Morality is Always Inconvenient (Unnatural Vegan is STILL Right)

morality matters most when it's
inconvenient and I'm making this video primarily just to highlight that theme which has come up my youtube channel before secondarily it relates again to this controversy with a natural vegan where I'm speaking in support of her and thirdly it relates to an issue in political science that I've never spoken to the channel before I haven't heard other people speak about that maybe worth mentioning in itself for vegans who see this video as a disclaimer this controversy the fact that I dared to speak in support of a natural vegan on this cancer controversy cost me money I had patreon supporters quit and cancel the donations over it it cost me money and I'll be blown with you I need that money currently patreon is the only income in the world and even after I start this job in China I've now apparently got a job lined up to start a few months in the future that job only pays 750 US dollars a month so if I can make $300 at a patreon that'll be a huge percentage of my income and it's a massive reward for me to take the time to come on YouTube and talk about veganism talk about my life etc etc so the impact for me is very real reality is often inconvenient being vegan is inconvenient if you're only vegan when it's convenient for you then you're not vegan if you're only vegan except when there were no vegan options available if you're if you're vegan but not on a bus trip if you're vegan but only when you're in California not when you go to Arizona where it's maybe harder to find vegan options then you're not vegan you know either you're vegan and when it's inconvenient when it really costs you something and time and money and energy in suffering you got to go hungry for a night or you're not vegan right um either your moral when it matters either you strike when the iron's hot or you don't so I mean I know this now for my channel this is a kind of a ridiculous example it's unbelievable who would have thought that it would be a risky I mean if you've seen the video it's a really tame I've inoffensive video where I spoke in support of a natural vegan if I criticized natural vegan that's an obvious risk but there was an element of risk and it has cost me it's at a price that I dared to support unnatural being on this issue and a video I recognize that she took a risk and you know alienated a lot of viewers and a lot of people hated her for daring to say what she said but I think she did the right thing I think she did the right thing for the right reasons and I applauded her at the time for taking that risk and I applauded her again now for taking the risk in politics you have to strike while they're inside this is sort of separate from the issue of immorality that I guess we'll come back to we've had a long series of police shootings in the United States for example Tamir rice shot dead by police in general the families of the person shot dead have cooperated with activists who wanted to take the particular example and turn it into a political cause turn it into a political football they don't always sometimes people die in tragic circumstances and the families of the deceased do not want that type of exposure they do not want the name of their loved one to be in the press they do not want their tragedy to be exploited as a political cause issue football they don't want their name dragged into politics now it's very easy to imagine those examples if you've been reading newspapers all your life you'll remember examples from wherever it is you're living there normally local news the normally not national news what if there's a family similar hypotheticals out with families similar to Tamir Rice's family as family of someone who shot that but they decide they don't want that kind of exposure they don't want this to become a political issue they don't want to make any statement about the police or civil rights or the advancement of african-american people or legal reforms to police procedure or police wearing cameras they don't want to touch it and they don't want their lives to be impacted by this type of activism hypothetical example let's say hypothetically also they're accepting donations they're raising money in the wake of this tragedy of their family members been shot dead by police if someone comes out and criticizes them or criticizes the police if a group of activists decide to make this the focus of a civil rights campaign of a campaign to raise the standards of you know conduct of police community policing ethics etc who's in the wrong this is the way politics works it happens we're off with labor issues also often there's a particular employee who has a conflict with the employer and they really don't want it to become a political issue but the union gets involved in the newspapers get involved and somehow it becomes the focus of you know a safety issue or a labor rights issue some kind of disability that becomes part of a larger social struggle and either the the person in the dispute they may not want that or their family doesn't want it again the family the deceased don't want it but that this is actually an intrinsic important feature of politics is that it's not up for you to decide it's not up for the family of Tamir rice to decide how important that issue is that issue has public and social importance much larger than and much greater than the per tissue a particular person who is killed or that is also in itself tremendously important I mean so the issue of a false and misleading cancer treatment is much more important than any one person subscribing to it right it's much more important than one person dying precisely because it represents a threat to the lives of many people it's an ethical issue and a scientific issue etc said I don't need to spell this out for you guys but it is something much larger