Philosophical Vegan Forum

Hello all dear vegan atheists and other peeps!

I´m from Portugal, been an atheist as far as I can remember, the kind that, as a kid, failed to see meaning in spending time in a church attendance, and would look up to vaguely appreciate the architecture while someone else would think I was praying to a god.

Vegetarianism followed in my life when I reached 20, and after a transition process and some reading on key books such as Animal Liberation, I have been living a vegan lifestyle since I was 22, so far, for almost three years. I´m 24, currently. Before reaching where I am now, I have been through stark feelings of misantrophy and alienation, to finally realise that change comes from within, not from outside.

My motivation was essentially ethical. Ever since I have found in myself a compassion for beings which I didn´t even realise was there before, and I have a great love or appreciation for all of them. I can honestly say, as many other perhaps, it was the best and most edifying decision in my life, and I firmly believe veganism to be a consequence of a secular and scientific vision of the world, which requires us to give consideration to non-human animals, towards more mature ethics. I have found a meaningful goal in life to reduce suffering and pain we cause upon others.

Where I live, I actively engage in informal and political activism for non-human animal rights, as well as human rights. I´ve been a representative of the Portuguese Vegetarian Association for a while, which promotes veganism through several strategies, and has been careful to provide scientifically-based and rigorously examined information to the public, because we don´t want to fool folks into believing that vegetarianism is a perfectly utopian diet that requires no ponderation, and other such nonsense.
I am also dedicating myself to review our criminal laws towards animals, and work to improve the non-human animal legal status in my country.

I find great pleasure in debating ideas with other folks, in particular, about ethics and beliefs, and that´s why I decided to sign up in this newly found forum, which ressonates a lot with my views. I am hopeful to find like-minded individuals, but also people with whom I can disagree and learn from.

Hope to meet new people and make some connections
Cheers

Welcome nunomalvim, great intro! I'm glad you found us, and I hope you like it here.

What/how are you doing in the political process? How does that work? Paralegal kind of stuff?

Nunomalvin, I am new to this forum as well. What you wrote about your feelings of misanthropy and alienation resonated with me. Finding a community of like-minded people is challenging. I don't even know if community is necessary for a sense of well-being since I enjoy solitude. However, to bring about change, one must interact with others. But is mass change in consciousness even possible? It is so painstakingly slow. Even for myself! What brought me here is the movie "Cowspiracy." Have you seen this film? I think you may find it provocative.

brimstoneSalad wrote:Welcome nunomalvim, great intro! I'm glad you found us, and I hope you like it here.

What/how are you doing in the political process? How does that work? Paralegal kind of stuff?

Hey!
Well, Portugal just approved a new law that criminalizes animal cruelty and mistreatment, however, this only applies to domestic animals, and they´re still seen as inanimate objects within the law. We are trying to change that paradigm through new law proposals that grant them more rights, and recognize them as sentient beings. Not too long ago, harming property (e.g. damaging a car), wasn´t at all different from kicking a dog, which was considered damaged to somebody else´s property (i.e. the dog owner).

Sloffler wrote:Nunomalvin, I am new to this forum as well. What you wrote about your feelings of misanthropy and alienation resonated with me. Finding a community of like-minded people is challenging. I don't even know if community is necessary for a sense of well-being since I enjoy solitude. However, to bring about change, one must interact with others. But is mass change in consciousness even possible? It is so painstakingly slow. Even for myself! What brought me here is the movie "Cowspiracy." Have you seen this film? I think you may find it provocative.

I quite understand your feelings. Things do seem not to move at all, slow as they move, but I believe we´re will be compelled to a mass shift in paradigm eventually, if not through ethical reasons, of which I´m skeptical, it will be due to ecological imperatives.

Yes, I have seen Cowspiracy, and had the great pleasure of interviewing the directors as well in a skype chatting. I think it´s an hallmark, and it has had a great impact all over the world. Just hope they can bring it to as many people as possible.