D i g i t a l E l y s i u m

I would hate to be a benevolent dictator for life and unfortunatly a lot of server architecture is designed with hierarchies engrained in their design and philosophy, but there are alternatives.

Making mistakes or having trouble with starting your vegan diet or relapsing into bad habits doesn't make you less vegan. It's a moral doctrine and comittment to abolishing animal suffering that makes you vegan and if you mess up or give into temptations you can always make a commitment to do better in the future.

Trust me, ive had major relapses and accidents where I didn't read the ingredients and accidentally ate something with animal product in it, it happens sometimes we all make mistakes (hell I just learned today that nerds candies aren't vegan a little too late today. Like wtf they contain eggs for some reason when its litterally just sugar bits tf? Sigh. Whatever I'll just move on and scratch that off the list of foods. Maybe I'll veganize it but I don't even care about nerds candy anyways).

I think starting out vegan and relapsing into vegitarianism when desperate is a good way to get training wheels for veganism since it reduces the mental normalcy of meat in your diet. That doesn't mean your irredemable for eating animal products, most of us were animal eaters at some point. Its making an effort to show you care about animal rights and fighting against the grain. Some vegans aren't opposed to eating meat out of a dumpster and they are still vegan due to managing food waste and not contributing to the system. Personally I have a trauma trigger around animal meat and avoid it for mental health reasons. What can I say, I'm a gentle herbivore who wouldn't be opposed to a gun and a tactical suit for self defense.

Also don't feel bad about using substitutions, they are litterally designed to make veganism accessable to the masses and that's a good thing. People who have safe foods that contain meat deserve the chance to be able to safely veganize it without too much friction. Textured vegetable proteins are exccelent ways to replicate the texture of beef and other meats without the ethical dilemmas of actual beef. They can be manually processed to neutralize weird flavors through repeated squeezing them in bowl of water to wash out the particulates and re-straining in a pasta straining dish to remove hydration until the water is clear and then you can add the usual spices as well as additional oils to what would normally be in beef (though processed tvp is entirely neutral by default and should have flavors added in during the cooking process in an oiled pan). You can replicate some really oily carby comfort foods with vegan recipies and stuff like plant ghee makes it easier to add healthy oils like avocado oil

I wouldn't force people to only eat tofu or salads, that's a cruel fate that even I would despise. A lot of vegan food can be really flavorful and diverse and there might be people who could design recipies specifically to make vegan safe foods easier to switch to. Honestly vegan chicken't nuggs can be really good or really bad depending on how they are prepared but being able to specifically tailor your ingredients however you desire is a good step for food accessability and there are many different options out there.

If you have a safe food that you can't live without, there are ways to veganize it with substitutions. I have egg replacements, cheese replacements, vegan butter, vegan caramel and oatmilk to do vegan baking with. i actually prefer oatmilk to regular milk due to the lack of sensitivity to it and also the fact that it doesn't curd up within the stomach thus helping with indigestion and controlling acne (a bad experience with cow's milk made me hate the taste of it forever. Cows milk has a minor vomit flavor to me whereas oatmilk is more silky and vanilla like and it is a lot better for matcha drinks.

I think expecting people to be perfect with veganism first try sets people up for failure. It took me several months of relapsing into vegetarianism and struggling with vegah recipe combinations until I finally stopped eating animal products in my diet at all and frequently check the ingredients lists now. Now animal products feel strange and alien to me and I rarely think about them except when I want to veganize stuff like cloud bread or ube waffles (highly recommended super good)

My vegan safe food is Thai seasoned mushroom jerky. It's actually got oils and stuff that are really juicy and tasty while still being a tasty stringy jerky.

I myself am a drug liberationist and recognized that abstinance only prohibition gets in the way of actual harm reduction for addicted and non addicted users of substances. If information and access to harm reduction resources were more common, less people would overdose or combine with dangerous combinations. prohibition fails its people by inflicting violence against drug users and driving markets underground, which increases the chances that they are laced with other substances.

The war on drugs has only lead to increased overpolicing and violence against homeless people and is often used to racially profile people of color. The war on drugs fails to protect people from drug based harm much like how alchohol prohibition failed to protect people from overdosing. People take drugs regardless of legality or not and criminalization only escalates the stakes of violence. It aldo makes it harder to measure proper intake dosage if drugs are illegal.

Being sober can be liberating, but not everyone desires or is able to go sober and they also deserve harm reduction resources like safe intake sites and clean needle exchanges and substances that help manage addiction and mitigate harm potentials in the addiction. You should be free to make these choices and be free to actualize yourself.

Portugal has made great strides in decriminalizing substance use and actually helping reduce overdoses and drug deathes overall through extensive support systems. Though they still have problems due to the fact they aren't entirely legal there. They anticipated that people will use continue to use drugs and created a safety net for drug users.

If you cant go sober on hard substances, switching to softer substances can mitigate harm towards your body. If you struggle to feel the effects of a full dose, wait until the tolerance wears off and intake substances after a few weeks for it to wear off and mitigate long term damage.

On the other side of that coin, a great example of the failure of relaxed drug policies would undoubtedly be Portland, Oregon, and their free-for-all decriminalisation approach, in which overdoses skyrocketed. The reason this failed in comparison to say Switzerland or Portugal's drug laws is largely due to Oregon (and the United States at large) lacking the necessary infrastructure to handle the various issues that arose. There are many documentaries and write ups that show how poorly the state handled the problem, and how flawed the system is on a federal level.

The illicit drug trade is inherently anti-life and the defence of it speaks to a fundamental moral failing. Let's not conflate a dislike of an illegal drug trade (the cartels in South America being a good example of this) with a disrespect for addicts, users, and those negatively affected by the drug trade. We can offer understanding and a better quality of life to those with drug addictions and dependencies whilst also working to dismantle the criminal organisations that thrive on the misery of others, the two are not mutually exclusive.

FINAL STRETCH: GET THIS FAMILY TO SAFETY!

verified - #170 on el-shab-hussein's list vetted by nabulsi here

Mahmoud Hilles is a father of four living in Belgium - he left Gaza in 2015, and has not been able to see his children since. Mahmoud's wife suffers from chronic health issues with her kidneys, and her condition is deteriorating due to lack of medical treatment in Gaza. Now, he is asking for your kindness to help his family reach safety.

At €21,762 of his €25,000 goal, he has almost raised enough funds to help them evacuate Gaza.

Can you close the gap by making a donation?