this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2025
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

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[–] CazzoBuco@lemmy.world 68 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Non-vegans have a really hard time understanding veganism, huh?

[–] zrst@lemmy.cif.su 21 points 5 days ago

It's like explaining free software to someone who only uses apple products.

They willfully refuse to try and understand, then we get posts like this every two weeks.

[–] Gold_E_Lox@lemmy.dbzer0.com 58 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

looool

how do you know if someone hates vegans?

don't worry they'll tell you

[–] anakin78z@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

OMG I'm totally using this from now on. 😆

[–] MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 33 points 6 days ago

Vegan has always been about doing the best you can in reducing the harm you do onto others and the environment as much your able to. Some vegans absolutely will refuse the use of petrol but most will see it as a current necessary evil they have to deal with and just reduce when able to in their current modern lives.

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 42 points 6 days ago (5 children)

Interesting thought, but humans didn't harm the life that became fossil fuels, most of which came from plant matter anyway. I'm not in a position to unilaterally declare something vegan, but I'm pretty sure fossil fuels are vegan by default.

Sure, its use can harm animals. Still, I could kill a mouse with a cucumber, but it wouldn't change the fact that cucumbers are vegan.

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Hmmm… but taking your argument to the opposite end; the normal consumption of a cucumber may not typically harm animals but I think there is an argument to be had that the normal consumption, and production, of fossil fuels typically does.

[–] lalo@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 6 days ago (16 children)

It's a common viewpoint among vegans that systems that depend on animal exploitation should be abolished. On the other hand, systems that contain animal exploitation should be improved.

I'll give two examples with human animals so it can be clear: Slavery? Should be abolished. People getting ran over and killed by cars? We should improve that.

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[–] TimewornTraveler@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 6 days ago (1 children)

people fucking love to do these gotchas against anyone for even fucking trying, don't they

well congrats, you did it, you convinced all of us to compromise on our principles

[–] zrst@lemmy.cif.su 10 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I love vegans because they're usually pretty normal people that have see front-and-center how collectively stupid most people are.

The majority of people are proud of their ignorance because it makes them fit in with others.

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[–] unknown@piefed.social 13 points 5 days ago

We do the best we can to reduce harm and suffering.

Modern life is not vegan by nature, human infrastructure destroys animal habitats, human pollution is destroying the planet. Our species is responsible for the deaths of trillions of animals. Our existence is complicity.

Doing what I can to avoid consuming products of animal suffering is never going to be enough to counteract the majority of humans who revel in it. Especially as it's them who've built/control/condone the broken systems this world is running on and will be ending due to.

[–] zrst@lemmy.cif.su 17 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

Oil is vegan, though.

It's made from the remains of dead plants.

Also, I'm not sure how vegans view corpses of animals.

[–] bigfondue@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Oil is from plankton and algae, and coal is from terrestrial plants. It's all vegan

[–] remon@ani.social 2 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Plankton does contain animals.

[–] Vandals_handle@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

Phytoplankton is composed of plants. Zooplankton and Ichthyoplankton are composed of animals.

[–] bigfondue@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago
[–] adaveinthelife@lemmy.ca 4 points 5 days ago

I'd argue the extraction, refinement and typical uses of petroleum oil are somewhat not-vegan.

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[–] mvirts@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago

Labor exploitation isn't vegan. Vegans are doing the best they can, better than me.

Bacon vegans are the most nonsensical

[–] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 21 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This is like banning H₂O, NaCl and C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁ from your life because "you don't like chemicals".

(Water, Salt and Sugar)

[–] Krudler@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago (2 children)

My sister had a freak out and told me she would never allow chemicals on her lawn. I said what about nitrogen?

NO FUCKING WAY

I followed up by asking her what she thinks our breathable atmosphere is made of, and what is captured by the rain and falls on her grass?

YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN

I told her no, I don't, because when you just make up imaginary definitions for words, no one can ever know what you mean.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 6 points 5 days ago

This is a pretty dumb hill to die on. If someone says "chemicals on their lawn" it's pretty clear they mean lawn treatment services.

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[–] Chainweasel@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Oil is actually primarily formed from algae, not dinosaurs, so it should qualify.

Coal is plant matter, so it also qualifies.

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[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 14 points 6 days ago (4 children)

This is shifting blame. Fossil fuels are vegan in the sense of origin, however the harm done to the biosphere in using them is not vegan. Therefore a vegan using fossil fuels in a dependent society is to blame.

Sure. It's not the much higher percentage of people participating in this, it's the vegans. At least they're making attempts to change, unlike the rest of us.

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[–] quacky@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

We know that 99% of people don't identify as vegan. Veganism has never been popular, but popular doesn't imply good or bad unless you're a politician, celebrity, or wannabe those things https://news.gallup.com/poll/510038/identify-vegetarian-vegan.aspx

[–] elevenbones@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago
[–] KurtVonnegut@mander.xyz 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

Depends on whether you're talking about oil/gas or coal. The former is dead marine fauna (edit: and flora), the latter is dead terrestrial flora.

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[–] Cevilia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 6 days ago (8 children)

I drive an EV and my electricity's 100% renewable.

Your move. :)

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[–] harsh3466@lemmy.ml 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If the baseline vegan precept is no animal products of any kind, then I would agree nobody is actually vegan

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago

The commonly accepted definition is summarized by the Vegan Society:

Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.

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