People love mocking vegans with “ohhh you sensitive (derogatory) whiny idiot do this for animals, but don’t give a shit about other humans.” And it’s such a fundamental bad faith understanding of veganism. It ignores the ethical framework that informs the difference between “plant based diet” and “vegan”.
I am vegan because I see animals as my fellow sentient beings that don’t deserve to be treated as objects, much less get exploited and killed for human pleasure. I don’t subscribe to hierarchical beliefs regarding life on Earth. It was chance that I was born as a human in the region I was born in. I don’t have more worth than people from other ethnicities and cultures nor am I more worth than animals. This is the ethical framework that informs my politics and my actions. I’m not trying to moralise or position myself as more righteous than non vegans because I’m not doing this for my ego. I’m trying my best to live in alignment with my values and I’d greatly appreciate if people around me would also actively do what they can to reduce systemic harm. Any kind of systemic harm. And the more they can reduce their participation in and fight against said harm, the better.
But the reception you get as a vegan is that you have to consider everyone at all times or you’re a hypocrite poser. The catch here is that people who enter these discussions with vegans automatically assume that all vegans care about is animal exploitation and nothing else. Their very specific image of a vegan is a bigoted or at least deeply ignorant white person, who’s able bodied, lives in the global north, is heavily consumerism pilled and at least part of the middle class. That’s how they’re approaching any online discussion with a vegan. (White vegans aren’t even the majority of vegans in the world btw.) Then they proceed to use all kinds of marginalisations for their anti vegan arguments like trump cards and when vegans with those marginalisations chime in they act dismissive and shift the goalpost to the next point.
Without fail there’ll be a white omnivore leftist who barely remembers Indigenous people at any other time, but once they meet a vegan said leftist becomes their most outspoken ally. But only for the Indigenous people in the arctic circle and maybe the ones in North America, not the ones living in/around rain forests that get decimated to make room for farmland that’s primarily used to produce crops intended for feeding the billions of factory farmed animals. (That the Indigenous people in the arctic circle are struggling with the consequences of large scale industrial fishing and climate change endangering their food sources also gets conveniently ignored.) This is just one prominent example for the amount of ignorance and dis-/misinformation that goes into anti vegan arguments. And I have to wonder if they’ve even met/talked to a vegan who holds anti Indigenous views, or if they once saw a post by some dumb & racist baby vegan. Because I promise you, when it comes to animals vegans are mainly concerned with factory farming, industrial slaughter, breeders, trophy/for profit hunting, and animal exploitation for entertainment and fashion. None of those apply to Indigenous people trying to survive their oppression. And don’t assume that we’re excusing and supporting vegans who’re racist/ableist/queerphobic/classist on the basis that “at least they’re vegan”. No, they’re just as wrong as any other bigot and need to face the appropriate consequences.
None of these anti vegan arguments are interesting, because even leftists gobble up the meat & diary industry propaganda (including the sleazily planted one in mass media “journalism”) and like to remain wilfully ignorant to protect their own comfort in their consumption habits. The result is that vegans have had the same circling arguments with you for decades now. The least you could do is make it interesting. Actually read up on what you claim instead of mindlessly repeating what you’ve heard others say. Bring your sources so we can compare opposing claims (if they exist). Also take a moment to check if the vegan you’re arguing with is poor/disabled (including severe food allergies)/a BIPOC, or multiple of these identities before you put your foot in your mouth.
I need omnivore leftists to understand that veganism requires direct action that is fundamentally tied to targeted boycotting. I need you as a leftist to seriously read about the impact and problems of industrial animal farming. Even if you don’t subscribe to vegan beliefs regarding animals, there are multiple reasons why you should at least reduce your consumption of animal “products” as much as possible, or even go plant based if you can. Large scale industrial farming is a matter of animal rights, environmentalism, racism, public health, and worker’s exploitation and endangerment. You cannot “no ethical consumption under capitalism” and “but the US military and the 1% are the biggest climate criminals” yourself into nihilistic inaction. It’s lazy. It’s giving up without even trying. You are still a person whose consumer choices contribute to the demand that fuels supply. You are still a person that can positively influence the people around you through your own actions. Trying to fight for a better world is a group project, so act like it.
Learn to control the big feelings meeting a vegan cause in you, meet us in the middle with your big guy pants on and we can effectively organise together. We can criticise each other in good faith and ask each other to do better. And we can support each other in actually doing better instead of this ever ongoing circular discourse that achieves nothing but division. Vegans, in fact, love to help you with finding resources and gladly share their experiences and advice if you ask them nicely. You could even organise a local vegan soup kitchen with your local vegans. (What if anti veganism was a capitalist anti-human psy op all along? Just a little something to consider.)
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