One of the best decisions of my life so far has been to become a vegan. Vegans are often ridiculed for their beliefs. Those who aren’t vegan sometimes think vegans are just queasy about eating animals. That is not why I’m vegan. We don’t have the right to exploit animals in any way. Any animals. Ever.

People have been conditioned to think that torturing and eating one animal is okay, yet eating another is horrifying, and torturing a third before killing it for trophy hunting considered the most horrific news of the day. The YuLin Festival as an example – and the global outrage that ensued. How on earth can people slaughter dogs? It’s so inhumane. No-one should eat dogs. The guy who shot Cecil? The masses wanted to destroy that guy {rightly so!}.

Yet, those same people were very likely to have sat down to steak that evening, or had bacon and eggs for breakfast. It is my passionate belief that cows, pigs, chickens and every other animal that humans have been conditioned to eat are ALL THE SAME. All animals, not just human animals, are sentient beings, capable of experiencing joy, pain, fear and even love. They are intelligent, emotional and cognitively complex.

Vegans are often taken down for being precious, touchy, dramatic {the list goes on} but public perception towards animals and our treatment of them must change. I consider it our duty of care: towards the animals, towards the earth we share with them and towards the future of our planet. Animal agriculture is one of the greatest ways we are destroying our Earth.

Which brings me to the point of this post. The Meat and Livestock Association Australia Day Lamb television commercial airing at the moment in the lead up to Australia Day. The premise is that all Australians living overseas are being rescued by a SWAT team to return them home so that they can celebrate Australia Day by eating lamb.

The original ad has now been shortened because of huge backlash and over 650 written complaints {mine included} to the Advertising Standards Board. The scene which has been removed goes something like this:

The rescue operatives find an Australian guy living in Brooklyn.
He says he’s vegan.
They return to torch his apartment.

I am really sick of being told it’s a joke and to lighten up.

It is offensive. Period.

The only good thing about this turmoil is that vegans seem to have more of a voice now than ever before. Living compassionately is awesome!

We should all try to tread lightly on the earth.