As you’ve probably heard by now, Lierre Keith, author of the fabulous book The Vegetarian Myth, was attacked by three vegan nut-jobs on Saturday while giving a speech. They threw a pie laced with cayenne pepper in her face. If that doesn’t sound like much of an attack, keep in mind that it’s nearly the equivalent of being attacked with pepper spray. And frankly, I’d be outraged even if the pie was made of whipped cream. (No wait … that would be a dairy product; the vegans would never stoop to such cruelty just to assault a human being.)
Fortunately, Keith is recovering. Jimmy Moore wrote to inquire about her condition, and she replied:
My eyes are still puffy and blurry, but the pain is definitely better. I think the worst part was hearing people cheer my assailants while I was being assaulted. I don’t want to live in a world where people cheer while someone has cayenne rubbed into their eyes.
Yes, people were cheering — while three men in masks attacked a 45-year-old woman who already has a damaged spine. My, what courage.
I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not. The animal-rights wackos have a long and proud history of attacking soft targets. As my comedian friend Tim Slagle once pointed out, they’ll happily throw blood on women wearing fur — but strangely, they never feel inspired to attempt a similar protest on men wearing leather.
Nearly as disturbing as the attack was the ability of some vegans to justify it in their fatty-acid-depleted brains. Here are few quotes from a “news” site, with my comments:
Some will undoubtedly argue that the pieing was an attack on free speech, but Keith has been afforded more speech than most people on the planet will ever be, courtesy of PM Press.
Well, gosh yes, once someone has been afforded more than his or her share of free speech, it’s perfectly okay to use violence to correct the imbalance. I’m sure that’s what James Earl Ray had in mind, too. Although if you really think about it — and I’d suggest consuming an egg or two before tackling this one — you and Lierre Keith have been afforded exactly the same amount of free speech. The only difference is that more people have elected to listen to her.
In fact, she is profiting from the soap box she has been given to pretend she is a radical environmentalist who just happens to jet around the country to and from her home in rural Massachusetts.
Making a profit and flying on a jet? Truly unforgivable. Since Al Gore has set himself up to make millions in the carbon-credit business while flying all over creation in a private jet and living in a mansion that uses 20 times the national average for electricity, can we expect you to toss a pepper-pie in his face anytime soon? Or will you remain true to form and attack Tipper instead?
In a world where vegans and vegetarians are a definite minority, face constant bombardment with pro-meat messages our American cattle culture, and frequently have to deal with direct attacks from government, law enforcement, and multinational corporations that profit from the sale of factory-farmed meat and dairy, Ramsey Kanaan of PM Press, himself a long-time vegan, strangely chose to pile on with yet another attack on vegans, this time being especially traumatic in that it comes from the inside of the supposed radical environmental movement.
Those direct attacks from the government on the oppressed vegan minority are an outrage, all right. Just last week, storm troopers dragged a dozen vegans out of our local Whole Foods and shot them in the street. It’s a shame you don’t live in a country where you’re free to just ignore those traumatizing pro-meat messages and continue living as a vegan.
Through the Bound Together collective, of which Ramsey Kanaan is a member, Lierre Keith has been asked to speak in the Bay Area repeatedly. The mean-spirited book and these speaking engagements are largely one-way conversations with Keith dominating the dialogue.
Wait … you mean she’s been asked to speak repeatedly?! Wow, that usually only happens to people who have something interesting to say and can therefore draw a crowd. But I see your point about the one-way conversations. It’s got to stop. In fact, nearly every time I attend a speech, the speaker just stands up there speaking and speaking and speaking, without ever asking me what I believe. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought to myself, “Damn! If only I had a pepper-laced pie, I could bring some balance into this dialog.”
But today, anonymous masked peoples stood up and refused to allow PM Press and Bound Together to yet again try to cram Lierre Keith down our throats. They stood up for many who have suffered silently, without a voice, since the publication of her book.
I hear you, bro. I remember the glory days when people were allowed to choose which speeches they’d attend. Now, of course, the meat industry kidnaps vegans at gunpoint and crams Lierre Keith’s speeches down their throats. Those were some true freedom fighters who attacked her. More bravery like this, and perhaps someday vegans will be allowed to publish their own books, give their own speeches in public, or — dare I say it? — express their opinions on their very own blogs, instead of being forced to suffer in silence.
The article was bad enough. Here are a few bits of wisdom from vegans commenting on the article:
Lierre Keith was appropriately treated when she was physically stopped from continuing to advocate for and incite the murder of innocent non-human beings.
