the ism.
Pop culture encourages the ism.
The ism comes with cool taglines, like ‘meat is murder,’ or ‘trans women are women.’
The old way is reframed as backward and evil.
The ism is framed as social justice.
She pours her entire identity in the ism.
Commitment to the ism baptizes her—envelops her in righteousness. She is now Better Than Everyone Else™.
The ism is not sustainable, but when the pain comes, instead of quitting, she dives deeper.
She didn’t have enough life experience to sense that something about the ism didn’t add up.
There was no possibility of informed consent because the authorities lied about the ism’s safety and health benefits.
There was no possibility of informed consent because the girl was too young to ask any questions, let along the right questions.
She didn’t have enough life experience to know that happy endings only exist in fairytales.
The ism does not correlate with biological, cultural, historical or social reality.
The ism destroys reproductive health.
The ism shortens lifespan.
The ism eclipses everything that used to matter in her life.
The ism drives a wedge between the girl and her family.
The girl’s mother knows the ism is crazy, but there’s nothing she can do without pushing her daughter further.
It takes years for the girl to realize her health has deteriorated to the point that she has an identity crisis and must forsake the ism and everything she thought was right and true, in order to survive.
The girl loses friends—at least she thought they were her friends.
The girl, disillusioned, broken and alone, sets about rebuilding her life with whatever strength she has left.
In her awakening and return to her actual self, she earns wisdom.
The girl’s mother is there, waiting with open arms.
💔
PS.
She ponders buying a pickup truck since climatism is now also up for some serious discussion.
🤠
Isn't it sad that Greta is the Avatar of our Age. An uneducated autistic teenager caught up in so many of the -isms, consumed by anger, fear and frustration.
I love this! And replacing vegan for trans when reading the list made my stomach drop -the exact same formula.