Ooh here he goes

He's a plant eater [[this blog is run by a trans man & recovered anorexic. transphobes & fat shamers blocked on sight. ACAB]]

[himbrugers]

Since I realised you can pin posts on tumblr, here’s mine!

I don’t use this blog a lot (as I’m sure those of you who follow me are aware) because I spend too much time arguing with carnists elsewhere online. I don’t have an online “brand” and am not a big fan of inter-connecting all my social accounts, but if you do ferret me out elsewhere feel free to say hello.

I still get a lot of messages and notes, but I don’t actively engage in vegan discourse on here on a daily basis, at least not currently. I really appreciate discussions happening in the notes of my posts, but don’t be surprised if you @ me or try to involve me and don’t immediately hear back (or sometimes don’t hear back at all).

I’m more likely to check/respond to private messages than the notes on a post since some of my older posts still get a fair amount of interaction, so if there’s something you really want to bring to my attention or discuss, feel free to reach out!

Stay safe and wear masks.

[veganshoechoe]

We vegans actually sat and discussed you, individual with health problems that require you to eat meat or you'll die. Yeah, we decided that you, specifically, should starve. No one else though. Just you

[himbrugers]

hUmaNs aRe paRt of thE eCosYstem

[himbrugers]

It’s obviously easy to talk brave when you don’t have to back it up, but I honestly think that if someone told me I was very sick and the only way to heal me was to torture a couple thousand animals to death in lab conditions I would accept that my time had come.

People will say shit like “there’s no alternative to animal testing for medical advancement” well yeah there is. Either

a) recruit human volunteers who can consent and be compensated

b) accept that it’s not going to get better than this. We’ll never see an average life expectancy of well over 80, and most of us will eventually die of cancer

[himbrugers]

At the level of veganism where if someone shares a humorously humanising story but they’re eating meat in it I fail to relate to them on the most basic level

[pontiuspilatesprincess]

The bizarre negativity directed towards vegetarians and vegans on this site really confirms how like, half of the Discourse on here is just preemptive avoidance of personal shame

[himbrugers]

At this point, my random office job is more positive towards vegans than the user base of tumblr.com

I remember turning down cake by saying “no thank you, I’m vegan” and bracing for the inevitable bullshit discussions and deflections of responsibility, and the guy just said “oh, that’s cool! Sorry about the cake. I think veganism is becoming more popular though, I’m sure next time there’ll be cake for you.”

[veganfairylights]

just saw this tumblr post about a fishing competition and it just made me so sad

sure. having a hook inserted into your mouth, being pulled out of the water on that hook, being tossed around and weighed only to get thrown back in... how considerate.

fish feel pain. imagine doing this to a seal. oh how big the outcry would be. how cruel. but no, it's fine when it's fish. they're too stupid, they can't feel anything anyway. keep telling yourself that, just like you keep telling yourself that this is showing appreciation for the animals.

[grooseswife]

The area where hooks are inserted rarely have enough nerves to cause pain to the fish

[veganfairylights]

"Rarely". So you admit yourself that it CAN cause pain, and that's okay to you?

Besides, there is genuine evidence that fish do feel pain in their lips.

Not to mention the injuries it can cause to a fish's eye, gills or other body part. Or the physiological stress that getting caught and then released causes.

A meta study from 2005 found that roughly 18% of fish die after being released.

I simply do not understand why catch and release is even a thing. Just leave them alone.

[himbrugers]

The whole “consideration/respect for the animal” bullshit most hunters tell themselves and each other is so cringe. Respecting a wild animal means leaving them alone or admiring them from a distance.

And wrt “oh fish don’t have a lot of nerves in their mouth”, okay so if I punch a sharp hook through your earlobe, rip it out and then throw you out in the street that’s totally cool? Because it’s for the serendipity of friendship and besides totally considerate? Sure there’s a chance I might miss and take out your eye or rip off your ear but like. In a considerate manner. Don’t worry about it

[himbrugers]

Funny how people will cry about “the dangers of anthropomorphism” when they feel their chicken nuggies, choccy milk or other animal-based entertainment is threatened, but talk about how they “asked ChatGPT” or “talked to ChatGPT”

[himbrugers]

Level I’m at tbh

[himbrugers]

Yearly reminder that if and whenever you light fireworks, I am wishing you dead specifically

[explosionshark]

The ppl on this website have always been like 'you must love and be kind to every little animal even bugs and worms uWu' but also like 'vegans are so stupid and also not eating animals is racist they should just get over it'

And I think you can see how silly it is the moment it conflicts with some other more widely recognized moral standpoint. Like, of course veganism isn't problematic or harmful if it's religiously motivated or for health reasons, but for some reason if you abstain from animal products because you think it's wrong to use animals like that YOU'RE KILLING THE PLANET WITH CHILD SLAVE QUINOA AND ALMOND GROVES AND FAKE LEATHER and it's like. Chilllll ouuuuuttttt. If you wanna talk about numbers I'll send you some links but after 10+ years on Tumblr I know better than to start arguing with people who are already committed to not understanding me.

[blurds]

Grackle with Chip

[silic0n0asis-deactivated2025041]

i can't decide whether this is an inspiring act of recycling in our necrotic trashed world or a depressing case study of what people have so avariciously wrought

[blurds]

I can actually answer this one. Grackles, like pigeons and crows, are thoroughly adapted to urban environments. Parking lots are where you're most likely to find them and this is largely how they eat. So what you're looking at here is the operation of an ecosystem, of which you, a human being, are a part. Everything you see around you is the product of the human animal inhabiting its environmental niche and other species adapting to the changes this creates. The process is no more necrotic than an anthill and no more avaricious than virginia creeper. The world will continue long after we are gone.

