On this blog, I'll write about reality, fiction, and all in-between when it comes to vegetarianism and veganism. I've been a vegetarian for many years, but this is the first time that I've created a blog specifically about it! So, I'm a bit excited.
How do u deal with the haters? People r so mean to vegans :(
I mostly just feel sorry for these people. I mean, someone has made some personal sacrifices in their own life order to honour their own conception of morality, it doesn’t effect you in any way but your response is to try to make life more difficult for them? I think that’s pitiable, even moreso when it’s just a complete stranger on the internet. Clearly these people have bigger problems that aren’t really anything to do with us or veganism.
I think it’s important to keep that in mind while dealing with these people, it sounds easy enough but a shift in perspective can make these things a lot easier to deal with. In terms of more practical advice, I have a post on that here.
Okay listen I’m all for people doing their part to be more environmentally conscious but one thing I really wish was talked about more is how ableist vegan and zero waste communities can be.
A lot of disabled people NEED single use plastic straws. A lot of disabled people NEED precut, packaged vegetables. Same with veganism. I have severe anemia to the point where I have to get iron infusions because my body doesn’t absorb it properly. I tried being vegan but it was not sustainable for me because it made my health issues a lot worse. Veganism is not possible for a lot of people.
And it’s not just physical disabilities either. If your depression prevents you from cooking your own food, go ahead and get the pre made meals. Doing what you can to make things more accessible to you does not make you a bad person. This is not even getting into the financial privileges needed to have an “eco friendly” lifestyle.
If you’re zero waste or vegan that’s great, I’m happy for you but please do not try and push other people to do the same. No one owes you an explanation on why that lifestyle isn’t for them, and no one is a bad person for having a different lifestyle than you.
begging pleading for people to use their critical thinking skills when it comes to the environment. way too many people have this idea:
climate change isn’t real = wrong and bad
climate change is real = correct and good
and while yes, denying climate change *is* wrong and bad, that doesn’t mean you should immediately trust everyone who says climate change is real.
ecofacism is a really concerning trend i see, especially among the younger generation because of how undeniable climate change has become to us. facists are taking advantage of the existential despair that’s rising in young people due to the climate crisis to indoctrinate them into their ideology. the most important thing to remember about ecofacists is that *they don’t actually care about the environment.* it’s a front to make facism more palatable to people who are concerned about the climate. it’s so so so important to learn how to recognize ecofacist talking points because i see them repeated by people who otherwise wouldn’t be described as a facist and it’s very concerning.
if someone says climate change is due to overpopulation, that’s an ecofacist talking point.
if someone says climate change is due to immigration, that’s an ecofacist talking point.
if someone says climate change is a necessary purge of humankind, that’s an ecofacist talking point.
if someone says all humans are inherently evil and deserve to die, that’s an ecofacist talking point.
if someone says that we are the virus, that’s an ecofacist talking point.
ecofacists claim that overpopulation is causing the climate crisis. it’s not. pay attention to the particular spots in the world that have the densest populations: china, india, bangladesh, and nigeria are usually the main countries in these claims. they are targeting asian and african people and blaming them for climate change entirely, when in reality these poorer people living in very high density cities have some of the lowest carbon footprints. ecofacists will say that overpopulation is the issue in asia and africa, and while they usually don’t say this part out loud, the implied solution to the climate crisis is mass genocide against mainly black and brown people. *facism as we know it is white supremacy.* they also use a similar argument to claim that immigration is contributing to climate change, saying that (again, mostly black and brown) immigrants are causing overpopulation in “civilized” countries and that the planes and boats used to take them across the world are causing all that pollution.
ecofacists will say that floods and famine and the subsequent deaths that result from climate change are a necessary evil to keep the human race in check. again, think of who will be most affected by climate change-related disasters (who already are being affected by them). this is not a coincidence.
because they are the masterminds behind the theory that all humans are evil and should die, logically that means the ecofacists would be the ones leading the massacres and choosing which groups to eliminate. again, facism is white supremacy. they will target people of colour, disabled people, queer people, jewish people, and elderly people until only the “ideal” (read: white, abled, cishetallo) members of society are left. this is not a coincidence.
i’m using very extreme examples here obviously but that’s just to demonstrate what the goal of ecofacism is. ecofacists want to use the climate crisis to guilt trip people into giving everything up for the sake of the environment and subscribing to their racist ideals.
it’s very important to mention how rampant ecofacist ideology has become in vegan circles online. obviously there’s nothing wrong with being vegan, but ecofacist talking points are *everywhere* in online vegan communities and it’s very concerning. it’s especially common among animal rights activists (which almost always go hand in hand with veganism, although not all vegans are aras). it’s really important to keep in mind that animal rights activism and animal welfare activism are very very different - animal welfare fights for ethical treatment and slaughter of livestock, while animal rights fights for the complete eradication of animal products. the whole argument over animal welfare vs animal rights can be saved for another post but it is very, very important to recognize how animal rights activism and in many cases veganism parrots racist ecofacist ideas.
