The blog will still stay, it just won’t get any new content.

Instead, I am rebranding as the Grey Bearded Vegan.

Which means that you can find future posts over at GreyBeardedVegan.blog

You can find out more about the rebrand, why I did it, and what it means for the future in this post, in this post

So, head on over there, and let’s make veganism great again.

Photo by Photo By: Kaboompics.com

Once again it has been some time since I posted something here, and to tell you the truth, I wasn’t going to.

My original plan was to just leave this blog up here and do nothing with it.

Then I noticed there was a problem with one of the plugins that I use.

Without getting too geeky, the social warfare plugin had been hacked and there was malicious code added to it.

Anyway, the plugin was taken over by wordpress plugin review team and it has since been removed as a plugin.

I removed that plugin and let the site just sit there.

Then, with the most recent wordpress core upgrade, something else happened that, shall I say, broke the site.

I took that as a sign that I needed to get up off my backside and do something with it.

So, here we are.

The old posts have been made private while I fix up the formatting with them, and make sure they look right in the new site setup.

That being said, to be honest, I still don’t know what I am going to do with the site, though I will do something.

Before I make any final decisions what I would like to do is ask you, the reader, what you would like to see on this site.

Keep in mind that there won’t be recipes, fake activism that is all about the participants than the message, or the long forgotten insta-famous.

If you can think of something, please let me know via the comment form below.

Its been quite a while since I posted something on this site.

Last post was nearly 2 years ago.

To tell you the truth, with everything that was and still is happening in the world, I kind of lost interest in it.

I had thought about getting rid of the site all together, though as there is still traffic going to the site, I decided against it.

That left me to make a decision as to whether I leave the site alone and let it gather dust, or resurect it by publishing articles on it.

With this post, I decided to choose the latter.

So, what does that actually mean.

Well, to be honest, I really have no idea.

My plan at the moment is to publish an article on here once a week, most likely on a Friday, and see how we go from there.

If time permits, I may post something outside of the weekly schedule.

Though, on the other side of the coin, if time gets away from me, it may be a bot more than a week between posts.

That being said, when I do get to posting things, there are likely to be anything that inspires or bugs me from the previous week.

I also do plan on writing some articles on ethics, the “state” of the ‘movement’, etc.

So, set your reminder to come back here Friday, or subscribe below and get an email when a new post is published.

Photo by GEORGE DESIPRIS

And once again, there are parts of the vegan “movement” that have gone into meltdown.

Are they doing the right thing by attempting to warn others of his, what some say, deceptive activities?

Or, are they simply giving a neverwas attention that he doesn’t deserve?

Jimmy Craves The Attention

The one thing that these, ahem, influencers crave the most, is attention.

The more attention they can get, the greater the chance there is of something about him appearing in the corporate media.

And, this is exactly what has happened with his recent puppy rescue fiasco.

In this instance, the number of people disagreeing with his actions the “story” wa picked up by the tabloid media.

This lead to a handful of articles appearing online claiming that vegans “turned” on Jimmy.

A far better optoin would have been to simply ignore him, as happened when the borders closed.

Surely You’ve Got Better Things To Do

Considering everything that is going on in the world at the moment, I am truly surprised that people have the energy or the motivation to track what Jimmy is doing.

I honest thought that after the crowd funding campaign that he launched to pay for his wedding, I didn’t think that anyone paid attention to him any more.

I don’t care if it is washing your hair, painting your nails, or watching grass grow.

Any of it has to be better and far better for your mental health than following what Jimmy does on social media.

If you don’t. All I can say is I wish I had a much free time to worry about pointless crap like you do.

But What About The Animals?

Yes, Jimmy probably exploited the plight of the puppy for social media attention.

Yes, Jimmy’s (in)actions probably lead to the premature death of the puppy.

Though the thing is, every single person or organisation who uses other animals as a drawcard for attention exploits them in some way or another.

I am not saying that Jimmy should get a free pass because others do it.

What I am saying is that we are going to start condemning those who exploit animals, we need to start at the top, and upset that business model.