Can’t argue with that. Next time I see some vegan farmer tilling the soil and killing thousands of non-humans in the process, I’m going to mace him in the face. (No wait, I keep forgetting about vegan logic: it’s okay to kill creatures in the quest for food as long as you aren’t killing on purpose.)
She was pied, get over it. Big deal, even IF it was a spicy pie. Somebody call the waaaambulance for this loser. This action was both hilarious & totally appropriate.
Yeah, a little spice in the eyes is hilarious. Nothing to fuss about. Any chance we could meet in person so I can share a few laughs with you? I do this bit with Tabasco sauce that’s just side-splitting.
Lierre obviously comes from a privileged perspective if the very first thing she said was “someone call the cops” as only the privileged automatically think of police as their friends and defenders. Lower classes and darker skinned people do not immediately look to police for help. They’ll take the help if it’s there, but they don’t assume police generally exist to serve them.
That’s why I enjoy watching “Cops” on TV: it just cracks me up seeing all those people who come from a privileged perspective calling the police on each other. Last week I saw a repeat of the episode where the guy in the smoking jacket answers the door and says, “Yes, officer, my wife Muffy is such a pill, I’m afraid she let loose with the pepper-spray in the middle of a heated discussion about the relevance of Kantian ethics in modern society. Could you be a dear and slap some cuffs on her? And I won’t object if you make them uncomfortably tight.”
But if you’re suggesting Lierre Keith should deal with being physically attacked in a manner more befitting the “lower classes and darker skinned people,” I’m pretty sure we can round up plenty of volunteers to administer the appropriate justice.
Has anyone considered that it wasn’t Vegans who pied who but an agent provocateur trying to create division?
Damn, you caught us. See, that’s the thing about us meat-eaters: we take ourselves and our identities as meat-eaters so seriously, we sit around and try to think of ways to split up the vegan movement.
Message to Keith and others who promote oppression, repression and murder of the innocent, and destruction of the planet, however misinformedly well-intentioned - “No more free ride!”
By all means, please start physically assaulting anyone who believes eating meat is beneficial. I’d suggest you start with Fred Hahn. That will give you a chance to field-test your theory that avoiding meat actually makes people stronger. (Although I predict the theory will turn out to be misinformedly wrong.)
As a vegan I’m both mad at and ashamed of the people who did this. They are bullies.
You sound eerily sane. How long have you been a vegan? (To be fair, more than a few vegans were disgusted by the attack. Good for them.)
Some commenters suggested the attackers were suffering from the “vegan rage” Keith describes in her book. That was my first thought as well. But since then, I’ve decided we may be confusing a correlation with a cause. Yes, they could be prone to rage because a vegan diet has depleted their brains. But I think it’s just as likely they’re militant vegans because they fit the personality type described so brilliantly by Eric Hoffer in his book The True Believer. I plan to write a post on that topic later in the week. It seems more appropriate for my other blog, so it’ll probably end up there. I’ll let you know.
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Hi Tom,
Some of these comments are almost as bad as the attack itself! It’s all very ironic considering that veganism is supposed to be based on an intellectualism. As always, thank you for putting a humorous spin on an unfortunate situation.
Veganism has always struck me as mostly emotional, despite what they say. Humor is how I keep my sanity.
Hi Tom,
The Benny Hill theme is a tune called “Yakety Sax” by the late American saxophonist, Boots Randolph.
You don’t have to post this.
Naw, I’ll post it. I like trivia, and others may want to know the name of the song.
I posted a correction on Toms other blog but as Sizzlechest has bought into the lie here it needs to be put right. Lierre Keith is incorrect in reading a joke thread on the PPK as being serious. It wasn’t. Here is the original thread: http://www.postpunkkitchen.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=19376
Obviously a joke, unless Lierre was referencing a different cuckoo vegan thread somewhere else??? lets at least put this bit of misrepresentation to bed once and for all.
From an ex-vegan Type1 diabetic now low-carb and healthier as a result
Steve
It’s funny that people actually think it was vegans who did this, rather then just a mere publicity stunt. Vegans care about animals AND humans as well as the earth, environment, etc. This is just someone trying to get people to be afraid of vegans because it is becoming so favorably popular to save the earth rather then torture it and all who live on it, Both animals and humans.
I hate to break it to you, but we non-vegans really don’t care about you that much. We’re not sitting around trembling in fear about a vegan takeover, wondering how we can make people dislike you.
I don’t know anyone who’s self-righteous about being a carnivore, and the cowards who did this were self-righteous @$$holes.