it’s really really important to acknowledge that native populations of turtle island and polynesia in particular are damaged by ecofacist ideals. a core part of animal rights activism is the push for completely criminalizing all hunting of wildlife, and who’d have thought - that is incredibly important to the indigenous way of life and forcing native people to stop hunting (*especially* inuit living in the north) is cultural genocide. ecofacism also uses the guise of conservation efforts to push native peoples off of their own land.
it’s true that human consumption can and does lead to climate change, but it isn’t poor people living in slums or even really an average western household. ecofacists put all the blame for climate change on people of colour and other marginalized communities, even when they’re the ones contributing the least to the climate crisis. while a lot of what i’m saying here is intentionally extreme to properly illustrate the point i’m trying to make, it is absolutely a thing that happens that oppressed people actually do die because of ecofacism. the el paso shooter in texas a few years ago admitted to having ecofacist ideals and that his targeting of a store frequented by mexican immigrants was not a coincidence. the shooter that killed 51 people in mosques in christchurch that same year also shared similar ecofacist beliefs.
ecofacist propaganda can be hard to spot and can even make its way to mainstream media. do you remember a couple years ago at the height of tue pandemic when major news outlets were posting videos of dolphins returning to the venecian canals? those videos were not real. they were made with the implicit message of “humans are the virus” - which is, again, an ecofacist talking point. whether the videos were created by an ecofacist or not doesn’t really matter - what matters is that they spread ecofacist propaganda *everywhere*.
it’s really important to recognize absolutist statements like “all humans are evil and should die” or “overpopulation is causing climate change” and be able to critically think about who they might be benefiting and who they might be detrimental to. there are clues in ecofacist talking points, but they’re usually hard to spot - that is the point. if you see some statement that raises a red flag, you should think about who it’s being said or implied is causing the harm, whether it’s a radicalized or oppressed group, and how they’re being portrayed by the people saying these statements. it’s also really important to think about how they propose climate change should be solved: if it involves more police, more surveillance, excluding or pushing entire groups of people out, more military action, or closing borders and denying people the freedom to move - that is an ecofacist talking point.
also, i should mention that not everyone who spreads these types of ideas are ecofacists. in fact, i think most of them aren’t, or at least fully. ecofacism is just the most covert form of facist propaganda right now and it’s very easy to fall into the idea that all humans should die or whatever, no matter if you subscribe to the racist implications of that or not. just please be aware of how ecofacism manifests and how easily it spreads online - don’t be afraid to point out when you think someone is unintentionally spreading racist rhetoric, and be self-critical of what the implications of some of the things you might be saying have. critical thinking wasn’t taught in school just so you could figure out if the curtains were blue or not - it affects everything.
Humans are not the virus.
Discussions on climate change solutions have grown significantly. One that has risen, and shown to be probelmatic, is Ecofascism.
A UConn expert explains how environmentalist ideas can be weaponized in pursuit of a fascist political agenda
Being tired isn't normal. It doesn't matter that you're aging. Being fatigued is a serious sign.
It might be difficult to judge "normal tired" from "bad tired". Rule of thumb is that if you notice that other people seem to be on another plane of existence with alertness, you're not "normal tired".
I slept for 10-12 hours a day at least and still was tired for most of the day but "functioned" (went to work).
It turns out it wasn't just one thing. It was a lot of things. I went on liquid vitamins first because that's all I had energy for—to throw money at something that can be delivered to me. And it was crucial. I went off my heart medication after my doctor let me know my active heart rate was way too low (prior to the vitamins). I felt super improved and this went from feeling super improved to extremely improved after I began to eat more healthy fats (avocados, eggs, nuts, vegetarian-friendly animal products). I cannot emohasize the eating more fats thing enough. Did you know that due to our biology women are supposed to have way more healthy fats than what we're typically told?
I had struggled with other symptoms I brushed off as normal too. My hands and feet being cold all the time. Turns out this wasn't normal. How many women and girls have cold hands and feet constantly? I was "adoringly clumsy". Balance issues from vitamin B12 deficiency. Foot cramps. Magnesium deficiency. Generalized anxiety disorder. Still have it, but significantly improved because my body isn't fighting for it's life. Lack of focus/concentration issues to the point where I worried I had ADHD or something since that's all I know about that mental health condition.
Constant cravings I blamed on emotional eating. Increasing my healthy fat intake all about cured this—helped more than protein. I began to lose weight when I increased my healthy fats because I was no longer seeking out sugar or bad fats. Iron deficiency and vitamin D3 deficiencies were also confirmed on blood tests before I started liquid vitamins.