When that happens, people like Jimmy won’t feel inclined to exploit other animals for their own gain.

He’s The Least Of Our Problems

With all the excitement that has come about due to Jimmy’s puppy fiasco, you’d be forgiven for thinking that he is the most pressing problem facing today’s vegan movement.

Except he isn’t.

And, there are problems that are a far greater threat to veganism, and “the animals”, than Jimmy ever will be.

While it is a given that new vegans will develop a little bit of misanthropy on their journey, things are getting worse.

The level of misandry within the “movement” is getting dangerous.

And, equally dangerous is the amount of influence that left-wing fascism is having on communication and attitudes within the “movement” these days.

Today’s vegan “movement” is all about identity political, and promoting whatever sociological theory is trending.

It has lost its ability to have rational discussions on anything.

With the only view that is acceptable is one that is, shall I say, “inclusive”.

Yet, that “inclusiveness” is quickly disenfranchising vast segments of current and potential vegans.

And, that is a far greater threat to the “movement” and the animals, than Jimmy will ever be.

Image: facebook

I originally sat down to write this late last year, though as is always the case, life got in the way.

When I started this post last year, it was going to be a review of the past 12 months and a list of the best posts, etc.

Though, as time went by, I realised that I didn’t want to talk about what I had written last year, and write a post that was all about this site.

Which, when I look at it now, was stopping me from finishing it.

My Thoughts On The Blog

All in all, I am satisfied with how the blog is progressing.

While I don’t really promote it that much on social media, it is still getting views from it, and fairly good search engine traffic.

So, from that perspective, I can’t really complain.

The part that I am not happy with, is my contribution to it.

I feel that I haven’t given it all that I could have, over the past 12 months.

There were many articles that I had 3/4 written, then decided not to finish, or ones that I did finish, I decided not to publish.

That really does need to stop.

If I am spending time writing something that I am not going to publish, then I really am wasting my time.

And yours as a reader of this blog.

Membership Site

I have dabbled in turning this blog into a membership site over the years, though now it is something that I am going to be focusing more on.

I am moving to a membership model for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, is that it gives me an incentive to write and publish more posts.

Having 10 people waiting for me to write and publish something is a better incentive for me, than writing something that may get 50 views.

Now before people start jumping up and down saying that this is nothing more than a cash grab, and that I am doing the very same thing that I criticise others for, hold off on the condemnation.

Anything that is received from this site isn’t going to fund my lifestyle, or some world’s first project or anything like that.

Why A Membership Model?

It is a sad fact about this modern world that we live in, that almost everything that we do cost money.

And, sadly, things aren’t getting cheaper either.

Running a website is no different.

When it comes down to it, we all pay for what we read and watch on the internet.

We either pay for it by having our usage tracked so we can be shown ads that we might click on.

We pay when the websites write articles promoting something through affiliate links.

Or, we pay for it directly by paying for access to the site itself.

I am not interested in going down the influencer path, and promoting all sorts of products to readers for the sake of getting a few dollars. (I do promote the Brave Browser and Nord VPN, though that is more to help take the internet back, than anything else).

And, I am not a supporter of companies knowing who I am and what I have looked at online.

The only option left was to create a membership site.

What Will You Get For Your Money?

While I am not a fan those who have a site as 100% members only, there does need to be some content that is restricted to members only.

If there isn’t, then there really isn’t any benefit to people becoming a member.

While all the benefits haven’t been planned out yet, in the early stages, it will be forum access, members only articles, and an exclusive weekly email.

There will be other benefits, though they will come down the track.

Where Will The Money Go?

As I said before, none of the income from this site will go to fund my lifestyle, overseas trips or anything like that.

Membership fees will be used to pay for the expenses that this site creates, and any amount left over will go towards other vegan related ventures.

I aim to be fully accountable to those who become members. To achieve that, I will be publishing an accounts statement on the 1st of every month.

Whether you choose to become a member is entirely up to you, though I do hope you will.

