The Best Argument Against Veganism | Gary Yourofsky

Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome
to another vegan nugget. Today’s video is

another installment of my interview with vegan
activist Gary Yourofsky. Now, if you’re vegan

or even considering being vegan, chances are
you’ve come up against some anti-vegan

arguments. Perhaps you’ve even
posed some of them yourself in the time leading

up to being vegan. While legitimate questions
and concerns from non-vegans can serve as

teaching moments and are valuable opportunities
for education, some anti-vegan arguments are

purely baseless and made only to provoke.
In his vast experience working with non-vegans,

Gary Yourofsky has probably heard every line
of reasoning in the book. So, I decided to

ask him what is the best anti-vegan argument.
Let’s check out his answer and then I’ll

jump back in with what I think is the strongest
argument against veganism.

Emily: So you would know more than anyone
else that there are a lot of stupid arguments

against veganism. What would you say is the
best argument against veganism, if there is

one?
Gary: There’s not, honestly. I swear I racked

my brain over this, there is none. In fact
I had a professor down here, from university

of central Florida, who once told me the only
reason he became veg is because all the arguments

he heard against it were stupid. That was
his reason. He was a philosopher, he said:

“I cannot continue to do this because
everyone’s reason for eating meat, cheese,

milk, eggs and honey is absolutely fucking
stupid” I really don’t know of one good,

logical argument. It doesn’t exist. But
do¬n’t think that I’m exaggerating or being

hyperbolic when I say this, because there
is not one good argument for raping a child.

There is not one good argument for murdering
a homosexual in Uganda. There is none justifiable

argument for denying women the right to be
quality in Afghanistan, to right to go to

school, the right to vote in Middle Eastern
countries. So there is not one logical reason

to enslave, murder and oppress the animals
and consume their body parts.

Emily: I hope you enjoyed hearing Gary’s
take on this matter. I have to say that my thinking

is rather in line with what Gary shared. In
my recent interview with the popular blog

Vegan Street, when asked what I thought was
the biggest strength of the vegan movement,

I said it was that we have the truth on our
side. There’s no way to logically justify

what we do to animals for our food, fashion,
medicine, and entertainment. All the facts

and all the legitimate arguments are on our
side. This is reflected in the absurdity that

often arises when people try to justify their
behaviors.

You can read my answers to the other 9 questions
in the interview on the Vegan Street blog,

which I’ve linked to in the video description
below.

Now all of that said, I do have to admit there
is one argument someone can lay down for eating

animal products that I have absolutely no
defense against. And that is the statement

“I don’t care.” If someone simply does
not care what happens to the animals, the environment,

or even their own health by the continued
breeding, torturing, exploitation and slaughter

of billions of animals, I certainly can’t
say anything that's going to change that. Complete

and utter apathy cannot be argued away.

Now of course it’s not an actual defeat
of vegan principles. As Gary and I have said,

veganism has logic on our side. All the arguments
against it are shell games, admittedly by some

honestly curious, well-intentioned individuals
genuinely wanting to know if this way of life

is possible. And for those people, I will
always have time and patience

Now I’d love to hear from you on this. Have
you ever come up against a formidable argument

against veganism? Perhaps you have one yourself?
I’d love to hear it. …Unless it’s “bacon.”

That’s a word, not an argument. But
someone’s going to post it anyways.

Oh YouTube's comments section, you are
the bathroom wall of the internet.

Anyways, let’s go close it out with Gary!

Gary I just want to thank you so much for
giving us your time and I've been asked on

behalf of so many of my viewers to just thank
you for everything that you do. So, thank

you so much.
Gary: Thank you. Keep on. Everybody, pass

her stuff around. It's tight stuff, honestly.
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Stay tuned to the Bite Size Vegan channel
for more installments of my interview with

Gary. I’ll also be posting bonus footage
and questions that didn’t make it to the

channel in the ViV Area of BiteSizeVegan.com
which you can access for free by clicking

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see you soon

I thought you were gonna ask me what the dumbest
was.

10 Questions: Vegan Rockstar Edition with
Emily Moran Barwick of Bite Size Vegan