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When somebody asks why you're a vegan
(lemmy.sdf.org)
An online space for the vegans of Lemmy.
Rules and miscellaneous:
It is very actionable to vote with their wallet and mouth and not eat meat. The "can't save them all, so why bother"-argument is really sad. I don't think most people would apply that logic, if they saw a child in distress, because so many children die every day of preventable causes. Every sentient being matter.
Does your impact have to be massive for you to act? me not throwing trash out the window isn't going to stop millions of others from doing it, but my impact is still there (ex:go vegan for a year, and your local grocery/fast food place/etc sees a reduction in meat sales and orders 0.001% less for their next shipment)
so slightly irrelevant since I assume you're speaking generally but, have used the same clothes/computer/phone, for ~10 years, not to say I'm living with the bare necessities but I do try to limit those as well.
I do agree it's impossible to be 100% moral in modern society and do harm to no one, but paying $200 every 10 years to a company that far down the line has poor labor practices (without my money these people have no job so even this is debatable), when I essentially can not participate in society without doing these smaller harms, seems to me leagues different.
With meat, you are as closely as possible saying with your wallet "please raise and kill more of this animal as your company does now" while knowing many suppliers either nearly torture the animals they raise, or raise/kill them in really inhumane ways. If you're still eating meat, you are the direct cause of several animals living that terrible life. I can also exist in society with an inconvenience of not eating meat, whereas I can't without shoes, a phone, a computer for work, etc
Animals are the most vulnerable among us. They literally cannot fight for themselves because humans are infinitely more powerful than them. So vegans try to do their best to stand up for animals, including posting content that makes others uncomfortable and hopefully become introspective about their own behavior.
You could use that argument to invalidate voting or any boycott. "Why should I vote? My one vote won't change anything." The truth is, you aren't one person. There are many vegans.
But even one person can do quite a bit. I've influenced my friends to eat less meat. When we go out to eat, if they want to include me, we'll go to s vegan-friendly restaurant.
The world and it's inhabitants can get fucked because technology will save us? I could think robots are inevitably going to replace slaves but that does not justify me keeping a slave in the present.