I sense this is intended to help vegans be more tolerant of non-vegan allies? If so I wholeheartedly agree.
One dynamic that I think is missing is that being vegan is probably our best tool to help people erase their inherent speciesm. People can eat animals and still think of them as deserving of moral standing, but I certainly find it more rare. In terms of building effort and activism, I find usually people need to have stopped eating animals/products. That being said, we are finding new pathways besides diet change to people being invested in animal protection. I celebrate that!
Thanks for your comment! Yes, helping vegans be more tolerant of non-vegan allies is certainly one of the intentions behind this post. :)
I also think you raise an important point and I do touch on this to some extent in the following footnote:
For example, many people see veganism not merely as a way of eating, but as an ethical principle according to which animals should not be viewed as resources. The resulting identity and strong commitment to this principle can make veganism appear meaningful and aspirational to some, while making it appear isolating and restrictive to others. Whether these influences ultimately encourage or discourage others depends on how they are perceived, which varies substantially across individuals and socio-cultural contexts.
A clear principle like “don’t eat animals” can be a useful heuristic that guides behaviour and makes the underlying moral values more salient. This could be described as reducing speciesism, or more broadly as increasing moral concern for animals. At the same time, because such a principle asks for all or nothing, it may also push some people away.
That said, my impression is that a meaningful proportion of non-vegans genuinely care about farmed animals having good lives, even if they don’t question the norm of eating animals itself. At the same time, I agree it does seem comparatively rare for that concern to translate into activism without a vegan identity.
I sense this is intended to help vegans be more tolerant of non-vegan allies? If so I wholeheartedly agree.
One dynamic that I think is missing is that being vegan is probably our best tool to help people erase their inherent speciesm. People can eat animals and still think of them as deserving of moral standing, but I certainly find it more rare. In terms of building effort and activism, I find usually people need to have stopped eating animals/products. That being said, we are finding new pathways besides diet change to people being invested in animal protection. I celebrate that!
Thanks for your comment! Yes, helping vegans be more tolerant of non-vegan allies is certainly one of the intentions behind this post. :)
I also think you raise an important point and I do touch on this to some extent in the following footnote:
A clear principle like “don’t eat animals” can be a useful heuristic that guides behaviour and makes the underlying moral values more salient. This could be described as reducing speciesism, or more broadly as increasing moral concern for animals. At the same time, because such a principle asks for all or nothing, it may also push some people away.
That said, my impression is that a meaningful proportion of non-vegans genuinely care about farmed animals having good lives, even if they don’t question the norm of eating animals itself. At the same time, I agree it does seem comparatively rare for that concern to translate into activism without a vegan identity.