About 200 years back, those who chose to abstain from the consumption of meat were known as Pythagoreans, in reference to the ancient Greek philosophical and religious movement whose followers followed a (somewhat) vegetarian diet. The movement’s founder, Pythagoras of Samos, is most commonly known for a mathematical theorem of the same name, but his most influential achievement in life was undoubtedly ordering the execution of Hippasus of Metapontum, the man who discovered that ℚ ⊊ ℝ .
Crank has a similarly colorful array of definitions, most of which are delightfully pejorative. On one hand, your humble authors are often accused of being cranky when they first show up for work in the morning. Later in the day one might see academics and intellectuals who’ve had time for a few cups of coffee use it to describe the kind of person who argues that we couldn’t possibly have descended from apes because (as any boob who’s been to a zoo knows) there are still apes. Sometimes a crank is merely an iconoclast, an otherwise normal person who never quite manages to keep the crowd pleased.
Pythagoran Crank – I am a vegan apostate who went vegan in 1999 and was involved in several vegan groups and projects. I stumbled onto critical thinking only after trying every other way first. I still don’t use animals because I think it’s not nice but I struggle with issues in vegan culture. I’m using this to blog as a bit of an insider’s critique of the movement. Veganism has big problems and I’m in a unique position to expose them. A dyed-in-the-cotton optimist I do believe that the majority of all people are genuinely good but that won’t stop me from cranking on them now and then.
You can contact me here:
Recent Comments