0:00:00.000,0:00:01.620
What are you putting in your body?

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Dead, carcass, pain, suffering, fear.

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Can I have all of my vegans go into that pool of light?

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And my non-vegans in that pool of light.

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First statement:

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Taste plays a big factor in my eating choices.

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Yeah I mean that's a huge thing for me.

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I think it is one of my weaknesses actually.

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Butter, salt is one of my weaknesses.

0:00:44.155,0:00:45.695
I Love food

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And I think my relationship with food actually deepened when I became vegan

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I don't think I've appreciated it as much as I did before I was vegan

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My name is Aubrey Davis and I have been vegetarian for 24 years

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and a vegan for 13 years.

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I believe that humans are the top of the food chain.

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Is a human at the same level of equivalence is like a fish? - Right.

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It's probably a big reason why I'm not vegan anymore.

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I didn't see that I had to see myself at a moral equivalent of a fish,

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and it gets into moral questions like, you know,

0:01:27.982,0:01:31.782
"Why should we have a pet that's a dog, rather than eat the dog?"

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And I think the most important question is,

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"Why should I love my neighbor rather than eat my neighbor?"

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My name's Steve Micelski, I was a vegan for a year,

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I was a vegetarian for two years.

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I'm a meat-eater now, I've been so for over five years.

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I don't even see like what is like a food chain? You know what I'm saying?

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That's just some contract some guy made and put a little diagram

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and put us humans beings on the top so...

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I don't think it's a question of whether we're at the top,

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I think it's a question of,

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"What do you do with that if you have a more conscious energy than an animal

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what do you do with that power? Do you choose to take a life?

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or do you choose to live in love?

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I put a lot of thought into my meals.

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The way I support my body, and my health is extremely important.

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I don't find that I can function at my best.

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Either healthy, productive, emotionally stable, or intellectually capable

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unless I have a lot of proper nutrients in my diet.

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Six years ago I became vegan because I got sick

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I started to realize that my health was directly attached to what I ate

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since then my friends and family have supported me to feeling better

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And I'm better than I was before I got sick

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I don't really like, cook or anything

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so I don't really put too much thought into what I eat, I guess.

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I live a fast paced kind of like I'm working late night, so I'm waking up early,

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so sometimes it's easier to grab this quick, processed sandwich.

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I wish I planned my meals out more.

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I think I would be a lot... I would feel a lot better.

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I think it's really powerful, no matter what you're eating,

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to put your intentions into it, whether it's prayer, or invocation.

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And it's with such great power and presence,

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versus just, like, scarfing something down,

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but like can I just really be present with this meal, take my time,

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and chew it slowly.

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So, that's the first thing that I resonate with and what I choose to do.

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I would kill an animal.

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I think there'd be tons of contexts where I'd kill an animal,

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like if a lion's gonna go kill a baby, I'd probably kill an animal.

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I'd kill an animal to save a human life, and I get that vegans probably wouldn't do that.

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If I could do something to prevent killing them, besides eating them,

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like if I was protecting myself and we had to...and we had like...

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something that we could do to get that animal away, I would definitely try to not kill it.

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I mean, I feel like...

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But if it comes down to you or the animal, are you killing the animal?

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I would, I would.

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You know, they're gonna give up their life for the fish!

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Why is it always the extreme case when talking about would I kill an animal?

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--Exactly.--

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Like, if you were in a- this situation,...

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There aren't lions running around downtown LA.

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When I was in hiking, there's mountain lions that come and kill people.

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You've known that, right?

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and that's in Orange County, right?

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That's not in the jungle in Africa.

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But it's not an everyday situation of "Would you kill an animal?".

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But, but it's Orange County.

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Mountain lions have killed hikers, kids.

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Would you just let the kid die?

0:04:33.824,0:04:36.507
We're hiking in the mountains and there's a mountain lion.

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I have to be aware of the fact that I am in mountain lion territory,

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and be like, "I am okay with the risk."

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Because to be honest, I'm not hiking with a gun.

