You Don’t Have To Be Perfect
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In the animal activist community, a lot of energy is spent to try to persuade activists to do this or do that, act like this or act like that, identify as this or identify as that.
For example, this post at the Vegan Outreach blog implies that vegans should stop calling themselves vegan:
“For 2.5 years I had been telling people I was vegan if the subject came up. Now if people ask I say I’m vegetarian, and it makes a world of a difference. When I used to say I was vegan, people would immediately say some kind of variation of, ‘That’s awesome, but I could never do that myself.’ Now when I say I’m vegetarian, people become more open and tell me about other vegetarians they know, vegetarian foods they’ve tried, how they’ve considered going vegetarian, or they had been vegetarian in the past and want to get back into it.”
Even here at the Soapbox, we had a post on the same topic that said:
“One of the better things we could do for animals is to stop being vegans. Maybe instead we should simply stop participating in animal exploitation. Actions speak louder than words, and they also reduce us to inflammatory labels. And, let’s face it, the word ‘vegan’ doesn’t have a lot of positive connotations in the non-vegan world.”
I’m not going to argue against the idea that nonvegans respond less defensively to vegetarianism than to veganism. I think that’s a valid point. But I don’t think the key to successfully nudging mainstream society towards veganism is for vegans to call themselves vegetarian. I think the key is to encourage vegetarians to speak up. Instead of pushing the vegans to act more mainstream, why not push the mainstream vegetarians to be more active?
After spending decades calling myself vegetarian (because that’s what I was, I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian) I’m not sure that the label is all that important. Call yourself what you want, but don’t be afraid of the vegan label. I, personally, haven’t experienced any more criticism calling myself vegan than I did when I called myself vegetarian. And as a vegan, I’ve been a far more effective animal advocate, simply because as a vegan I feel more “allowed” to advocate on behalf of animals. I’m expected to do so!
Don’t worry that identifying as a vegan will make people defensive or make you less effective. It may or it may not; it really all depends on the context and on your reaction. In certain contexts, a heated debate will be more effective than a soft sell. In other contexts, gentle and supportive encouragement is more effective. Think first about who you’re trying to convince and then determine what they need to be convinced. And always, always, always forgive yourself when you screw it up. Doing something is virtually always better than doing nothing. Don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise.
I have had much more success in convincing people to eat fewer animal products by simply getting out there and trying to convince people to eat fewer animal products than by any label I’ve worn. Whatever you call yourself – vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian, veg*n – just get out there and get active. You don’t have to be perfect to make a huge difference for animals.
A few days ago I drove home from Las Vegas to my little home on the Central Coast of California. I wore one of my “vegan” T-shirts because this is one tiny way I can be active. When I stopped in Kramer Junction (a part of Boron, California, deep in the Mojave Desert) for a snack, the woman at the counter said, “I love your T-shirt” and proceeded to tell me she hates how farm animals are treated. It makes her sick. She admitted to not being vegan or vegetarian but said she eats a lot less meat than she used to and even said “if I never had it again I don’t think I’d miss it”. I responded, “That’s how it gets.”
We talked a bit more about factory farming and she said more people need to know about it and she said “We should put up signs”. I said we were working on that in my area (our local billboard campaign is under way) and smiled on my way out the door. An easy encounter and a surprise, too. If I hadn’t been wearing the T-shirt it would never have happened.
That’s a fantastic story!
The animal movement has taken enormous strides in the last few years, mostly I think due to the accessibility of undercover videos and the web. Now, someone has to bury their head in the sand to think that animal agriculture is “humane.” I think you’re story was evidence of that!
i agree. i don’t think we should have to cater to other’s reactions to the word “vegan.” just the opposite. we need to make the word and the ideas behind the word more mainstream.
love the tshirt story above!
.-= wendy´s last blog ..“Stop being vegan and just enjoy your food.” =-.
A label automatically implies differentiation; differentiation generates opposing polarities which either reenforce or weaken a given stance. The adoption of a given label is a personal choice necessarily related to the amount of energy which one possesses in order to face the adversity of an opposing force. I personally believe that if one has a strong opinion correlated with sufficient knowledge to back up one’s thesis, enough spirit of expression and of pursuasion and a perentory but serene attitude relative to one’s conviction, all this can be decisively useful in order to promote one’s cause. I think that the use of the label Vegan is essential in order to at least spread its seed in the minds of people so that it may possibly function as a zen-koan, sprout out with time or instigate the curiosity for research or confirmatory evidence. The label and implication of the word Vegan is best if known and understood world-wide.