Boasting about being vegan

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Vegans often want to make a big deal out of the fact that they’re ‘vegan’. It’s worn like a badge of honour. Sadly the motive for doing this is mixed - on the one hand we want to appear brave and ridicule-proof and, on the other, we want admiration for being vegan.

            Boasting might be one of our big problems. Like bullying, no one likes it. In my opinion, being vegan isn’t about being ‘who I am’, it’s about examining my own values, and then feeling confident enough about them to talk about them, if and when the occasion arises. We have this vast untapped subject, and obviously we do like talking about it … especially by breaking through a few taboos which the omnivore might not have had challenged before.

            We obviously like to reach people, about this ‘animal thing’, and we will eventually, just as long as we aren’t using Animal Rights as a platform for bragging about our ‘advanced thinking’. But quite how do we do that? That’s the question - how do we make contact with people when we ever do get onto this subject? Whew! That’s the BIG one.

            How do omnivores see us (whether as vegans or generally as reps for Animal Rights)? They’re either hostile or blasé. If the subject arises, as it might do, we will usually notice their reaction.

            In the mind of the omnivore it might be clear to them where they stand, precisely - what they definitely are NOT is vegan. In this regard they accept the status quo. They actively support the animal industries, and because it’s all so cruel and disgusting no one likes to talk about it, that is until some vegan brings up the subject.

Say I meet someone who seems aware of social-justice issues and who knows why I’m vegan. It only needs a short time with them to notice what they eat and what core attitudes they hold, regarding the food they’ve chosen to eat.

My first temptation is for me to try to convert them to a vegan diet, whereas it might be better not to emphasise food and health at all, at first, but to emphasise the attractiveness of vegan thinking and the ethic of ‘working for the greater good’. 

Being vegan is about Society’s need to liberate animals and not tolerate the imprisoning of animals. I don’t think ‘vegan’ will ever catch on unless the horror of enslaving animals is made clear, and that means talking about it, and obviously we can’t talk to people if they don’t want to engage with us.

I always have to find out if a person is anti or just-not-yet-ready (and there’s no way of knowing, initially). My rule is that if I’m not sure, then making premature value judgements about them is dangerous. I’d rather give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and give them every chance to step up to the plate.

My first point about a vegetarian or vegan diet is to point out that it ISN’T just about one’s stomach or about how we look to ourselves in the mirror. Secondly, there’s an important difference between being a vegan and being the sort of vegetarian who eats animal produce. The reason behind the vegan ethic of not using animals usually has to be clarified, after which I can then try to find a non-threatening way to spark an interest. At present almost every omnivore is a long way from willingly thinking about it.

Veganism is not widely understood and vegans are generally seen as social-pariahs, but our ‘outsiderdom’ might have to get worse before it can get better. We’ve a long way to go yet before the masses are even considering the attractions of their dinners being meatless and their sandwiches being cheeseless. We are still only at the very beginning of a global Animal Rights Consciousness.