Hi Liza,

>On the contrary, the 'tone' I thought I thought I was picking up through the
>phone lines seemed more to me like a pretty agressive defense of the NFL-guys,
>wether or not that was your intent.

No, I'm not defending NFL. They can handle their own ripostes. I've never
been hired to be their public spokesperson, at least not to my knowledge.

>I know that plant diets are supposed to make people more docile, and
>fruitarian diets in particular are supposed to make people into the expression
>of pure compassionate love.  But I certainly haven't seen that to be even
>vaguely similar to the reality of how the self-avowed vegans or fruitarians
>actually behave. In fact, if I was asked to describe my own perspective on
>this issue, I would probably say that people who forego animal products tend
>to act worse the longer they stay on the diet, that fruitarians seem to be the
>most rabidly agressive of all, and that rational thinking and behavior appear
>to have a direct negative correlation with the restriction of the varieties of
>foods included in one's diet.  Have you noticed anything similar? Or have you
>actually noticed that people that you know who eat animal products are more
>agressive, as you hinted above? I'm curious about your actual experience, not
>party lines.

I guess I better stop this tongue in cheek stuff, eh?

The diet issue receives an inordinate amount of focus, and as I've
commented on the Raw list, I've met conventional meat and potato(e)
earthlings, Kraft Dinner fanatics, natural hygienists, fruitarians,
macrobiotic adherents, vegetarians of various stripes, who are aware and
compassionate, aggressive and malicious, and everything else in between.
The whole spectrum. Well, I'd like to meet a breatharian someday as well.

It's really an individual development, this rabid, irrational behavior.

My spiritual counselor is one of the most loving, compassionate men with
whom I've had the fortune to be associated. He eats cooked fare, enjoys
meat and he loves fruit. He sometimes asks me about my lifestyle and we
talk about it openly. He figures I should live on Maui and pursue my
interests there. A prairie farm boy raised in the heart of beef country, he
still truly respects my aspirations. And someday he wants to consult with
me about dietary issues. Till then, we both accept each other's choices and
decisions. This is pretty benign; he's not yer typical steroid-enhanced
linebacker pumped up with the pre-game steak and eggs.

Another man who has recently "entered" my life is a leader of a Christian
sect that promotes a raw lacto-vegetarian diet. Integrity and ethics are
not his priority; a public facade sugarcoats disrespect for women,
manipulation and deceit. His subordinates appease him by following his
dietary "suggestions." Recently, a close friend of mine fell prey to his
insistence that every evening she eat four ounces of soaked nuts prior to
retiring. She came back from her ten day visit sluggish and bloated and
soon trashed this practice despite "reminders" by long-distance calls.
Spiritually, a disappointing role model, this man uses religous dogma to
bolster his dietary zeal.

So who's the aggressive type here? The pot roast spiritualist or the
hypocrite raw minister? On face value a correlation between a restricted
diet and aggressive behavior may exist in my example. On a deeper level,
however, one person is living in joy and the other is limited by fear and
insecurity. Their relationships with people differ considerably and this
shouldn't be surprising. Diet is not an issue here at all. The individual's
evolution is far more worthy of attention.

Closer to home, as mentioned in an earlier post, I've become less
aggressive since my diet makeover, but other factors most certainly play
into that: physical rejeuvenation, emotional maturity, and spiritual
growth. Before, I got into drunken bar fights, then pushed the hygienic
platform after recovering my health, and now, it's more like, do yer own
thing. For this docility, it'd be nice to give blanket credit to my raw
herbo-fruitarian existence, but dang it, I'm much more than what I eat! I'm
going to pat myself on the back for looking inward instead.

Incidentally, I do subscribe to Health Science (ANHS's rag) and the
Fruitarian Network Newsletter so if I'm guilty by association, that's OK.
But honestly, I'm not interested in party lines. If fruit consumption
loosens my teeth, I'll be the first to suss out range-fed chicken eggs.

A big hug for ya,
Jo