To become a member, follow this link or sign up below

[mepr-membership-registration-form id=”8384″]

Photo by Skitterphoto from Pexels

Commenting on this article is closed.
If you want to make a comment about it, head over to the forum, by following this link.

• We Are Moving23 February 2025
• Please excuse the mess17 August 2024
• Been A Long Time Between Drinks3 January 2023
• Who Gives A F*$k What James Aspey Is Doing31 January 2021
• Changes To VeganPolice.com.au2 February 2020
• Million Dollar Vegan Campaign Sinks To A New Low4 December 2019
• On Ethics1 December 2019
• Aussie Farms Lost Their “Charity” Status. What Does It Mean For “The Animals”?26 November 2019
• Why I Love To Blog8 October 2019

Once again the organisation “Million Dollar Vegan” has launched a campaign to bribe someone into trying veganism for a month.

Last time, it was Pope Francis.

Now it is…

Wait for it…

Donald Trump (President of the United States of America).

Yes, you did read that right.

They are attempting to bribe POTUS into going vegan for the month of January.

And, it gets worse from there.

Just A Pointless Stunt

The whole idea behind these challenges is that they essentially date someone, who is unlikely to “go vegan” to “try” it for a month.

Despite their claim of wanting to give the money away, they usually pick people who have little chance of accepting their “challenge”.

With the chances of the “challenge” accepting the challenge, the question does need to be asked why they were chosen in the first place.

Call me cynical, I am starting to think that they choose these impossible people because it is an easy way for them to get donations, while not actually having to shell out the Million.

Which essentially makes it easy money.

Why POTUS?

As mentioned earlier, the target for the first campaign was Pope Francis, who was challenged to go vegan for lent.

So, why did they choose the President of the United States?

Could it be that they are subscribing to the belief that any publicity is god publicity?

Or are they simply looking to improve brand recognition?

Either way, with how much media attention is focused on the President these days, they are virtually guaranteed a tsunami of web traffic and donations.

Neither of which is good for veganism or “the animals”.

Exploiting Veterans Plight

Not satisfied with exploiting the plight of other animals for their own gain, the team at Million Dollar Vegan made it their mission to sink lower.

They took took a huge leap into the chasm of exploitation, and came up with the ideal group to tie their pointless challenge to.

Military veterans.

They’ll attempt to bribe the President of the United States into “going vegan” for a month, with the lure of a million dollar carrot for veterans.

Politicising the plight of veterans for some pointless “challenge” isn’t going to win the movement any friends.

In fact, it is likely to reaffirm the belief that many not yet vegans have, of vegans only being concerned about “the animals”.

(The budget for the Dept of Veteran Affairs is $217 Billion for the 2019 fiscal year. Yet somehow a million dollar bribe is supposed to make POTUS sit up and take notice).

Exploiting Kids. Again.

Once again the out of touch with reality team at Vegan Campaigns Limited are using children as a the face of the campaign.

Last time they used 12 year old Genesis Butler.

And, keeping with the theme of seeing how low they can go, this time around, they have decided to use a 9 year old.

Will They Do Things Differently Next Year?

While many of us hope that next year, they do something different, I an honestly say that I won’t be holding my breath for it.

Especially when you consider the comment from Million Dollar Vegan CEO, Matthew Glover, to critics of the campaign that targeted the Pope.

image sources: Facebook

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Commenting on this article is closed.
If you want to make a comment about it, head over to the forum, by following this link.

• We Are Moving23 February 2025
• Please excuse the mess17 August 2024
• Been A Long Time Between Drinks3 January 2023
• Who Gives A F*$k What James Aspey Is Doing31 January 2021
• Changes To VeganPolice.com.au2 February 2020
• Million Dollar Vegan Campaign Sinks To A New Low4 December 2019
• On Ethics1 December 2019
• Aussie Farms Lost Their “Charity” Status. What Does It Mean For “The Animals”?26 November 2019
• Why I Love To Blog8 October 2019

Over the weekend, James Aspey appeared on the Australian ABC program The Drum.

The title of the show was “The Future of Food”.

