Vegan Life
We’ve all met them, those self-confessed vegan police types who are constantly berating other vegans for not being as good a vegan as they are. They seem to think they are advancing the cause but in reality they are the ones who end up putting people off who want to try veganism. Their all or nothing attitude is not only unrealistic, it’s confrontational.
Vegan Police
When I was vegan the first time, I didn’t have any friends who were vegan, I didn’t even have any friends who were vegetarian. I was mocked constantly for my choices but it was done in a good natured way. The one person I expected to take the piss the most, my dad, was actually really supportive. He wanted to understand, so he asked me why I’d made the decision, and he listened as I explained. He told me it made sense, and he understood….then did everything he could to support me in my choice.
My friends, even though they mocked me a bit were really supportive, if they invited me over they would go out of their way to make sure there was something I could eat. I was vegan for three years, and the non-vegan people I met and who were involved in my life were amazingly supportive. The people who made me feel bad were the people who were already vegan, the vegan police. People who I only knew through podcasts and chatrooms. I’d come to veganism from an environmental standpoint, and for some that meant I wasn’t really vegan.
In the end I got fed up of the sniping, and when my living situation changed it was too easy to fall back into my old ways. This time around I was lucky, I fell into a group (Birmingham Vegans) that was really supportive. Even at the beginning when I had some kind of dumb questions. However, at around the same time I found the lovely group, I also found some not so lovely ones. I joined a whole host of groups, hoping to get some support and help in finding my way. I only really got that in the one group, in the others I was berated and lectured by these vegan police types, for any little mistake I made, or in some cases for eating food that looked like meat, even though it was vegan. I very quickly left those groups, they weren’t the type of vegan I wanted to be.
For me being vegan is about compassion. Not just for animals but for everyone. I try my best to be compassionate when dealing with people. I don’t always succeed but I do the best I can. Which I think, in the world we all live in, is the best we can do. Unless you are living in isolation, growing all your own food, and not using technology or transport, no one is a perfect vegan. The people who get mad about those vegans who buy Ben & Jerry’s new vegan ice cream because the brand is owned by Unilever, are the same people who also shop at Tesco and drive cars/use buses.
There is an animal abuse (or human abuse) chain in almost every product we buy, we cannot get away from it. All we can do is live the best life we can, be true to ourselves, and support the people who are trying to make the world a better place. I am as much a vegan as you are, okay so you go to animal vigils and I don’t, that doesn’t make you a better vegan than me. It just means we have different approaches to activism. My version of activism involves sitting at my computer writing words, it involves sharing photos of all the yummy vegan food I eat, it involves creating delicious vegan recipes that I can share, it involves going to events, it involves meeting new vegans, and it involves talking about why I’m vegan.
I can’t do the vigil stuff, and I shouldn’t have to do anything that will affect my mental well-being just so I can get a stamp of approval from the so called vegan police. These people are the ones who will drive newbies away from the vegan lifestyle. Their rigid, holier-than-thou attitude is what makes people think “If nothing I do is good enough, why should I do anything.” They can’t win no matter what they do so what’s the point in trying.
Maybe you’re reading this and thinking, “I don’t do that”, or “Well they should be doing more.” Why don’t you try changing your mind set, show people the same compassion you show animals. Next time someone tells you they’re doing meat-free Monday, instead of responding with “What good is that, try a week, month or forever.” Say “That’s great.” Offer them some recipes, or some advice. Ask if they’ve tried xyz. Tell them some of your favourite vegan goodies. Give them support. Let them know if they decide to take it further you’ll be there to help them.
I recently got a friend to switch to plant-based milk not by lecturing him on the evils of dairy but by telling him about how great my favourite plant milk (Oatly Barista) is. I told him about the rich creamy taste, and how much better it is for you. He tried it and loves it. Okay, so he still eats meat but it’s a step in the right direction. He also told me he’s thinking about trying to avoid meat a few days a week, I don’t think he’ll ever give it up completely but even two days a week is something.
I’ve also served friends vegan food (burgers) and they’ve thanked me for getting meat for them. Then been shocked when I’ve told them it wasn’t meat. One of those friends now only buys the Linda McCartney “pulled pork” style burgers because she likes them so much more than the beef burgers you buy. It’s not a big change but again it’s every little helps. This is my version of activism, and I think it’s doing a whole lot more for the cause than yelling at someone for not being vegan enough.
