Herald on Sunday

Meaty issues for vegans

- Paul Little u@PCLittle What’s your view? letters@hos.co.nz

Tim Shieff is described as a “champion free-runner who appeared on the American Ninja Warrior reality competitio­n show”. He is also one of the founders of a vegan clothing company (whatever that means) called ETHCS.

Recently, he ate a fish and all hell broke loose.

Shieff admitted eating raw eggs and salmon following a 35-day water fast and coming to the conclusion that he needed animal protein for his health.

ETHCS dropped him and social media was littered with comments such as “how can you just change your mind about cruelty?”

Vegans tend to be extreme in their veganism. You’d have to be to believe that a beetroot-based birthday cake is acceptable. Stories of shared accommodat­ion in which the vegan flatties refuse to keep their food in a fridge that also holds meat or dairy products are not uncommon.

People who hold extreme views tend to be a bit judgy. This is only natural. The more extreme your beliefs are, the more insecure you will be about them.

You can’t afford to have them questioned because they don’t hold up to close scrutiny, so you have to come down hard on anyone who thinks differentl­y.

Which is what lay behind the trouble Palmerston North City Council and Sublime coffee got into when their planned “egg-themed event” offended at least one local vegan.

In what apparently would pass for fun in Palmerston North, people were invited to paint eggs in a street mural.

This was felt to endorse cruel poultry practices. It did no such thing of course but such is the level of sensitivit­y to everyone else’s sensitivit­ies in the current social climate that in no time at all the event was called off.

Vegans are presumably feeling a lot better, with their sense of entitlemen­t and pride in themselves as a brave and struggling minority sated.

They can go back to planning complicate­d routes through the supermarke­t that avoid the meat and dairy department­s when doing their shopping.

The Palmerston North event was repurposed into one called Adopt a Dot. So far, there are no reports of complaints from people with spots.

Flat Earth society

If you’re collecting evidence that there’s no hope for the planet, you’ll be interested

 ?? Photo / Mark Mitchell ?? Michael Hill’s newly built 40-metre catamaran, named The Beast, being prepared for launch at the Manawatu Boating Club in Foxton.
Photo / Mark Mitchell Michael Hill’s newly built 40-metre catamaran, named The Beast, being prepared for launch at the Manawatu Boating Club in Foxton.
 ?? Photo / 123RF ?? The more extreme your beliefs are, the more insecure you will be about them.
Photo / 123RF The more extreme your beliefs are, the more insecure you will be about them.
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from New Zealand