Help me win this argument :)

[singing4every1]

My significant other and some of his friends say that vegetables are grown in poop so therefore I am not fully vegan because I am using part of an animal, and some of the poop might get into the vegetables as well. What is the best way to respond to this?

Comments

[spyral_path]

It's a stupid argument and not even worth a response.

[mamabyrd]

I was going to say exactly the same thing. Thought I would check and see how many people said it before me.

[devolute]

Well yes, technically most agriculture (especially organic) uses manure as fertilizer, so the practice is not vegan. But vegans have to eat, and it's certainly more vegan than eating the animal product directly (manure, unlike say leather, is one of the few true animal "byproducts" in my opinion).

The argument that "poop might get into the vegetables" is totally stupid, though. That's not what vegans are worried about.

[zebrallama]

Just on a detail, I don't think anything's ever a byproduct. Even if you're taking it for free, you're still helping the factory farmers get rid of it.

But I'm sure the rest of this response is totally right. You have to eat something.

Veganic food solves the problem completely (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganic), but good luck finding any.

[devolute]

I agree, but if anything is a byproduct, it's manure. It's at least much lower on the priority list.

[zebrallama]

Yup.

[dulciusexasper]

Agreed.
If pressed, the only thing I would have to say would be that poop is a waste product, it's presence is not essential to a domesticated animal, and is not forcibly or violently taken from the animal.
God, people have too much damned time on their hands.

[pearlmaster8]

can't this same rationale be put towards eggs? just sayin.

[pearlmaster8]

eh strike that, eggs are usually the primary product for that process (I realized this after posting), so the chickens wouldn't be held in the cages unless they were producing eggs.

I guess this could maybe still be used for whey, gelatin and other byproducts that aren't the primary reason for killing the animals but just waste products from the process.

[dulciusexasper]

I'm not rationalizing the use of other byproducts. Poop, in my eyes, is up for grabs as far as domesticated animals (and worms) are concerned. They're living outside of a natural ecosystem and their poop doesn't play a vital role in their survival. They don't utilize it for food or shelter. They aren't slaughtered or medicated to produce it, and to my knowledge, there are no poop-farms to speak of where animals are systematically tortured for their poop. It's waste that has become a byproduct.

[miss_bonzai]

Ask your partner *why* he is trying to 'prove you aren't vegan'. Why is he trying to manipulate you by attacking such a personal and deeply held belief? What is the point?

Because obviously, this is not actually about poopy vegetables.

[dagda_ollathir]

agreed. and if you want to talk poop, animal products are covered in fecal material...

[singing4every1]

Ya but they don't care, they eat animal products so they don't mind the poop. Read my other response too. They're not being hostile to me.

[blueflame11]

Exactly. There's an undercurrent of disrespect and hostility in this "debate."

[heathergalaxy]

We live in a world that is structured and created for/by people who don't believe that animals have rights, so until we have a world that is structured/created by/for vegans we have to do what we can. There are a number of things that we use in our modern world that aren't vegan (film, farming, tires, etc.) but there aren't any way to get around them. In a vegan world, we would only have veganic farming, tires without animal products in them, etc. But we don't have this world now, and have to eat and transport ourselves places, so it sucks, but it's something we deal with.

[gxxx]

Excellent points.

I once read online some stupid comment someone made about driving cars. They said that cars have leather inside and animal products in the tires, so therefore cars aren't vegan, and you're not vegan either. Ugh!

[zebrallama]

The very best cars have alcantra instead of leather. Alacantra is vegan.

[gxxx]

Damn! Wish I had the money haha