[himbrugers]

The “thoroughly adapted” part is untrue especially with regards to pigeons. Pigeons, like many other birds found in most urban areas obviously do eat trash and food scraps, but those things do not cover their dietary needs. Plenty of animals also eat plastic waste – that doesn’t mean it won’t kill them.

From the German humane society:

Pigeons in cities are usually on their own and have to cope with harsh living conditions. The food available - waste and food scraps from uncovered garbage cans, snack bars and schoolyards - is neither sufficient nor species-appropriate for the large number of animals. In some cities, people scatter wheat, rice, birdseed and maize. But even this food is often not enough to completely cover the pigeons' nutritional requirements. In addition, the food can spoil quickly depending on the weather or due to contamination. The result is malnutrition, which manifests itself in the thin "starvation droppings" that annoy many people.

The framing of humans as simply another animal “inhabiting an environmental niche” and other animals perfectly adapting to us is wild. Humans are solely responsible for the extinction of countless species of animals, because we don’t inhabit a niche, we shape the world to our own needs and interests with brute force.

It’s a small comfort that there will indeed be other species after we’re gone – but how many will die and suffer before then?

[1eos]

'80 degrees in november we're cooked' and yet you still use chatgpt as a search engine

[budcortofficial]

I agree with the idea of this post, which I understand to be: individuals have agency and should, when possible, make some behavioral changes to lessen their climate impact, even if it means losing some convenience.

However, I find that an overwhelming majority of people I talk to don't have an accurate sense of what things create the most greenhouse gas emissions, and I fear that the (understandable) skepticism of AI is contributing to that.

Like I work in a community engagement role promoting specific climate solutions and when I ask people what they can do to address climate change they usually tell me things like "recycle, compost, eat local," and I don't want to disparage those activities, BUT,,, The majority of emissions comes from the transportation you take, the power we generate, and heating and cooling buildings. Full stop. The rest of emissions producing activities are not in the same ballpark. Emissions from power generation are rapidly decreasing and will continue to do so. Transportation emissions are still increasing.

Yes, data centers required to power AI are a large energy user, but if you calculated that energy use on a per user basis, I'm confident you could use AI every day for the rest of your life and still net out with negative emissions if you avoided one airplane trip and took a train instead.

All I am trying to get across here is I would like to see people be more curious and analytical about learning where their climate impact really lies, and to be more thoughtful around how they are communicating around this.

[himbrugers]

I think the problem is that all these “smaller things” add up indefinitely. Almost every post about climate-conscious choices eventually devolves into “well I agree that [choice] isn’t great, but [other, completely unrelated choice] is so much worse” with the implication being “you can have a little [choice] as a treat because it’s not [unrelated choice]”.

Taken individually, they’re all reasonable statements, but none of them truly occur individually.

“AI consumes resources, but it’s not as bad as taking a plane ride” is obviously true, but so is “Eating exotic imported fruits consumes resources, but it’s not as bad as taking a plane ride” and “Consuming a lot of plastic-packaged goods consumes resources, but it’s not as bad as taking a plane ride” and “Eating meat for dinner consumes resources, but it’s not as bad as taking a plane ride”, until eventually you’re on your way of undoing a lot of the good you’re doing by choosing climate-friendly transportation.

Add to that that almost nobody approaches their own climate impact in terms of “I get to do [harmful activity] but I’m forgoing [other harmful activiry] instead.” Most people use genAI and buy plane tickets and eat meat and stream shows and use air conditioning and buy plastic. By downplaying the negative impacts of the many little decisions we make every day, you inevitably downplay the impact they all make taken together.

[himbrugers]

“The end of another animal so that I may live one more day” … why do carnists talk Like That. Furthering my theory that eating animals simply infuses you with cringe.

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

Not to be a killjoy (though it is what I do best) but the unsafe and rough handling of a baby Pygmy hippo in a pretty substandard Thai zoo being meme-ed into something funny and cute really shows just how much groupthink plays into public perception of animal welfare.

Moo Deng shows avoidance, threat displays and stress around her keepers that are constantly man-handling her, blasting her with a hose and harassing her. The enclosure is mostly concrete, which is horrible for her soft feet. There looks to be some substrate but there doesn’t seem to be any areas for wallowing or deep water wading.

There’s also very easy access of this hippo to the public with no places to hide. I’d love if someone could shed more light on the enclosures but from what I’ve seen it’s not great.

Also the free contact and forcing into tubs that the keepers do is only going to create an avoidant and potentially aggressive and dangerous Pygmy hippo.

But the public happily overlook that because she’s cute. It’s a similar attitude with seals too.

Stop rewarding bad husbandry with clout. Baby animals deserve agency and respect and to grow up without getting harassed and feeling the need to defend themselves constantly.

[himbrugers]

All squabbling back and forth over whether or not sheep are harmed for wool production (they are, but that’s not the point) or whether it’s bad for your backyard chickens if you eat their eggs is so pointless.

Maybe you simply aren’t entitled to the body or labour of another living creature just because you can take it by force. That’s really all there is to say.

[himbrugers]

Everyone on social media is so incredibly smug talking about H5N1 and “have we learned nothing from Covid” while guzzling the animal products that are behind yet another zoonotic disease.