This article is so biased and misinformed. There are no demonstrators that throw blood on men wearing leather? Ask again. This is like saying ignorantly in an article if pregnant women should be told what to eat “no problem except for sushi – and I don’t see women in Japan swearing off the stuff”. It’s just plain ignorance. And no, vegans don’t attack weak and soft targest. I’m not a vegan but I’m gonna defend them. If you haven’t noticed yet, the attacks are non-violent. Blood-throwing is not painful, except for pepper-throwing. Yes, this one was a violent attack, but then it’s quite silly to say “why don’t they attack someone stronger?”. It’s not about strength or violence. It’s about protest and sending a message. How will you show some message to men that have less self-control because of their high testosterone levels? It’s about protesting, not violence.
And all those women wearing fur just deserve it. They’re one of those ignorant women that can’t learn how to dress properly in winter. Humans don’t need fur. You just need more layers of clothing. Stop nagging and wear sweatpants under your normal pants. How can anyone expect to be warm in winter by just wearing underpants and normal pants? No wonder people are freezing and then use this to justify fur-wearing. This or next year I’m going to Himalayas and I will be wearing only cotton and high-tech winter polymer fibers.
Saying that vegans have fatty-acid-depleted brains doesn’t make you any better than those that threw a pepper pie. And it doesn’t matters if the woman has spine issues, if it wasn’t an attack. It’s just a protest. Pie throwing would be more humiliating rather than violent. And there’s no such thing as courage, so saying “my, what courage” is a poor argument. I studied psychology as a hobby and courage doesn’t exist. Neither does cowardness. Study psychology before I explain you this one. And you also need to study nutrition. There are plant sources of omega 3, so vegans don’t lack them.
As extremist vegans look like, they have a good point. I’m a philanthropist and well, all food aid is vegan. Most food project are about growing crops because animal farming steals too much food. So next time someone nags in the west at the food prices and how poor they are that they can’t afford enough food, they need to look at how much food they waste just to make beef and pork. Growing chicken is far more efficient. It’s simple physics, not astrophysics. You aren’t feeding yourself. You’re fueling your tank. Fat works the same for us as it does as biodiesel, except without fire.
Being a philanthropist we’re also educating people and I will always support and educate others about veganism. And I will also teach about proper nutrition, which not many omnivores do except for spewing more ignorance by saying “apple has vitamins, proteins build muscles and milk makes bones stronger”. A vegan predominant diet is beneficial for health. I still eat fish, they’re mostly carnivores and it’s either me or the fish that will eat them, but there are studies showing how low-protein vegan diets reduce cancer risk or deactivate cancer. And as for those myths, well, google nutritional value of apples, amino acids actuallty build your muscles and milk is causing osteoporosis. Some simple logic should tell you something about protein. We all know our body will break down the proteins that we eat, so how could proteins build muscles if they are broken down? All what you need are amino acids, not proteins. It makes blood acidic.
I’d reply to your incoherent ramblings, but I’m going on the old debating rule: when your opponent is making a fool of himself, don’t interrupt.
That last sentence is an insult to @$$holes, which are an important — nay vital — part of all of us.
Btw there is nothing wrong with using planes to spread the message of pollution. So what if Al Gore flew a private jet? How else could he come to his destination to spread the message? I’m a philanthropist and I’m often spreading good knowledge about nutrition and environment. So is it hypocritical to burn fuel until I get to the destination? No. Find a better fuel or transportation source, rather than trying to bash this “hypocrisy”. It’s only few thousand people that do this and we often invest in efficient transport. It’s the rest billions of people that burn gas guzzlers. Those few planes with scientists going to Antarctica hardly pollutes at all. Your car pollutes more because planes are more efficient when it comes to speed, distance and cargo.
Are you missing the point on purpose? The nutjobs whose comments I was quoting were justifying the attack on Lierre Keith because she’s an environmentalist but flies on a plane. I was pointing out that Al Gore dos the same thing and wondering if they’d attack him too. And by the way, Keith flies on commercial airlines. Gore flies on a private jet, which uses WAY more fuel per passenger. So if he’s so concerned about the environment, why doesn’t he just fly United, or Delta, or Southwest?
Tom
I doubt these vegan punks would have tried that on a large fit and strong male, capable of running them down, dragging them back and beating them into submission in front of the crowd.
I doubt it as well. The animal-rights nutjobs only seem comfortable attacking women.
A low-carb cruise! That’s cooler than Cool Itself!
Now, something I’m more than a little disturbed about. I checked out Dr. Davis’ Blog and he’s saying butter is the Spawn of Satan. How can this be? I have a lot of respect for Dr. Davis and I’ve recommended his blog to many friends. But, can it be there’s no consensus among low-carbers that butter is a fundamental part of the LC way of eating?
