this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2025
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Vegans are right.
I agree with Alex O’Connor. Yes, they’re right, but also, fuck that, I don’t care.
It's nice when as a society we decide whose lives matter and whos don't
We all do. Some people just extend that that circle larger than others.
Carnivores extend it to most humans.
Pescatarians to mammals with regard to food, but often not to other mild inconveniences like pest control.
Vegetarians to the rest of animals with the same caveat.
Jains to animals with fewer caveats, but not to bacteria, plants, or fungus.
And we’re distant cousins of all of these.
There are arguments to be made for each line, like sapience, sentience, consciousness, and pain response, but the line chosen is largely arbitrary.
And vegans?
I have an in-law who's a vegan and explained it as "if I consume less there's a tiny bit less cruelty. A tiny bit less demand." I like that. It's not about purity. It's about trying.
I'm still not vegan. I suppose that doesn't say good things about me.
I can see where your in-law's coming from, but to put a finer point on it:
That's why vegans aren't interested in "cruelty free" animal products. It's not just the fact that there is still a lot of cruelty involved; we're opposed to animal exploitation regardless. Veganism naturally came out of the animal rights movement.
This might just be non-vegan apologia, but I like to think that recognising the ethical merit in veganism is a step in the right direction, especially if you manage to not feel unhelpful levels of guilt about it (my ex's mom was annoying as hell, because she would cry if she ever thought about the fact that the meat she was eating used to be an animal. She felt so guilty about it that the cognitive dissonance caused her to reflexively avoid growth.)
I used to be irrationally somewhat anti-vegan, but now I am merely non-vegan. I'm not even vegetarian yet, but I am closer to that than I was a year ago. I'm not there yet, but I'm trying. It makes me uncomfortable to recognise the cognitive dissonance in me when I acknowledge that my current diet is not in line with my personal ethics. However, sitting with that discomfort is one of the ways in which I'm trying.
Along those same lines, give yourself space to grow. The fact that you recognise being non vegan as not saying good things about you is itself, a little good thing, in my opinion. It's not much, but that self awareness is definitely pointing you in the right direction.