"Why Don't You Debate 'Ask Yourself'?" [Q&A]

07 April 2018 [YT link]

Link to the short text mentioned, "Giving advice to a suicidal (long-time) viewer."

http://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.ca/2018/04/giving-advice-to-suicidal-long-time.html



In case you didn't see it, BTW, this is very much a sequel to the video immediately prior: "Ask Yourself's Vegan Bloodsport: A Failed Paradigm." https://youtu.be/Hb1ZnBIX-2E

It's about money: vegan suicide shooter attacks youtube HQ.

05 April 2018 [YT link]

A vegan, Iranian, Bahai youtuber (and animal rights activist) recently engaged in a shooting spree at Youtube headquarters, concluding with her own suicide. However, this was not "a vegan protest", nor an act of "vegan terrorism": her grievance was, fundamentally, about money.

https://www.theguardian.pe.ca/news/youtube-shooters-bizarre-videos-key-to-suspected-motive-199261/



And yeah, implicit in the discussion of finances in this very video, is this: I have 9,000 subscribers on Youtube, and maybe 400 twitter followers, but only 130 donors (paying $1 each, monthly) supporting the channel on Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel/posts

Street Protest vs. Stand Up Comedy (25 min. discussion)

05 April 2018 [YT link]

A conversation about activism and outreach with "Vegan Called Quest" (who has a youtube channel, and is also known for live-streaming on younow).

https://www.youtube.com/user/Taizembe/videos

Sargon is WRONG: Why Everyone is Joining the Left.

05 April 2018 [YT link]

Sargon of Akkad, previously, made a video entitled, "Why is Everyone Leaving the Left?", and here's the link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdvMt2Orv6k



The title of this video is, of course, somewhat self-referential: I'd prefer not to be "Left", but I basically have no choice (definitely not in Canada!), and, thus, I'm an example of someone "joining the left" myself, despite (e.g.) my prior video entitled, "Why I am not Left Wing". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAqkFFCVslE

ⓐⓡ⊞ⓘⓞ Lindsay Shepherd's "GOODBYE TO THE LEFT".

03 April 2018 [YT link]

I'm launching a new channel, all of the videos will be on politics and political philosophy, basically: ⓐⓡ⊞ⓘⓞ

https://www.youtube.com/c/ActiveResearchInformedOpinion/videos

^ Yeah, you can click the link to find out what the acronym AR+IO stands for, hm? ;-)

The Meaning of Life: Against Anti-Natalism (Sam Harris, David Benatar, Inmendham)

03 April 2018 [YT link]

A reply to a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel

It costs $1 per month.



I suppose I'm coining the term "Lunarism" to indicate the (sometimes explicit) view of David Benatar and Inmendham that the lifelessness of the surface of the moon is preferable (and morally superior) to the cycle of suffering entailed by the earth's ecology (whether we think of this in terms of wild animals in the forest, or in the ocean… or the life of a human intellectual sitting with a stack of books at a desk).

[华人文化] The Future of Veganism Ain't Nostalgia for Feudalism.

02 April 2018 [YT link]

Speaking on veganism in a Chinese cultural context, in which the legacy of Buddhism makes many of the tropes familiar (compassion, non-violence, etc.) —perhaps too familiar. A reply to a question from a Patreon supporter, paying $1 a month to support the channel:

https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel

Veganism is not a revolutionary cause: it's principled but moderate.

01 April 2018 [YT link]

The subtitle could be: "Why I'm never working with Harrison Nathan (again)." Many vegans feel more comfortable with a sort of edgy misrepresentation of veganism as "extreme", "liberating" and "revolutionary" —they're more comfortable with those lies and exaggerations than they are dealing with the cause being as moderate as it really is. :-/ Lousy synopsis, I know: working from examples, I think I do a better of explaining what I'm on about in the video.

Jordan Reichert: vegans wouldn't let me join a SILENT protest!

31 March 2018 [YT link]

Jordan Reichert is a vegan activist here in Victoria, B.C., Canada… and, yeah, I'm a vegan activist who just recently returned after living in China for about two years.

Ken Saviour: Satire "vs." Vegan Activism.

31 March 2018 [YT link]

You can find Ken Savior on Facebook (unlike myself: to talk to me, you have to join Patreon): https://www.facebook.com/kenthesaviour

The main video (from my own past, on this channel) alluded to is "Permanent Vacation 2… this time, it's personal!" —still a banging video (I watched it again while editing and uploading). ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iATn3GsnOqA



Footnote: the American spelling of the word is "Savior", and the British spelling is "Saviour". :-/

Farting: Why Vegans Quit Veganism (Indigestion & Ethics)

30 March 2018 [YT link]

"You can't have an ethical movement that requires people to be flatulent 24 hours a day: do you want to be ethically right, or do you want to be farting all day?" The ex-vegan phenomenon has several recurring patterns: one is the ethical vegan who just can't make the diet work in terms of digestion, indigestion and flatulence.

WHY I STOPPED BEING VEGAN AFTER 10 YEARS

28 March 2018 [YT link]

Blaire White: Ex-Vegan.



Here's the link to the video I'm responding to: WHY I STOPPED BEING VEGAN AFTER 10 YEARS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io7oKs9B8UU

DxE is Anti-Vegan: they lied about it, and it still matters.

26 March 2018 [YT link]

DxE is an abbreviation for "Direct Action Everywhere". To hear the full conversation quoted here, cf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZFJZOfH5iQ

This youtube channel does, indeed, have a whole playlist of videos criticizing DxE, and, sadly, we're not running out of material to criticize:

https://www.youtube.com/user/HeiJinZhengZhi/playlists

Vegan Food is Overpriced (really, most of it, in 2018)

25 March 2018 [YT link]

This video is not about the excuse offered by some meat eaters that they imagine a vegan diet would be more expensive… it is, instead, about the doleful reality that vegans themselves live with: rip-off food prices. Sadly, meat eaters are not wrong to regard the word "vegan" (where it appears on a label) as a pretext to raise prices: as with "organic" and "gluten free", that is too often the case.

Why I Hate Vegans & Why Vegans Hate Me.

24 March 2018 [YT link]

A conversation with Delphine Leardini: another example of my receiving fan-mail that quickly turns to hate-mail (from an admirer who seemingly instantly ceases to admire me).

How to Get High Grades in University/College.

23 March 2018 [YT link]

Yeah, I could have put "Easy!" in the title and gotten more viewers… but c'mon… this is education, not entertainment: it shouldn't be easy, even if it is. The thumbnail for this video shows my grades from my first year at UVic (the Chinese language course counted as two classes) and I've posted the image on Twitter and Patreon, in case you wanted to get a closer look:

http://twitter.com/eiselmazard

https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel

"The essay that brought us together" (circa @2:00) about a massacre in 1920 (involving Russia, Japan and China) is here:

https://medium.com/@eiselmazard/1920-the-other-russo-japanese-war-70deb2972c42

This video is part of the longest-running playlist on this channel: "ADVICE NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR!"

https://www.youtube.com/user/HeiJinZhengZhi/playlists

Cancer: Vegans are Lying to You (vs. Mic the Vegan)

22 March 2018 [YT link]

The earlier video mentioned (vs. Mic the Vegan) is: "Mic the Vegan IS WRONG: Brain Damage from THC." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUbyVBi8Ams

The source of the 15% statistic is: *"Vegetarian, vegan diets and multiple health outcomes: A systematic review with meta-analysis of observational studies."*

[Authors:] Dinu M, Abbate R, Gensini GF, Casini A, Sofi F.

Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2017 Nov 22;57(17):3640-3649. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2016.1138447.

PMID: 26853923 DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2016.1138447

The Problem with Vegan Gains: Gun Control and Self Control.

19 March 2018 [YT link]

The Election of Jordan Reichert: Vegan, Animal Rights Activist.

