#you don't see made in usa items often because they're TOO FUCKING EXPENSIVE

[flying-cat]

what is the obsession with made in usa shit it's literally going to be more expensive and with the fucking problem of nobody being able to afford anything I DON'T THINK WE NEED MORE EXPENSIVE RIGHT NOW

[ramshacklefey]

Dear Person who Loves Hating on Veganism,

Not all vegans are white, USian, or wealthy. In fact, those demographics aren't remotely representative of people who practice veganism.

Most vegans aren't obnoxious fucking idiots, and we hate the idiots as much as you. They're just louder, and people see them because they're obnoxious fucking idiots who won't shut the fuck up.

We're very aware of the fact that the agribusiness industry exploits and abuses workers who are disproportionately immigrants and people of color. There's a big overlap between people who are vegan and people who try to buy local produce that we can confirm is made ethically. Unfortunately, this is expensive, and see above point about most vegans not being wealthy.

It's impossible to buy fucking anything these days without it being made by exploited workers. It is possible to avoid buying products that are produced by both worker exploitation and unimaginable cruelty to animals. Harm reduction.

Many of us also try to avoid buying stuff (Palm oil, quinoa, etc) that causes massive ecological harm.

Vegan "replacements" for animal products are not necessary for being vegan.

We know that eating eggs doesn't hurt chickens, that taking wool doesn't hurt sheep, and that eating dairy doesn't hurt the animals it comes from. Those of us who aren't idiots are fine with animal products that come from animals who are well-treated.

The animals that produce eggs, wool, and dairy for mass consumption live in conditions that would be illegal to keep a pet in.

Opinions vary on killing animals for meat if they're otherwise well-treated through their lives.

Eating vegan is straight up cheaper than not as long as you don't insist on buying luxury items to replace every single animal product in your diet.

Plant-based milk is only more expensive than dairy in the USA because of the extent to which the US government subsides the dairy industry.

The amount of meat that USians eat is fucking insane, unhealthy, and ecologically unsustainable. If we enacted laws that required farmers to give their animals the space and care needed for them to be remotely healthy and kept up the current rate of meat and dairy production, something like 70% of the available arable land in the country would be going to animal farming.

Cattle farming is the largest source of methane emissions on the planet. Methane is far more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. Reducing cattle farming would have a huge impact on global warming.

Humans are not carnivores. We aren't even omnivores, strictly speaking. We are primarily frugivores with a limited ability to digest animal products.

There is no nutritional benefit you get from animal products that is not available from plant-based food. Often, your body will obtain the nutrients more readily and efficiently from plants than from animal products.

The only exception to this I'm aware of is vitamin B12. This is because this vitamin doesn't come directly from plants, but from the soil they grow in, and most plants are washed too thoroughly and grown in unhealthy soil. Vitamin supplements can easily replace this.

There are innumerable health benefits to plant-based diets, even if you aren't fully vegan.

Most of us have pets. Most of us support caring, sustainable animal husbandry.

Whether or not you are vegan, you should, imo, be aware of the reality of how the animals you consume are treated. What you do with that information is your own business.

We would also like to launch PETA into the fucking sun.

Sincerely,

A Vegan Who Is Fucking Tired of This Bullshit.

[wyrmoffastring]

People often don't understand that creators online who have a lot of shit to deal with irl are in a cache 22 situation.

They're not getting out enough content, or finishing projects on time not because they aren't capable of doing that, but because their time and mental capacity is taken up with the bullshit they deal with. If you accommodate that disability and/or remove the issues a person struggles with.

These things are very often solved with objects btw. Just things you can buy. Some examples:

artist with mobility issues can get supplies better once they obtain an extremely expensive wheelchair, because they can now personally make their way to the art store and pick exactly what they need, without relying on someone or hoping the store's online website describes items correctly

a non-verbal (deaf, autistic, etc) person who got a decently new smartphone can now use text to speech apps that didn't work on their old one due to the old version of the OS being unsupported

a person with limited use of their hands can better write the book they were working on with a keyboard designed for their type of disability (hi this is me, y'all have no fucking clue how expensive these are, the cheapest I could get that would work for me is $150 and I'm in Eastern Europe, that's like half our food budget for a family of 2)

same person can also make art on a pen display that's appropriately large and mobile so it can be adjusted and that lets them not use their wrist at all when they draw, so their hands don't hurt like shit after 20 minutes (hi, me again, I love my iPad but it's not viable for actual work for me anymore because disabilities progress with age)

a person with a lot of health issues that needed to be paid for out of pocket can now just live their life more and work without being curled up and in pain instead of writing the story they want to write (OP of this post, several friends of mine, basically most disabled people in the USA)

Sadly, because disability is often extremely specific to each person and because we live in a capitalist hellscape, we need to seek out our own accommodations, which are always expensive. This is especially hard when you're a creative, too. People expect you to suffer for your art because of bullshit mythology around artists like Van Gogh who didn't produce art when he was suffering by the way, he made his best pieces while he was receiving care and had his bills paid. So whenever we seek out accommodation in order to create better and create more, we hear "well you barely create now so why would we help you? Why should we believe that you'll do more once you had help?"

Because we make art now. Because we make art despite our pain and circumstances. We could do more if someone helped us remove that pain.

But people who aren't in our situation don't see it this way because they feel like they need a return on an investment. Because we learned to live wrong. We learned that if we give someone something, it's only so that they can give something back. And we're stuck in this bullshit and any time someone wants to actually participate in this fucked up system all they hear is "well you need to prove you're worthy first and right now you're a burden."

So we just stay a burden and use up all the energy we have left to try and prove we're not.

And it's never enough.

And god forbid you get better for a time, people start supporting your work, and then you get worse. Then you've failed. You're proof of why we can't trust people like you and why we shouldn't give you money.

Because helped you to get shit out of you.

I think you need to carefully consider the amount of work you are willing to take on. If you accept ko-fi backers, you will have a genuine ethical obligation to them — to power through and fulfill your tier promises, even if you have low motivation, life problems, etc. To be perfectly honest, I don't think it would be a wise idea.

You are right, but the Captain of Köpenick level conundrum is that getting proper kofi/patreon support would help me with so many of my irl troubles.