This is something that I’ve been wondering about.
To me, a vegan Zionist is something I’d expect to hear of as an anomaly in the vegan community, something as rare as a Palestinian Zionist, a Jewish Neo-Nazi, a Marxist Zionist, or something like that, as these kinds of people do exist (somehow), but they’re very obscure.
However, to see so many vegans not only validate the existence of Isn’trael but actually be full on Zios who show not the slightest bit of empathy or consideration for Palestinians is a headscratcher for me.
I have a gut feeling that Israel’s veganwashing plays a big part in this, but vegans, of all people, are those who I would expect to look past such obvious, glaring bullshit, like they do with animal products that claim to be “humanely sourced.”
Also, Gary Yourofsky formerly being a very strong voice in the movement likely plays a part in that as well… the man certainly has some takes.
[CW: Extreme Anti-Palestinian Sentiment] (This was in 2015, by the way.)
Veganism simply isn’t a political entity in the minds of 99.999% of vegans. IME the second you leave this site, every vegan (esp. white vegans) you will ever talk to in the west will be someone with insufferable liberal political views and a touch of “I would trade all (POC) human lives for one single cute baby animal” Malthusianism.
These are not people who have genuinely come to veganism based on ethical decision-making or as a natural conclusion based on a Marxist worldview. They’re people who have found veganism as an individual consumer consumption choice that coincidentally aligns with certain aspects of their nihilistic views towards other people and makes them feel good for caring about animals while they simultaneously dehumanize other people.
I’ve met way too many of these people…
That’s absolutely another thing I can’t stand: the fact that misanthropy is so casually enabled by a fuck ton of vegans. It’s quite concerning.
Misanthropy is so universally present and even encouraged in vegan spaces that I’d say it’s a feature, rather than a bug.
The only normal vegans I’ve ever met actively avoid discussions about veganism, even with other vegans. Tbh, it’s a huge factor in why I never post in this comm.
Well I’ve never avoided discussions about veganism, but I also never claimed to be normal.
To add to this this, the animals deserve that we bring up their plight. I’m not exactly sure what’s meant by “actively avoid discussions about veganism”, but I’m worried that this is a recipe for prolonging their suffering and exploitation. I regret to admit that I’m the “good vegan” who doesn’t talk about animal agriculture with carnists, but this just seems like cowardice and laziness on my part.
Perhaps a subconscious atonement. Much as “I exercised today” rationalizes having that doughnut, the defense of animals, in their minds, balances out their reduction of their fellow man to the subhuman level.
That might be pretty accurate.
I swear I’ve seen some more chuddy vegans calling out non-vegan leftists for hypocrisy about them opposing human oppression yet supporting animal oppression, but you can easily reverse Uno card this stuff really.
For example (and this is something I saw super recently on another site, actually), if a chuddy vegan says, “It’s interesting how so many leftists are fervently speaking out against a genocide that’s not actually happening [he actually said this, I shit you not], but they support the mass breeding, exploitation, and killing of non-human animals!”
Well, I could respond to this same person and say, “It’s very odd to me how you’ve so blindly accepted propaganda that’s convinced you to deny the very real plight of Palestinians when you were able to see through the propaganda and conditioning that gets people to support animal exploitation.”
A tu quoque can only go so far. I’ve criticized both non-vegan leftists and non-leftist vegans for inconsistencies, but regardless, basically accusing someone of hypocrisy doesn’t invalidate their actual stance.
It seems like some conservatives only go vegan to be contrarian against non-vegan leftists.
For every hypocrite there is an equal and opposite hypocrite
