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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

While blundering around on the internet...

I ran across a reference by Jack Norris to a website I had glanced at before but never taken the time to actually read. Just goes to show ya how inadequate 'glancing' can be sometimes. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jack Norris, he's a vegan nutritionist who works diligently to put out accurate information about nutrition and the vegan diet. He, along with Ginny Messina and the Physicans Committee for Responsible Medicine are my favorite resources for nutrition and medical information.

The site Jack Norris referenced is called CarpeVegan and I poked around on the site and found a number of articles I got a major hoot out of....you might want to check them out. One article (that Mr. Norris referenced) is titled: The Carpe Credo: All Birthday Cake and Alcohol is Vegan. I'm not going to say I agree with everything these folks write...hell, I don't even agree with everything I write (sometimes) but I will say I agree with much of what is written on the site and moreover I find the tone and approach to issues and life similar to my own. Hey, what's not to like if it reminds me of myself, eh?

Life seems to consist (in large part...not totally) of a mishmash of horribly grim and terrible things (like tormenting, torturing and killing innocent animals) along with insanely absurd things...like putting Donald Rumsfeld in charge of anything more than a roll of toilet paper (much less a military force). No, more accurately, humans seem to operate in life by mishmashing grim, terrible things and absurd things.

The rest of nature doesn't seem to be quite that way but from what I can tell, if you are going to accurately perceive human behavior...you better be well prepared to be persistently immersed in horror and absurdity. Think of Nazi extermination camps along with goose step marching. Horror and absurdity. There is some bizarre connection there that would be interesting to figure out...but figured out or not...it exists all over the place if you look around.

It is therefore the truth that I am delighted when I run across some folks that seem to have apprehended this and are willing to highlight some of the absurdities we "crown of creation" beings perpetrate on ourselves and the rest of the planet. For instance they write in one article titled: "White Trash Vegan's Valhalla Party for the Ages".
 We ain’t here for the health or to live to a 100. We ain’t here to feel superior to anyone else. We ain’t here to be some pretentious pricks who think our sense of culture is better than yours. We are on this planet to have a great time AND do the right thing along the way. Yeah, we like to do it up in excess sometimes. We love flashy people, intense music, fatty foods, dogs, drinking too much and laughing our asses off.
If you take the time to read about the co-creators of the site you will discover that Jed Gillen  and Joe Haptas have been around for awhile and have put some time and effort into living, promoting and supporting a vegan lifestyle. So give them a read and let me know what you think. Humor, like flavor preferences, is extremely individualistic (I have found) so their brand of humor may not ring your bells...but for me...I found a number of writings and thoughts on the site that made me smile a lot and even laugh out-loud once or twice. That's always a good thing...I hope you find some enjoyment there too.

8 comments:

Christina said...

I kept reading "chuck norris" and thought WTF? lol, I will check out the link. Also, no Rumsfeld in charge of TP please. It would be abrasive and irritating to your parts.

veganelder said...

Thank you for commenting Christina. I guess the Norris threw ya, huh?

Well, he could be in charge of his own roll of TP, but I suspect he would likely botch even that.

Harry said...

Thanks VE for the article and the links. We all need a bit (lots) of humour in our lives and when focusing on all the 'horror and absurdity' we seem to forget all about that.

But reading lines like 'The higher the monkey climbs, the more you see his ass.' when the team at Carpe Vegan describe high-and-mighty vegans (and try as I might I slip into that unfortunate category at times) is like ... well ... having an enormous slice of vegan chocolate cake washed down with a great drop of red!

Superb - a new blog to follow!

veganelder said...

Thank you for commenting Harry. Life is too insane not to laugh at it sometimes. One thing I am proud of from my days as a psychotherapist is that I was able to teach some folks how to see some of the laughable aspects of the lives we are sometimes forced to lead. The monkey's ass line is a great one.

Have Gone Vegan said...

Woefully behind in commenting on everyone's blogs, but was super excited tonight when I saw what your post was about. Blundered onto that site myself a few days ago and while I only read the one article in question (and the most entertaining bios ever!), it rung my bells BIG time. I thought their take was refreshing and their writing style quite enjoyable. Judging from some of the FB comments I started to read it certainly wasn't everyone's cup of tea (no surprise there), and then I got called away and haven't been back, but plan to! Glad you and Harry liked their site as well as somehow that makes it even more fun. :)

p.s. one of my laugh-out-loud moments occurred when they suggested NOT having Vegan as part of your FB name, snort

Bea Elliott said...

Oh this is good fortune as I can join the ranks in approval of CarpeVegan! I clicked there more than an hour ago and couldn't stop sucking in the refreshing views... And no, I don't mean those that "cleanse" anew - But rather the down and dirty of it that life isn't all about wearing the candy-striped uniform all the time.

I've never latched to the purist thinking - That everything about being vegan is better, more wholesome, easy or even do-able for everyone. And while I admire the Jains for devoting themselves to a 99.9% pure life... I wonder aside from their own convictions - Who is it that they are helping?

I think that everyone's capacity to do what they can differs. I don't ever want to forget that... Being for animal rights is very important to me... But being vegan shouldn't be like a prison of rules. If I'm ever tempted to become the inflexible, over-critical vegan - I'll pop in on CarpeVegan for a reality check.

I super like the site & it's humorous outlook - I raise my glass in thanks! ;)

veganelder said...

Thank you for commenting HGV. I was almost certain that you would appreciate their site. As for the name thingee, I have thought about that before simply because the vegan name (to me) gets pushed in the direction of diet when it is much more comprehensive and outlook changing than just diet. Plus, I am not a 'foodie' by any stretch...and 'foodie' stuff seems to be popular right now.

Whatever, I really have thought about the vegan name, I admire Donald Watson and and do appreciate his coming up with it.

Anyway JusticeForAllAnimalsElder just doesn't roll off the tongue, ya know? (Not that veganelder is any great shakes but what the heck)

veganelder said...

Thank you for commenting Bea. I'm glad you like the site and hope you continue to enjoy it.

A pomposity check occasionally is something we all can use. Few are perfect, but rather more seem to think they are...CarpeVegan might be a good resource for them. :-)