18 March 2018 [YT link]

www.jordanreichert.ca/

^ Currently, the text on this website reads: "Make history. Vote for Victoria’s first representative for animals on city council. It is my view that the moral baseline of our society is measured by its treatment of those most vulnerable within it. In Canada, no individuals are more vulnerable than non-human animals. They are defined as property under the Canadian Criminal Code, they lack recognition as contributing members of society, and their forms of communication are invalidated as of a lesser kind than human communication in normative social discourse."

THAT'S THE PLATFORM YOU'RE RUNNING FOR ELECTION ON???

Compromise: A False Idol. (vegan / vegans / veganism)

18 March 2018 [YT link]

A vegan asks, "What do I say if my parents ask me to compromise, i.e., eating meat just a few times a year…" —and I give practical advice on how to answer this request, with, also, a brief reflection on "the false god" of compromise itself.

Vegan Politics: Co-Opting and Being Co-Opted by the Left.

18 March 2018 [YT link]

https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel

This video is a reply to question from a supporter, and each supporter pays just $1 per month to support the channel.

#politicsinpyjamas

Sam Harris Has an Incurable Disease: Akrasia.

17 March 2018 [YT link]

When asked about veganism, Sam Harris's reply is "the Akarasia problem". No, it's not really an incurable disease, but it is his explanation for what he's not vegan.

儿童小人书: 甚至蚯蚓都想看天空.

16 March 2018 [YT link]

[汉语/中文] 叙述者：张馨文 (Zhang Xinwen). 作者：马大影 (Eisel Mazard). A story written in Chinese by Eisel Mazard (马大影).

People who CAN'T be vegan: the ethics of doing the best you can.

16 March 2018 [YT link]

Some people have serious health problems that make it impossible to be vegan —or, at least, make it extremely difficult to cope with conflict advice from doctors, and the way their own symptoms react to the foods vegans rely upon. What about them? In this video we hear a lot about Crohn's disease (from someone who didn't believe Durianrider's claims to have cured it with a vegan diet) and, ultimately, about the ethics of just doing the best you can.

Vegan Bodybuilder, Activist and Health Food Entrepreneur (Interview).

14 March 2018 [YT link]

I can provide a few different links for you to find out more about Randy Kujawa. His Instagram is here:

https://www.instagram.com/rtk_fitlife/

His "Compassionate Warriors" facebook page is here:

https://www.facebook.com/TheMikeandrandyshow/

Zelfs de wormen willen de hemel zien. (Kinderboek)

13 March 2018 [YT link]

This video is in DUTCH. The same story has been translated into several languages (English, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and German), here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZEkgohG7k7pperokk75ic6XpyLqy7MUw

Recap: vegan rhetoric vs. vegan reality (why this channel is so different from others).

10 March 2018 [YT link]

A recap of why this channel is pro-vegan, but critical of the concepts of speciesism, of human-animal equality, and of animal rights as such. This video is a recap of some of the distinctive approaches to vegan rhetoric that you'll hear on this channel, reflecting a different understanding of vegan reality.

Fist Fights: why I do push-ups (on my knuckles) every day.

10 March 2018 [YT link]

Peace is the shadow of war. Peace, order and good government are all created by fear, enforcement, and an awareness of the danger (though not the difficulty) of breaking the laws that govern our daily life. Real talk. And, yeah, some guy tried to start a fight with me on a bus in Victoria. :-/

Libertarians Say, "Legalize Heroin and Cocaine". I Disagree.

07 March 2018 [YT link]

Spoilers: this video contains the phrase, "Cocaine is a Human Right" —and no, I'm not the one saying it! If you leave comments, you must leave a time-stamp (example @38:55) because, naturally, most people will comment before they've finished the video, and others reading your comments won't know what part of the video you're referring to.

ModVegan vs. à-bas-le-ciel engage in a debate that spans Colombia, Canada, China and (of course!) Cambodia and Laos (with Japan somewhere in-between). A massive, sprawling, trenchant debate on a massive, sprawling trenchant issue for ethics and politics in our time.

Here's ModVegan's channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXwREs2xdJSI0Zj9nL2MzKA/videos

Why is there so much hostility from leftists against vegans?

