478
submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemm.ee to c/news@lemmy.world

The co-founder of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX pleaded not guilty to a seven count indictment charging him with wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.

An attorney for FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried said in federal court Tuesday his client has to subsist on bread, water and peanut butter because the jail he's in isn't accommodating his vegan diet.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] BonfireOvDreams@lemmy.world 82 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

He is Vegan. Irrespective of how we feel about what he did, the failure to address his core ethical beliefs is completely unacceptable. This would never occur if his belief was rooted in ideas of a higher being or afterlife. Not that I'm planning on going to jail anytime soon, but the thought that I would not be able to abide by that daily practice of my life would be incredibly distressing. Unless he is doing it for environmental reasons (I don't know) he likely seeks total animal liberation, and you're going to force feed him stolen animal secretions? Coproducts of dead baby cows, blended up chicks, and beings bred into painful bodies? The alternative is malnutrition? I would highly consider Jainism or Sikhism on this fact alone. Fuck you if you think he should be forced to go against his ethical beliefs.

[-] Brokkr@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago

That's a very sensationalist way to phrase your point and makes you sound fairly biased in the matter.

In the law, religious belief is a protected class, but dietary choice is not. A reasonable debate could be had about if it should be protected. The prison system nor the court room is the right forum, because it needs to be decided by the legislature.

[-] dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world 29 points 11 months ago

Veganism it's not a simple dietary choice. Depending on how long the person has been vegan, a sudden switch could make them very sick.

[-] Pogbom@lemmy.world 44 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

And let's not pretend that prisons don't regularly disregard inmates dietary restrictions, even the medically necessary ones. It's easy to laugh at this one because 'haha vegan' but it's still atrocious to ignore any dietary restriction, let alone such a common one.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] BonfireOvDreams@lemmy.world 25 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Veganism is not strictly a dietary choice. Look into ethical veganism. In the UK, Ethical Vegans are a legally protected class. I understand they are not legally protected in America - this does not require me to change my position at all. I made it clear that it's my opinion, and I presented how I would personally feel to be in his position and what I might consider just to have that ethical belief respected.

[-] mightyfoolish@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago

It's a lifestyle choice based on moral ramifications. I understand that you're not the legislative but it totally should be a part of the same protected class.

[-] dezmd@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

his core ethical beliefs is completely unacceptable

his core ethical beliefs

core ethical beliefs

ethical

[-] BonfireOvDreams@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Nobody said the guy is entirely ethical ¯\(ツ)

I don't think being forced to consume death/murder is the answer to him not being ethical with people's funds.

load more comments (8 replies)
[-] Akasazh@feddit.nl 8 points 11 months ago

I think the true argument is that dietary preference is a bit of a slippery slope. One could easily claim that they abide by a diet of only steak, truffles and lobster.

Obviously that is not feasible for a prison kitchen to fulfil. I do agree though that an effort could be made. I'm not sure if religious preference is catered to (no pork f.i.) and I could even see a point of not serving meat at all.

But the bottom line is that you can't let the prisoner make food demands like that and be considered unethical if not fulfilled. Medically there's not really a case here. Water and bread sounds a bit brutal, but it's not likely that he has no choice at all, it's also a bit of an act that his legal team will no doubt will utilise in court to claim 'inhuman circumstances'

[-] dx1@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

It's not a slippery slope. Vegans have a saying, veganism is the moral baseline. Other prisoners who want to eat steak or chicken or hot dogs are being catered to for their preferences even though those actively cause victimization. But somebody wants to not victimize animals with their diet and all of a sudden it's "fuck them". None of you have thought about this at all.

[-] pythonoob@programming.dev 4 points 11 months ago

Nah, fuck him.

You can be vegan for good reasons but I feel like he's just doing it to make a show.

[-] CmdrShepard@lemmy.one 21 points 11 months ago

I also think it's for show. Having worked in a jail kitchen, they serve lots of cheap food like beans and rice but also have vegetables and other foods that'd be considered vegan. I suspect what's happening is that he isn't getting gourmet meals like he was previously accustomed to, so he's refusing to eat anything else to gain sympathy points.

[-] snapeyouinhalf@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

Depends on how it’s prepared. There are plenty of things one could add to veg that make them nonvegan, and a lot of us do add those things. Assuming originally vegan foods will be prepared and served in a way that keeps them vegan is a poor assumption. Idk about this guy’s actual diet, but I’ve seen a lot of vegans accidentally breaking their diet by eating something they assume is vegan, and then get sick from it since their bodies aren’t used to it anymore. Not to mention the guilt felt by those who are extremely serious about it.

[-] TheFrirish@jlai.lu 8 points 11 months ago

I agree, only because it's about veganism that there is a supportive reaction. If they were not respecting his Christian/Muslim beliefs for example no one here would bat an eye, especially here.

[-] BonfireOvDreams@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Admittedly if he held a religion that he claimed required meat consumption I would be in favor of not accommodating him. Thankfully, no major religion does this, because as it turns out in trying to seek ethical practice, they all arrive at the idea that abstaining from killing conscious beings is morally good.

[-] TheFrirish@jlai.lu 5 points 11 months ago

I also believe your first comment is correct and the US prison system is quite messed up to say the least. However I'm being very pragmatic here and I'm not going to shed a tear if he personally only has bread and water to eat. if anything it will do him some good. the problem is that this is applied to every person in jail or most jails.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] BonfireOvDreams@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

He has been Vegan since at least April 2021. He was not arrested until December 2022. It's not a circus show. The dude's ethical beliefs in regards to Veganism are not in question. They need to be respected.

[-] pythonoob@programming.dev 14 points 11 months ago

Ironic he can respect animals more than people. He won't find much sympathy here.

load more comments (10 replies)
[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

Irrespective of how we feel about what he did

What he has been accused of doing. He has not been proven guilty. I’m not saying he’s not guilty but until proven so, whatever happened to “innocent until proven guilty”?

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] electrogamerman@feddit.de 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

No one is forcing him to do anythig. He has bread and water, or he is supposed to receive a special vegan menu?

Edit: Also imagine the girl that killed many new born babies, would you also be like: "give her a vegan diet, poor girl!?" BFR

[-] BonfireOvDreams@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

He is not supposed to be malnourished. If the option is malnutrition, or disregard of ethical beliefs, I'd argue they actually are forcing him.

load more comments (18 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (63 replies)
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
478 points (94.1% liked)

News

22470 readers
5277 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS