I have an enormous respect for anyone who has the drive, determination and motivation to make a significant change to their lives for whatever their reasons may be. However, the one issue that I find myself having a bit of a beef with is the choice to go vegan for ethical reasons, specifically for animal rights reasons. I know people who are vegans for health reasons or simply because they really like their fruits and veggies or really dislike meat. Heck, I have even met someone who has cut out animal products in their diet
because of the complicated issue of all of the energy that it requires to produce meat and approaches veganism from the point of view of sustainability. It’s the people who have chosen to give up all animal byproducts because of animal rights issues that I have an issue with. I find it hypocritical that people who claim to be all for animal rights can limit this philosophy to their dietary habits and still identify as ethical vegans. This is not to say that there are people who do not do their very best to uphold their vegan beliefs in all aspects of their lives. It is those who have a disconnect between what they say they believe and how they transfer these beliefs to their everyday that I have a bit of a problem with.
But what do I mean?
People in this day and age have such complex and multifaceted lives. Each part of these lives requires its own unique set of materials. School requires books and pencils, personal hygiene requires soap and toothpaste and so on and so forth. Your diet and how you fuel your body only makes up a small portion of your life, albeit an important one. There are so many things that you use and buy and consume that have nothing to do with what you eat. This is why I say that someone can’t call themselves a true (ethical) vegan if they don’t transpose that same conscience that they have with their food to the rest of their day to day life. There are so many products that we use every day, from shampoo to cosmetics, to cleaners to toothpaste that contain animal byproducts. Perhaps we may even overlook even the obvious leather jacket and belt and those oh-so-gorgeous suede boots.
Is it even possible to completely avoid animal byproducts?
The short answer is no. In this day and age, it is nearly impossible to completely steer clear of animal by-products. That said, there are so many products that can be either replaced with vegan options or completely eliminated. Another issue that may come up is the matter of cost. It can be really expensive to
find vegan products and even more expensive to use them on a regular basis. Even so, there are brands that do not test on animals and are completely vegan without completely blowing your budget. If you’re interested in finding out more, leapingbunny.org is a great place to start.
Wait, so if it’s that hard to go totally vegan, doesn’t that nullify your entire argument?
Not at all. The entire point that I want to make is that unless you are willing to go the extra mile and uphold your values to the best of your ability in all aspects of your life, I don’t think that you should be able say that you subscribe to those beliefs. I am especially passionate about this point if someone goes on and on about how wrong animal cruelty is (which I totally agree with) and goes to extremes to make a point. Don’t preach it if you’re not prepared to uphold everything that it means. Now, if you were to say to me, “Yeah, I avoid meat and animal products because I don’t like what has to happen for me to get a steak or Jell-O, but I’m not so passionate about it that I’m willing to completely cut animal products out of my life,” I would have no problem with it. If you are willing to admit that you are not prepared to completely immerse yourself, that’s okay. What’s not okay is acting like you are doing the world some great service when in fact you’re not making an effort outside of your diet.
Everyone has their own unique set of beliefs and we all express these beliefs in our own unique ways. Believing in ethical veganism for whatever reason is just subscribing another set of values. There’s nothing wrong with believing something. The important part is being honest with yourself and not trying to force beliefs onto other people without being willing to stay as true to your beliefs as possible. Everyone has their limits. When we find our own limits and respect the limits of others, that’s when we have true understanding.