I believe that his appearance there was to support the position that we shouldn’t be eating/using other animals, and promote veganism.

One of the reasons that James used to support veganism was that it was unethical to kill someone who didn’t want to die.

A panelist, Matthew Evans, came back with a rather good response to it, and that is what I will be discussing here.

The Examples

In responding to James Aspey’s statement, Matthew gave the example of a farmer with an apple orchard who was killing possums because they were eating the apples he was growing.

He said that the farmer had lost many thousands of dollars worth of apples, this year alone.

He also gave another example of a farm that grows organic strawberries, that hires a hunter to shoot the ducks on the property.

He then said two interesting things.

There is no agriculture without an impact on animals.

And,

There are people who are shooting birds who eat the pistachios. So why is that different than rearing an animal on a farm and using it for meat?

James’ Response

James’ response was straight from the Animal Welfare 101 playbook.

Animal products are inherently cruel. Always.

He further damaged his “animal rights” position by claiming that hunters are paying people to go onto farms to shoot animals due to changes in hunting laws.

This is blatantly incorrect, and shows how little James knows about things.

Yes, there have been changes to the weapon licensing laws over recent years.

With the relevant change being the genuine reason requirement.

This means that to own a particular type of firearm, the shooter has to show a genuine reason for its possession.

One of the ways they do that is by having a letter for a land owner to say that they attend the property for “crop protection” or “vermin control”.

Matthew corrected James, by saying that it isn’t hunting, it is “crop protection”, James acknowledges it, and drops it.

What Was Wrong With His Response?

Now, remember, James Aspey appeared on the show as an animal rights activist.

Therefore, it isn’t likely to be too much of a stretch to expect him to make some sort of statement that relates to the rights of other animals.

And how animal agriculture is ignoring those rights.

Except he didn’t.

Instead he talked about being vegan as being ethical and healthy.

Which, gave the panel the opportunity to throw in their own counter arguments.

Which means that if James had have lead with an animal rights statement, there wouldn’t have been room for them to bring up ethics, health, or anything else.

What He Should Have Said

Right from the start, James should have said that he is there to further the position of other animals having moral rights, which are ignored as soon as they are considered a resource.

This means that it doesn’t matter how many improvements you make, or how much an industry is reformed, the mere fact that there is an “industry” indicates that the animal’s right not to be considered property is being ignored.

This puts the focus back on the animals, and whether “we” believe they have rights or not.

If we accept they do, then we need to do what we can to make sure those rights are respected and not violated.

If we don’t, and there will be those who say they don’t, then why should it matter how they are treated?

A car or house doesn’t have any rights, which is why no one complains about how they are treated, used or abused.

A Lesson For All Of Us

There is a lesson that we can all, and should learn from James’ appearance.

And, that is the media will always stack programs to be in favour of whatever agenda it is they are pushing.

The other thing we really need to remember, and pay close attention to, is how we can end up off track if we start promoting “ethics” or “health” as a unique benefit of veganism.

Rather than falling into that trap, our focus should be on be on the simple message of other animals having rights.

Not how they are treated.

Not whether the treatment can be improved.

Only that they have rights which we are ignoring by using them as a resource.

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Commenting on this article is closed.
If you want to make a comment about it, head over to the forum, by following this link.

• We Are Moving23 February 2025
• Please excuse the mess17 August 2024
• Been A Long Time Between Drinks3 January 2023
• Who Gives A F*$k What James Aspey Is Doing31 January 2021
• Changes To VeganPolice.com.au2 February 2020
• Million Dollar Vegan Campaign Sinks To A New Low4 December 2019
• On Ethics1 December 2019
• Aussie Farms Lost Their “Charity” Status. What Does It Mean For “The Animals”?26 November 2019
• Why I Love To Blog8 October 2019

Unless you were somewhere that didn’t have the internet the past week, you are bound to have heard the news that the group “Aussie Farms inc” lost their “charity” status with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).

What does this really mean, and what impact will it have for *the animals”?

What Is “Charity Status” Anyway?