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I have no way to defend my friend.

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You don't hike with a hiking pole?

0:04:47.982,0:04:50.450
I mean, a hiking pole against a mountain lion?

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I don't think you're winning.

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I just wanna say, like, even if I did,

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and even if my "attempt" were to be successful,

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I would feel awful having killed the mountain lion.

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Your feelings, or your just foundation in for your beliefs?

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A hundred percent!

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Are human beings animals?

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- Yes.[br]- Sure

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Would you kill another human being to save another human being?

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Yes.

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What makes one person more valuable to another? Is it your relationship to that person?

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It would, yeah, it would probably be.

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So if, for example, I raise an animal in the wild,

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it's like an animal I've built a relationship with,

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and that animal now threatens the life of a human being

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and I don't know, but I've known that animal its entire life,

0:05:30.522,0:05:34.362
what makes killing that animal as just cause okay

0:05:34.362,0:05:36.196
as it goes to saving that life?

0:05:36.196,0:05:38.386
I have a longer relationship with that animal.

0:05:38.386,0:05:41.386
Why would I kill the animal before I'd save that person?

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Because it's about relationship.

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- You'd kill a person over an animal?[br]- Correct.

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Because I believe human beings are animals.

0:05:47.343,0:05:51.413
And I see humans at a different level, but maybe[br]you value fish at the same level as a person.

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We see it very different.

0:05:52.863,0:05:53.613
I do.

0:05:54.891,0:05:58.871
It costs more than it should to eat healthy.

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It's more expensive to eat healthy. I don't think it's too expensive.

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Farmer's market is something that I'm trying to frequent more.

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But sometimes, you know, you can go spend $20 here and definitely not get as much.

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I definitely wanna see that,

0:06:23.072,0:06:25.821
you know, maybe that'll encourage people to eat a little healthier

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If you can go grab that fresh fruit, those fresh veggies, for five, ten bucks. You know?

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I think our culture, as a society, is just ingrained towards like the fast food culture,

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which is cheap, and accessible.

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But now I think we have more of a established, like, medical basis on

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what's healthy and what's not healthy.

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And to get that content and have it be tasty as well, is expensive.

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I'm running in. I have so much to say!

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It does not cost more money to be vegan, that is a myth.

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It takes planning. Yes, the convenience is less.

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Can you grab a hamburger at McDonalds for sure, for 99 cents?

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But how much lentils can you buy? The issue is capitalism.

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Like, that is what's keeping us where we are.

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It's not that humans are smarter and they're gonna come up with this technology.

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The technology exists.

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It is there.

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We can feed so many people, it is capitalism and factory farming.

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And most of these companies that are selling us products that are, like, shitting food,

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they don't give a fuck about you.

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At all.

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Period.

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Someone's sitting on an island somewhere...

0:07:33.418,0:07:35.888
...like, just stacking bread...all this fast food shit.

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And they're probably eating really healthy food, too.

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They're not eating any of that shit.

0:07:41.468,0:07:43.208
You got certain neighborhoods, certain areas.

0:07:43.208,0:07:45.058
You don't see the same fast food.

0:07:45.058,0:07:46.588
You don't see the same restaurants.

0:07:46.588,0:07:49.378
And it's all for a reason. They know. - Accessibility.

0:07:49.378,0:07:50.338
I mean, yeah, that's a good point.

0:07:50.338,0:07:51.408
It's like, they don't have...

0:07:51.408,0:07:53.766
Why isn't there many health food stores in the hood?

0:07:53.766,0:07:55.258
How come I can't like get an option...

0:07:55.258,0:07:56.739
Why is there a liquor store everywhere?

0:07:56.739,0:07:58.298
And it's true, it's like you have to...

0:07:58.298,0:08:00.536
When you break it down, there's like, malicious intent.

0:08:00.536,0:08:05.348
To de-harmonize and like, lower the vibration of certain people in certain areas.

0:08:05.348,0:08:08.228
And it's like, that's a part of it too, so it's like, what am I contributing to?

