• News home
  • About us
  • Our bios
  • Contact us
  • Cats
  • Disasters
  • Pit bull data
  • How to help us
  • Follow us!

Animals 24-7

News on dogs, cats, horses, wildlife, zoonoses, & nature

  • USA
  • Asia/Pacific
  • Africa
  • The Americas
  • Europe
  • Obituaries
  • Please donate!
  • Search this site

“Confessions of a vegan” author Sam de Brito, 46

October 14, 2015 By Merritt Clifton

Sam de Brito

Sam de Brito (Twitter photo)

Cause of death unknown

Sam de Brito,  46,  an internationally syndicated author and columnist known for acerbic comments about vegetarians and vegans before becoming a vegan himself,  was found dead on October 12,  2015 at his home in North Bondi,  a suburb of Sydney,  New South Wales,  Australia.

The cause of death was not immediately known,  but “Police are not treating his death as suspicious or a suicide,”  wrote Sydney Morning Herald crime editor Nick Ralston,  adding “Sam de Brito’s family described him as a wonderful and devoted father to his young daughter Anoushka,”  age five,  who was the subject of his last column.

"I am not a trinket," by Jo Fredriks.

“I am not a trinket,” by Jo Fredriks.

“Confessions of a vegan”

De Brito wrote relatively little about animals and food issues,  but among his most read and most widely distributed columns was “Confessions of a vegan,”  published on August 3,  2014.

“Even saying the words ‘I’m a vegan’ still sounds alien, while the sense of shame I feel for my past sneering at these gentle people endures,”  de Brito said.

“I realise I was once the bully I despised,”  de Brito continued,  “imposing my will upon creatures simply because evolution has gifted me a place at the top of the food chain.  Even worse I would smirk while spooning the misery of other creatures into my mouth and disparage people’s attempts to explain why it might be wrong.

"Every day," by Jo Fredriks.

“Every day,” by Jo Fredriks.

Epiphany

“Once the light goes on and you realize the food you so blithely eat actually causes massive,  life-long,  completely avoidable suffering to billions of animals,  it’s not an easy epiphany to un-think,”  de Brito acknowledged.

“A supermarket never looks the same.  Butcher shops become very dark places.  The perversity of using smiling anthropomorphized animals to advertise packages of their own body parts grows almost chilling.

“You also realize most vegans aren’t doing it for dietary or faddish reasons but out of compassion and a sense of fairness.

“Many also love the taste of meat, eggs and cheese (I certainly do),”  de Brito confessed,  “but realize you can easily survive and thrive without contributing to the almost unfathomable pain and distress inflicted on animals by factory farming.

"We didn't even make it this far," by Jo Fredriks.

“We didn’t even make it this far,” by Jo Fredriks.

“Defining virtue”

“The enlargement of moral sympathy to include both genders,  all races,  most religions,  the disabled,  the poor –– even animals and the environment,  might one day be judged the defining virtue of humans who lived in the 20th and 21st centuries,”  de Brito predicted.

The column “Confessions of a vegan” was illustrated with paintings by Melbourne Gold Coast artist Jo Frederiks (several of them republished here),  and concluded with a plug for her September 2014 exhibition entitled “Animal Holocaust.”

"RSPCA: Hypocrisy is our mission," by Jo Fredriks. (See "Did Holocaust comparison cost vegan her RSPCA ruling council seat?")

“RSPCA: Hypocrisy is our mission,” by Jo Fredriks. (See “Did Holocaust comparison cost vegan her RSPCA ruling council seat?”)

De Brito returned to food issues in one of his last columns,  ripping into the heavy-on-meat “paleo” diet on August 29,  2015.

“All men are liars”

Summarized Ralston,  “De Brito’s career as a writer spanned more than two decades.  He worked in TV,  film and newspapers.  He also wrote five books including No Tattoos Before You’re Thirty,  The Lost Boys,  and Hello Darkness.  He began writing his ‘All Men Are Liars’ column for the Fairfax media syndicate in 2006.”

All men are liarsRecalled Australian humane philanthropist Phil Wollen,  whose Winsome Constance Kindness Foundation is named after his late mother,  “Sam was a man of contradictions,  gentle and sometimes harsh;  confronting and cooperative;  sometimes predictable,  more frequently surprising.  I once said that he was the ultimate democrat.  He treated everyone equally brusquely!  And by definition, equally kindly.

Phil Wollen

Phil Wollen & friends.

“I am deeply grateful for Sam’s public support of the animal protection movement in general,  and veganism in particular,”  Wollen wrote in a brief eulogy.  “He was an outstanding journalistic beacon in a drab media landscape where powerless,  brutalized animals are ignored or trivialized by flaccid,  banal reportage.”

Please donate to support our work:

http://www.animals24-7.org/donate/ 

Related Posts

  • How Miyoko Schinner got the same shaft as Paul WatsonHow Miyoko Schinner got the same shaft as Paul Watson
  • PIRATES!  Captain Paul Watson goes down with the sinking Sea ShepherdsPIRATES! Captain Paul Watson goes down with the sinking Sea Shepherds
  • Veg or Non-Veg?  India at the CrossroadsVeg or Non-Veg? India at the Crossroads
  • Can the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act save horse racing from itself?Can the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act save horse racing from itself?
  • Cockfighters hit in four states for bribery,  drugs,  even “grand theft auto”Cockfighters hit in four states for bribery, drugs, even “grand theft auto”
  • Bestiality & child porn bust in Bossier City, Louisiana:  Terry Yetman deja vuBestiality & child porn bust in Bossier City, Louisiana: Terry Yetman deja vu

Share this:

  • Tweet

Related

Filed Under: Agriculture, Asia/Pacific, Australia & New Zealand, Book & film reviews, Culture & Animals, Feature Home Middle Left, Food, Global, Horses & Farmed Animals, Meat issues, Obits & Memorials, Obituaries (human), Politics, Vegetarians & vegans, Vegetarians & vegans Tagged With: All Men Are Liars, Jo Frederik, Merritt Clifton, Phil Wollen

Comments

  1. Margaret Conti says

    October 15, 2015 at 3:54 pm

    We are so deeply sorry to hear of the passing of this beautiful and compassionate man. He made the world a kinder place, and the heavens are crying tears of sorrow for his loss. –Our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to his family. Larry and Margaret

Quick links to coverage of dangerous dogs

FREE SUBSCRIPTION!!!

Obits & Memorials

  • Memorials
  • Obituaries (animals)
  • Obituaries (human)
  • Email alert list – Sign up today!
  • Our biographies
  • Memorials
  • Pit bull data
  • Black history & animals
  • Search this site

©

Copyright 2014-2023

Animals 24-7 · All Rights Reserved · Admin

 

Loading Comments...