Many people like my ideas on veganism and animals, some people don’t. Of the people who don’t, some give fair criticism. That is of course all right. Other people’s criticism is less fair: it can be a mixture of ad hominem arguments, strawman arguments, misrepresentations, half-truths, and even downright lies. These people often also badmouth me and just generally try to depict me as anti-vegan, a traitor, or whatever. It is sad, but yes, this kind of thing also happens within the vegan movement.
I try to ignore people who unfairly criticize me as much as possible, and in all the years some of them have gone after me, I think I have not mentioned any of them by name so far on this blog. Here I’m making an exception and talk about one of them: an Irish activist named Roger Yates.
Why do I name him and write about this person? Because he keeps badmouthing me and misrepresenting my views as much as he can. And now and then other people just run with his stuff, uncritically accepting it (maybe because it fits in their views). Whoever wants to know more about Yates’ beef with me can get some information in this post, and judge for him- or herself if they should take this person seriously.
Roger Yates is a longtime animal rights activist. I have no doubt that he cares deeply about animals and has their interests at heart. Unfortunately, that doesn’t prevent him from bashing other activists, like me. Here’s a brief list of examples of some of his nasty behavior toward me.
- Ever since he got familiar with my work, Yates has tried to point out I am into activism for the money, calling me a careerist. He is, in other words, thinking he can mindread my motivations and intentions. I have pointed out to him that in about 15 years of full time or more than full time activism, I have received a fulltime salary for exactly 3 months. The rest of my work was either as a volunteer, or at very low pay. Today I speak around the world and only get my expenses paid. Apart from a small sum (250 € after tax) for part of my work, everything I do is unpaid.
- Yates has made several video compilations about me, where he frames what I say in a way that is meant to engender negative feelings about me from whoever watches them. When for instance I state that I would eat a steak for 100.000 euro and give the money to an animal rights organization, he cuts the video off right before I’m saying that i would give the money to an animal rights organization, while playing a tune about money in the background. This one example is very indicative of how disingenuous he can behave.
- RY has made unauthorized recordings of things i said, including personal sensitive things, where I didn’t know i was being recorded, and has put them on the internet.
- My position is that now and then making exceptions (e.g. when a non vegan friend has made a pasta dish for you but forgot about the tiny bit of eggs in the dough) is a viable option in the sense that such (pragmatic) exceptions would help others not have an overly difficult idea of veganism, and thus help more animals. Yates makes of that that i actually “encourage people to eat animals”. I believe it’s easy to see that this is a gross and dishonest representation of my ideas.
- Here’s another example. When i say that to some non-vegans some of our behavior might look a bit crazy at times, Yates makes of that that I “tell new impressionable vegans that consistent vegans are mentally ill”.
- Yates has suggested that during my time at EVA (Ethical Vegetarian Alternative), which has received subsidies from the goverment for almost fifteen years now (and which is actually quite an achievement), I sold out for that reason.
Yates has been attacked and misrepresented by Gary Francione, and I’ve seen Yates ask other people not to believe whatever Francione is writing about him. Strangely, Yates himself doesn’t seem to realize he is doing exactly the same thing to people like me.
I have suggested at least ones that Yates and I sit down to have a conversation. He refused.
I do not want to judge the character of Roger Yates across the board. All I’m saying is that to me, this guy has been behaving quite dishonestly and nastily for about four years now.
If you want to judge me or my views, be a slow opinionist. Read what I write, listen to what I have to say, and don’t go by critics like Yates, who are out to poison the well just because they have a different opinion.
People are not activists or vegans. Those are things that people do and most of us will typically use the words saying that they do mean the action, but in fact, 99.999% of those people have never asked the question of whether or not some people misunderstand and actually believe people are the totality of their actions. “Life is Most Important in Life”, is The Most Important Truth in Life. We are each, “Most Important”. That is the very truth, and the most important truth at that, for life itself, of the matter. It is not a good idea to lie about who we are through the use of semantics, especially when we are talking about life, the first self-evident truth. Getting people to see the truth so that they may choose clearly and of of their own free will is not best accomplished by infusing the lies of false identification of what life is into the talking points.
“The fastest and surest way to turn anyone away from real veganism is to call anyone a vegan and impart the lie of inequality”.
That’s a quote of mine. Here is another:
“The count of the lessons in life more painful than getting tortured to death is more than a human can count in a lifetime, let alone remember the lessons to be learned. The only solution is to do things for the right reasons, which is what is honestly in the best interest of life in general.”
While others may disagree, we can never all come together so long as people behave with such arrogance as to think they are above the truth itself can define others to be who they want them to be, while simultaneously pushing the vegan cause.
It will be a tough road for anyone not choosing the truth. Veganism, while required to uphold the truth, is not the root of the truth. Choosing veganism, while ignoring the truth is not a truthful foundation.
Take care and thanks for the head’s up.
Dear Tobias,
Your concerns about Roger are just the tip of the iceberg. Veganism itself is a cult; a group of people who harm others.
You have seen it before: the threats, and the acting on those threats, to take anothers’believed identity away as a means of control, “You’re not a vegan anymore”.
Roger, among many, was told, “Life is Most Important in Life is The Most Important Truth in Life”, and failed to affirm this truth as ways true to his peers.
I can think of nothing a person can do who speaks for a cause, than to not affirm this truth as absolutely correct 100% of the time to their peers. As that is actually withholding the cure and prevention of all needless and preventable suffering and death from our peers at the most piviotal moment in all human history where the life of the Earth faces the real prospects of global widespread devastation far beyond what any person has ever seen nine ways to Sunday and increasing.