I don’t believe low-carbers should strive for consensus, which (despite what Al Gore thinks) is not conducive to good science. We should strive for knowledge, and debate is part of the process. Dr. Davis offered one view of the study; Peter at Hyperlipid offers another here:
http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2010/03/butter-insulin-and-dr-davis.html
I relate to the author in so many ways - during the last 35 years due to so many intellectual information out there + friends and teachers I became a vegetarian at least 8 times and failed maintaining it due to different reasons. Mainly not being satisfied bodily and mentally. Now, I believe in a Healthy balance in my life that includes a healthy portion of organic vegetables, Nuts, beans and meat from truly healthy sources which for example consider fish being wild caught; chickens roaming freely on the land or called pastured and of course my red meat being treated well and 100% grass-fed as much as it is available - I must say when I watch all of the above standards I feel satisfied. Now I have total respect for vegetarians and meanwhile believe most of them are not open to hear the complete story. Unfortunately when we go one extreme we create hate for the other extreme.
I bought the book today, after reading about the incident. Also picked up a copy of Fat Head, so I could qualify for the free super-saver shipping : )
I’d been wanting both anyway– I was a vegetarian for several years and it wrecked my health. Still a few kinks to work out (hopefully), but re-introducing meat to my diet and cutting carbs (and cutting out wheat!) have helped tremendously. This post was the kick I needed to go ahead and get the book already.
Lierre and I thank you. Enjoy.
Hey, I’ll stand up and be counted as a self-righteous carnivorous a$$hole. I would also love to see the vegan ideology disappear because I’ve learned too much about human nutritional needs to believe it is anything but harmful. I don’t like to see people huffing airplane glue, either.
But I’m not a famous published author so I figure I’m safe for a while.
I hesitate to publish your comment for fear of making you a target. But our readership is still small enough to ensure your safety.
Tom,
Great blog and a great movie as well. As for Vegans, well, I just see them as a self-correcting problem, ultimately. It is never, under any circumstances, acceptable behaviour to violate a person’s body or property without them having done harm to you directly. It’s disgusting. No matter how much you believe a person to be wrong on a subject, it does not give you the right to use force against them.
Ta,
Well said.
Great blog, it’s terrible how people are completely ignorant and dismissive of a vegan lifestyle, they know literally nothing about anything and just blindly support horrible meat corporations that are poisoning them http://www.fourgreensteps.com/infozone/featured-zone/a-vegducation-in-veganism-five-reasons-to-eat-less-meat-
Considering the number of ex-vegetarians here (including myself) who looked into the matter after feeling lousy without meat, I’d say it’s unlikely we just blindly support eating meat. We agree, however, that cows aren’t meant to eat corn. Have you read the book? She deals specifically with the other claims made in the linked article.
The vegans I know believe in non-violence and respect for life, where that life agrees with you or not. It is not acceptable practice to pie anyone; it is an assault and a rather primitive way to make your point.
The vegans and vegetarians I’ve known never would approve of this behavior either.
The pies were not “laced with cayenne pepper”. She made that up after the fact so she’ll get publicity. Plus, and inside source says she planned the whole pie-throwing incident in the first place.
Yes, I’m sure that’s the case. And I’m sure the CIA actually flew planes into the World Trade Center, but alerted all the Jews to stay home that day. You’re a moron.
The letter of the law for Free Speech doesn’t apply to private property. The owner of this blog owes me nothing. I’ve deleted rude comments from my own blog.
I posted a comment here this morning.
It was polite, but it was not in agreement with many people. I see that it and another comment I referred to are gone.
Before people start passing judgments about how “that group of people” can’t tolerate hearing views that don’t agree with their own they might want to pause to reflect.
My apologies if the disappearance of the comments are due to a technical or other issue.
I’m not sure which comments you’re referring to, Steve. I haven’t deleted any. I checked the spam folder, and your comments didn’t go there, unless you posted them under the name Viagra.
Isn’t there something fundamentally wrong with calling the police at an anarchist event?
Not as fundamentally wrong as three men attacking a woman. If Keith were a professed anarchist, you might have a point, but she’s not. And my guess is that most of the self-proclaimed anarchists in attendance have no flippin’ idea what “anarchist” actually means. If they did, they’d get the heck out of the Peoples Republic of California.
Going to school, studying a subject, getting a degree in it, working in a related field and researching a subject in a professional capacity makes a person an expert.
Keith is a writer with a liberal arts background. She has written on a number of technical, medical and scientific related subjects in her book that she does not have an education in. People who have the education Keith lacks in those subjects disagree with her on many things.
It is not a popular opinion on a medium such as the internet where people limit their exposure to mostly what they agree with, but education, research and experience matter. A lot.
Even positive reviews on Amazon have pointed out factual errors she has made. That should be the epitaph of non-fiction book.
