There's some confusion on social and mainstream media. Apparently about quite a number of things, but in particular about what a vegan is, and what veganism is all about. When a celebrity (or what passes for one) announces that s/he is now an ex-vegan, social media trumpets that as if it's somehow significant, or has relevance to the reality of veganism.
Veganism is not an "identity" that one selects as part of their
social persona. It's not about virtue signaling, or positioning oneself as trendy or
hip. It has nothing to do with "wokeness", no matter how much the socially pious pretend otherwise.
Veganism is a paradigm, an ethical framework, one that rejects speciesism. It’s about avoiding harm to
other sentient beings in all the ways that are under one’s control. While the term Vegan is a 20th century development, the ethical framework it describes is thousands of years old.
is Speciesism is no more rational than racism or sexism
When someone really sees, finally - really gets the cruelty, the torment, the horrific brutality we inflict on other living, breathing, feeling beings for trivial reasons of taste, habit, and convenience, there's no going back. Once you really get it you are changed forever. Therefore, there is no such things as an "ex-vegan". That person was never vegan to begin with. They just ate plant-based for awhile. And veganism is about more than food choices.
It's about choosing the non-leather shoes. It's about not buying products that were tested on animals whenever that’s possible. It’s about not wearing other animals. It’s about not trashing the habitat of other animals with toxic chemicals, your garbage, or your 4WD vehicle. It’s about buying the upholstered furniture rather than the chair made from dead animals. And this is actually simple once you get it.
For me, veganism is a response to life. A response that affirms life, and the connection that exists between all life.
It's a response to the grotesque cruelty and misery of Industrial Ag, and the profit-at-all-costs mentality of laissez-faire capitalism. It's a response to the mindless, unexamined tenets of culture, the assumptions inherent in the group-think dynamic.
It's a response to antiquated and patriarchal notions of entitlement.
And possibly above all, it's a response that affirms the possibility of higher levels of consciousness and the ability to evolve and transcend.
Veganism is a response that says Yes: Yes to awareness, yes to compassion, yes to the earth, yes to the ability to choose non-violence over the limited, myopic selfishness and grasping of commercial culture and its endless programming.
This response is a refuge. An ethical and spiritual framework that provides shelter from the deluge of cultural and governmental derangement raining down on us daily. It's an always-accessible touchstone that can't be stripped away. It's a freedom, a profoundly essential one - the freedom to evolve beyond one's programming. This includes the freedom to decline participation, to stand up in the middle of moribund custom and say, "I'm not participating in this".
I refuse to be the reason why living, conscious, complex beings suffer horrendously cruel lives and brutal, agonizing deaths. I can't control what goes on "out there", but I can control what goes on "in here", and what I choose to participate in.
Many people erroneously believe that there's no point in adopting veganism because animal exploitation is ubiquitous, and so entrenched in our culture, but real change has always started with a limited number of people. As Margaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has".
Doing no harm starts with the fork, and that begins with us, as individuals.
If you would like a relatively quick overview of why vegan, I suggest starting with the documentaries Earthlings and Dominion. Dominion is also a powerful book by Matthew Scully. Here's some more information:
