How You Become One of THOSE vegans
It seems I am becoming one of THOSE vegans.
My meaning? One time I saw a profile on OKcupid that said I’m vegan, but trust me I’m not one of THOSE vegans!! You know, the ones everyone hates because they go around preaching about veganism and how you’re evil if you’re not a vegan. The ones everyone is hating on in the comments section of PETA videos on youtube.
Well, here’s how it happens.
First you are raised into a culture where everyone eats meat, dairy, uses animal tested products and what not and it’s totally NORMAL. You hear things like animals aren’t conscious beings. People speculate over whether or not animals feel pain.
You have a dog or a cat. You know your pet feels pain, has a personality, loves you. But you never see any other animals. You hesitantly guess that all animals are probably like your pet.
You decide you want to be vegetarian. Amazingly you manage to break your habit, restrict your diet–now you’re a vegetarian!! You are on a roll. People always ask you about it. Why are you a vegetarian? You don’t really know how to explain it. They ask you “is it for health reasons or animal rights reasons”. You don’t want to seem weird and you don’t really know how to explain yourself, so you say “both”.
You’re a vegetarian for years and you start reading more about it. You hear rumblings about veganism but it seems way too extreme. Plus, what is wrong with milk? They don’t kill the cows.
You hear about egg farms and you make sure to always buy free range eggs and tell all your friends and family to buy the same.
You feel bad for cows and make the connection that you are wearing ANIMAL SKINS on your feet. you decide to stop buying leather and find your fashion choices are vastly reduced.
Then you finally get the courage to delve deeper into what people are saying about dairy farms and egg farms. So free range farmers lie about what free range means? You read all the grisly details. You’re ready.
You become vegan.
You lapse a couple of times. Finally it sticks.
Suddenly it starts making sense. Why would I want to participate in a system of slavery, violence, cruelty, and torture.
You feel really relieved to be out of it. Free of any guilt that you are complicit in it.
Suddenly all around you, things start seeming different.
You pass the meat aisle in the grocery store and see logos with happy cows and sunshine and old fashioned looking farms. It reminds you of something out of a superhero movie, something that the villains would come up with….creepy and sinister. Like The Joker.
You see pictures on tumblr of food which you formerly would have thought looked delicious even though you wouldn’t eat it, and now you just feel kind of sad.
The world looks different. You try to have patience for everyone and realize that it’s really hard to change your diet. If you hadn’t gotten on a path of vegetarianism you might still be eating meat today. You try not to judge anyone.
But once you cross over to the other side, suddenly the simple fact that was there all along, that animals have feelings, suffer, have lives, have families, want to live their lives and deserve to be free becomes like, coldly obvious.
Why was it so hard to see that simple truth for so long?
There was so much brainwashing going on. Through advertisments, through the guise of being scientific and not anthropomorphizing animals, through the fact that we never see or get to know any animals in our modern society (since they’re all hidden away in factory farms), through the fact that people are addicted to meat and cheese (I definitely was).
I am a huge fan of capitalism and the power of entrepreneurs and business to make people’s lives better, but you do understand why capitalism has gotten such a bad rap. People don’t always think about the lives behind their business. Even good people don’t, such as one of my favorite bloggers, the Pioneer Woman, who is a hilarious writer, loving mother, beautiful photographer and lives on a cattle farm. She loves those baby cows but she separates them from their mothers and sends them off to slaughter, thinking she’s given them a good life and that’s the way of things.
It shouldn’t be.
People are making huge progress in overturning this huge wrong in society. I have an awesome interview upcoming with someone whose work and progress is going to amaze you.
But yeah, in conclusion, I guess I am one of THOSE vegans now. I understand them. As soon as you turn vegan, I think most people get free of all the brainwashing and the simple facts become obvious for the first time. The emperor has no clothes.
That’s why there are so many of THOSE vegans.
Oh wow, I just read this and straight away had to comment because you have described my progression pretty much step-for-step. That is exactly how I gave up eating meat and how I decided to give up wearing animal products, and I’m on the cusp of veganism now after all the things I’ve been reading online (though yes, have lapsed in my first few attempts). I always said to myself ‘well, I don’t eat meat, so I’m doing my bit’ but I know that I want to and should do more, so once I’ve left home this autumn I’ve decided to go full vegan.
I have ALWAYS found people’s reactions difficult. It seems they’ll understand ‘vegetarian for health’ more than they will ‘vegetarian for animal rights’! I’m always quite vague about it and I wish I had the balls to say more openly the reasons why I don’t eat meat. Screw people if they think I am one of ‘those’.
I came for the shoes but stayed because of what this blog has become! Big factor for encouraging my veganism. Thank you! :)
Kate, thank you. This comment means so much to me. I remember so many times people asked me why I was vegetarian and all I could think of was “I like animals” ha! I really had no clue what to say. I think I kind of thought I wasn’t making a difference at all just by not buying 1 hamburger or something. But I think even though I didn’t understand why, I was actually doing it for the right reasons. I just knew it was the right thing to do. Now I kind of think of it like, if some horrible thing was taking place, I wouldn’t want to be a part of it. But it is so hard explaining it to people who are your friends and you don’t want to make them feel bad or get into a huge argument where you can’t even explain why you feel the way you do without coming across as hateful and being confronted with crazy arguments that ignore the basic fact any child or animal lover could see… I have SO been there (am still pretty much there). I am so glad this resonated with you and it is so touching to hear that I am helping you in some small way. So awesome!
So after the dog, then one of your kids decides to go vegetarian and then you have to increase the options on the table so she will eat with the family. Many times she wants to discuss the difficult videos and what is really going on behind the scenes of food. In addition, the vegan diet she adopts sounds alarmingly like the diet your favorite doctor has recommended for years but seemed too hard to follow. Soon you are reading books she has left lying around the house and then you find yourself buying them (for her) but you read them too. And then one day, it all makes sense and it’s not hard at all. Thanks, Tor!
Hahah thanks mom. Great addition to my piece. I am so glad you agree with me. : DDDDDD
Great essay, Martha–an accurate and very well documented evolution–thank you. Truly, animals are no different from us. If anyone takes time and interest to observe them, it is easy to see. They have a full range of emotions, they have personalities, they get moody sometimes (especially cats and horses), they have preferences, they have strategies and agendas, and they give love and need love, and they enjoy affection. Because they are not hypnotized by cultural paradigm they seem to be better able to understand our communications to them than we are able to understand their communication to us. My own reason for not eating animals? My extreme love and appreciation for them. Animals are truly my friends. There is no sacrifice, no giving up anything–how could I possibly eat something I feel so personally connected to, something I love so much? My evolution has brought me to see that every creature that is alive–even the smallest insect–loves its life as much as I love miy own, and for me that is a life changing thought.
Thanks Billie. I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts. I love how you say your reason for being vegan is that animals are truly your friends. That is a really good point even though it sounds simple. If you have a pet and they are truly your friend, then it is really horrifying to think of eating animals like them. For me as well, my two dogs growing up were truly my best friends. I think that is exactly what started my love of animals–a true friendship with an animal. I wish everyone could experience it. It is very special and more rare than you’d think.
Great post! It can be very frustrating to be a vegan living in this so totally non-vegan world. I remember actually telling people who asked me about my vegetarian diet (and how I got my protein, of course ;)) that a vegan diet was radical and extreme… I’ve been vegan for 5 years now and it’s really not difficult at all – just different. Thanks for speaking out!
Thanks for the comment! I checked out your blog and it is great!