Soy Fuckers--Bacon is Life!

[Moto_Myotis]

This happened at the anarchist bookfair this past weekend. I'm all about hocking a pie in the face as an element in good slapstick. But lacing the pie with copious amounts of powdered cayenne is assault. Also, as an FYI, Lierre Keith is an ex-vegan whose book is critical of the vegan diet and instead advocates a diet rich in locally-produced foods, including non factory farmed meat, sort of similar to what Michael Pollan has been advocating, if any of you have read him lately. Anyway, this made me want to eat a plate of locally-produced boar bacon from my local market. Mmmmm...bacon.

Pies-in-face attack roils anarchist-vegan world

Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

(03-16) 18:30 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- An ex-vegan who was hit with chili pepper-laced pies at an anarchist event in San Francisco said Tuesday that her assailants were cowards who should direct their herbivorous rage at the powerful - not at a fellow radical for writing a book denouncing animal-free diets.

Lierre Keith, a 45-year-old Arcata resident, was attacked at 2:15 p.m. Saturday at the 15th annual Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair while discussing her 2009 book, "The Vegetarian Myth." A 20-year vegan, Keith now argues that the diet is unhealthy and that agriculture is destroying the world.

As Keith stood at a lectern at the Hall of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, three people in masks and black hooded sweatshirts ran from backstage, shouted, "Go vegan!" and threw pies in her face. While they fled, some in the audience cheered or handed out leaflets.

The attack, midway through a 30-minute talk, was captured on a video posted to YouTube and prompted blistering debates on radical Web sites.

Many people defended Keith - or at least her right not to be attacked. Others said she was dishonest and abusive to vegans and should not have been invited by the event organizer, San Francisco's Bound Together bookstore.

Police are investigating the incident but have made no arrests, a spokesman said. Keith said she did not go to a hospital and was able to speak at a second engagement later Saturday, but had sore eyes for a few days and developed an ear infection.

"The whole thing was designed for social humiliation," said Keith, speaking Tuesday from her sister's home in Kansas. "We're supposed to be against sadism and cruelty and domination, and these people were willing to do this to me."

Keith said her values are similar in most ways to those of her attackers. She believes in militant action, even property destruction, if it can lead to change. In her book, she said, she railed against factory farming and promoted the restoration of prairies and forests.

"It's insane. My entire book is about how the world is being destroyed," Keith said. She said the first pie hit her just after she uttered the sentence, "You should not eat factory-farmed meat."

Among those rejoicing in the pie attack was the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, which often prints communiques from activists taking credit for attacks on animal researchers.

The group said Keith was wrong about veganism, referred to her as an "animal holocaust denier," and scolded her for calling the "agents of state oppression" - the police.

Her assailants were "masked marvels" who "made their statement very eloquently and succinctly on behalf of the billions of animals she advocates killing," the group said.

Keith said the attack appeared to have been planned on Internet sites dedicated to veganism. She called it a case of infighting that harmed activist causes.

"If this is what is considered radical action," she said, "this movement is dead."

E-mail Demian Bulwa at dbulwa@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... 1CGM1H.DTL

[Ban Guzzi]

HIPPY FIGHT!!!

Seriously though, that is just dumb. I've tried vegatarian for years and fell to a cheesburger. meh.

Vegan will soon be out of favor with the young and hip. Vegan, L.U.G., etc...

It was pie. Almost everyone over reacted. Animal holocaust?! Talk about trivializing for shock value!

Of course, I'm all for chasing down and eating what you catch. Even the long pork. Too many of those running around for my taste....that particular herd needs thinning...

[Moto_Myotis]

It wasn't just pie. It was pie laced with cayenne, which is pretty similar to pepper spray mousse. Yeah, I'm sure that sucked. I also used to be vegan, and I respect my friends for whom vegetarianism and veganism is a strong ethical issue. Hell, I have
my own share of strong ethical issues, but I tend to share them with others through example, even through vibrant discussion, but never through self righteousness or coersion.

[GeekGrl]

I haven't read her book, but now I want to (thanks MM for posting about this!). Although I have been a strict vegetarian (but not vegan - mmm, cheese! brie, chevre, feta ... ) for over 20 years, I have absolutely no issue with people who eat meat; but I do advocate environmentally responsible practices for bringing said meat to to your stomach (e.g., not eating meat pumped full of hormones and antibiotics so they can be fed a cheaper diet that is unnatural and unhealthy to the animal). Humans are omnivores, after all. My choice to be a strict vegetarian is based in part because I simply don't like meat, but it is a *personal* choice, and not something I would push on anyone else.

Veganism IS unhealthy especially if you fail to add in vitamin and mineral supplements. There are essential nutrients (to be healthy) that are virtually impossible to acquire (in sufficient quantities) in a truly vegan diet. But shhhhh, don't tell the radical fashion vegans that many of the supplements they're taking use gelatin!

[Shhted]

I had a loonie room mate in college who feigned Veganism yet would sit down on my couch and devour a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Her justification was that Ben and Jerry did positive things for the earth. I never understood that gal.

[Jaeger]

I never understood that gal.

On the contrary, sounds like you understood her just fine -- she was either a hypocrite or not a vegan, that's understanding.

--Jaeger

[Ban Guzzi]

I never understood that gal.

On the contrary, sounds like you understood her just fine -- she was either a hypocrite or not a vegan, that's understanding.

--Jaeger

I always liked the vegetarians who ate chicken or fish but were Vegetarian! Dammit!

[goose]

I love that there was an anarchist convention. Anarchists unite! . . . and form a government.

Radicals, god luvem, always at odds with . . . well, everything . . . . right up until the hypocrisy arrives. Being violent to an animal (pie laced with pepper in the face of a human) in order to stop violence to animals. Fucking Classic.

[Drift]

I love that there was an anarchist convention. Anarchists unite! . . . and form a government.

I was thinking, hmmmm wonder how they got that organized?

[Moto_Myotis]

I have to chime in here because I'm somewhat of a historian on American anarchism. At its roots, anarchism was a branch of early socialist movements in Europe. Early anarchists came from similar roots as Marx and Engels, except that anarchists added a critique of government to Marx' critique of class (an oversimplification, but it gets to the point). Anyway, being against government doesn't mean being against groups or organizations (or the small, collectively run bookstore in SF that puts on the anarchist bookfair every year).

I also beg to differ from Goose that radicals are against everything. There is a strong and vibrant history of anarchist organization worldwide. And there is a strong history of anarchist unions, collectives, schools, communes, farms, etc., (and most of this history is pre-1960's, so don't get your panties all up in a bunch about hippies and that shit).

[UndertheGun]

Thanks for that clarification, Robin. I always having a hard time explaining anarchism to anyone who isn't familiar with the history of it. Thats as about as concise as I've seen a simple explanation of anarchism.

This bugs me. I realize that veganism is presumed to be the high ground by many radicals when it comes to a personal response to being addressing all the consumption evils we find in this society; it certainly isn't a very nuanced approach when people feel they need to employ black bloc tactics against someone who is advocating for a deeper evaluation of how we consume. Stupid. Almost as bad as the anti-intellectualism of the teabaggers.

[Zer0]

"animal holocaust denier,"

[Toonce(s)]

"If man was not meant to eat meat, why do animals taste so good?"