The other day I was scrolling through Instagram and came across this video on the @vegancommunity page. I usually try not to watch videos like that. To be fair, after I watched Earthlings by Joaquin Phoenix almost 10 years ago, I cannot watch videos of animals being tortured whatsoever (and I guess it is normal, no?). But I was interested in the concept of the video so I watched it. It is only two and a half minutes long. I thought I knew everything about animal abuse and torture. But boy, was I wrong. I was kind of speechless and disappointed but mostly confused – why is it still happening? It is almost 2020 and animal abuse is still normalized. It makes me want to vomit when I think of people actually eating dead bodies of the animals. And I know only one vegan in real life and it is only me. And yes, all of my friends and my family, my every ex – all of them were meat-eaters.
But back to the video, I wanted to share that video however I was very hesitant. What will my family and friends think? They will think I am crazy. They will think “oh, again, those vegan videos” or they will just skip (not a good option). But then I thought “screw it, am I the crazy one? Really? Then it is fine!”.
And the whole idea of me being scared of sharing that video and caring about what others might think about me, made me also think about all these times when I was so apologetic for being vegan. I don’t have this habit, at least anymore, of introducing myself as “Hi, I am Julia and I am vegan”. I know, my friends or my family will absolutely 100% say it first to everyone, so I just stay silent. I also don’t like all the attention. But then I thought why not and why the heck am I so apologetic for finally doing something right in my life?
I don’t know, but maybe because first of all, eating animals and animal cruelty is still normalized. Although fur’s reputation is vanishing, it is ok to wear leather, and veganism is still somehow compared to craziness, hippies, and an unhealthy lifestyle. Secondly, even though there are billions of different vegan products and a lot of them are actually natural, some people don’t know what vegans eat or what vegan products exist (have you heard about bananas, or potatoes, or rice, or beans, or cucumbers, or lettuce, or..?) and truly or jokingly think vegans eat grass. Then, as I mentioned, I just don’t like all this attention and don’t like being a weirdo (although I do). I am already introverted, not really social, dress up, and wear my makeup a little bit differently, my views are different too and on top of that, I am also a vegan! Kind of reminds me of this
So I just want to be “chill” with everyone and I let these remarks “Oh, I want to stop eating meat, but I cannot, my mom always buys it (aren’t you like 25 and don’t live with your mom anyway? 😐)”/ “I know about animal cruelty, but I still love my bacon”/ “it is a freedom of choice, and our ancestors needed meat to survive (look at you poor thing, surviving with all your gadgets and a cup of coffee for $7 ☹️)” slide.
Honestly, I just think it is enough! At least for me. I love animals a lot and I think I should stop hiding behind this “oh, I am vegan but I am don’t care what you eat” because I do care. I do care about animals. I am not saying that I will stop talking to anyone who eats meat and will never ever date a meat-eater, but I think I just have to be more vocal. To my surprise, a lot of people are still unaware of what is happening at the farms. The fact that there are so-called humane farms is not really helpful as well because the result is the same – an animal dies only to be consumed by humans. The suffering of the animals is unacceptable in this day and age. Cows are raped to produce more milk that humans cannot even drink, male chickens are thrown away alive because they cannot produce chickens’ periods known as eggs that people love to eat so much, pigs (and not only) live in their own feces and have psychological issues, and of course, a lot of other animals are being killed and tortured for people’s entertainment – THIS IS NOT COOL!
Moreover, I know some people who spread all these positive vibes but still eat meat. Why? It is just so hard to believe your positivity and caring nature if you still eat meat and support animal torture. And yes, I am talking about you too, Dalai Lama (I know about Buddhism and their relations with food, so don’t come at me, but they also have a choice). My point here is that we are used to accepting double standards. I remember that girl on Instagram eating a lobster and talking about Brooke Houts who abused her dog and how immoral it was. These are the double standards we have to fight and educate others that this is very wrong. Dogs and cats are no different from cows and pigs. The only difference is in our minds. The access to power that we have can be empowering and directed to something good or it can destroy others. It is really scary what power can do to people. Just this feeling of “I can do whatever with your life” is devastating.
I am vegan for the animals and I am not sorry about it, and sorry not sorry if I will be talking about veganism here and there, and if you will ask me about it, I will be talking about the facts instead of “You can eat whatever, I am cool with it”.
It is very easy to be ignorant when something was accepted centuries ago as a norm and generations after generations have been brainwashed into this thinking. But it takes courage to recognize that this is not right and start going in a different direction. It also takes a simple research to learn the real conditions of the animal farms, circuses, zoos, fur and leather industries, and just meat, fish and dairy industries in general and its effects on human health and planet.
My plan is to become more vocal. I know that I am not going to be an activist like people from Anonymous for the Voiceless. It is just not my style, I saw them protesting a few times and I respect them tremendously. But I know that I can do it my way, I have no clear idea how yet, but I will figure it out.
The bottom line is, I am not sorry for being vegan and for caring not only about cats and dogs but about other animals as well.
Some useful links
Animal Rights Activism Guide: How to be effective
Dairy is scary! The industry is explained in 5 minutes
Vegan Outreach
Anonymous for the Voiceless
The truth about honey
Cows photo from Unsplash by Robert Bye