06 March 2018 [YT link]

https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel

10 Signs He's Not THAT Into You - Nina and Randa

05 March 2018 [YT link]

Live-streaming right now (Vegan in B.C., Canada)

04 March 2018 [YT link]

https://www.younow.com/EiselMazard

^ That's the link, click to join the conversation.

Vegan / vegans / veganism / activism / join the conversation

A White Supremacist Who is Non-White: Tara McCarthy.

04 March 2018 [YT link]

The death penalty for drug addicts: China & Canada.

02 March 2018 [YT link]

Drug addiction IS A CHOICE, indigenous or not, we're each responsible for ourselves.

02 March 2018 [YT link]

A vegan perspective, also dealing with language-extinction (i.e., the possibility of native languages disappearing from countries like Canada entirely), diet, hunting, the misperception that indigenous peoples are living in the past, and the ultimate sense of moral accountability we all must have —even if we face a lack of opportunity due to racism— for choices surrounding our sobriety and personal ethical code. Not for the first time on this channel, meat-eating and drug addiction are present in a somewhat imperfect parallel argument.

Meat is manslaughter: reducetarianism is murder.

01 March 2018 [YT link]

Join the conversation: https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel/



I suppose the title is misleading, as we're really discussing the extent to which reducetarianism is WORSE THAN murder. :-/



Quote, "When push comes to shove, some people shove and some people get pushed."

Veganism (纯素主义) in Chinese: why people say, "It's not (just) a diet".

26 February 2018 [YT link]

A reply to Reddit on the meaning of "vegan" (纯素) in Chinese, etc.

Kevin Smith Will Die of a Heart Attack: the Vegan Peril.

26 February 2018 [YT link]

Apparently I'm coining the phrase "the vegan peril" to refer to situations in which people become vegan (or try veganism) as a sort of crisis (most often a health crisis) rather than through any sort of rational process of recognizing the ethical, ecological or even nutritional issues involved. :-/ Yeah, in his heart attack announcement today, Kevin Smith said that perhaps he'll now have to adopt a vegan diet: after many years of ridiculing it in his podcasts and youtube videos.

Jessica Nigri: the difference between a wolf and a dog and a toy.

22 February 2018 [YT link]

The video being "quoted" is Jessica Nigri: PLAYING WITH REAL WOLVES! (SKYRIM COSPLAY) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-HBxIv5BSc

The source of this social commentary mashup is "Cruelty Free Cosplay": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB2XtUWSP0pAfEPiOqf1Kjg/videos

Visiting Seattle, Vancouver, Nanaimo & Victoria (Discussion)

21 February 2018 [YT link]

Two vegans discussing life in the pacific northwest… and veganism (we visited four cities in rapid succession, as stated in the title).

Februdairy: Vegans Deconstruct DAIRY'S LAST STAND (feat. "the Flemface")

19 February 2018 [YT link]

THIS IS PART THREE: there is a playlist with all three videos from this conversation (and any future conversations/collabs with TheFlemface) on this channel. And she's still working toward her first 1,000 subscribers, here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5VKmVnpAneMg9KE-9rHcwg/videos

BTW, in case you're new to this channel (à-bas-le-ciel) you might want to take a look at the playlists (a list of lists, I suppose) to get a sense of the diversity of content around here. It isn't all bad.

https://www.youtube.com/user/HeiJinZhengZhi/playlists

You don't need to be brilliant… you just can't be a crackhead.

18 February 2018 [YT link]

(To move forward within veganism (or vegan activism) how bright do you really need to be? Being wrong and being stupid are two totally different things. I may be a snob, and I may revile some of my contemporaneous vegan leaders as idiots, but I really do understand that being wrong doesn't mean that you're stupid. And, really, within veganism… how smart do you need to be?)

HMU on twitter, patreon or my email:

twitter.com/eiselmazard

https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel

To find other videos alluded to, check the playlists (there's one on Gary Yourofsky, etc.): https://www.youtube.com/user/HeiJinZhengZhi/playlists

Vegan Activism in Canada, Now or Never.

