Is There A Reasonable Objection to Veganism?

No.

Introduction

Eight years ago, I watched a film called Earthlings (2005, Monson). The film provides detailed explanations of the largest industries that exploit animals for food, clothing, and cosmetics. Immediately after watching it, I stopped paying for the animal exploitation I was responsible for and went vegan. I took to social media to spread the word. My first attempt at activism was posting a photo of a piglet on a sofa with the caption: “How could you eat this?”. I wasn’t prepared for the response:

“But bacon!”

“Yum”

“What - eat the remote 😂?” (There was a remote next to the pig)

These were from people at my school, but my uncle also got involved in mocking my post. This was not just children messing around; adults also joined in the fun of mocking my plea for people to start respecting animals. I imagined there would be solidarity for these innocent victims of our food choices, but all I got was ridicule. “Isn’t it simple?” I thought. Why would people choose to harm innocent beings when they don’t have to?

Over time, I realised my response to slaughterhouse footage wasn’t the norm - most people make excuses for living a non-vegan lifestyle. People put up barriers to change, even after watching footage of animals being tortured and murdered.

Uncomfortable Truths

Over the past several months, I’ve been engaging in regular animal rights activism. This involves showing slaughterhouse footage to members of the public and holding them accountable for what they are watching. Through asking questions, we highlight the contradiction between their beliefs (we should respect animals) and actions (paying for animals to be disrespected), and bring them to the vegan conclusion. It’s rare for people to go vegan straight after watching the footage - I usually have to respond to excuses such as:

‘’We’ve always been eating meat”

“How do you know animals don’t want to be eaten?”

“Plants are also living things”

“Look at my canines”

The main reason for these objections, which all centre around the perpetrator of violence rather than the victim, is our natural tendency to defend how we’ve been living rather than accept criticism for our lifestyle and make changes. We want to believe that we are good people, and so we defend the habits that make up our identity. Unconsciously, non-vegans make what they consume a part of their identity - they cling to the pleasure, familiarity and social traditions they have with the animal products they consume. Non-vegans who cling to what they consume will find it hard to go vegan, as it means letting go of a large part of who they are. Social cohesion may break down: “If I go vegan, how does that change the relationship I have with my non-vegan friends and family?”.

You have to accept some uncomfortable truths:

1. All my life, I have been responsible for animal abuse

2. My parents have brought me up to be unethical

3. I have to either change now or continue living an unethical life

The truth is heavy - veganism casts 99% of the population in a negative light. It casts your past in a heavy fog of shame - how did I not know about the cruelty I was paying for? Or…why did I make so many excuses for my violent habits? I have been wrong. I have been cruel. Most people don’t want to confront these uncomfortable truths - so they make up excuses to defend a position they have never needed to defend before. The position of living a non-vegan life.

A Painful Realisation

I realise that I must have had a small ego when I watched Earthlings. I was easily persuaded by the film to live vegan - I was receptive and had little identification with my eating habits. It took a while for me to reconcile the fact that people turned away from the truth of animal slaughter. This is the most painful realisation: once people are made aware of the animal abuse they are paying for, most don’t change.

So, as someone trying to convince people to go vegan, I have been exposed to numerous objections. But is there a reasonable objection to veganism?

Let’s put it this way: Is there a reasonable objection to not killing children? No, you don’t need to kill children. Children have the right not to be exploited and killed because of your preferences. Cows, pigs, and chickens are children when they are killed. So in a similar way, there is no need to exploit non-human animals.

So if you don’t need to do something violent, what is the justification? Need means survival. Do you need to kill children to survive? No. Do you need to eat animals and animal products to survive? No. So, there is no reasonable objection to veganism. If you believe we should respect animals, then you should be vegan.

Conclusion

The Psychologist Clare Mann coined the term Vystopia, which is an “existential crisis experienced by vegans, arising out of an awareness of the trance-like collusion with a dystopian world”. Vegan activists hold non-vegans accountable for their actions. When are we ever held accountable for our purchases? Normal behaviour isn’t, by default, moral behaviour. Injustices throughout history have been considered normal: women not having the right to vote, slavery, child marriage, etc. It is an unavoidable aspect of being human: being one of the crowd, not being an outlier. It’s not that everyone who knows about the cruelty they are paying for, and won’t go vegan, are psychopathic. They are just human beings - conditioned for social cohesion and normality over doing what’s right. Some people have the awareness to break out of this, and these are the people we should be convincing to go vegan. This is how I approach my activism:

1. The non-vegan watches the footage of animal exploitation

2. The vegan makes it clear that the non-vegan is responsible for animal exploitation

3. The non-vegan is uncomfortable and throws excuses at you, hoping they will stick

4. The vegan asks the non-vegan if those excuses would still be valid if they were the victim

5. The non-vegan makes more excuses: which means you should disengage. Or the non-vegan says they will go vegan.

Short, powerful conversations. Because once you know there is no reasonable objection to veganism, you don’t entertain the debate game with non-vegans. Why would you respond to objections that aren’t reasonable? This is not only effective for talking to people who are receptive to the vegan message, but it also ensures you don’t drain your energy in long, pointless back-and-forths.

While it was hard initially to realise that footage wasn’t enough to convince most people to go vegan, I now focus on making personal accountability clear for the non-vegan. Establishing the “why” you should go vegan, through finding common beliefs - such as respecting animals.

While I didn’t need to be convinced through socratic questioning, I know that the conditioning is so strong that people need more than just seeing the animals on the killing floor. They need to understand that their actions contradict their beliefs - and the only way to live going forward is veganism.

References

Earthlings: http://www.nationearth.com/

Vystopia: https://www.vegansociety.com/news/blog/what-vystopia