For those who came in late, when a not-for-profit organisation has charity status, it means they are given certain exemptions from the Australian Tax Office.

Organisations registered with the ACNC are able to apply for an exemption to things like income tax, fringe benefit tax, deductible gift register, GST concessions, and so on.

In the case of Aussie Farms inc. they were granted an income tax exemption.

Which has now been revoked.

Why Was It Revoked?

Despite what the media says, the reasons for Aussie Farms inc’s charity status being revoked remain confidential.

For all we know, it could have been revoked because the actions of the organisation aren’t inline with their charitable purpose.

For example, in every document that Chris and Aussie Farms submit to government, they claim they are an animal rights organisation.

Yet, their stated and approved charitable purpose is the “preventing or relieving the suffering of animals”.

And, don’t expect Chris Delforce to tell us why it was revoked either.

What Does It All Mean?

When everything is said and done, losing charity status doesn’t really mean anything.

From now on, they will have to report their income, and pay tax on any profit.

Though in terms of transparency and accountability, having their charity status revoked is likely to be a blessing in disguise for Chris.

Now he can run the organisation any way he wants to.

There is no accountability or transparency for how the money raised is spent.

He doesn’t have to play nice (not that he ever did), and is free to continue misleading everyone about what Aussie Farms inc actually does.

Will It Hurt “The Animals”?

Well considering that there wasn’t anything that Aussie Farms did that actually helped, “the animals”, losing charity status is unlikely to have any negative impact on them.

Remember, Chris and Aussie Farms have NEVER campaigned for other animals to have their rights acknowledged and respected.

All he has ever done is wanted the consumer to know how the item they are about to consume was produced.

Considering the damage that he has done to the actual animal rights movement, and veganism in general, maybe having their charity status revoked is actually a good thing “for the animals”…

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If you think it is worth a cup of coffee, you can shout the author one.

Commenting on this article is closed.
If you want to make a comment about it, head over to the forum, by following this link.

• We Are Moving23 February 2025
• Please excuse the mess17 August 2024
• Been A Long Time Between Drinks3 January 2023
• Who Gives A F*$k What James Aspey Is Doing31 January 2021
• Changes To VeganPolice.com.au2 February 2020
• Million Dollar Vegan Campaign Sinks To A New Low4 December 2019
• On Ethics1 December 2019
• Aussie Farms Lost Their “Charity” Status. What Does It Mean For “The Animals”?26 November 2019
• Why I Love To Blog8 October 2019

I am a huge fan of blogging.

Not only do I recommend this as the preferred and default activism method that we should be using, I also think that it is the best way for us to learn more about this movement, and “the animals”.

As it has been awhile since I published a blog post of any sort, I thought I would use this one share with you some of the reasons why I love to blog.

Get Material From Everywhere

One of the reasons I hear people give for not starting a blog is that they don’t know what to write about.

While this is perfectly understandable when you first start out, it won’t be like that for long.

The more that you blog, and the more serious you get about it, the more you will find inspiration everywhere.

You could write a blog post about a conversation you have had with someone recently, or about a question you keep getting asked.

You could even write a blog post about something you want to share with the world, or you wish people knew.

Learning Never Stops

A common trap that many people fall into is wanting their message to appeal to everyone.

It won’t and shouldn’t.

Trying to make it appeal to everyone will be the quickest way to make sure that it appeals to no one.

This was something that I learnt early on in my blogging life.

Depending on what sort of blog you want to create, you will need to do some research into what you are writing about.

I can say that since I have been blogging that my knowledge on veganism and animal rights has increased substantially.

Along with that is a better understanding of marketing, negotiations and why people do the things that they do.

Challenges The Comfort Zone

One thing that blogging does, is challenge your comfort zone.

Unlike standing on a corner handing out leaflets, or wearing a mask, the things that you put online will be there forever.

For example, here is a Wayback Machine archive of something I wrote in 2007.

This really does push the limits of your comfort zone.

Though, once you get through it, you will realise that it wasn’t that bad after all.