17 February 2018 [YT link]

If you're vegan wanting "to do real things" (political activism, as discussed in the video) HMU —especially if you're a Canadian citizen.

twitter.com/eiselmazard

https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel

DETROIT: Every Vegan Restaurant Reviewed (in-depth discussion of vegan food services in 2018)

15 February 2018 [YT link]

0. Green Space.

https://www.happycow.net/reviews/greenspace-cafe-ferndale-57951

1. Detroit Vegan Soul.

https://www.happycow.net/reviews/detroit-vegan-soul-west-detroit-106290

2. Om Café.

https://www.happycow.net/reviews/om-cafe-ferndale-3551

3. Chive Kitchen.

https://www.happycow.net/reviews/chive-kitchen-farmington-68260

4. Seva.

https://www.happycow.net/reviews/seva-detroit-detroit-30323

5. Inn Season.

https://www.happycow.net/reviews/inn-season-cafe-royal-oak-2727

6. Lunch Room (Ann Arbor).

https://www.happycow.net/reviews/the-lunch-room-ann-arbor-26797

7. VedgeCafe (Ann Arbor).

https://www.happycow.net/reviews/vedge-cafe-ann-arbor-82294



Above, you'll find the names of each of the restaurants reviewed, with links to pages showing photographs of the food, etc. (this video is more "philosophizing about food" and offering analysis of what's going on in the industry, from various perspectives).

Ferris Wheel & Vegan Fishing Trip (With My Daughter)

14 February 2018 [YT link]

More "quality time with the family Mazard": for absolutely no reasonable reason, my ex-wife forced us to travel by train to collect (and drop off) my daughter from Dijon, France. This cost me over 1000 Euros, and, also, took up two days of my seven day visit (we spent four days, in total, just riding the train, i.e., ALL DAY, back and forth, although only two of the four trips were with my daughter). My ex-wife has never given me any reason as to why she did this to us (we booked long in advance, and included her in the decision-making as to where we'd book a home for the holiday, etc.). But yes, we had to pack quite a lot of vegan food, and try to prepare fun and games for a very long train ride with a 4 year old: and, despite everything, it was indeed fun. On the way back I prepared for her a chocolate-covered banana (to eat on the train) and the remains of this banana were, hilariously, received with horror by my ex-wife, who then wrote me an email accusing me of feeding my daughter nothing but chocolate bananas. This was, indeed, hilarious, but for all I know, my daughter boasted that she ate chocolate-covered bananas every day (whereas, in fact, it was something she had twice during a 7-day trip).

On Vegan Slactivism in 2018: Discussing "the Demimonde" with Flemface.

14 February 2018 [YT link]

"Money, power, fame, sex, respect… not in that order."



https://www.youtube.com/user/HeiJinZhengZhi/playlists

^ There's a playlist collecting together the three parts of this conversation (with "TheFlemface"), and many more.

Eisel Mazard vs Flemface: Ethical Questions WITHIN Veganism.

13 February 2018 [YT link]

Rat infestations, domesticated animals ("pets")… and the strange conflicts (psychological and political) that divide vegans.

THIS IS PART ONE: there will be a playlist, on this channel, with all three videos from this conversation (and any future conversations/collabs with TheFlemface). And she's still working toward her first 1,000 subscribers, so check her channel out here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5VKmVnpAneMg9KE-9rHcwg/videos

BTW, in case you're new to this channel (à-bas-le-ciel) you might want to take a look at the playlists (a list of lists, I suppose) to get a sense of the diversity of content around here. It isn't all bad.

https://www.youtube.com/user/HeiJinZhengZhi/playlists

"Dignity", beyond animal rights discourse, human rights discourse, etc.

11 February 2018 [YT link]

Nihilism: Religious Ideology vs. Political Ideology.

11 February 2018 [YT link]

Not just atheism, nihilism. This was recorded as a reply to a question from a Patreon supporter, you can join up (for one whole dollar) and have your questions answered here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/HeiJinZhengZhi/videos

MGTOW is Wrong (Reason 1 of 999).

10 February 2018 [YT link]