thoughts on vegan privilege
The more I think about the reasons people have for not being vegan, the more upset I get. I understand that some people cannot be vegan (though it isn’t even close to the numbers that defensive omnivores would have you believe) and I’ve gotten so tired of this discussion that the second anyone cries privilege, I just give them the benefit of the doubt. What really annoys me these days is that even if these people are actually incapable of being vegan, no one seems to want to discuss why, of all the minorities (and I use that term only in terms of representation) on which the burden could be placed, non-human animals are the ones who take the slack. What you’re saying is that some privilege is acceptable and some (particularly those that directly affect you) are not. It’s like, “Sorry, cow. Everyone’s got problems. I need to eat you and your family because that’s the way it is.” