Keeping Your Heart On Your Sleeve
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After reading the Happy Herbivore claim that she’s no longer vegan, I feel compelled to comment. The post has made big waves in the veg community so it’s time I chime in.
For the past five-plus years that I’ve been “vegan (and the decades previously as a lacto-ovo vegetarian) I’ve been told, repeatedly, like the Happy Herbivore was told, that I’m not vegan enough. But I’ve also been told, repeatedly, that I’m too strict (yes, even as a lacto-ovo vegetarian I was told that). And I’ve also been told, repeatedly, that I’m awesome.
It’s true. It’s all true. *Blushes* It’s true, I swear. I say this because it helps put things into perspective. I’m sure the Happy Herbivore has heard these comments too. Anyone who puts themselves out there with their heart on their sleeve – be it on a blog, messageboard, or in real life – will receive comments. Some are nasty but many are nice. The Happy Herbivore chose to focus on some of the nasty comments, which made her unhappy and according to her bizarre logic, unvegan.
Do what you feel in your heart to be right. You’ll be criticized anyway.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
On the count of “not vegan enough” I’m guilty as charged. For example, I once made a forum post admitting that I buy original plain Oreos sometimes yet I still call myself vegan. Big mistake. There were many people who disagreed with me and some even said I shouldn’t call myself vegan if I buy Oreos since the sugar in Oreos may or may not be vegan. I explained my rationale and many other messageboard posters agreed with me and didn’t think unsourced sugar was a big deal.
The Happy Herbivore asks, “Is veganism some cool club that I’m not worthy to get into?” Yes. It’s a cool club. But no, I AM worthy. We’re ALL worthy. Anyone can join our cool vegan club. Come on in and join!
So I’m not going to trash my “vegan club membership” and refuse to have a conversation about a vegan issue. I’m keeping my vegan-card. I’m wearing my vegan badge with pride, it’s the heart on my sleeve.
I’m sure the ‘vegan police’ who say Oreos aren’t vegan will jump up hooting and hollering annoyed that I’ve decided to keep my vegan title, but the rest of us will see how ridiculous they are. Some of us might even theorize that many of the ‘vegan police’ aren’t even vegan. They’re probably anti-vegan moles!
Because most vegan advocates know that if you continue down the road of worrying about trivial issues like the sugar in original Oreos then there’s a good chance you are hurting the cause, not helping it. At the very least, harping on wannabe vegans for eating nonvegan sugar is unproductive. It won’t actually help any animals.
“As plant-based eaters, we are a minority. We need to stick together and support each other. We need to spend our time helping others eat more plants and fewer animals.”
That is where I agree with the Happy Herbivore. And that’s why I’m sticking with the vegans who support me. That’s why I’m not giving up or making excuses. That’s why I won’t blame others for my own choices.
To the vegan police: I will not blame you for my choices. If I slip up and eat something that is nonvegan, I will NOT say you made me do it. You didn’t. I will say I made a mistake. Or I will explain why I think it’s ethically acceptable to eat it. I will not reject veganism; I will not badmouth vegans.
We may disagree on issues like unsourced sugar and whether or not PETA is a force for good. But I am smart, I am capable, and I make up my own mind. I will NOT suggest that anyone’s opinions on issues I consider to be trivial (like sugar) could dissuade me from eating compassionately in all other areas. We can disagree but I will NOT say “you have made me eat more animal products.” Because I’m not spiteful like that. I won’t hurt animals to spite mean vegans. I hope you won’t either.
The power to save animals by going vegan is mine, yours… all of ours. This is our power and it is not something the so-called ‘vegan police’ – or any other haters – can take away from us. No one can “make someone eat more animal products” unless they physically force them the way farmers force feed foie gras ducks.
So use that power and help others use that power. Don’t pretend anyone can take that power away from you. And don’t wave it around like a prize that you may or may not award depending on how well-behaved the so-called ‘vegan police’ are today on Facebook. There are more important things to do than whine about haters. You have lives to save! As Jasmin Singer wrote once in a controversial vegan blog post:
“We just don’t have time — the animals don’t have time — for us to prioritize inadequately. In the time it took you to read this blog entry, 17,160 chickens were killed in the United States. It’s up to each of us, truly.”
Good Morning from southern Manitoba…love reading your daily posts…always well done! I guess I can be called an ‘almost’ Vegan…only animal product I eat is one salmon each week. Lately I have been trying to only buy once every 2 weeks… There are SO SO many excellent vegan recipes I have collected over the net and my collection of Vegan cookbooks is growing! I never preach the ‘holier than thou’ speech to people..My husband has now picked up lots of my eating habits for which I love him all the more. LOVE the fact that I daily see, more and more articles and recipes for healthy vege/vegan living. Little by little..people are having their eyes opened up by all this….signing petitions against animal abuse and many of us are ‘finally getting it’….why we are doing what we are doing! Cheers, Valerie.
WELL SAID. I absolutely agree with this post and your commitment to retaining your vegan identity, criticism or not. I am proud to be and call myself vegan because I am proud that I have made decisions that are better for the world and all animals, including humans. I am not going to distance myself from the word, and its community, due to extremists who have shown themselves to be the “mean girls” of the vegan community. And by extremists, I don’t mean people who do not eat honey or sugar; I mean those who judge, condemn, and seek to push down others and call out others’ perceived missteps. IMO, this whole showdown is even more of a reason why nice, compassionate, thoughtful, rational vegans need to continue to hold on to their vegan identity, in order to show omnivores that we’re not all ready to jump down each other’s, and everyone else’s, throats.
