Let me repeat: There is nothing that it is to be a vegan.
If only non-vegans knew how much infighting there was in the Vegan Tribe, they'd never be afraid of us. Well, they're not afraid of us.
As far as I can tell, the only people sort of in the Tribe that anyone's afraid of are the marginalized-even-by-us super-out-there animal rights' activists. I couldn't even tell you the first thing about them. I don't even know if they still exist.
I'm so afraid of the NSA most of the time, that I don't even want to look up if animal rights' activists, in the Malcolm X sense of activism, exist.
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But it could mean something, someday to be a Vegan.
It might be general knowledge some day, cross your fingers, that all the world's greatest environmentalists are Vegan.
Elon Musk, if he's not Vegan, might be a better environmentalist than SOME Vegans, by virtue of inventions. But think about it, short of bloody inventions, you have to stop eating meat to even rank above a Vegan who commutes two hours to work daily in a Humvee.
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It could mean something to be a Vegan. We could be defined as (whisper tone) "those who don't eat meat or dairy," AND (BOLD LOUD TONE) "Those who DO ________."
Aha. The _________. The thing that the majority of tribes have.
Atheists & Agnostics know what I'm talking about. I consider myself to be all three, Vegan, Atheist & Agnostic.* I've also been self-employed for my entire adult life.
The reason I took to Veganism so easily was because the version I adopted was Ethical Veganism. A positive belief about limiting animal suffering.
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But that's just it. Limiting. Are we only seeking to limit? I only know a few Vegans who seriously believe that they'll see an endgame of Vegan World in their lifetime.
In fact, my frustration with Veganism's only being defined in the negative, as opposed to the current system of factory farms, animal agriculture, &c -- is that hardly any Vegans have any idea of any Vegan endgame, period.
Zoopolis, the book: I've been told maybe there.
But my lady-friend, if you talk to her about what she thinks the ideal world is, & you start talking to her about lions & tigers, she has to invoke Virtual Reality to make it work.
You see, I have a problem with the fact that the Carnivore Tribe seems to be actively protecting species, whereas if you take Veganism to its logical conclusion, a lot of Vegans end up saying things like: "Cows and pigs don't need to exist. At all."
& so, in virtue of the fact that my lady-friend wants to limit or even eliminate animal suffering, she's willing to eliminate animals.
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A month ago, my frustration boiled over & I asked my lady to ask her r/Vegan friends what, if any, ideas they had of "The Vegan Endgame."
The very last post, was finally an answer. I like it. Here it is, so I don't forget:
Phase 1 - Initiate a positive feedback loop involving (a) familiarity with veganism, (b) convenience of adopting a vegan lifestyle, and (c) the number of people who are vegan.
Phase 2 - Once we hit a certain threshold where veganism is familiar, convenient, and popular then launch a full-frontal political assault on the animal agriculture industry. Think civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Phase 3 - Institutionalize veganism as the only acceptable cultural norm with our newfound political majority. Have policy battles over fringe issues like whether it is okay to do very limited animal research for life-threatening diseases, whether people can eat meat with a doctor's note, etc.
I think a mostly vegan society (both morally and legally) is attainable probably by the end of this century if not sooner because there is no compelling reason to continue exploiting animals. Once the issue ripens enough in our collective consciousness the emperor of carnivorism will be observed to have no clothes. The only possible exception to this is where meat-eating or animal research are deemed medically necessary to save lives. I don't think our society is ready to give up using animals for truly life-saving purposes yet, though technological advancement will ultimately make.
& that's from antiqua_lumina
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Here's the ENTIRE THREAD.
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*How could I be both Atheist & Agnostic? Start with Penn Gillette's God No book; maybe I'll revisit.
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