Veggie Pride Plans May March in Paris

A French group calling itself Veggie Pride is planning a march through Paris on
May 17 to declare their pride in being vegetarians and the horrors they face daily
from non-vegetarians because of their dietary choices. Here’s a list of their
aims from their web site,

Our aims :

– To declare that we are here

All over the world millions of people refuse to condone the killing of
animals for food. But when do you hear about it ?

Are these folks serious? When don’t we hear from the self-righteous veggie crowd
about how refusing to eat animals is the morally superior thing to do?

– To express our pride

We are taught to look down on non-human animals and to be their executioners.
If barbarity is the norm in a society it is difficult to say no. We are
proud of having the courage to say no.

– To denounce vegephobia

Simply by existing, Vegetarianism challenges the legitimacy of the confinement
and slaughter of billions of animals. That is why it is ignored, laughed
at and defamed. They want us to feel ashamed of our compassion. But we shall
not let ourselves be intimidated.

You have to admire the chutzpah with these two items. You non-vegetarians are
barbarous murderers, but please stop hurting our feelings by challenging the
wisdom of a vegetarian diet! The group’s manifesto adds that meat eating involves
murder and torture

Veggie Pride should feel ashamed for repeating fictions as if they were true.
For example, their accompanying manifesto includes this wonderful gem,

“I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come
when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon
the murder of men”, said Leonardo da Vinci.

Da Vinci, of course, never said this. This is, instead, from an early 20th
century novel about the great artist and inventor’s life, Romance of Leonardo
da Vinci. This particular fake quote was the result of an accidental transposition
of two quotes in Jon Wynne-Tyson’s book The Extended Circle: A Commonplace
Book of Animal Rights. Such an initial mistake is understandable, but come
on people — this was almost 15 years ago and this quote still appears routinely
on animal rights sites (do a Google search on it sometime).

– To defend our rights

The right to an equal platform for expressing our opinions, the right
to vegetarian meals wherever groups are served, the right to refuse to take
any part in exploiting animals through our work or through the taxes we
pay …

In an accompanying manifesto, Veggie Pride amplifies this by saying, &quote;
We have the same right as everyone else to impartial and appropriate medical
information.”

Okay here’s a bit of free medical advice — most of the medicine you’re taking
was developed and tested on animals. Feel free to stop participating in this
cycle of exploitation and violence anytime.

– To act on behalf of our fellow-creatures whose rights have been taken
away

No rights are granted to animals raised and slaughtered for food. We are
determined to exercise our rights in full, because they are the only ones
that animals have today, albeit indirectly. We shall speak out on their
behalf until the massacre ceases.

We are animals and we stand in solidarity with all animals !

Which does raise this question — if animals were capable of higher order
cognitive thinking, you have to wonder what they’d think about their interests
being in the hands of a group of geniuses like this. (Hey, wait a minute, didn’t
Da Vinci’s dog say something about the social contract not encompassing animals?
Or did I read that in a novel somewhere?)

Sources:

Veggie Pride Manifesto.
Veggie Pride, August 4, 2003.

Festival of vegetarian and
vegan pride. Veggie Pride, August 4, 2003.