Last modified on September 10, 2019, at 03:56

Richard Dawkins on veganism

Richard Dawkins said about vegetarianism/veganism: "[It] leaves me in a very difficult moral position…".[1] See: New Atheism and veganism

New Atheism is a rhetorically militant form of atheism.

At the present time, the new atheist Sam Harris is the only notable new atheist who has become a vegetarian.[1] Harris said he "aspires" to be a vegan.[1]

The new atheist Richard Dawkins stated about vegetarianism/veganism:

“ [It] leaves me in a very difficult moral position… I think you have a very strong point when you say that anybody who eats meat has a very strong obligation to think seriously about it and I don’t find any good defense. I find myself in exactly the same position as you or I would have been, well probably you wouldn’t have been but I might have been, two hundred years ago […] talking about slavery… I think what I’d really like to see is people like you having a far greater effect on, I would call it, consciousness raising and trying to swing it around so it becomes the societal norm not to eat meat.[1] ”

Richard Dawkins is a meat eater.[2]

Steven Stankevicus, the author of the Salon article New atheists must become new vegans: Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the extra burden on moral leaders, wrote in response: "'People like you'? How about people like Richard Dawkins?".[1]

See also: Richard Dawkins' family fortune and the slave trade and Atheism and slavery and Atheism and forced labor

Richard Dawkins' high blood pressure and his lack of a vegan diet

See also: Richard Dawkins' health

According to Harvard Health publishing which is under the Harvard Medical School:

“ People who follow a vegetarian diet tend to have lower blood pressure than their meat-eating counterparts, according to a study in JAMA Internal Medicine. Vegetarians avoid meat and eat mainly plant-based foods like vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes (beans and peas). Some include dairy products and eggs (and in this study, fish) in their diets.[3] ”
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins

Due to his chronic high blood pressure, Richard Dawkins has been repeatedly warned by his doctors to avoid controversies.[4][5][6]

The new atheist Richard Dawkins has a reputation for being an angry, aggressive and abrasive man (see: Richard Dawkins and anger and Abrasiveness of Richard Dawkins).

According to Glenn Gandelman, MD, "A recent study indicates that angry men have higher blood pressure and increased risk of heart disease.[7] PubMed has numerous studies relating to anger and high blood pressure.[8][9]

Despite the medical advice of his doctors, Dawkins had a very active Twitter presence before his minor stroke (with a number of Twitter controversies) and numerous public controversies (see: Richard Dawkins and women and Elevatorgate and Richard Dawkins and Islamophobia accusations).[10]

Dawkins has accumulated over 30,000 Twitter tweets.[11] The Independent reported, "Dawkins also admitted he wasn't very good at managing Twitter and the strong reactions his posts tend to provoke. 'Twitter is very difficult medium to handle,' he said. 'I’m not much of a diplomat.'"[12] However, after his stroke, in May 2016, Dawkins gave up posting on Twitter for a while and the tweets that appeared in his name were done by his staff.[13] See: Richard Dawkins and Twitter

In 2013, Martin Robbins wrote in the New Statesman concerning the public persona of Dawkins: "Increasingly though, his public output resembles that of a man desperately grasping for attention and relevance..."[14]

Hemant Mehta

Atheist Hemant Mehta reported about Dawkins' stroke and Dawkins' report that he had been once again invited to the conference:

“ It was the result of stress-related higher blood pressure, which he says he may have had as a result of recent controversy, including being booted from the NECSS conference. He added, however, that on February 5, he received a letter from conference organizers apologizing for disinviting him and asking him back to the conference.[15] ”

In December 2016, Dawkins appears to have started to Tweet again despite his doctors warnings to avoid controversy (For example, he tweeted that Britain had become a "nasty little backwater" after the Brexit vote and his Tweet drew fierce criticism).[16][17][18]

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 New atheists must become new vegans: Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the extra burden on moral leaders, Salon, 2016
  2. ↑ On meat eating and rationality: Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, The Vegan Stategist
  3. ↑ [Vegetarian diet linked to lower blood pressure], Harvard Health publishing which is under the Harvard Medical School, 2014
  4. ↑ An update on Richard’s condition in his own words, Richarddawkins.net
  5. ↑ Richard Dawkins Said He Was Stressed by Controversy Over Tweet Before Stroke, Christian Post, February, 2016
  6. ↑ Richard Dawkins says stroke caused by stress over controversy, Religion New Service
  7. ↑ Anger, Stress and High Blood Pressure, Glenn Gandelman, MD, MPH
  8. ↑ PubMed - Anger and hypertension
  9. ↑ PubMed: Anger and high blood pressure
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ Richard Dawkins Twitter
  12. ↑ Richard Dawkins defends Ahmed Mohamed comments and dismisses Islamophobia as a 'non-word'
  13. ↑ Dawkins: I’ve Given Up Twitter.
  14. ↑ Atheism is maturing, and it will leave Richard Dawkins behind
  15. ↑ Richard Dawkins Gives Update on His Health in Audio Message
  16. ↑ Richard Dawkins: England becoming a 'nasty little backwater' after Brexit vote, The Telegraph, March 2017
  17. ↑ SHOCK RANT: Richard Dawkins mocks Christians for 'pretending' there's WAR on Christianity, Express, December of 2016
  18. ↑ What British Scientist Dawkins Thinks Of Islam, Swaraya, June 7, 2017