My sense is that different people struggle with staying on a suffering-reducing diet for different reasons, and they have different solutions. Some people do need a commitment to a greater principle to make it work, and they typical mind that other people can’t (but aren’t wrong that people tend to overestimate themselves). Some people really need a little bit of animal nutrition but stop when that need is filled, and it’s not a slippery slope for them[1]and maybe miss that other people can’t stop where they can, although this group tends to be less evangelical so it causes fewer problems..
If the general conversation around ethics and nutrition were in a better place, I think it would be useful to look at how much of “veganism as a hard line” is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and what new equilibriums could be created. Does telling people “if you cross this line once you’ll inevitably slide into full blow carnism” make it more likely? Could advocates create a new hard line that gave people strength but had space for people for whom the trade-offs of total abstention are too hard? Or maybe not-even-once is the best line to hold, and does more good on net even if it drives some people away.
I don’t feel like I can be in that conversation, for a lot of reasons. But I hope it happens
I think the first paragraph is well put, and do agree that my camp is likely more apt to be evangelical. But I also want to say that I don’t think the second paragraph is quite representative. I know approximately 0 vegans that support the “cross the line once” philosophy. I think the current status quo is something much closer to what you imagine in the second to last sentence, where the recommendation that’s most often come to me is “look, as long as you are really thinking about it and trying to do what’s best not just for you but for the animals as well, that’s all it takes. We all have weak moments and veganism doesn’t mean perfection, it’s just doing the best with what you’ve got”[1]
Sure, there are some obvious caveats here like you can’t be a vegan if you haven’t significantly reduced your consumption of animals/animal products. Joe, who eats steak every night and starts every morning with eggs and cheese and a nice hearty glass of dairy milk won’t really be a vegan even if he claims the title. But I don’t see the average vegan casting stones at and of the various partial reduction diets, generally I think they’re happy to just have some more people on board.
I don’t see the average vegan casting stones at and of the various partial reduction diets,
I have seen a lot of stones cast about this. I’d believe that the 50th percentile vegan doesn’t, but in practice the ones who care a lot are the ones potential reducitarians hear from.
Sure, sure. I’m not saying there isn’t perhaps an extreme wing, I just think it’s quite important to say this isn’t the average, and highlight that the majority of vegans have a view more like the one I mentioned above.
I think this is a distinction worth making, because when you collapse everyone into one camp, you begin to alienate the majority that actually more or less agrees with you. I don’t know what the term for the group you’re talking about is, but maybe evangelical vegans isn’t a bad term to use for now.
My sense is that different people struggle with staying on a suffering-reducing diet for different reasons, and they have different solutions. Some people do need a commitment to a greater principle to make it work, and they typical mind that other people can’t (but aren’t wrong that people tend to overestimate themselves). Some people really need a little bit of animal nutrition but stop when that need is filled, and it’s not a slippery slope for them[1]and maybe miss that other people can’t stop where they can, although this group tends to be less evangelical so it causes fewer problems..
If the general conversation around ethics and nutrition were in a better place, I think it would be useful to look at how much of “veganism as a hard line” is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and what new equilibriums could be created. Does telling people “if you cross this line once you’ll inevitably slide into full blow carnism” make it more likely? Could advocates create a new hard line that gave people strength but had space for people for whom the trade-offs of total abstention are too hard? Or maybe not-even-once is the best line to hold, and does more good on net even if it drives some people away.
I don’t feel like I can be in that conversation, for a lot of reasons. But I hope it happens
and maybe miss that other people can’t stop where they can, although this group tends to be less evangelical so it causes fewer problems.
I think the first paragraph is well put, and do agree that my camp is likely more apt to be evangelical. But I also want to say that I don’t think the second paragraph is quite representative. I know approximately 0 vegans that support the “cross the line once” philosophy. I think the current status quo is something much closer to what you imagine in the second to last sentence, where the recommendation that’s most often come to me is “look, as long as you are really thinking about it and trying to do what’s best not just for you but for the animals as well, that’s all it takes. We all have weak moments and veganism doesn’t mean perfection, it’s just doing the best with what you’ve got”[1]
Sure, there are some obvious caveats here like you can’t be a vegan if you haven’t significantly reduced your consumption of animals/animal products. Joe, who eats steak every night and starts every morning with eggs and cheese and a nice hearty glass of dairy milk won’t really be a vegan even if he claims the title. But I don’t see the average vegan casting stones at and of the various partial reduction diets, generally I think they’re happy to just have some more people on board.
I have seen a lot of stones cast about this. I’d believe that the 50th percentile vegan doesn’t, but in practice the ones who care a lot are the ones potential reducitarians hear from.
Sure, sure. I’m not saying there isn’t perhaps an extreme wing, I just think it’s quite important to say this isn’t the average, and highlight that the majority of vegans have a view more like the one I mentioned above.
I think this is a distinction worth making, because when you collapse everyone into one camp, you begin to alienate the majority that actually more or less agrees with you. I don’t know what the term for the group you’re talking about is, but maybe evangelical vegans isn’t a bad term to use for now.