The Case for Loosening the Rules of Veganism

so recently the mayor of new york city eric adams admitted to eating fish even though he's been called vegan and has even referred to himself as being plant-based now rather predictably this event was called fish gate now from looking through the reactions to fishgate it seems like most of the commentary around it has come from eric adams political opponents who are trying to weaponize fishgate as a means to try and portray him as not being true to his word or not being trustworthy now we also have to bear in mind that fishgate came about at the same time as eric adams was rolling out his new vegan school meal programs across new york city so from a political perspective it was very topical however whilst most of the commentary was political i did come across this article from vox which is trying to make the case that vegans are too strict with their ideology and we should actually be loosening the definition of veganism because i guess if eric adams orders fish in a restaurant it's because vegans are too strict hey everyone sorry to interject and interrupt myself but i just want to tell you all about wild deodorants because while deodorant have very kindly decided to support my channel and sponsor today's video wild is a cruelty free zero waste vegan company and they send out plastic free and compostable refills which means that once you've bought the reusable deodorant case you can then have plastic free refills for life so because of this i've been using wild deodorant myself for about a month or so and i really like it and i also really like the scents in particular the sea salt and fresh cotton and the sandalwood and patchouli it's super convenient as you can simply set up a subscription which means that wild will just send out the plastic free compostable refills straight to your door and as you can see from mine you can even get your name engraved on the deodorant case as well which is great if there's more than one of you who have subscribed to wild so if wild deodorant sounds good to you then you can use the code ed20 to get 20 of wild products for a limited time only all right then let's get back to the video but again just a big thank you to wild for sponsoring today's video so let's dive in right now and take a look at this concept of loosening the definition of veganism but before i tell you my thoughts let's take a look at what the writer says because i think it's only fair that we take a look at their arguments and see why they believe that we should loosen the definition of veganism so the article starts by referencing a 2014 study that says that 84 of vegans and vegetarians go back to eating meat firstly this was a study that was published eight years ago but beyond that point these are eight years in which the awareness around veganism and the accessibility around veganism has grown exponentially so fundamentally the entire environment and conversation around veganism is so different now to how it was eight years ago for example i wasn't vegan eight years ago and i'm sure most of you who are vegan who are watching this video also weren't vegan eight years ago so citing a study from a time when being vegan was so much harder than it is today seems like a pretty cynical and disingenuous way of trying to make the argument that we should loosen the definition of veganism plus only 1313 people actually completed the survey that was used in the study and out of all of those people well only 183 of them were current or former vegans so the argument for losing the definition of veganism comes from an outdated study with a small sample size of which only 14 of their already small sample size had anything to do with eating a plant-based diet as you can see we're already off to a good start and actually when you break down the study and compare the recidivism rates of vegetarians versus vegans well actually 86 of vegetarians went back compared to 70 of those eating a plant-based diet now this is interesting because the reason this study is being cited is to try and make the claim that being vegan is too strict however ironically the study shows that those who are following the less strict and less restrictive diet had higher rates of recidivism than those following a plant-based diet so even though this study is a poor piece of evidence if anything it actually contradicts the point the author of this article is trying to make and just before we move past this particular point of the form of vegetarians and plant-based eaters in the study who said they were interested in re-adopting the lifestyle at some point 45 of them said they would do so if vegan food was tastier and more convenient 21 said they would do so if they were given more motivation to do it and 19 said they would do so if it was easier socially now all of this seems to suggest to me that our focus shouldn't be on trying to make the definition of veganism looser than it currently is really our focus should be on making vegan food more accessible and convenient and tasty and affordable and we should make sure that being vegan is a socially acceptable and normal thing to do so people don't feel isolated within their social groups and importantly we should be giving people the reasons to be vegan so they're given that motivation to begin with and that motivation sticks with them when they go vegan which means that they stay vegan so perhaps we should be giving people more motivation to go vegan instead of as the author of this article did in a recent reddit ama tell people who are expressing an interest in veganism that they don't actually have to go vegan so then we are presented with this tweet it's bad that being 90 vegan or vegetarian means that you're no longer in the club it would be a lot more valuable if 50 of people were vegan half the time than if just two percent of the population were vegan 100 of the time but this just creates a false dichotomy after all these aren't the only two options that we have in front of us of course what's said in the tweet is true but that's just because of the way that it's been framed it creates the illusion of an argument but you could use the logic in this tweet to just about describe anything for example it would be better if 50 of dog abusers stopped abusing their dogs fifty percent of the time than if two percent of dog abusers stopped abusing their dogs one hundred percent of the time and of course that's true because it would reduce dog abuse overall but it's not a good ethical compromise and we certainly shouldn't advocate for that because ultimately the best scenario would be 100 of dog abusers not abusing their dogs 100 of the time and at the end of the day if we tell people that reducing their animal product consumption by 50 percent is the aspiration then that's the best that we will get but if something is wrong then it's wrong and it should be presented as such why are we trying to create ethical compromises and what kind of message does this send to other people yeah sure animal suffering is bad but it's not that bad oh yeah sure gas chambers are bad but if we reduce gas chamber use by 50 then gas chambers all of a sudden become okay the animals have one movement that's it so just leave it alone the answer to all of this isn't to loosen the definition of what being a vegan means it's for us to become better advocates for veganism and do so in a more effective way if we can't advocate for veganism in an effective way that stays true to the principles of veganism well that's our fault not the animal's fault so the onus is on us to get better at communicating our principles not to loosen the definition of veganism because it's easier to tell someone they can still eat a bacon sandwich and pat themselves on the back at the same time in life there are hard truths but those truths are still truths even though they may be hard and so we shouldn't compromise on these hard truths just because it's more comfortable to tell easy lies and telling people that it's okay to force pigs into gas chambers as long as we only do it 50 of the time is a lie and here's a question that is never answered how far should the definition of veganism be loosened and look i get that people make their way to veganism in different ways i for example went vegetarian first before i went vegan so this isn't a criticism of people making changes with the aspiration of becoming vegan and of course if someone has just gone vegan and they give into a craving or a temptation around a non-vegan friend you need a slice of non-vegan pizza of course that should be met with understanding but what if the next night they then order a whole non-vegan pizza to themselves and then what if they start eating one steak and one chicken burger a week and using cow's milk every day on their cereal how far should the definition of veganism be loosened is eating meat three times a week acceptable but four times a week not how many animal products can you eat and call yourself a vegan in this world of loose veganism and then wherever that line is well why is the line there why is it morally justified to harm that number of animals unnecessarily but not more people are always more than happy to say that vegans are too militant or too strict but they can never define the line where veganism no longer becomes too militant or too strict and that's the problem with not having clear definitions for words if they have no meaning then they mean nothing in this world of loose veganism veganism ceases to exist because it becomes the same as flexitarian and after all isn't that kind of the point we already have a word for someone who consumes animal products but just a little bit less than the average ultimately veganism means what veganism means because that's what veganism means if we change the definition of veganism it's no longer veganism it simply becomes being a flexitarian and with all due respect to eric adams who i greatly admire for championing vegan meals in schools across new york city he didn't choose to eat fish because veganism is too militant or too strict he ate fish because he wanted to eat fish when he sat in the restaurant and ordered what he ordered he ordered it because that's what he wanted to order so the idea that we should loosen the definition of veganism because in a situation where he didn't have to eric adams ordered fish because he wanted to is obviously absolutely ridiculous and when you think about the argument that this article is trying to make they're inherently saying that it's our fault that it's vegan's fault for the decision that eric adams made in that moment not even eric adams would try and blame us for the fact that he chose to eat fish in that moment and yet the off of this piece is saying that it's our fault because we as vegans make veganism too militant and too strict and we should loosen the definition of veganism and in effect cause more harm to animals because we remove the only social justice movement that's actually trying to fight for their well-being and on their behalf so that brings us to the end of the video thank you so much for watching and as always let me know down below in the comments what you thought of what i had to say and also what you think of the article itself now it always fills me with such disappointment when i see arguments such as the one put forward in the article because really it's selling ourselves short we can do better and we should be held to account to do better do we really want the aspiration to be a world where unnecessary animal suffering still exists when we can create a world where unnecessary animal suffering doesn't exist is that really the aspiration that we should have i don't think so i think that we as humans can do better and should do better alright thank you so much for watching i really do appreciate it and i will see you all in the next video you

