The problem is, those things are not mutually exclusive. I’m Christian.
Every ‘lifestyle’ has zealots: Christianity, veganism, Paganism, etc. Unfortunately, those few zealots tend to overshadow the rest of the lifestyle. Most people are not zealots, but are unfortunately painted with the same brush because the zealots are so outspoken.
Ava
I’ve heard the screams of the vegetables (scream, scream, scream)
Watching their skins being peeled (having their insides revealed)
Grated and steamed with no mercy (burning off calories)
How do you think that feels (bet it hurts really bad)
Carrot juice constitutes murder (and that’s a real crime)
Greenhouses prisons for slaves (let my vegetables go)
It’s time to stop all this gardening (it’s dirty as hell)
Let’s call a spade a spade (is a spade is a spade is a spade)
-Arrogant Worms ‘Carrot Juice Is Murder’
I thought it was the other way around…
Mental deficiency leads to veganism.
hmmm… which leads to mental deficiency… Its a vicious circle!
So how long have you been a vegan?
Well, duh.
Intelligent vegans will examine their nutritionary needs, their caloric intake, their vitamin requirements, consult the experts and the literature, and adjust their diet accordingly. These folks are likely to be healthy, due to their attention to their diet and the lack of animal fat.
Dumb vegans will just eat whatever other vegans tell them is good and safe and properly Vegan. These people might well develop vitamin deficiencies and ghod knows what else, depending on who they’ve been listening to. Hell, I’ve even managed to hear (uncited, unfortunately) about one case of scurvy. How the hell do you get SCURVY, living on fruits and plants?
Now think about it, folks… can you think of ANY group, organization, or moiety of humanity that was made ENTIRELY of smart people? Or stupid people, for that matter? No. You’re going to have the smart ones and the idiots, same as anywhere else…
IMHO, if a parent is going to feed their developing child a vegan diet, they must be highly educated about the possible pitfalls, and take complete responsibility for ensuring their child gets all necessary nutrients for normal development. Nutritional deficits during early childhood can have a terrible and permanent impact. A diet a healthy adult can flourish on does not translate as a healthy diet for a growing child.
Can one raise healthy vegan kids? Yes, but unless attention is paid, consequences far greater than unrestrained dining at McDonald’s can develop.
Of course, a parent feeding their kid an omnivore diet would also be better off being knowledgeable and responsible too. But consequences can be more dire with an inadequately planned vegan diet.
Improperly supervised vegan diet during childhood: Permanent neurologic deficits in childhood.
Improperly supervised omnivore diet during childhood: Obesity and premature diabetes in the teens and 20’s.
Both very nasty. Which would you rather deal with?
I’m pretty sure this post was just funnin’ with the vegans, but I’ll give a serious response. Plants turn toward light due to the phototropic response, which is a hormonally regulated function. However, that is not the same as possessing the ability to feel. Plants do not have brains or nervous systems–they cannot feel anything, and because they lack a vocal apparatus, they can’t scream either.
Well, except for the mandrakes, of course.
Anyway, I don’t care what a pack of food faddists put into their bellies. If munching on wheat grass makes them happy, more power to them. But if they force that diet on their pets, oops, “companion animals” or their children, they will cause malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies.
Well and good. And I retort: if if a parent is going to feed their developing child any sort of diet at all, they must be highly educated about the possible pitfalls, and take complete responsibility. Example.
And BTW, IANAV.
I assume that they don’t suffer. Given a modicum of common sense and the barest smattering of knowledge about pain receptors, nerves and brains, it’s a pretty reasonable assumption.
It is fantastically unlikely that plants suffer being harvested. It is certain knowledge that animals do suffer (and suffer greatly) in meat production.
The thrust of your (really Brutus’) ‘argument’ is that we veggies (and vegans) are hypocrites for not considering plant suffering. Since there is no credible evidence that there is any suffering involved, the ridiculous charge falls at the first fence as it always does.
And if it’s hypocracy we’re interested in, why don’t you tell me why you don’t eat dogs and cats and other such cuddly creatures?
I think the finest example of the wrongness of Veganism is the Venus Fly Trap. A pure plant that is completely natural and perfect that exists to be an omnivore.
If it wrong for us to eat meat, then it should follow that plants shouldn’t either damn it!
You’re missing the point. The contention is that a vegan mommy’s milk does not have all of the necessary nutrients because of her diet. Obviously vegan babies breastfeed.
haj
I’m sorry, how does that follow, exactly?
I am curious about if, in the future thanks to stem cell research and advances in genetics, we are able to ‘grow’ meat in a petrie dish without having to grow the whole cow/chicken/pig. Would eating meat still be wrong? If there was no conciousness, no pain receptors behind it?
Is it wrong for Vegans to eat sausage trees?
What about wild game that is eaten? The animal spent its life in the wild; an accurate shot would kill it instantly. I don’t see any more suffering to the animal in this situation- it would die a more violent death potentially in the hands of other predators or disease.
Now please excuse me while I go eat some tuna-safe dolphin 
We should leave the vegans alone, and just go persecute the stupid people, instead…
Actually, It seemed that the contention of Brutus’ first post was that:
It wasn’t until SPOOFE posted that the nutrients dealy was brought up.
Thanks carrot. It was Brutus’ post I was referring to, but I did kind of gloss over the gist of SPOOFE’s post, so haj isn’t completely off base either. It’s just that I’ve heard way too often from vegan bashers that “vegan babies shouldn’t breastfeed because it’s DAIRY!”. It’s not obvious to everyone, obviously.
I figured that was how it went, but I was just trying to head off the misunderstanding before it could really get going.
Sone kind of Pitizen I am, right?
Damn you, carrot. This was heading for a name calling, nasty fight until you stuck your nosey nose into it. Thanks for nothing.
Plus, you missed the perfect opportunity to say, “My name is carrot. All of you vegans can eat me.”
Haj
Glad to be of service. 
I thought about that, but, since it’s carrot, I’m actually an equal opportunity food. No one must be deprived of the wonder of consumption that is me. C’mon, get your carrot stick now!
<highjack>
There’s one line of thinking (sample here that says that crop farming is responsible for MORE animal deaths than us regular old meat-eating people are. Think of all the little animals that are crushed under harrow machines, combines, and harvester, as well as the habitat loss as more and more land goes to crop plantings.
</highjack.