The Price of Ignorant Pride

Its not a crime to be a Vegan.

In fact, I believe that its vital to believe in something and try to live according to those beliefs. But if you allow those beliefs to bring harm to your children, then there’s something seriously wrong with your thinking.

I heard in passing of a 6 week old baby called Crown Shakur dying of malnutrition (you can read the Times Online article here). Not because his parents were too poor too afford food, but because they were strict Vegans and only fed him with apple juice; soya milk SUPPLIMENTED with breast milk. He weighed less than a 2 kg packet of Hewlet sugar when he died (1.6 kg). According to Wikipaedia:

“The average weight of a full-term newborn is approximately 7 ½ pounds (3.2 kg), but is typically in the range of 5.5–10 pounds (2.7–4.6 kg).”

Crown Shakur

They let their baby die because they were too arrogant in their over-arching belief that they were in some way superior to others.

Vegans aren’t stupid. I’m not kidding when I say it takes BRAINS to be a Vegan. Vegans HAVE to be well informed about the issues surrounding their moral standpoint, because there are people like Damian and I walking around capable of steamrolling them outright.

Thats why I’m deeply surprised that these two Vegans didn’t know better. I work on the basic premise that Vegans don’t eat meat because they don’t want animals to suffer. That and that they also believe that they will lead healthier lives by only eating vegetables. Note that last sentence: They believe that they will lead healthier lives by only eating vegetables. That would imply that Vegans should have a better than average understanding on how the human body works (I’ve yet to meet an obese Vegan).

That said, Vegans understand that plant protein isn’t as easliy assimilated into the body as animal protein. And as such they need to eat larger amounts of plant protein to accomplish what a smaller amount of animal can. So if you know your baby is developing at a much more rapid pace than any adult body, why ignore that fact when feeding your baby?

(I need to point out that I’ve nothing against vegetarianism. In fact I think that the more veggies you eat, the better off you are. But what I DON’T approve of is insisting on sticking to a strict vegetarian diet when common sense dictates otherwise.)

“We’re vegetarians,” 31-year-old Thomas said. “We are against animal cruelty, so why would I be cruel to my son? Why would I do something with his body? We are against animals being murdered, why would we be cruel to him and try to do something to his body? The fact that we named him Crown, we were proud of him. We weren’t trying to kill my son.”

Well, Sunshine, its not what you did with your child’s body. Its what you didn’t do. You didn’t care for your son as you should have.

This was never a philosophical debate.

Its not about your intentions, it was simply about giving not giving your baby enough nutrients so that he could successfully grow stronger and mature into a healthy child. Because we have such an unprecedented control over our environments in our modern societies, we often believe that we have a right to our moral standpoints (which in some quarters are believed to be the most soverign force in life).

I’ve got news for you. Death will beat morality every time. If after reading this you still believe that man is master of the Earth, jump on a surfboard and try to paddle your way out to sea past the breakers. In fact, have a near drowning experience while you’re at it and begin to realise that nature dosen’t care a hoot WHO you are. If you’re ignorant, you’re going to die.

And the forces of nature will stop for no-one.

Both parents chose this lifestyle because they couldn’t stand to see sentient creatures suffer. How ironic it is that they could ignore the cries of their only son as he starved to death.

All because they didn’t want to be cruel to animals.