I’ve talked to many non-vegan leftists and they are the most puzzling type of person to me.
Like how are they even justifying participating in animal torture to themselves? All the things they critique about the brutality of capitalism could be applied them just easily! Somehow most of them seem incapable of entertaining the thought that perhaps actively and willfully engaging in the practices they themselves deem morally reprehensible is not the best course of action (gasp!) .
Every time I try to reason with them they pull same straw-grasping bullshit as liberals desperately trying to hold on to their unjustifiable beliefs – it’s the same arguments from them every time too:
- “no ethical comsumption under capitalism”
- “not everybody can be vegan”
- “unsustainable diet”
Do they seriously not see the hypocrisy or are they actually incapable of making a small sacrifice of their own happiness for the good of animals‽
The biggest problem is obviously that omni diet is entrenched and promoted by our societies.
In India, for example, vegetarianism is very common due to it being pretty normal as a custom. Even many meat eaters eat vegetarian meals mostly. Meanwhile, in Canada, meat is highly subsidized and because of that you can get a McDouble for like $2, the real cost of which is a lot higher.
People don’t want to go through the effort of changing their diet because in all honesty it is a big change. But I don’t know how they justify that to themselves considering all leftists know the catastrophic environmental cost of large scale meat production and the cruelty that comes with it.
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Of course animal cruelty is disgusting and veganism is the ethical position, but you have to consider the material conditions of people. Having a Vegan diet and getting the proper nutrition is more expensive than one might think. People who are barely making enough money to get by aren’t prepared to spend the time and mental labor involved in restructuring thier whole diet against the societal norm and they will gain little benefit besides knowing they did the right thing. Sure, you can eat cheap on a vegan diet, but that means pretty much giving up on fast food or dining out which is one of the few luxeries poor people can enjoy, and no one wants to eat lentils and black beans all the time. Comrades may be ised to being the odd one out, but don’t underestimate how much people don’t want to be “the annoying vegan” because that stereotype has been pushed so much. There are many places in the world where if tou removed eggs from skmeones diet they would lose their main source of protein. It is rather privileged to say that if someone isn’t vegan they are simply an asshole. Not everyone has access to a wide variety of fresh produce, and thanks to capitalism, a salad is gonna cost more than a burger. Of course if you are a rich man and can afford to have a vegan diet and you don’t you can fuck off a die though, lol
i think it’s pretty easy though! https://www.vegankit.com/
It’s mostly the fact that individual lifestyle choices won’t do anything (no ethical consumption under capitalism, etc).
Widespread veganism will never occur under capitalism, there’s too much profit motive in the meat industry. As long as capitalists can exploit that industry, it’s going to be there. Individual choices will not affect anything in a systemic way, being vegan is simply a personal choice that makes someone feel better. Same way that choosing one seller over another because it may be more “ethical” but won’t push for any systemic change, or trying to lower your carbon footprint won’t do anything for society as the onus of climate change is on capitalist producers and industrialization.
Side note, I’ve also noticed that while most communist vegans understand this, liberal vegans tend to be the stereotype of the over-the-top vegan who get stereotyped as pushing views down peoples’ throats. They don’t approach things materially, it’s the liberal thinking that individuality and ideas change material condition instead of the other way around.