Are Militant Vegans Going Too Far? | This Morning

welcome both of you sir pleasure to have you here um ed why did you become a vegan how long ago was that yes oh I've been vegan out for about four and a half years I saw a documentary called Earthlings and it basically summarizes all the different ways to explain animals I talked about dairy and eggs and all the horrible things that we do to them in commercial farming systems and I felt like a hypocrite because I said I loved animals you know I always said that was not a more lover but here I was paying for animals to suffer and die on my behalf and so I felt that hit some sort of moral brick wall oh I preached one thing but my actions said another thing and so I had to be vegan to align myself with my own moral code yeah we were in a nation of animal lovers it makes sense for us to extend that compassion to all animals and how far are you prepared to take that that's an interesting question I think I personally I believe in education and I want to talk about being as much as much as possible because knowledge is power and when we're given both sides the argument we can make a conscious decision based on how we truly feel about the situation and if there's so long we bein fed the same kind of propaganda you need me for protein you need in a dairy cows milk for calcium but actually this isn't true and when we can kind of level the playing field and put a cross was actually happening to animals made terrible suffering that they go through and the environmental damage that it causes to our whole planet I think when people have that power the more compels and empowered to make informed decisions are you militant I militants an interesting word I stand up for what I believe in I speak it I preach it and I do hopefully in a way that I believe to be effect how will you go how far will I go I mean this sounds like a loaded question I'm never what is a loaded question because obviously we're talking we're gonna talk about that the militant vegans and we'll use that word you're saying I really like it but who will take it to the extreme who will be violent who will be offensive who will be frankly quite frightening right so violence of course is never on the table we don't condone violence in any way shape or form offense is a very unique thing it's very subjective I'm personally offended by people who exploit animals however my offense to that isn't necessarily a good enough justification for them just to stop so we have to not be so concerned about offense but concern about justice and what's happening to animals the father pigs are in gas chambers screaming right it's very second the fact that dairy cows have been forcibly impregnated and their babies have been taken away from them the fact that we may straighten gas 40-million day old male chicks every single year in the egg industry just because they weren't produce eggs that's truly an or in an offensive action that we all come in a daily basis Julie you think you think this has gone to the extreme now don't you you said you said here you think veganism is preachy and a middle-class thing well this is probably the last thing that you want to hear with the debate but I agree with every single word that Ed says I think that it's absolutely right and proper that we look at what's happening to animals that we challenge intensive farming I don't have a problem with killing animals for meat but I think that as long as they've lived well and I humanely if there's a possible if there's a possibility for that then I think that what we should be doing is targeting the agribusiness and looking at large-scale farming but my issue is the way that a number of vegans and I'm not suggesting that Ed is one of these but a number of vegans will espouse this kind of sanctimonious dribble about how it's no more expensive it's no more time-consuming it's as easy for example low-income mothers who have three children under the age of five who need to feed those children and it is cheaper and easier much as I don't like that fact to give these children fast-food meat based diets if every single though income parent had a box delivered to them of good organic plant based food that they could then easily prepare for their children in the middle of a busy working day I would absolutely condone it and say yes more of it but we can't deny the fact that many vegans who are sanctimonious and who judge lower-income particularly women who are raising their children that they that they are coming from a position of privilege and denying how difficult it is to have and to provide a balanced diet for your family in today's climate of expense and cheap and easy available meat the last time we were on here was in January and after what you said on here you had death threats you have rape threats so the issue you have is annual you've both you know singing from the same hymn sheet mostly but it's when it crosses that line and becomes frightening well I mean who could argue against being more conscious about the effect that our meat and dairy eating hers on the planet and on the animals that suffer as a consequence but what I found and I first wrote an article about this in 2005 which was a tongue-in-cheek article about how people are constantly lectured by vegetarians and vegans who seem to think that their lifestyle choice and they do nothing else they do no campaigning against the meat industry but just the very fact that they have this diet you know becomes unbearable now I had lots of death and rape threats I still get emails to this day from people who seem to support the Peter view the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals which in my view is a deeply misogynistic organization that thinks it's fine to treat women as animals but we need to treat animals humanely and that is the big problem I have and yes after I came on the program in January you know I was called all the horrendous misogynistic names Under the Sun by some macho Broca lists as we call them vegans some men who seemed to think that this is the new macho and we can see this in the way that some men are trying to pull others into veganism by showing that there can be big bodybuilders and that they can have massive muscles and that they're like junk food made of vegan ingredients it's just a kind of a swap for their usual kind of you know meat eating steak eating into a nut now a macho vegan so your reaction to that those extreme responses on social media as well I mean I don't condone those at all but I mean the thing is it kind of happens on both sides and I myself you know social media I received efforts on a pretty much a daily basis I mean the issue is it's such a divisive topic and people feel so passion I've aside I think we've got because you are a vegan so because they advocate online I'm very vocal in my veganism I get deference from farmers I get deference from non vegans who would just opposed to what it is that I'm doing and so it's an issue that exists on both sides it's not an issue from a vegan perspective it's just an issue from probably a societal perspective when you work when you see protests and occasionally scuffles outside zealot wores and farms and butchers do you think that if the if the point the does the point have to be made to people walking down the streets so scarily that I mean I am I'm one of those people that you know sort of I listen to any argument but them but but the more militant you are the more are back away from you so you know if I if you know and make me that angry if you frightened me that much I will eat a sausage right it's a psychological thing when people get pushed away when they feel that that view has been pushed upon them and that's why education is so important we do need to look at the statistics and I think that's what's so powerful so a study was released by Oxford University just earlier this year a five-year study that looked at the damage of farming to our environment and they conclusively proved that actually if we the world adopt the plant-based diet we could save them an agricultural land we need by 75% now The Guardian also published another an article and I was talking about how to avoid rising two degrees from a global warming temperature point of view in the UK we have a responsibility therefore to reduce our beef pig and lamb consumption by ninety percent and our dairy consumption by sixty percent these are statistics they're not coming from vegans there's another issue to that I mean the fact that we now seem to be awash with avocados you can't escape after Cardo means that the Brazilian rainforest has suffered because of the overproduction if you look at quinoa the new trendy food of the white middle classes in this country and elsewhere in Western Europe Peruvian people for whom that was their staple now fine that it's tripled in price so there is another way that we need to tackle but isn't it isn't it the fact that by merely having human beings on the planet there whether it is whether it's avocado farming or quinoa or cows or beef there is going to be an impact of course there is but the way I say is that our responsibility in life is to make sure the planet that we leave behind is better than the planet that we were born into and we've have an obligation to reduce suffering as much as we possibly can our lives now we can never obliterate suffering but we must reduce as much as we can and simply going vegan is this simplest big thing the single biggest thing that we can do that has the biggest impact not only to our environment but the trillions of animals who are exploited every single year needlessly it's completely needless and I think the point is how far are you prepared to go how far will you personally I mean what did what do you say to those marks as I run an abattoir been targeted by vegans who abuse me and my staff took photos of them posted them on social media with the wording murdering Peter files written across the community you agree with that absolutely not of course I don't know likewise I don't agree with people sending me messages insinuating that I'm somehow an animal abuser or into bestiality simply because I want to save the lives of animals this is the thing it works both ways but we have to look at who the true victim is it's not people and necessarily having bad things said about them on social media the tree victims the animals were having their lives taken from them they're mutilated they're forcibly impregnated they're exploited they suffer they scream and beg for mercy and we grant them nothing they're the oppressed majority in our society and the least that we can do is give them some compassion and say they should have the right to live their life final couple of seconds I would like the vegan movement to campaign to make this diet more accessible to people from lower incomes and to take away the elitist slant on veganism and that is the responsibility of all of us you

