Hello and welcome to Eight Years In! If you’re a returning reader, welcome back! Today I wanted to talk about activism. If you’ve been vegan for an appreciable amount of time, you’re probably going to run into the question of activism. How are you supposed to perform it and what really works? And so today, I wanted to talk a little about it.
When you first go vegan, it makes sense not to think too much about activism. Really, what you want to be doing is building and reinforcing the habits that make your veganism sustainable in your life. You want to learn about what you can eat, how to know if things are vegan, and what to do about cravings or your social life, etc. (All subjects which we love to talk about here!) But as time goes by and things start to get a little easier, we start to think about vegan activism. We wonder what our role is in all of this. We start to ask the question, “what more can I do?” In fact, I think that the more important veganism is in our lives, the more prone we are to wonder “is my veganism enough?” Especially once we’ve gotten the habit down. It seems like we’ve gotten that out of the way, and so now we’ve paved the way for more effort.
What is activism?
So what do we do? Once we’re already vegan but we want to keep going and do our part. That’s when we start to turn to activism. But I think it’s really important that we take a look at what activism really is. I like what The Activist Handbook has to say about the subject, which is that activism is collective efforts to create change from the grassroots. This definition is really broad. And I think that’s very reflective of the different methods and kinds of activism that exist.
We recognize that when it comes to activism, really what we’re talking about here is what comes after habit. First when you hear about an issue, you’ll change your own personal habits, to reduce or ideally eliminate your own contribution in it. That takes time and effort. And once you’ve honed your habits to not contribute to the problem anymore, activism becomes something you can take on. Activism is when you go outside your normal everyday routine to create awareness of the issue or push to create a new normal outside of yourself. And I think that when it comes to vegan activism, we see two very different schools of thought. So let’s take a look at that, shall we?
Militant vegan activists
I think that when most of us hear “vegan activist” or “animal rights activist”, we get a certain picture in our heads of people crowding streets, screaming about how “meat is murder”, debating with unsuspecting passersby or helping free farm animals from private property illegally. These are the people who will go to jail as “International terrorists” for freeing some mink from a mink farm (a la Gary Yourofsky) and are more than willing to ruin your thanksgiving dinner by reminding you that that turkey you spent all day cooking up didn’t want to die.
In my opinion, these people tend to be generally disliked by our nonvegan majority of the population, and often contribute to the stereotype of the militant vegan. (I’ve touched on this idea in this post, if you’re interested in reading about why vegans talk so much.) That being said, they really do make excellent points and are correct in their pushy, often “tone-deaf” way. The fact is, as “normal” as all of this animal use, abuse, torture and killing is, it’s wrong and unnecessary. If it weren’t so normalized in our society, we all would be as outraged as they are all the time.
“Attractivism”
But these confrontational activities are not the only form of vegan activism that there is. And I want to remind every vegan of this because at times, it can feel like if you’re not able to do these things, then you’re bound to be completely unuseful to animals beyond your own personal veganism. And this is untrue and defeatist thinking. This other side of vegan activism can be called “attractivism”. It basically operates under the philosophy of making veganism more attractive and approachable to others who might be interested in trying it.
Under attractivism, you’re raising awareness of veganism by, for instance, sharing delicious vegan food with others or advice about where to buy stylish vegan clothes, and so on and so forth. I think it’s easy to feel afraid of not being “strong enough” to do the kind of intense vegan activism we see other activists doing. But anyone can look at their own strengths and construct and attractivist approach to vegan activism.
Effective Activism
The longer I go vegan, the more I really try to deconstruct what constitutes effective activism. I used to feel very ineffective because I had not ever convinced someone to go vegan. And by straightforward activism standards, maybe that’s true. But the more I think about it, the more I believe that that’s not the sole metric of success. Especially if you’re looking at things from an attractivism standpoint. I found that I don’t have very good powers of persuasion when I’m in a conversation with people talking about veganism. It’s true. I get way too emotional in the face of others ignorance or indifference about animal suffering and have trouble thinking straight in the face of lack of empathy of all sorts. I could certainly stand to improve this about myself, and fully intend to for many reasons beyond veganism. But even if I never do, this doesn’t preclude me from finding my own brand of vegan activism.
There are other metrics of success you can measure by as well. For instance, if you help somebody stay vegan, that’s also a win for the animals. So is getting more nonvegans to eat vegan food more often. So is giving someone a positive memory of veganism who previously may only have had a negative one. These successes are worth something too, although they aren’t quite as easy to measure.
To really look at what effective vegan activism looks like, we have to keep in mind the ultimate goal of vegan activism. To give more exposure to veganism and ultimately have a more vegan world, both systematically and on the individual level. We want more vegans, and more vegan products. Less animals used and killed, more vegan systems, and more people able willing and happy to eat vegan food. Now, that’s not a comprehensive list, but it does give us a general idea of the direction we’re trying to move in. So more almost-vegans? That makes progress. More vegan options at restaurants? A great thing. More regular people and role-models discussing veganism and its benefits casually? Only improving the conversation.
Militant or too-nice?
Personally, I find the two sides of my brain warring when it comes to vegan activism. The animal agriculture industry is horrendous. What is being done to animals every day is awful. And it doesn’t make ethical sense to sit back nicely and hem and haw when we’re talking about these very important subjects. If we know what’s happening, we have an obligation to be truthful about it, even when it’s uncomfortable. At the same time, I don’t want to drive people away from veganism due to their reaction to my explanation of what is happening or my clear-cut emotions about it.
Cognitive dissonance is a real thing, and as long as nonveganism is the norm in our world, we’re going to be having to wiggle around a collective cognitive dissonance. There’s the personal aspect of self-preservation that will always be there in conversations with nonvegans. Nobody wants to consider themselves a bad person, so we rationalize our own behaviors.
But on top of it, we have this sense of normalcy. I’ve found that the more emotionally distraught you get as a vegan, the easier it is for them to take your societal abnormally and extrapolate your perceived lunacy from it. Meaning, “you must be vegan because you’re a crazy person. I mean, nobody else I know is and you seem irrationally upset about this very normal part of life.” It takes tact to know if you’re talking to a person who will see your righteous anger as just that (and take you seriously) or perceive you as overemotional and write you off.
Is militant vegan activism too aggressive to be heard by nonvegans? Many vegans don’t think so, remembering the kind of material that made us go vegan in the first place. I personally remember seeing slaughterhouse footage coupled with angry vegans’ passionate rhetoric and thinking “wow, I have to go vegan!” So obviously, there are some people it works on. But for those who are quite defensive, that can further entrench them in their habits. They conflate veganism with discomfort, and vegans with judgmental holier-than-thou dispositions.
But on the other hand, we may also wonder how effective attractivism really is either. I mean, it’s nice if we can show nonvegans that we can make a chocolate cake that’s just as good if not better than theirs that has milk and eggs. But if we’re not telling them the reasons behind the ethics of veganism—if we don’t make certain they understand—then why would we be confident that they will make any sort of discernible switch? I have very mixed feelings about this. I’ve seen both people who have slowly but surely begun to make more of an effort to make vegan options at events I go to as they become more comfortable with vegan food and my veganism and also those who have never had a problem with my veganism but consistently make efforts to keep meat, eggs and dairy in their dietary rotation. So who’s to say, really?
Do we know what’s effective yet?
Another thing to really ponder is if we really know what effective activism is yet. Veganism isn’t a new philosophy. The term was coined in the 1940’s and the concept has been around for longer. And yet the amount of vegans is still quite small. It’s growing, but still small. While I’m encouraged by growing numbers of plant-based eaters and folks interested in new vegan products that are popping up, I still have to wonder if we’ve really seen the fruits of effective activism yet. Maybe there are methods much more effective than confrontation or attractivism that we simply haven’t found yet.
I also think it’s important for people in the militant confrontation group to realize the efforts of the attractivists more. While their activism is what I would consider the more established method when it comes to veganism, we need both. I am very much of the opinion that we need all sorts of different kinds of activism if we are going to reach all the different kinds of people in this world. (Which is why I said what I did about finding new kinds of activism. As the majority of people aren’t vegan, I figure there must be other ways of explaining the position to create less confusion and bad blood.) I think that the more we’re able to see what veganism can look like for different kinds of people, the more we will be able to reach different kinds of people with the message that we can be vegan. We can be happy, we can be healthy and we can do this all without using and killing animals.
And no matter how the more hard-core confrontational vegan activists may feel about attractivism, they ought to realize it doesn’t have the possible large backlash that their school of thought does. It invites people that otherwise would flee a conversation and it makes people see that you don’t have to be an expert in statistics or debating to go, be, and stay vegan.
My suggestions
For those of you who are considering beginning vegan activism, take stock of your strengths and weaknesses. Are you really good with statistics and trivia and debating? Maybe you’re very courageous. Or are you good with your words? Do you make art? Finding out what you’re good at can help you build your own brand of vegan activism that both works for you and is authentic. In my opinion, what this world needs to be more vegan is to see more examples of how veganism works. How different kinds of people can be vegan and make it fit into their lives with love, passion, authenticity and vigor.
If you find yourself pursuing a certain kind of activism but getting burnt out, consider changing your approach, at least for a time. The animals do need activists, but they also need for people to be able to stay activists and vegan for the long term. If your activism is making you unhealthy, then try something less mentally and emotionally damaging for the time being. You can always go back after a break, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop entirely.
And remember that maybe you will be better suited in a different area of activism. Maybe you are really good at drawing awareness to the subject and that should be your focus. Or you might be better suited to providing people resources for staying vegan, as I feel is more my specialty. And then of course, there are those who truly are great at convincing people to go vegan. If that is you, I tip my hat to you because I’ve since realized that is not me, no matter how much I may wish it were.
Finally, I think it’s good for us vegans to talk amongst ourselves about our vegan activism so we can reflect on what works and what doesn’t. You can start by leaving a comment on this post. What made you decide to go vegan? Have you ever done any vegan activism? And which kind of activist do you consider yourself? Thank you for reading my thoughts. If you’re vegan or interested in vegan content, subscribe to the blog to get updates when a new post goes live. And if you know any other vegans or people interested in vegan activism, share this post with them to get the conversation going. As usual, I hope you have an incredible day!