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I'll say this; you know, when I was eleven years old,

0:08:11.218,0:08:15.289
my father passed away from his second heart attack, he was diabetic,

0:08:15.289,0:08:17.550
he was pissing out of a tube, I watched him deteriorate

0:08:17.550,0:08:20.734
my youngest years of my life, for like years and years it was just deteriorate,

0:08:20.734,0:08:23.824
taking pharmaceutical drugs and just kind of basically dying slowly.

0:08:23.824,0:08:25.964
Because of what he chose to eat.

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To me, I'd rather spend an extra dollar and eat organic or something healthy now,

0:08:30.194,0:08:33.779
and live longer, than try to cut corners

0:08:33.779,0:08:38.257
when, you know, in the end...[br]--I'm with you. Like, make the choice now instead of later.

0:08:38.257,0:08:39.918
Because my mom was same thing.

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She died, she was eating buckets of ice cream when she passed away.

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She died at 49 years old.

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--Now. Choose now.

0:08:51.573,0:08:56.204
The more education that we can put out there just like stuff like this is beautiful

0:08:56.204,0:08:59.937
that's what I was most anxious about is learning more of what I'm trying to step into.

0:08:59.937,0:09:02.454
I don't know if I will ever give up chicken.

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I'm just gonna be honest with you. I don't know.

0:09:04.845,0:09:06.976
I wanna eat a lot cleaner chicken.

0:09:06.976,0:09:09.665
Do you guys have like 'cheat days' ever?

0:09:09.665,0:09:11.059
Hell no.

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I am vegan, one hundred percent, at the front line, ethical reasons,

0:09:16.375,0:09:17.655
always, always, always,

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and that's why I don't think, in 24 years, I've ever gone back.

0:09:20.411,0:09:22.795
It was hard to try new things;

0:09:22.795,0:09:25.355
things I didn't like, found tons of vegan food

0:09:25.355,0:09:27.535
that I was like, "oh god, what the fuck are you people eating?"

0:09:27.535,0:09:31.235
and then, simultaneously, realizing that there was options, you know?

0:09:31.235,0:09:32.255
There's always choices.

0:09:32.255,0:09:33.808
And it's always choices you make, like you said.

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You may never give up meat fully

0:09:36.720,0:09:38.819
but it's like you're making a choice

0:09:38.819,0:09:40.057
you're at least thinking for yourself

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and making a decision and, like, that's all you can ask people to do,

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is think for themselves.

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I really appreciate each and every one of y'all.

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Thank you all so much.

0:09:49.471,0:09:51.752
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you...

0:09:51.752,0:09:55.142
I really appreciate y'all, thank you for coming out.

0:09:58.479,0:10:01.049
What's up, guys? I am Amari, and I am Jason

0:10:01.049,0:10:02.149
and Amari, I've got a question for you.

0:10:02.149,0:10:03.556
You have a question for me.

0:10:03.556,0:10:05.296
What do you like about Middle Ground?

0:10:06.266,0:10:07.868
What I like about Middle Ground

0:10:07.868,0:10:09.548
is seeing people come together

0:10:09.548,0:10:14.976
and, like, realize that their labels are not the whole sum of their experience.

0:10:14.976,0:10:16.756
--Like taking off the labels.[br]--Taking off the labels!

0:10:16.756,0:10:18.466
--Throw them on the ground.[br]--Realize there's so much more than their labels.

0:10:18.466,0:10:19.536
--That's right, I love that.

0:10:19.536,0:10:21.756
Alright, well, tell us in the comments below

0:10:21.756,0:10:23.256
why you love Middle Ground

0:10:23.256,0:10:26.756
and if you've got a label that you wanna take off and throw on the ground,

0:10:26.756,0:10:27.956
tell us that as well.

0:10:27.956,0:10:29.036
We love you guys,

0:10:29.036,0:10:31.946
as always, please subscribe, hit that like button,

0:10:31.946,0:10:33.906
and we'll see you next time.