No Money...

In the course of my preliminary research, I have come upon an interesting debate among the vegan community: is honey vegan?





There's a surprising amount of opinion out there on this, with substantial evidence to support both contentions. On the one side, you have those who say it is NOT vegan because it comes from beekeeping, which (I guess?) kills bees faster than it would in the wild and, in any case, exploits them for sustenance, which is hardly any better than killing and eating them.


On the other side, the argument is that, yeah, taking honey from bees is getting something from their labor, but the honey would be produced regardless of human consumption, and the bees don't use it for anything. Also, to follow the argument that beekeeping results in the killing of some bees would require not only a boycott of honey but of every other kind of food or activity by which insects are killed, like sugar or driving your car (which can only be powered by a 100% efficient cold fusion reactor) faster than 15 miles an hour.


A third camp thinks that both arguments are fine and you can choose to eat or not eat honey so long as you just STFU about it already.


Obviously, it is impossible for anyone to completely abstain from any activity that risks involving the death of anything in Kingdom Animalia, but the vegans of the former persuasion argue that it is better to simply be extreme as you can than to consistently define the principle by which you live as a vegan.


Usually, I would value the consistency of the principle above all other things. For this venture, and the reasons for which I undertake it, a consistent principle is absolutely necessary, yet also represents near-senseless extremism.


I am conflicted between the arguments, and will have to think on this carefully.