When I went off my heart med and bought those dumb electrolyte packets for my water, my arrhythmia is now hardly noticeable physically.
And to circle back—I am awake. And I sometimes break down and cry because I can't believe how I was functioning now that I understand what having energy feels like. I didn't know. I didn't know there was even anything wrong with me. I thought I was just a tired person. That being tired was normal to being female and aging.
Chronic fatigue is extremely serious. It's not normal. You're not just a tired person.
I’m a vegetarian, and I dreamt that I stood up at dinner in front of my entire extended family and gave the whole, stereotypical coming out speech, about the fact that I wanted to eat chicken.
i genuinely feel like it’s impossible to be an ethical person without sacrificing pretty much everything which gives me any joy
i went vegan, but now i just keep seeing how i fall short in so many other ways. it seems like everything i previously enjoyed has to be boycotted. everything is problematic in some way.
I don't feel like 'ethical' is a thing anyone actually just achieves and becomes 'an ethical person' one day by being nice enough and boycotting enough companies; it's something we have to strive for. I agree with Aristotle that virtue is a skill, it's not something you just are, it's something you have to constantly practice and that won't always be easy. That is made all the more difficult by capitalism.
Whatever you want to buy that will give you joy that you know is harmful, consider whether there is a more ethical version. Can you buy it second hand? Is there a more ethical company selling the same thing? Can you replace it with something else? You can't deny yourself every pleasure, but if something that brings you joy is inherently harmful you can choose to examine whether or not you actually need it to feel happy, and if you really do, how you can mitigate at least some of that harm. It's about choosing your battles.
I can't not eat any vegetables or grains without a severe health impact for example, and I can't afford to buy everything locally and I can't grow it all myself, so I buy it from the supermarket, knowing that much of it will have been farmed in environmentally destructive ways using unfair labour practices. People who aren't even trying will bring that up as a reason why veganism isn't ethical, but it's a lot better than consuming that unethical produce alongside animal products, which require even more of that exact produce.
I can't be completely cruelty free but I can relatively easily boycott animal products, and I can pay for the extra 15% on coffee, chocolate and bananas to buy Fair Trade. There is just about no smartphone or computer that does what I need it to do that is also ethical, but I can buy them refurbished instead of new. I can boycott particularly harmful companies, while knowing that what I replace their products with won't be ethically perfect either - just better. None of these are hugely commendable acts or difficult sacrifices, but it all helps.
Being vegan does not make you a good person, it's just one stance on one particular issue, which is the exploitation of animals. I oppose exploiting animals and refusing to purchase products which engage in that exploitation is accessible to me, and so I do it. It's that simple. Plenty of my other purchases aren't ethical and neither will yours be, because a lifestyle free from any and all harm is not possible under capitalism.
So long as you're doing your best that's really all anyone can expect. We're going to pass through this world just once, so we should enjoy it while trying to leave our small corner of it a little better off than it was before we got there. Being kind to one another and living a good life may not always be easy, but its also not some great burden that robs you of any joy. It is the entire point of living.
watching people tie themselves into knots to dunk on vegans is so fucking bleak dude. vegans are bad because they eat soy. on the other hand eating meat from factory farmed animals who were fed on soy is fine. vegans are bad because of problems in large scale agave farming. drinking tequila is fine though. vegans are bad because palm oil is a driver of amazon deforestation and it isn't a pet issue for them. the fact that monoculture crops grown to feed livestock are a larger driver of amazon deforestation is irrelevant. vegans are bad because migrant workers who pick produce are exploited. because vegans are the only people who eat fucking vegetables and exploited migrant labor isn't involved in any part of meat and dairy agriculture. don't you get tired.
I can't disagree. I tend to personally lean more toward veganism, but haven't made the final leap... in part because I really don't know enough vegan dishes to cook.
If you are a vegan or a vegetarian, please consider filling out this survey. Please, I'm begging you.
I am working on a project about vegetarianism for my Oratory class. I study English with Emphasis in Translation, not Medicine, this is in n
I am collecting data for a college assignment about meatless diets. It is my final project for this quarter, so please help me because I don't want to have to take this subject for a second time.
Here is the link for the same survey but in Spanish, just in case.
If you can get a vegetarian family member or friend to fill it out, I will love you for the rest of my life and add you to my will.
Exactly. I still remember reading about Kant in one of my philosophy classes in college, the same class where I got books like Food Ethics and read a bit of Animal Liberation.
No, I haven't had nightmares like that before. But that does sound like an awful nightmare. I always have heard that dreams and nightmares you have mean something but am not sure what it would mean in your case.
