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Veganerna: En bok om dom som stör
Den här boken handlar om idéer som stör och om en politisk praktik som retar: veganism. Den vrede landets veganer lyckats riva upp i svensk vuxenvärld är unik. På mer än ett sätt.
Denna bok försöker ge ett svar på varför. Varifrån kommer det etablerade samhällets oro? Är den befogad? Och vad vill egentligen veganer?
Denna bok försöker ge ett svar på varför. Varifrån kommer det etablerade samhällets oro? Är den befogad? Och vad vill egentligen veganer?
224 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 4, 2017
As the 2000s came around something else did the same in Sweden; a growing trend that was an eyesore in many's eyes. Some considered those following the trend strange or peculiar. Some thought they just meant well. Some thought they were idiots. Some considered them a national threat.
Vegans had come to Sweden.
VEGANERNA (The vegans, translation of the title) explores how the trend grew, why people joined it and why others saw them as a threat to their homes, businesses, nation, and morals. Linton's book might be short, but it covers some of the key events in Sweden that put veganism and vegetarianism in the spotlight. He's interviewed people on both ends of the spectrum: people in the meat industry and militant vegans. But we also see how "regular" vegans have demanded to be recognized, how schools treated the growing trend, animal rights activists, and authorities.
Apart from strictly veganism, the author also brings up a related subject: animal rights. This, for me, was the most fascinating part to read. Animal rights brings out the moral aspect of veganism. Many who chose to reject food coming from animals (meat, dairy, etc.) do so for reasons that have little to do with the animal itself and do it for health or environmental reasons, but those doing it partly or wholly for the reason of not harming and hurting animals have a different mindset. While the details might vary, the mindset and ethics behind that decision often differs from those that most of Western society is built on, and thus vegans/animal rights activists become less of a personal decision, and more of a threat. It was such a threat that a cardinal (in the Vatican) said that Antichrist is a vegetarian and supports animal rights.
(Worth mentioning though is that the cardinal meant that antichrist hides among this group, but whose true purpose is to undermine the Catholic church, but since the animal rights' argument wasn't based on Christian principles it's arguable that his statement was meant to discredit the movement.)
Another fascinating aspect was the hypocrisy of the non-vegan/vegetarian side when it came to animal experimentation and treatment of animals. Examples of when people and the media turned horrified by specific cases of animal cruelty but completely silent when the the Swedish (and international) meat industry treated their animals with the same, or worse, brutality. After about a year of public debate about the new philosophy brought forward by animal rights activists, both conservative debaters as well as debaters from the left, concluded that morals are irrational and are separate from reason constructed by man, and that beside ideologies and animal rights, irrationality and double standards are absolutely necessary. That without them, humanity would no longer progress.
Reading this almost twenty years after its release, it's interesting to see what people than thought about the trend; some thought it was just that, a trend that would be gone soon. But, as we see in Sweden, more and more - especially young women - are choosing to become vegetarians or vegans, while many more simply consume less animal products for a variety of reasons.
VEGANERNA is a brief but good introduction to where the movement was around the millennium, some key activists and events, but also about the philosophical and, in some cases, the ideology behind it.
Vegans had come to Sweden.
VEGANERNA (The vegans, translation of the title) explores how the trend grew, why people joined it and why others saw them as a threat to their homes, businesses, nation, and morals. Linton's book might be short, but it covers some of the key events in Sweden that put veganism and vegetarianism in the spotlight. He's interviewed people on both ends of the spectrum: people in the meat industry and militant vegans. But we also see how "regular" vegans have demanded to be recognized, how schools treated the growing trend, animal rights activists, and authorities.
Apart from strictly veganism, the author also brings up a related subject: animal rights. This, for me, was the most fascinating part to read. Animal rights brings out the moral aspect of veganism. Many who chose to reject food coming from animals (meat, dairy, etc.) do so for reasons that have little to do with the animal itself and do it for health or environmental reasons, but those doing it partly or wholly for the reason of not harming and hurting animals have a different mindset. While the details might vary, the mindset and ethics behind that decision often differs from those that most of Western society is built on, and thus vegans/animal rights activists become less of a personal decision, and more of a threat. It was such a threat that a cardinal (in the Vatican) said that Antichrist is a vegetarian and supports animal rights.
(Worth mentioning though is that the cardinal meant that antichrist hides among this group, but whose true purpose is to undermine the Catholic church, but since the animal rights' argument wasn't based on Christian principles it's arguable that his statement was meant to discredit the movement.)
Another fascinating aspect was the hypocrisy of the non-vegan/vegetarian side when it came to animal experimentation and treatment of animals. Examples of when people and the media turned horrified by specific cases of animal cruelty but completely silent when the the Swedish (and international) meat industry treated their animals with the same, or worse, brutality. After about a year of public debate about the new philosophy brought forward by animal rights activists, both conservative debaters as well as debaters from the left, concluded that morals are irrational and are separate from reason constructed by man, and that beside ideologies and animal rights, irrationality and double standards are absolutely necessary. That without them, humanity would no longer progress.
Reading this almost twenty years after its release, it's interesting to see what people than thought about the trend; some thought it was just that, a trend that would be gone soon. But, as we see in Sweden, more and more - especially young women - are choosing to become vegetarians or vegans, while many more simply consume less animal products for a variety of reasons.
VEGANERNA is a brief but good introduction to where the movement was around the millennium, some key activists and events, but also about the philosophical and, in some cases, the ideology behind it.
December 31, 2017
Även om boken har över 15 år på nacken så var den intressant att läsa ur ett historiskt perspektiv. Rekommenderas för den inbitna som vill lära sig ännu mer om djurrätt!
June 10, 2016
Värd bok att läsa för alla.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews