As many of you know (or could have gleaned from the name of this site), I’ve been vegan for years. And you know something? My veganism is really important to me. But I’ve noticed something in the vegan community and I find issue with it, so I wanted to talk about it.
I’ve actually talked about this topic in general on our sister site, The Thoughts that Bind. If you’re interested, you can check it out here. But I wanted to talk about this in terms of veganism today because honestly I think it’s even more important when we’re examining veganism and the inner workings of the vegan community.
We’re talking about identity
Are you Vegan? I mean, really really vegan? I notice a tendency in vegans that gets kind of echo chamber-y. You know, we all follow each other on social media and look for vegan friends and dating prospects and go to vegan conventions and all of that.
I think it’s quite human to look for community with people who are like-minded, and I don’t believe there’s anything nefarious about it. But I do think it can go too far sometimes.
Listen, I’m not going to be the one to tell you what to do or how to embody your veganism. I couldn’t even if I tried. But I do notice how common it is for people to take on this veganism as an identity as opposed to simply actions you take. And I do think this can become problematic.
What I’m seeing
When I first went vegan, I felt a big push within me. It was like the world was upside down and I needed to find a way to sort through and make sense of it all again. During this time, all I could do was lean on this idea of veganism and I think it bled into an identity pretty quickly.
I agreed that eating and using animals unnecessarily was wrong, and felt quite compelled to change my actions. The fact that nobody else showed any interest in joining me led me to look for an identity in veganism, because obviously this perspective made me “different”— I saw it playing out in front of my very own eyes! So in my brain, instead of being aware of a truth and deciding to act in alignment with it, I was led to conclude it meant something about me. And thus, I became “a vegan”.
I looked for a community online (since I didn’t know any vegans in real life) and became very vocal about my vegan opinions to friends and family. And I see a lot of others doing the same, especially when they first go vegan. And I get it. When the world seems so backwards, you want to differentiate yourself from it. Not to mention that people want support in their new lifestyle change. That’s important if you’re going to keep this vegan thing going long term, I think. To have enough direction so that you can ensure the habits you want. So what’s the problem here?
The issues
Well, there are a couple things I can think of. To begin with, having our mouths so open when our hearts are so broken can reflect negatively on the movement. It definitely can give some the impression that vegans are over sensitive or overly combative. Or at least that it’s a negative experience, going vegan. And that’s not great for public perception.
But I think the main problem with this, for me, lies with the question of identity itself. Right? Because identity is what makes you special, in a way. You’re looking for something to define you as distinct from others. And firstly, I would argue that veganism shouldn’t be special.
If you’re a vegan for ethical reasons, you likely wish that everyone would be vegan—heck, give us a vegan world. And you hear this all the time in ethical discussions, that veganism is a moral baseline. And I’m not going to argue for or against that. But I am going to ask—if veganism is a moral baseline, wouldn’t you want it to be incredibly common instead of something that makes you special? I know I would.
The vegan in the room
And then there’s this whole idea of being the vegan in the room, right? If being vegan is something you’re very proud of and have a strong identity in, then you’re likely to be very open with that information.
I definitely think there are pros and cons to having everyone know you’re vegan all the time. I’m probably about in the middle as far as practices go—I don’t like to talk about my veganism with people I don’t know in my real life, but I don’t hide it if it comes up. And I suppose there are criticisms for both ends of the spectrum. I mean if you have any propensity for vegan activism at all, keeping your veganism a secret doesn’t make much sense. But the other side of the coin? Telling everyone up front? Well, that takes moxie.
Sure, if you’re comfortable being an example of veganism, it works to be quite open with the fact that you’re vegan to everyone you know. But to me, this isn’t where the spectrum ends. There are many people who absorb and consume this idea of a vegan identity to the point where it’s the main thing that they are, have, do, and show about themselves. And wow, I caution against this.
The problem with “The Vegan”
So the thing about being vegan, first and foremost, is that it really can’t be first and foremost. You’re a person. Before anything else. Focusing only on veganism in life can actually be very detrimental to your mental health because of the current state of how we’re treating our fellow earthlings. If all you think about and talk about is death and suffering, you can get pretty bent out of shape emotionally. Or, on the other hand, you also increase your risk for empathy burnout which is basically like when you stress yourself out part your own effectiveness and so you flip into nihilism. That’s not good for the animals either. (And while I’m going to continue talking about it for a bit, if this is something you’re experiencing or worried about, you should check out my post about vegan burnout. You can find that here.)
But I think something we don’t think about often enough is how we’re coming across as vegans. A really common perception of vegans is that we’re weirdos who can’t function socially. Like, our whole lives are just about veganism and we don’t care about other things or people. And this makes a lot of people really uninterested in going vegan. They don’t want their whole lives to center around suffering and death. (Which, as an ethical vegan, I understand why you might be raising your eyebrow and thinking how ironic it is. I know.) The fact is, they don’t want to think about it. They don’t want to have to think about it.
One of the things I love about veganism is that when I start feeling overwhelmed with the knowledge of animals suffering, I can take a deep breath and say “I’m doing what I can”. And then I can move on with my day, try to focus on something else for a while until I am once again, an effective conduit of information. This feeling is a lot better than the awareness that I am doing nothing about it.
But to a nonvegan, if they see how often you are focusing and talking about animal death and suffering, their brains kinda just short circuit and think “well that’s unpleasant.” And sometimes even just the word vegan or vegetarian can trigger that response in some. So it’s true, in a sense, that we may want to tread more carefully in our presentation of our beliefs and ideas.
Being vegan, not A Vegan
I think there’s some real value in looking at our veganism as a practice instead of an identity. We don’t have as much resistance around people who aren’t vegans, so it creates less of an us vs them mentality.
But also, it changes how we look at ourselves. It changes the semantics behind the question, “do you think you’re better than other people for being vegan?” Because you know that vegan is not so much something that you are, but instead something that you choose to do. (And keep doing, each day.) It’s just like how being married isn’t a happily ever after so much as it is a commitment to acting as a team and putting each other first in your daily lives. You’re not, like, cooler or better for being a spouse. But marriage can have its benefits.
And just like being a spouse, no matter what you go through in life as a vegan, you’re human first. You’re going to have your own dreams, interests, opinions and ideas. Not every vegan, for instance, wants to open their own restaurant or have their own vegan fashion line. We’re all individuals who practice veganism for a collection of reasons. And while I think it’s valid to acknowledge the reasons behind it, I recommend showing the individual too.
Not every conversation has to be about veganism. And, actually, as tough as it is to swallow sometimes, more conversation around veganism isn’t always better. Being a whole, dynamic person who also practices veganism reflects positively on the movement. It both shows that we’re not just a bunch of single minded weirdos and reassures people who are vegan-curious that they don’t have to lose who they are to veganism. That if they were to go vegan, they can still be themselves and enjoy what they enjoy. And that is a heck of a seed planted, in my opinion.
Conclusion
So, I mean, do what you want. Like I said, I can’t tell you how to practice your veganism. If you’re someone who does get quite obsessed with something for a short amount of time, perhaps this vegan blackout becomes you, in a way.
But I wrote this post to encourage people to be more full versions of themselves, especially within the vegan movement. Not all your get-togethers have to be about veganism. Not every one of your social media posts have to show animal abuse or your dinner. It’s okay to be a whole, multifaceted person. And if you’re asking me, I’d say it helps veganism too.
So thank you for reading my thoughts. I hope they were able to help lend you some perspective. If they did and you want to sink your teeth into some more vegan content, subscribe to the blog. It’s free and you’ll get updates whenever a new post goes live. What do you have to lose?
As usual, I hope you have a fantastic day. Talk to you next time!