Difference between revisions of "Veganism and Politics"

Revision as of 01:16, 9 March 2023

Veganism is something for everybody, regardless of their political leanings. One of our biggest pet peeves is when political zealots attempt to co-opt the definition for Veganism for whatever their political agenda happens to be, which usually is done by leftists (communists, socialists, anarcho-communists, etc.), though there are many instances of it being done by people on the right (usually Neo-Nazis).

While we strongly advise against intertwining your Veganism with your political views, it can be incredibly useful to appeal to the political values that people do have as a motivation for them to wartm to veganism. In other words, getting someone to consider how their views extend to animal welfare may cause them to shift their behavior and views on the matter in order for them to be more internally consistent. This can be done across the entire political spectrum, though for the sake of minimizing alienation amongst the general public, your best bet is to do this to people who are within the Overton Window, such as liberals/progressives, conservatives, libertarians, and of course good ol' centrists. Convincing political extremists to go Vegan, either fascist or communist or anarchist, would NOT reflect well on veganism; A vegan advcocating for a fringe claim is one of the seven deadly sins of Vegan Activism. People are generally put off by extremist politics, so when they see a Vegan loudly spouting Nazi/Communist/Nazbol rhetoric, they'll just think that Veganism is just another quasi-extremist ideology advocated by those to deluded by their dreams of a far off, ideal world. They may be incorrect in thinking this, but human psychology is notorious for being not rational.

Liberals/Progressives

"B-B-B-B-BUT LIBRUL MEENZ CENCHRISTT IN EURUP!!!!" We are well aware that the term "liberal" carries a much different definition abroad than it does in the United States, but since most of the readers here are American, we will be using the colloquial definition of the term (meaning supporting things such as social programs, higher taxes, civil rights, regulation on businesses, pretty much along the lines of a Social Democracy: A society that ), contrasting to the European connotation of the term carries a similar definition to "Libertarian" in the United States (supports Laissez-Faire captialism, and an emphasis on personal liberties), which will be the definition that will be used when we talk about Libertarians.

If you're from Europe, just replace every usage of the term "Liberal" with "Progressive here, and you'll be good to go. Just wanna get that out of the way before we begin.

As far as appealing to liberals goes, they're probably the lowest hanging fruit available here, and, generally speaking, you're better off talking to them before anyone else about Veganism. They're more likely to already be sympathetic to the Vegan cause and animal welfare, even if they don't practice it themselves.

Liberals make a point of supporting things like rights and welfare for all, so simply informing them of the plight of the animals, and explaining how, in the same way we fight for the rights of oppressed groups, such as blacks, women, gays, and transpeople, there isn't any reason to exclude animals from that list, and they're an oppressed group that has gotten the least amount of support (well, aside from the animals we don't keep in slaughterhouses). Calmly inform them of the hyprocrisy of consuming animal products if they care about fighting for the oppressed, and show them how Veganism is the least that they can do to ensure they aren't actively engaging in oppression themselves.

Conservatives

It may be a little trickier convincing a conservative towards Veganism, given how there is some political polarization and how conservative states place a much higher value on Hunting in the USA, but it's still possible to get them in the right direction, and this will come in the form of appealing to their religious values.

If you are not a conservative yourself, be sure to clarify to the conservative you're discussing with that your Veganism has nothing to do with politics, and explain your reasons why, which should come from ethics (even if your politics were a motivator, it might be a good idea to omit telling them that to avoid resistance), and it's also a good idea to not discuss environmental matters, since that's also a political issue.

A curious sidenote, Conservapedia, a website dedicated to writing about just about every political topic from a right-winged perspective (well, to put it lightly) has an unusually positive article on Veganism. It agrees that Vegan diets are healthful if done correctly, and that it's more sustainable to just eat the crops directly instead of funneling them through livestock.

Libertarians

MUH FREEDUM

Was Hitler a Vegetarian?

Whether or not this is true is completely irrelevant, and just shows that some people are so depserate to cling to any absurdity in order to have as an excuse to continue eating meat. There are a lot of incredibly dumb arguments against Veganism (well, just about all of them are, if they aren't dishonest), but this one sticks out more than most.

Frankly, even if we were to grant that Hitler was a vegetarian, it would actually make more sense to view it as something that would motivate someone to go Vegan. They take the logic as "Bad person does X, so X is bad," when they SHOULD be interepreting it as "Bad person does X, but X is an objectively good thing to do, so if someone that evil did it, why can't I?" You're really going to have HITLER outdo you in a moral action? The man whose very name has become synonymous with evil, HE cares more about animals than YOU? It'd be like not having graduted high school, yet someone your age who has an IQ that is 37 points lower than you, did.

Hitler also loved his dog, who does that mean all dog lovers are closeted Neo-Nazis and have walls decked with memrobilia celebrating their hero Der Furher?

Political Activism for Animal Rights

You have to be careful as to not make Animal Rights a partisan issue.