O.o brain-damaged

Für die interessant-lustigen Studie [1] hat man bei 60 Probanden (20 Allesfresser, 19 Vegetarier und 21 Veganer) die aktiven Hirnareale ermittelt, während man ihnen Fotos von verstümmelten und ermordeten Menschen und Tieren zeigte. Links der Vergleich der drei Gruppen, darauf sind die Areale erhöhter Gehirnaktivität in Abhängigkeit der Art (oben/unten) und Ernährungsweise (farbig) deutlich hervorgehoben.

Die Studie kommt zu dem Schluss, dass Veganer und Vegetarier im Allgemeinen die gleichen Gehirnareale für emotionale Verarbeitungsprozesse gebrauchen. Sowohl die Veganer als auch die Vegetarier zeigen im Gegensatz zu den Allesfressern durchgängig eine erhöhte Aktivität in Hirnarealen die für Mitgefühl und Einfühlungsvermögen zuständig sind, unabhängig davon ob Menschen oder Tiere auf den Fotos zu sehen waren. Trotzdem lassen sich aber auch deutliche Unterschiede zwischen den vegetarischen und veganen Probanden feststellen, insbesondere dann wenn Tierfotos gezeigt wurden. Dieses Ergebnis deutet darauf hin, dass Mitgefühl gegenüber nicht-Artgenossen unterschiedliche neuronale Entsprechung bei Menschen mit verschiedener Ernährungsweise findet. Dies spiegelt höchstwahrscheinlich die unterschiedlichen moralischen Beweggründe der Person wieder, so die vorliegende Studie.

Kritisch anzumerken bleibt aber auf jeden Fall die relativ geringe Anzahl an Probanden.

[1] Filippi M, Riccitelli G, Falini A, Di Salle F, Vuilleumier P, et al. 2010 The Brain Functional Networks Associated to Human and Animal Suffering Differ among Omnivores, Vegetarians and Vegans. PLoS ONE 5(5): e10847. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010847

We are all sadists..

..because we love to get entertained.
Vegans are by no means concerned only on food because veganism means not only to stop consuming meat, fish, poultry, dairy products, and eggs, it rejects the repression and imprisonment of naturally free creatures for any reason.

Entertainment: Reject Circuses, Zoos, the use of Animal as Actors…
Chapter 2: Suffering just for the fun of it
Mainly for the purpose of our own amusement, over thousand species of animals are imprisoned in zoos all over the world. Zoo animals are captured from their natural habitats, bred in breeding-programs, or purchased from other zoos. Many of them were forced to travel long distances within small cages. Some of them arrive ill, injured, or death. Even in zoos with so-called natural habitats surrounded by electric fancing, water ditches, or concrete walls, animals have to spend most of their lives in hidden housing areas, which are nothing more than cages. In every zoo, animals exhibiting neurotic, stress-induced behaviors like weaving forth and back or throwing items towards humans can be found. The difficulties that zoos have to get certain species to reproduce is also an expression of stress preventing animals from engaging in normal sex and childbearing behavior. A result of extensive breeding-programs to provide continuous animal babies as visitor attractions is that the surplus of animals, particularly the elder ones, have to be sold to other zoos, laboratories, and private exotic-animal collectors. In some cases it is also common to use these excess-animals as pet food. Furthermore, zoo employees and veterinarians are often not well trained to handle the broad range of species and exotic animals adequately.
Regardless of that facts, zoos are often defended on the ground that they provide education about animals to the public. The truth is that confined animals teach us little about what they really are and only a minor percentage of zoo visitors spend time to read the provided informations, if any are given. Zoos rather increase the gap between non-human animals and us as the “self-declared” superior specie.
In summary, zoos are nothing else but companies engaged in the capture, incarceration, and breeding of animals to exhibit them like things for entertainment purposes.
If it is wrong to inflict unnecessary pain and suffering on sentient beings for sheer amusement, then we have a moral and legal obligation to oppose the imprisonation of animals.

It is up to you.

We are all sadists..

..because we like the taste of meat.
Vegans are by no means concerned only on food because veganism means not only to stop consuming meat, fish, poultry, dairy products, and eggs, it rejects the slaugther and exploitation of any creature for any reason.

Clothing: Reject Fur, Leather, Wool, Silk, Reptile Skin, …
Chapter 1: The fashion victims
Solely for the purpose of fashion approximately 40 million animals are killed every year. This figure does not include the number of animals processed for leather and wool products, since they are more a byproduct of animal use for food.
Three-quarter of the 40 million animals including minks, foxes, chinchillas, and raccoon dogs are raised and killed on so-called “factory farms”. Most of you know under which horrible conditions in small wire cages these animals have to live to maintain maximum profitability. These confinements cause often ulcers and other physical disorders. Almost all animals develop various behavioral disorders and start to self-mutilate in this environment. Finally, after a short life of about one year they are killed by electrocution, gassing, or neck breaking.
It is also known that factory farms does have a devastating impact on the environment due to enormous production of soil, water, and air polluting waste.
The remaining quarter mostly consists of trapped animals which suffer to death by dehydration and blood loss or will be killed by shooting, stomping, or clubbing. Not included in this figure are trapped non-target “waste” animals which are estimated to be about ten times as much [1]. Taking into account that ten to hundred pelts are needed to produce one coat, a truly insane number of animals have to die cruelly for the sake of fashion clothing.
Due to the fact that cotton and synthetics provide proven alternatives, nobody can seriously maintain that the use of animals for clothing is necessary.
If it is wrong to inflict unnecessary pain and suffering on sentient beings, then we have a moral and legal obligation to reject clothing made of animals.

You have the power to decide.

[1] Humane Society International (HSI) http://www.hsi.org