Channel: This Morning

Views: 669,261

Keywords: this morning, interview, holly willoughby, phillip schofield, ruth langsford, eamonn holmes, chat shows - topic, chat show - topic, talk shows - topic, vegan debates meat eater, vegan debate on tv, vegan debate 2018, vegan debate news, earthling ed debate, earthling ed interview, cowspiracy, earthlings, julie bindel debate, julie bindel interview, veganism debate, plant-based diet, ed winters

Id: iBL6TxaF5p0

Length: 10min 10sec (610 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 06 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/SignificantChapter]

After watching this I just have one question for Earthling Ed:

How far are you willing to go?

[u/-creedthoughts]

Ed has the patience of a saint

[u/[deleted]]

Ugh... “what about the low income mothers?” Are YOU in a position to reduce your impact to the planet and the animals? Then do it. Just because someone else can’t, doesn’t mean the same applies to you.

[u/oldhollywoodgal]

Rice, beans etc are the cheapest food in the supermarket smh.

[u/[deleted]]

It's hard not to look up to this guy, he's so patient and well-spoken despite the hosts trying to bait him into anger or frustration.

[u/dfurst05]

Some vegans called me names after I said bad things about veganism so that means all vegans are MILITANT and therefore we are not personally responsible for our decision to eat meat (even though I admit it is bad).

[u/not_personal_choice]

Notice when Ed talks about real stuff, real suffering, real TRILLION of deaths that is going on in slaughter houses, the female host is either silent or changes the topic, but as soon as the omni guest tells her story how some vegans send her digital threats she's like "aaaaah, outrages, aaah"

[u/Hootinthehouse]

WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT ED?!

[u/Herby-vore]

What a sideways interview! Don’t scare him Ed or he will go eat a sausage! What..

Vaganphobia makes me eat sausage.

Her points are: 1. Feed your kids fast food if your broke 2. I don’t mind letting other people kill my meat 3. Big muscle vegans are scary 4. Avocados are taking over

Yeah, let’s all just eat like her! I wonder how many prescriptions she is on?

Glad it was Ed and not me, I would have went mad militant on them after that spectacle.