A few people are still fans of her book despite the factual errors, because the book tells them what they want to hear. I don’t mean that as slam, many human beings react like that sooner or later about something.
BTW, I do not approve of the pie throwing incident.
You seem to be operating on the assumption that in order to be considered an expert or even educated in a field, you must study it in school and receive a degree. In school, you will read books and attend lectures, with many of those lectures consisting of a teacher reciting from the books. You can become just as educated by reading on your own.
I’m an independent software programmer. When I went to take out a mortgage some years ago, the loan officer asked for a copy of my degree. I said I’d be happy to go find it, but it’s in journalism. She asked, “Then how can you be a software programmer? Where did you get your certificate?” So I had to explain that I don’t have any certificates; I read books and taught myself programming.
And by the way, I’ve been hired to fix badly-programmed systems that were designed by people with computer-science degrees and Microsoft certifications in programming.
For a more relevant example, I once had to explain to a doctor that LDL comes in different particle sizes and the large, fluffy particles aren’t harmful. He had the medical degree; I didn’t. But he knew less about cholesterol than I did.
So I’m not impressed one way or another with what certificates people have or don’t have. I’m impressed with what they actually know. If you read Keith’s book — I’m betting you haven’t — you will have a very hard time making the case that she didn’t do rather a lot of research before writing it.
And if you haven’t read her book, you need to ask yourself if you’re also limiting your exposure to what you agree with.
Whether or not the pies contained cayenne pepper or hot sauce varies depending on which anonymous who claimed to be there makes the allegation.
Here is a video of the prank.
I’ve gotten tiny amounts of cayenne pepper in my eyes cooking. I could not pull my hands away from my eyes. The video shows Keith holding her hands out in front of her, not putting her hands in her face as would a person who just got cayenne pepper in her eyes.
Red and white make pink.
If there was hot sauce in the pies, wouldn’t the pies in the video be pink
instead of white?
Lets get some perspective. This is a picture of a pepper spray victim:
This is a picture of Lierre Keith after having pies smooshed on top of her
head ( not in her face ):
Gosh yes, I see. Those wonderful, peaceful vegans couldn’t have really laced the pie with pepper because, uh, you see, they’re VEGANS, and therefore they can’t posibly be violent assholes. All vegans are wonderful people. Keith just decided to lie to everyone to drum up some PR, ya see.
Congratulations on achieving True Believer status. You would’ve made a perfect Nazi. (No, we didn’t actually gas anyone! It was de-lousing spray!)
And even if you can make yourself believe there was no pepper in the pie, smashing a pie into the face of a woman with spinal degeneration still makes them violent assholes. Sticking up for them, on the other hand, makes you a moron.
You seem to be operating on the assumption that in order to be considered an expert or even educated in a field, you must study it in school and receive a degree
Yes I do, as has the world for a number of centuries, for very good reason.
And what would that reason be, exactly? Please explain how listening to a teacher recite facts makes you an expert, while reading the same information outside of a school doesn’t. Please explain how even though I’ve built computer systems for major corporations, I’m not actually an expert in my field, since my degree is in journalism, not computer science.
By attending school you don’t get to pick and choose. Self teaching a trade such as programming provides you with immediate feedback. Self-teaching science allows a lot of bias into your education because it isn’t challenged, because you can pick and choose.
I am not saying she isn’t right - hell, I am firmly paleo. But I sure as hell am not going to waste my time listening to a self-proclaimed expert.
Keith also advocated similar and worse sorts of actions in her role as an anarchist - so live by the sword, die by the sword.
Frankly, I’m still mystified by the notion that to be an expert, you must attend a university. By that logic, Gary Taubes has no understanding of nutrition science, because his degree is in physics. I also have no ability to analyze studies, good or bad, because my degree is in journalism. Apparently the only thing I’m actually qualified to do is write.
I remember some very good professors from my college days, and I also remember biased morons. Standing inside the bounds of a campus does not remove bias or confer special powers of logic and analysis. I see comments in forums all the time along the lines of “I KNOW saturated fat causes heart disease, because I have a degree in nutrition from the university of (insert college name here).”
relatively new to being,”serious” about nutrition and the “truth” surrounding it. Boy am I confused. Is there anyone, any one source to reference that isn’t biased or ‘in someone’s pocket”?
I don’t believe Lierre is in anyone’s pocket. Try some diets, track your results.
I have to say that I’m rather negatively impressed by the self-pitying pretensions to victimhood in that posting from the Indybay website. As someone who used to be a college-campus radical leftist when I was young, foolish, and socially maladjusted, I’m not unfamiliar with that unfortunate mindset.