Why are Vegans so universally maligned and ridiculed? Why do we not see their efforts as commendable, and even aspirational? Surely the diet someone chooses is not worthy of such contempt, whether or not we choose to follow it as well.
Yes, Veganism is a diet. Its a diet devoid of animal products, and a Vegan Lifestyle extends to exclude all animal products in the person’s life and environment (where possible. The modern world actually makes a 100% vegan lifestyle impossible, but that’s’ not the point here). Many people are vegan for purely dietary reasons, sometimes involuntarily for health conditions, or weight loss, and sometimes in the pursuit of living a more sustainable lifestyle. Most vegans who do it for animal welfare reasons, do so for their own peace of mind, to resolve their own cognitive dissonance, not to force it onto others.
What’s to ridicule about that?
Well, of course, the ridicule is not really about veganism at all, but the sub culture of vegans who are Animal Rights Extremists (ARE).
Most are just noisy keyboard warriors, but some do utilise terrorist style tactics to intimidate others and force societal change. Now this is a whole different ball game to veganism. The hate directed at extremists is often quite justified.
Trespassing and stealing people’s animals is not okay, in any context. Paying fake whistle-blowers to fake footage of animal cruelty to close down industries is not okay. Trying to close animal events and exhibits by trying to frighten the animals involved is never okay. The ends do not justify the means, and the police and courts get involved in these incidences, and more recently, even parliament. But that is not what “veganism” is about, and its unfortunate that the average vegan is being attacked in the process, when they are not the problem, but the scapegoat.
“All Animal Rights Extremists are Vegans. But not all Vegans are Animal Rights Extremists.“
All Animal Rights Extremists are vegans. But not all vegans are Animal Rights Extremists.
We need to stop maligning vegans, and call it out when we see it. Not just because the behaviour is discrimination or cyberbullying (and it is!). But because we SHOULD make a clear distinction between Vegans and ARE. If we don’t, we are actually helping ARE win.
Have you ever wondered why ARE want to be called Vegans?
By mislabelling someone a “Vegan” instead of an “Animal Rights Extremist” we artificially increase their numbers. ARE have hijacked the term Vegan for too long already in their attempts to appear more credible and numerous than they actually are. The smaller a group they are, the less significant they are, and the less power they have.
We also shouldn’t malign the people who are considering veganism for legitimate reasons by lowering ourselves to a level where we will ridicule them for things they haven’t done. The genuine people who just can’t reconcile saying they love animals and also eating them are not people we, as animal owners and carers, need to fight, and we lose out by making enemies of them.
With climate change activism increasing, we WILL be seeing a sharp increase in veganism as people try to reduce their personal carbon footprint. For these vegans, its not about saving animals, but saving the planet through resource conservation. They are not the problem either, and there’s a lot of them already.
We should not allow the small, but loud, handfuls of ARE to hijack those statistics to artificially inflate the validity of their cause. And they absolutely will if we let them, they already do this now. We are already seeing the number of Vegans in Australia being used as support for ARE views to push for societal change and laws. Perhaps we really should be calling them Animal Rights Societal Extremists?
Whatever we call them, Veganism isn’t the problem.
So I’m calling on all the people who care about the good welfare of animals in our community: animal owners, keepers, breeders, exhibitors, and farmers, to get on board, and stop calling ARE “Vegans”. Stop helping them by using the word Vegan when you really mean ARE. Strip them of their hijacked title, even while they squeal about it, and you will begin to see how powerless and insignificant they really are.
By: Karri Nadazdy – Animal Care Australia Horse Representative – Originally published: March 2020 ACE Newsletter.
