• Noble Shift@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    “Veganism needs to become a protected belief in every country” … I spit my drink out laughing. What in the actual fuck?!?.

    Just no. Why? Well beyond it’s idiotic lunacy, I absolutely do not want any other dietary belief systems protected. Good God would that make a living legal nightmare.

    • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      For context, the story I read a similar comment under was about a decades long vegan forest firefighter who was unable to receive vegan meals through his employer (given that they’re very much “in the field” they can’t really bring their own). After complaining, he was suspended without pay by the employer and he tried to fight that, arguing that his vegan lifestyle was a creed.

      That context changes things for me at least, maybe not for you.

    • Noktan@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      In order to understand that, you have to realise that veganism is not a diet, but an ethical belief. A huge part that often comes up is diet, of course, since we all eat, and often in a social setting. But it also concerns, for example:

      Not using wool and leather

      Not visiting for-profit zoos

      Not using cosmetic tested on animals

      Not riding horses or attending horse-related entertainment

      It is an all-round ethical standpoint, and not just a diet fad. You may or may not agree with it, that’s how beliefs work, but ridiculing the thought of it being a protected belief seems narrow minded.

      • Noble Shift@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Eh, I’ve lived with vegans, almost married a vegan, and spent a lot of years in Portland. I’m well versed thank you.

        I do not believe in ‘protected beliefs’ any more than I do in religious rights. They have no place in the modern world.

        Protection from unjust persecution and discrimination for holding beliefs should always be a thing, providing those practicing those beliefs do not in turn subject others who do not hold the same tenets to persecution or discrimination.

        People have rights. Ideas, ideals, and beliefs do not, no matter how noble it may seem.