than the particular example being dealt with so the response to this and it's the most rational responsive at in terms of the reasons people gave me for why they quit my patient Channel why they were so offended that I dared to say this the most rational response of Gaudin was the how dare you directed to a natural vegan how dare she take this particular example of one person suffering of one person's cancer and turn it into a political issue an issue for this product debate but that's exactly what politics always consists of how dare you take one person being shot by the police and make it into a question of civil rights how dare you take the issue of one person being maimed on the job being injured at the factory and then trying to get compensation and turn that into a political issue that's what we do in politics period always you have to strike well there and so you have to take that particular example and show how it Ellis traits a legal reform you're pursuing a constitutional issue of civil rights whatever the issues a health and safety regulation issue you have to that so unnatural vegan is a hundred percent right in doing what she did even though she has been public she has been punished in the court of public opinion coming back to my other point that you guys have heard me say before morality matters when it's inconvenient for you there were so many people who stood up because it was the right thing to do when it mattered when during Ryder dragged my right name through the mud when he defamed me when he threatened with violence there were people who stood up and said no this is not what veganism is supposed to be about right and there are other people who waited there are other people who didn't want to interrupt their vacations in Chiangmai there are other people who just pretended they were indifferent when they knew what was going on they weren't even pretending ignorance months and months went by and then finally you got a kind of quiet statement on YouTube that yes what dirty mother did was immoral or something that's nice I mean I still appreciate it when people made their statements of support people like happy healthy vegan who you know such a long time later made this very quiet statement in passing one most ridiculous was Jeff Nelson from fed source who insulted me publicly repeatedly and then made a one-sentence statement in support of me and you know opposing during right around this okay thanks thanks Jeff but of course when it matters is at the particular time what eight matters that you stand up and do the right thing for the right reason when the conflict is still ongoing when it can still make a difference when it still really matter and here on the Internet that's kind of easy virtue it's not hard to do that with a medium like YouTube because you don't even have to leave your house you can just sit down in front of the internet and press a button and take a stand so this is this is really easy virtue compared to any other form of social commentary activism engagement or what have you but a natural vegan did the right thing and working from a particular example should the right thing well stir by striking while the iron was hot while making the video while the fundraiser was ongoing those are two things she's most criticized for that she dared to bring a particular person's name into it that she made it while the fundraiser was still ongoing that's what it matters doesn't matter if you make a video six months later when it's all over and done with it matters you know well the issue is still ongoing and you know morally with a natural vegan she showed that she's somebody who cares she cares about the real issue and there are so many these people making money out of veganism on YouTube who don't care so Izzy Davis who now uses is Edie she was in Chiangmai with me as I recall I think she met me for five minutes she knew what was going on everyone and chain mining was going on but it was simply not convenient for her to recognize this huge issue that had erupted in the middle of her vacation now you know does she have to no but it tells me something about her it tells me something with the kind of person she is and who she's gonna be because the basic premise of morality isn't I'm gonna wait until it's convenient for me to be a good person it's I'm gonna be a good person all the time and I'm gonna build up the strength of character to cope with those inconveniences because morality means facing down constant fear inconvenience insults innuendo threats etc it means coping with you know it means coping with the immorality of the world around us day after day after day and developing a character over time for whom it's natural to be moral at all times without even making the decision and I think for a lot of us veganism itself is the perfect example because maybe there was a point early on when you actually felt tempted you know you're hungry and there was nothing else to eat whatever the situation was you're at a bus station or something and you know it's nothing else around but then after a certain point it's become part of your character and you value that discipline and maybe you even value that deprivation more than you would value you know the momentary gratification the convenience of of eating well you know for some of us the difference between truth and fiction or the difference between science and pseudoscience you know there are other moral issues that for us are so important that we're willing to to take these other risks to deal with these other slings and arrows publicly here on the Internet and really again internet morality it's it's easy virtue compared to even getting on the bus and going down to City Hall and giving a sworn deposition to government compared to real activism directly trying to change the world by lobbying government or something this is all easy virtue