The Philosophy of Veganism

Originally I wrote this script out to be a response to an ABC article about plant-based meats, but I decided that I didn’t want to just sit back and react to the things that I disagree with. So instead what I want to do today is lay out exactly what veganism means to me.

In the modern day there is some decent animosity around the word “vegan”, comparable perhaps to the hostility towards the term “feminist” in recent years. With the sudden explosion of vegan popularity globally, this aggressive defensiveness in the presence of veganism is simultaneously decreasing, as well as strengthening among shrinking parties of people. I fondly refer to these parties as; “carnists”, which is a reference to the Simon Amstell mockumentary: “Carnage”, which turned me to veganism. I also like to refer to angry, anti-vegan reactionaries as: “Joe Rogan fans”, although they are of course not all aware of the podcast host, but I have indeed witnessed a stark alignment between the two groups.

Traditionally a vegan is viewed as an individual who abstains from the use of any animal products, this primarily means within their own diet, but it also can extend to the choices that they make towards all products; clothing, makeup, etc. In today’s world the definition of veganism is split into several parties, which are based upon the philosophy of each individual vegan. There are at least four main groups; health vegans, environmental vegans, animal liberation vegans, and ethical vegans.

I consider myself an ethical vegan. That title is essentially an intersectional approach to what it means to have ethical vegan morals. I simply break it down as the practice of the reduction of suffering, to the minimum end that those practices involve veganism. What that means is I do everything I can to best minimise my impact on the suffering of all living beings, whether they be humans, animals, or even the environment - the destruction of which in turn causes humans and animals to suffer. This also can extend to politics, where decisions are made that can either directly or indirectly affect the suffering of individuals. And of course we cannot forget the consideration of daily social injustices, which can cause harm or discomfort to people too.

That is what I essentially believe to be the moral obligatory baseline of any aware individual. This awareness of course is a difficult thing to come by though, and it has taken me a long time to get to such a point myself, which is why I must remind myself to not get overly frustrated with people who don’t straight away agree with these ideas, i.e. “Joe Rogan fans”.

So let's go over that again, to me what veganism should mean is the practice of reducing suffering, as much as one can, to all individuals. Now as I said, that is just the moral baseline, after that we get into proactive action, but that is a whole other topic that I shall not cover today.

Consider to yourself why do you have solar panels on your house? Why do you recycle or switch off your lights when you leave a room? Why do you give your spare change to a homeless person or buy them a meal? Why do you intervene or call the police when you see a crime taking place? Why do you help an elderly person safely cross the street? Why do you slow down your car when a kid drops their ball across the road? Whatever it is that you do, which you believe to be “good”, why do you do so? If you have the answer to that question then you have the answer to veganism. We are not aliens to be afraid of or triggered by, and we are sorry if we don’t always go about our messaging in the best ways, but we are the same as you, that is the truth. Almost no one was born vegan, we came about it later in life, as I know many of you still will. You and I, we want to help the world and each other, we don’t want to be a detriment to others or the planet. You might act upon those beliefs as far as to your friends and your family, or those who you directly interact with on a day to day basis, whereas we, through information and consideration, have decided to extend our actions or inactions, as well as our beliefs, as far as to what we consume. It’s as simple as that. We don’t hate you, we don’t blame you. Well sometimes we might. But those of us who advocate and protest, do so in ways that worked to convince us in the past. We are sorry for making you late to work by blocking the road, as we are sorry for the animals that we paid to be killed for us to eat in the past. We hope some of you will one day feel the same.

I see there as being several steps required to get to this point of veganism, they are as follows:

1. An ability or at least a will for self-criticism

2. A sense of responsibility for the implications of one’s own actions

3. Empathy for not just those around you, but to different people in other countries of different beliefs, and individuals of other species (animals)

4. The desire for peace, and the reduction of harm/suffering to all around the world, to the best of our ability

5. An understanding of the cruel actions that can take place through animal exploitation in various industries and practices around the world

Most of these steps sound simple enough right? I think most people in the world would agree that they do not like the idea of animals needlessly suffering, or a fellow human being who suffers, despite having done no wrong. Yet when we are presented with the plain reality of the death and torture that our diets can contain, it is often too frightening to confront or even to comprehend. Instead we cling to propaganda about protein, B12 deficiencies, farmers crying in the media or whatever. We activate our backfire effect, we lie to ourselves and pass the blame to corporations for the industry being damaging to the environment, or inhumane to the animals. All this effort we put out to avoid making such a simple dietary change. At its core veganism is a slow and steady realisation that accumulates over time, and then becomes as obvious as the past crimes of slavery. My only goal is to kickstart that realisation and change in more people, before it is eventually forced upon us all in the form of cheaper, meat-free substitutes, ethical lab grown meats, climate action, and the like. Because for every day sooner that you make that change, means less animals will be harmed.

In several future episodes I will dismantle arguments against veganism, you can surely count on that. As well as eventually establishing and diving into many of my other passionate philosophies, for me to then propagate onto you. It is something that I have kept in my own head about for a long time, internalising my own morals, and poking at them until I can fully know them. At this stage in my life I am actually confident enough to put pen to paper and dialogue about some of these things more methodically, and I am excited to do so. It is as much of an act of self discovery as it is a sharing of learnings. All I hope is that someone will find some relation in all of this and consequently build upon their own moral understanding. For if we aren’t always evolving or progressing, then we are dooming our collective destiny.