Channel: Earthling Ed

Views: 77,443

Keywords: earthlinged, earthling ed, vegan, veganism, why, be, go, earthlings full movie, activism, Reducetarianism, meat me halfway, vegan or reduce, meatless mondays, veganuary, tedx talk, Ending the battle between vegans, vegetarians, Ending the battle between vegans vegetarians and everyone else | Brian Kateman | TEDxCUNY, what is a, Reducetarianism or Veganism?, The Reducetarian Solution, eric adams, mayor of new york city, politics, fishgate, vox media, vox

Id: Jb3stR7lV2Y

Length: 11min 54sec (714 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 10 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/AutoModerator]

Thanks for posting to r/Vegan!

Please note: Civil discussion is welcome, trolls and personal abuse are not. Please keep the discussions below respectful and remember the human! Please check out our wiki first!

Interested in going Vegan?

Check out 3 Movies and watch three thought-provoking movies that shed light on uncomfortable realities. 3 Movies also includes other videos, books, challenges and resources for you get started!

Some other resources to help you go vegan:

Visit NutritionFacts.org for health and nutrition support, HappyCow.net to explore nearby vegan-friendly restaurants, and visit VeganBootcamp.org for a free 30 day vegan challenge!

Interested in getting active for the animals?

Join Activist Hub to find and join local vegan groups, add friends, create or share posts, and chat with other activists! You can also use Activist Hub to track your local and online activism in order to see how many people you inspired to watch dominion, take a challenge, or even go vegan!

Some other resources to help you get active:

• Developer or designer? Volunteer at the Vegan Hacktivists!
• Find local groups using the Animal Rights Map!
• Get funding for your animal rights activism, apply here!

Last but not least, join our Discord server!

Thank you!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/transgirlbrewing]

Ty for helping me find Ed