I have repeatedly said that the very definition of “vegan” accepts that nobody can completely abstain from consuming animal products. The common definition says a vegan avoids the use or exploitation of animals to the extent reasonably possible. Even if you live in a cave and grow all your own food you are likely to exploit some animals – bacteria, for example, or small animals that live in the soil in which you grow your food. To me, the concept of “vegan enough” simply does not make sense. If I seek to exclude animal products from my life, to a reasonable extent, I am a vegan and I’m not apologizing for the occasional use of uncertain sugar or the existence of some animal product in the tires on my car.
In the Sept-Oct 2011 issue of Veg News a reader wrote to Laura Hooper Beck, who has a regular column (Ask Laura). The reader wrote:
Laura’s response (in part):
I really could not have said it better myself.
Yes! You rock and so does each person who is mindful about how their daily choices affect the lives of animals. Veganism really is about doing something about the 99.6% of stuff we can control and letting go of the remaining .4%.
Well done and well said !!!!
I read her blog last week myself and was of two minds about it.
As you said, vegans come in all stripes, some are nice, some are nasty, some are outspoken, some are shy……if she felt that the nasty remarks outweighed the positive ones and she did not want to be victimized by the ‘Vegan Police ‘, I guess she made a decision that works for her.
I will continue to be a proud vegan.
You rock !
Really well said. I can understand both positions, but also choose to hang onto my vegan club membership.
Your posts are still(to my mind) the most sensible and down to earth pieces of writing from a Vegan. YES…I to “slip up” from time to time…for example, it’s Spring here in South Africa and my Hayfever is through the roof!! I’ve tried every homeopathic /natural remedy on and off the market and they only help for a few minutes. Thus, I’ve had to resort to stronger anti-sneezamines! And yes, I KNOW they’ve been tested on animals! This grieves me to the core! I use the lowest dosage possible and only when I am literally incapacitated by my allergy. The Vegan Police have most definitely waved a finger in my face over THAT! But I don’t care…because it’s impossible for any Vegan to claim they are 100% Vegan…afterall, the very tyres on their cars have led to exploitation of animals/environment somewhere down the line! Living in the world we do we can only do the best we can with what we have! However…to the lady above who eats Salmon on occassion…that really is a personal choice based purely on taste/appetite for flesh and involves a sentient being who was slaughtered, and to my mind can’t be placed in the same camp as Vegans who might eat non-vegan sugar in a product or take unavoidable medication.Proudly Vegan forever!
Thank you for posting this article
I tell vegans and vegetarians all the time: Do not let others affect your journey! This is your journey. You know who and whom you are! The vegan police saddens and angers me! In my upcoming book I address this same situation and tell people “You know who and whom you are as a vegetarian or vegan. Stand and be proud! Claim your victory today! ” I am a vegan but call myself Sister Vegetarian because although I started as a vegetarian and I am now a vegan, I consider us part of the same family – we are fighting to improve our health, save animals, save the environment, and fight against social justice. We do not need to be against each other – we need to stand together – stand FOR each other. If you are in DC the end of Oct, I will be speaking on a Plant Based Living Panel with Dr. T. Colin Campbell, (The China Study) and others on Day 3 of Farm Sanctuary’s National Conference To End Factory Farming. I hope teh conference inspires vegans and vegetarians that we are going toward the same goal! To paraphrase Rodney King,”Can we all just get along!” ~ Donna M Beaudoin, Author, Sister Vegetarian’s 31 Days of Drama-Free Vegetarian and Vegan Living (Lantern Books Publisher)
Great post! I also read the Happy Herbivore post but didn’t comment. I wasn’t sure what to say because it was clear she was really hurt and I understand that feeling. I have received some uncomfortable and hurtful remarks and some really wonderful support. To me, begin vegan is too important to give up because some people are mean even if the extent of giving up is just in not identifying myself as vegan. I think it is important to speak up and be proud no matter what anyone else says. For me I try to keep in mind that billions of animals are suffering, really suffering right now. With that in mind, I think that dealing with a little criticism and rejection is trivial. What isn’t trivial is making veganism mainstream and visible to others so maybe they will also think about the billions suffering right now.
it’s not about keeping or gaining a vegan card, or not being vegan enough or anything like that. it’s about the animals, period. veganism is the logical extension of the peace movement, and is an ethical decision based on logic, compassion, ethics and morals. it doesn’t need to get more complicated than that.
Hmmm, I think I read or interpreted her column somewhat differently. I felt she made some good points and certainly wasn’t whining. Also, giving up the vegan label is very different than giving up on veganism itself (my understanding is that she hasn’t changed her non-consumption of animals but just what she calls herself.) And saying that vegan-police antics have the potential to dissuade newly or less strong vegans seems valid to me. Vegans can be incredibly hard on each other as we all know! In the end I think actions are more important than the label you happen to use.
I agree with So I’m Thinking of Going Vegan; I don’t think the post sounded whinny at all; just frustrated with all the negativity that was coming her way. And of course, she still IS vegan; she just doesn’t want to use that label because of all the vegan trolls out there, and I think that is a valid reason. The vegan police/trolls really do a disservice to the cause out there through their constant judging and holier-than-thou attitudes. And the funny thing is, I’ve never met one of them. They seem to live out in this black hole of loathing and blame somewhere. Or maybe it is just a core group of five people who troll every website and blog and spew their judgemental nonsense out to anyone who will listen. Sad; very sad. In the end, I’m not sure how important wearing your vegan badge proud and loud is compared to our everyday actions. Compassion, living by our ethics and morals, action, I think say more to us and the cause than a label (just my humble opinion of course).