Ah, purity tests, here we fucking go again.

As someone who is exploring veganism right now, this extreme stance is kind of a turn off. Like I'm still going to eat plant based, but this makes me not want to talk to people who call themselves vegan or even call myself vegan either.

Edit: It's strange that the response I am getting to this is to call me right wing and white, of which I am neither. But I am someone who is just trying to eat plant based.

I'm a lefty but when it comes to animals I'm a far right fascist who believes in human superiority. We're the top of a food chain in which animals consume each other.

That said, industrialized ranching techniques are gross and I wish people would hunt their own meat.

Leftism isn't purity politics but by god there are some people doing their best

120 upvotes, 250 comments

Food chain still exists, home slice, and I'm at the top of it. Doesn't change my feelings about labor rights, or housing, or healthcare. You're presenting a false equivalence argument.

I think being offended by this meme means that one isn't wholly comfortable with one's own cognitive dissonance

I'm okay with bringing up the contradiction, we all need to be held accountable but too often this can be used as a purity test.

Food is a deeply personal issue that we should try not to moralize, I understand that can be difficult when there are real consequences to the climate and suffering of animals but If you moralize food you will lose people.

I say this is a 7-year vegan. I understand this is a meme but memes normalize culture and it is best to lead with invitation, not accusation.

It is. Animals should not suffer and we could produce far more food by using land for crops than for farm animals. A lot of vegan foods we have now taste great too.

I have altered the leftism Pray that I dont alter it any further

Lol how many times have I heard vegans say, "oppressing minorities isn't as bad as animal agriculture"

Like I def know vegans who are bad ass leftists, my own leftism was inspired by veganism, and when the conditions of my life make it easier to eat vegan I will switch my diet back.

But there are lots of people who are vegan for health reasons, which is a perfectly fine reason to be vegan. But they don't tend to be especially left wing. The owners of a vegan hot dog restaurant/manufacturing in my city are like MAGA vegans. I had an ex girlfriend who was vegan, who never had sympathy for homeless people or any social causes before we got together.

I think what veganism and leftism have in common, is that many people are motivated by deep sympathy or empathy to make changes to themselves, in the hopes that in doing so we will make a change in the world. If we change enough people's minds, and they change themselves, eventually it will lead to a shift in the real world.

But leftism is not "my way of life is better and you're a bad person if you don't think and act like me" which is the attitude of many vegans (and some leftists). That isn't vegan leftism, it's vegan centrism. Checking product labels isn't political, and alienating people for their diet isn't leftist.

Leftism does not equal "having sympathy outside of my self". Sympathy and empathy are like senses. These senses allow us to identify objective truth, particularly injustice, by allowing us to sense pain in others. When this motivates us to make change to ourselves or the world, to resist injustice, that is leftism.

Every dividing issue has a political left and right. There are moderate and hard right conservatives, progressive and centrist liberals, left and moderate socialists. Left vegans are like some of the best people in society, and a conservative or centrist vegan is likely closer to the left on some social issues, if I had to guess.

But maybe that's not the point of the meme. Maybe veganism is like a litmus test for performative leftism

Emancipation is a great goal. Like any goal we do not flip a switch to get there. We need better and more accessible technology to free animals from bondage.

Emancipation is currently impractical. Human athletics require large quantities of protein and calcium. Animal products are the current common source.

I have grown plants for some time. I kill animals that eat my plants. I don't even eat the animals I kill. I need to eat.

We're humans. We're awesome. We can come up with better alternatives.