Armstrong's Butterfly bike

[sfa]

I'd like to know how all those butterfly-loving-PETA-supporting-vegans feel about the pesticides that make the veggies they eat possible? Hmmmm? And do they kill a mosquito if it's sucking on their arm? Or how about the ant crawling across their kitchen counter? And how will they ever live with themselves if they ever get stung by a honey bee? OMG - the horror of it all!

The one thing that can be said about most PETA types is that they are nearly always consistent--they are going to eat veggies grown without pesticides, they are going to let that mosquito do it's business and get on it's way, and they will use humane traps to catch any bugs in their house. All of this I know from vegan/PETA people I've met, but I've never asked about the bee sting thing. I know they don't have a problem with a death that happens in the natural order of things, and I suspect that bee stings would fall under that category (although by the same token they'd go out of their way to not piss off a bee).

Sarah

[ilima]

The one thing that can be said about most PETA types is that they are nearly always consistent--they are going to eat veggies grown without pesticides, they are going to let that mosquito do it's business and get on it's way, and they will use humane traps to catch any bugs in their house. All of this I know from vegan/PETA people I've met, but I've never asked about the bee sting thing. I know they don't have a problem with a death that happens in the natural order of things, and I suspect that bee stings would fall under that category (although by the same token they'd go out of their way to not piss off a bee).

Sarah

If they care about the honeybees that are abused to pollinate many crops, what is there left to eat?

Sorry, but if you take veganism to it's 'logical' conclusion, it becomes completely untenable. And, yes, I think PETA is run by idiots. I don't understand why seemingly (I guess "seemingly" explains it) intelligent celebrities do ads for PETA. I wouldn't touch that stinking pile of an organization with a 10 foot pole.

Steps off soapbox...

[tulip]

Kinda like Critical Mass.

[smilingcat]

not sure what to think of the butterfly bike. Is it even worth discussing the merits.

Is it art? not sure
is it shock art? perhaps. but then again I'm not an artist and can't give any intelligble thought on the matter.

As for cruelty issue?

first of all, I'm not too keen on PETA. They lack few things but seem to make up for it in their determination to be heard, to make spectacle of themselves... If you do any life cycle analysis (LCA for short) and use PETA's argument, then we do not belong on this planet.

But back to the cruelty issue. Will the "art" undermine the efforts of endangered species act, animal rights, wildlife preservation or does it highlight the plight? I don't know.

Personally, I would call this thing shock art at best, equivalent to a photo art of crucifix swirrling in a toilet bowl. Something Ronnie blasted while in office.

bike is non-sequitor for me. yawnnnn....

[divingbiker]

Wow, not sure what all the vegan-bashing is about, but I guess I'll just move on to another thread...

[tulip]

Wow, not sure what all the vegan-bashing is about, but I guess I'll just move on to another thread...

I took it as PETA-bashing, not vegan bashing. But then I just skimmed.

[GLC1968]

Wow, not sure what all the vegan-bashing is about, but I guess I'll just move on to another thread...

I was poking fun at PETA, not at vegans. Sorry. I just assume that all PETA people are vegans, but I certainly don't assume that all vegans support PETA.

[lunacycles]

Wow, not sure what all the vegan-bashing is about, but I guess I'll just move on to another thread...

+1

There's nothing wrong of being mindful of where your food, especially meat, is coming from and how it gets to your table. How we use animals in our culture is very telling of our culture, I think. Wasn't it Gandhi who said you can judge a society by how it treats its animals?

[Trek420]

Some of my best friends are vegan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc4O6v74obs

But seriously if the artist's aim was to express the transformational nature of Lance from cancer patient to TdF winner like a butterfly that could have been done without actual wings. Would it be better without? Maybe.

[GLC1968]

+1

There's nothing wrong of being mindful of where your food, especially meat, is coming from and how it gets to your table. How we use animals in our culture is very telling of our culture, I think. Wasn't it Gandhi who said you can judge a society by how it treats its animals?

Seriously - everyone who is VEGAN - I am totally not bashing you at all!!

Please understand (and yes, I am taking this a little personally) - I am so concerned about where my meat and animal products come from that I have changed my entire life and I'm now working my fingers to the bone so that I can produce this stuff myself (from happy, healthy, well-treated animals). I am the LAST person who would be putting someone down for this!!

Let me say again that I was poking fun at PETA zealots. I was NOT poking fun at those who choose not to eat meat/animal products.

[witeowl]

Wow, not sure what all the vegan-bashing is about, but I guess I'll just move on to another thread...

Actually, for me it was more "certain animal rights activists" bashing. Vegans are consistent, and PETA is often consistent. But somehow it's always the cute and/or fluffy animals that get defended in public uproars.

[sundial]

If I'm not mistaken I believe Lance has a collection of this artist's work.

[sfa]

If they care about the honeybees that are abused to pollinate many crops, what is there left to eat?

Sorry, but if you take veganism to it's 'logical' conclusion, it becomes completely untenable. And, yes, I think PETA is run by idiots. I don't understand why seemingly (I guess "seemingly" explains it) intelligent celebrities do ads for PETA. I wouldn't touch that stinking pile of an organization with a 10 foot pole.

Steps off soapbox...

Quite a bit left to eat--you can run a subsistence vegetarian farm that doesn't rely on "kept" bees.

I'm not a PETA member or a vegan or a vegetarian and I'm not going to spend a lot of time defending them (because in many ways I agree that they take things to extremes. How do they feel about antibiotics I always wonder?), but they ARE consistent.

Sarah

[MartianDestiny]

... but they ARE consistent.

I agree some are, and certainly they can be, but many are not. I've met people who are either members of PETA or have given money to them that keep dogs, cats, horses, etc as pets. They have no idea what PETA as an organization actually stands for.

I've also met vegetarians that didn't think beyond the obvious and were not consistent in their reasons. I met one a few weeks ago that bought kosher meat (apparently for friends, bbq's, her dog, but not her) because she thought kosher meant the animals were slaughtered more humanely (her personal big reason for being vegetarian). She had no clue what the different slaughtering practices were, and when I told her she was horrified that she hadn't bought "normal" meat.

Far more often than not I run into people who are not consistent/non-hypocritical than do I meet those who are, and it seems the more extreme they get and the more they pitch fits at others the less likely they are to be consistent.

Not that I feel you need to be consistent in your reasons, or even have a reason, to make a life choice that affects you and you alone. Do what you want, and more power to you, IMO. Just don't act holyier than thou and like I'm scum of the Earth and I'll gladly return the favor, thanks