So, all you vegan police types before you tell someone they’re not really vegan, consider taking a look at yourself. Being vegan is about having compassion, how much do you have?
I agree with some of your points and I would never want to discourage new vegans but some of the people who buy from far less than ethical companies are long-time vegans who go out and campaign for animal rights. They stand in front of shops handing out leaflets on the evils of vivisection and then go home and spend hours sharing over social media their excitement at eating Ben and Jerry’s. This is two-faced. Nobody has the right to tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t eat or wear or do, but if the word Vegan is to mean something then certain bottom line principles have to be applied. Otherwise the term Vegan becomes meaningless, just a fashion accessory. With the increase in companies wanting to cash in on the Vegan pound it’s important that we don’t drool so much over the ever larger array of treats that we slip, bang our heads and loose sight of the reason we became vegan in the first place. Great article.
Thank you. I understand where you’re coming from I just think there are ways to address these issues without the conflict that many seem to want. YOu’ve said it perfectly in this comment, it makes your point without being…..mean/nasty/confrontational. It is easier to listen to someone like you who says it nicely, than the people who scream and shout, and get nasty about it. 🙂
The difficulty for many Vegans is that once you enter the ‘Vegan community’ it can feel supportive but people with very strong ethics are unsurprisingly going to have very strong opinions. Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream is one issue you have highlight but this is a very recent topic.
Looking back through discussion sites you will see long-time Vegans coming to blows about having or not having children. You can imagine how sensitive this is and I can say as a vegan with a daughter (whom I had before becoming Vegan) this has made me feel very unwelcome at times. Other issues are the pro-life/pro-choice argument, whereas most Vegans tend to be pro-choice there are a minority of extremely vocal pro-life Vegans who see every chance to comment as one where they can promote their vision.
Some Vegans drive, seeing it as a enormous asset when it comes to attending Vegan events; protests, rally’s whereas others view this as extremely hypocritical when Vegans should be doing everything possible to preserve the environment. Some animal welfare charities use cadavers, the bodies of unfortunate animals to educate. One such example are those who use the bodies of Badgers hit by cars to demonstrate to volunteers how to humanly catch and help a badger who is unlucky enough to get caught in a trap. Their argument being “people are surprised at how big they are, how sharp their teeth are.” They believe people need to see them in order to appreciate that helping them is no easy task and requires confidence and good training to keep the badger and humans as safe as possible. Another friend rescues birds. Some bodies are (I hope you aren’t eating) cut open and photographed to show the head in the sand public that plastic rubbish has led it’s demise and millions of animals are at similar risk. The argument is that these animals are dead and the only good which can come is to use their bodies to educate and hopefully save others of their species. Other Vegans are absolutely horrified. They argue that this is disrespectful and that humans are still (however well-meaning) using the bodies of the animals for their own purposes.
When it boils down to it they are right BUT in this case can it be justified? Who is being more Vegan? Personally I agree with those who use the bodies as no amount of ‘talking’ ever shocks people than seeing a load of plastic coiled up inside a birds innards. They can’t shrug it off.
I think you are giving me too much credit and I hold my hands up and say I most definitely got into the Ben and Jerry’s debate. More so because I was concerned about the time spent on Vegan sites giving free advertisement to Unilever BUT we must always recognise that for new Vegans this is confusing. Am I Vegan or aren’t I? I don’t begrudge any new Vegan new products but established Vegans should question how well this really sits with their overall beliefs and whether it can be justified. We should hold each other to account, sometimes. But this should never form the majority or even a significant minority of discussion because too much division means fewer protests, socialising, campaigning.
The bigger priorities are the ones we all agree on and always have to stop using animals for our own purposes, to save our planet and to promote Veganism by being a basically decent human being. My recommendation for when you get stressed by a sensitive topic is to contribute but then come away for a while. I do. There are always times of tension but they do pass. I always think of my Veganism as an ongoing journey where you are determined to get to a destination but never quite get there. Veganism isn’t something you can be, it’s something you continually strive to be. We just have to do our best, in the knowledge that it will never be good enough but frankly that will have to do.