You can reach out to me any time for a conversation. Maybe Roger wasn’t willing, but I am.
What I am telling you here is that you messed up real bad. It’s been years that you have withheld the cure.
You have not experienced living your life its true unlimited potential since you didn’t publicy confess your witness that “Life is Most Important in Life” is always true and correct.
It was free. It was easy. It is true. What’s the problem?
You don’t have any truth whatsoever that stands against this truth.
I am telling you that this truth is the cure and prevention of all needless and preventable suffering and death.
It appears to me you have withheld it. That’s your choice. Can please explain why?
I have seen people do that for many reasons, none so far make doing it the right thing to do.
Thank you,
David
Please note
Leonardo DaVinci the Animal Rights advocate is quoted as saying
” Those that don’t respect life don’t deserve life”.
Maybe you should think on that before calling Veganism/Civilisation a cult.
P.S.
Vegansim was publicly exorcised in the name of Jesus Christ on 8/13/20.
There were two reasons cited.
The first was that vegansim itself does not contain within its own definition of how, why, and how much, life is truthfully important and as such is completely void of any truthful foundation.
The second was the evidence of the damage that vegansim causes to the minds of those involved with it.
Vegansim is dead. We don’t need it.
Vegansim is a bait and switch, chuck and jive trick that plays on the emotions of those that feel it is wrong to needlessly harm the animals.
It’s about the truth of the importance of life, not veganism.
We don’t need words that have no truthful foundation replacing the words we already have that do have a truthful foundation to defend the animals.
Roger is just one of thousands that I have personally communicated with claiming vegansim who rejected “Life is Most Important in Life”, in front of their peers, as being true. The fraud and lies under the guise of helping the animals is widespread.
Mercy for Animals, Compassion Over Killing, and Animal Save Movement all promote veganism. They have a moral responsibility to address the rampant lies and rejection of all truth at face value that is taught far and wide, and the substantial evidence of the damage that is present in the minds of those professing it, under the vegan flag that they endorse, repeatedly.
Will they hide that they were told? Will they do anything if not forced to?
They have real big problem. They risk all of their years of hard work if they do the wrong thing now.
They can’t honestly claim that they were not told, if I have told them and asked for help.
This has them all in the corner with no way out other than the truth. Other AR camps will face the same choice. You can help them by contacting all of them right now and letting them know if they ignore the truth when presented it will be the wrong choice and they will likely have severe long term consequences for the rest of their lives.
Go to them. Explain you agree Life is Most Important in Life. How it is always true and why. They need your witness. Without it they may make the wrong choice.
You have 2 days. After that I will start cutting loose and they won’t be able to get out of it if they choose wrong. I don’t want them to choose wrong, but the fraud and lies must stop and the the truth of the importance of life must be shared and taught FIRST, and as always above veganism.
The void of all truth, hollow shell of a word, “veganism”, is not nearly good enough for how truthfully important everyone truthfully is.
But, the truth of the importance of life: “Life is Most Important in Life is The Most Important Truth in Life”, is.
This is the truth that defines us and that all other truths depend on to be true themselves.
All truth depends on life. That’s not something we can negotiate. It’s our mutual equal limitation and our greatest and Most Important gift.
Someone who eats as a primitive cave- dweller pretending veganism is the solution most problems.
Try thinking on these words attributed to Leonardo DaVinci
” Those who don’t respect life don’t deserve life.”
I don’t think so because I have to use life to present the truth of anything and so does everyone else. So, Leon or anyone else, this truth applies to them too.
It doesn’t matter who tells a person “Life is Most Important in Life is The Most Important Truth in Life”. Once a person is told this truth they are actually handed the cure and prevention of all needless and preventable suffering and death. They can then responsibly publicly agree it is correct or they can choose to hide the knowledge of the cure itself from their peers.
This is similar to how a person caring for people in a nursing home goes around killing people. Just because they nurse others does not make the murder of their peers acceptable.
Now, Regan Russel was killed AFTER the truth above was written here. Every single person that read the truth above before then and did not publicy affirm it is correct chose to withhold from her and their peers of the knowledge of The Most Important Truth in Life and the knowledge that the cure is the truth “Life is Most Important in Life is The Most Important Truth in Life” and as such she took an unnecessary risk because the very most important truthful piece of information was withheld from her without a single substantiated logical reason between every person that had heard or read that truth. That includes Roger. I told him about this truth before then as well as several thousand other people representing veganism.
Love the animals for sure. However, just because veganism says needlessly harming animals is wrong (it doesn’t say why and withholds the reason that life is truthfully Most Important) doesn’t exempt it from being a cult (harmful).
Given almost every single person representing veganism that I have contacted, tens of thousands probably now, has not responsibly publicy affirmed the cure, one can only conclude that veganism is a cult. As cults generally cause people to reject basic commonsense truth at face value. Here we have tens of thousands of people representing veganism rejecting basic commonsense truth at face value when they were presented this truth I speak of here.
If we look closer we can see and hear the sick and twisted cult threats of , “You’re not a vegan anymore”. That’s an attempt to take away anothers’ believed identity as means of control.
There is no such truthful thing as being a vegan. We are not what we do. We are each Truthfully Most Important per the truth presented here. They prey on the people who may believe and those that do already believe with the lie that they can be vegan and control others with that lie and turn a blind eye to it going on when it is repeatedly brought up in public conversation. That’s pure cult stuff.
Veganism has a leader and its leader’s name is Lucifer.
No group of people on Earth has done a greater evil individually or together than the vegan community for not sharing the cure at the most pivotal moment in all human history where the life of the Earth faces the prospects of global widespread devastation far beyond what any person has ever seen nine ways to Sunday.