Stop trying to solve a complex issue with a simple consumer choice. There is no moral consumption under capitalism.
I have been a vegan for about 30 yrs. About seven years ago, I joined Extinction Rebellion, and things became much different for me. For the first time since I first became vegan, I had a hope for a better future, and I was a part of it. Now, seven years later, I’m still fighting like crazy to make Extinction Rebellion take off here in New York City, but I’m also recognizing the massive flaw in the trap that is veganism, and what it is doing to people’s otherwise productive brain capacity.
To understand this better, you have to understand how many people are vegan, roughly 3% of the population, and what their mentality is, generally speaking. One the first thing a vegan does when they take on the identity, is get vegan shoes. This happens usually in the first year. Throwing out old shoes is often not done, but sometimes it is. Sometimes the old shoes are just thrown aside. In their place, likely a pair of vans or converse. Something authentically and honestly canvas, and not leather.
At about this time, they’ll start to attend vegan meetups, hangouts, and even environmental get-togethers.
Not to find out what people are doing, but to make sure everyone is wearing the right shoes.
“How long have you been vegan?”
“Why did you become vegan?”
“How come you can’t stop eating cheese, ice cream, etc etc”
It’s an unstoppable trainwreck of vegan subculture consumption.
It wastes time, it wastes energy, and quite frankly, it’s reductive. The word reductive is perfect for this, and the title of this essay. It basically means you are taking a complex problem, and making it simple.
You are taking a complex problem, systemic oppression, climate change, planetary mass destruction, mass death and murder at a global scale, and making the problem super simple.
But it’s not just simple. It’s also completely ignorable.
Brothers and sisters, stop being completely reductive, invisible, and non-participatory.
My full thoughts on are on this substack post...
please... wish I could post this on vegan subreddits but would probably be banned.
Stop trying to solve a complex issue with a simple consumer choice.
There is no moral consumption under capitalism.