Encourages Personal Growth

Inline with the Learning Never Stops above, is that blogging fosters personal growth too.

While I started off blogging about vegan related things, there are other blogs that I write too.

Which I probably wouldn’t have considered if I hadn’t started this blog.

This then leads into learning more about blogging, reader engagement, and so on.

I have even gone as far as helping others to set up their own blogs.

Once again, something that I wouldn’t have thought of doing if I hadn’t set up my own blog in the first place.

While these aren’t all of the reasons why I love to blog, they are some of them.

And I am sure that you will have more, and possibly other reasons.

The main thing you need to do is get out there and start blogging.

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels

• We Are Moving23 February 2025
• Please excuse the mess17 August 2024
• Been A Long Time Between Drinks3 January 2023
• Who Gives A F*$k What James Aspey Is Doing31 January 2021
• Changes To VeganPolice.com.au2 February 2020
• Million Dollar Vegan Campaign Sinks To A New Low4 December 2019
• On Ethics1 December 2019
• Aussie Farms Lost Their “Charity” Status. What Does It Mean For “The Animals”?26 November 2019
• Why I Love To Blog8 October 2019

Doing outreach is promoted as one of the most effective ways to “convert” people to veganism.

More often than not, this outreach takes the form of some sort of physical activity. Usually in a fixed location showing they can be either deliberately gruesome footage to entice people to having a “conversation” or brochures and leaflets displayed in a market stall or similar.

Unfortunately both of these options are labour intensive, and depending on your circumstances, there may be financial restrictions too.

An Easier Way

Thankfully, there is an easier way to do outreach.

One that isn’t labour intensive, or require a high financial outlay to start.

And, that is blogging.

With blogging, depending on the service you use, all you really need to start is a computer an an idea.

With blogging, you don’t need to get dressed, drive anywhere, and then stand around for hours.

You can write and publish a blog post from your smart phone, a tablet, or computer.

There is even the ability to publish a blog post from an email.

Easy To Set Up

With the traditional forms of “outreach”, you would most likely need to buy the following:

• TV screens
• Generator (for power)
• Laptops
• Shelter (if weather is an issue)
• A uniform
• Vehicle to transport the above
• and maybe more

If you are tabling, you would need to purchase the following:

• A gazebo or some other form of shelter
• You would obviously need the table
• Print out brochures and leaflets for the table
• Vehicle to transport the above
• Market stall fees
• and maybe more

Whereas with a blog, if you want to start out not buying anything, you can do that with an account on wordpress.com, blogspot.com, wix.com, weebly.com or even medium.com

There are heaps of places you can find public domain images that you are free to use in your posts.

All you really need is an idea of what to write.

Easy To Promote

Unlike a face to face outreach event, promoting your blog is substantially easier.

Once you have decided on a platform and name, promoting it is easy.

Unlike other forms of outreach, blogging isn’t location dependant.

You can include your blog address (url) in your email signature file.

Print it on business cards.

You could even have it printed on t-shirts, etc.

Continue Engagement

When you are doing traditional face to face outreach, once the person walks away, the conversation ends.

Unless they are motivated to seek you out the next time you are both in the same place at the same time.

Whereas with a blog, you can keep the conversation going.

This can be done with regular blog posts, an email newsletter, podcast, or combination of them.

With blog posts you can write something today, and keep referring people to that post, time and time again.

Something you can’t do with location dependant outreach.

So, what’s stopping you from starting a blog?

Commenting on this article is closed.
If you want to make a comment about it, head over to the forum, by following this link.

• We Are Moving23 February 2025
• Please excuse the mess17 August 2024
• Been A Long Time Between Drinks3 January 2023
• Who Gives A F*$k What James Aspey Is Doing31 January 2021
• Changes To VeganPolice.com.au2 February 2020
• Million Dollar Vegan Campaign Sinks To A New Low4 December 2019
• On Ethics1 December 2019
• Aussie Farms Lost Their “Charity” Status. What Does It Mean For “The Animals”?26 November 2019
• Why I Love To Blog8 October 2019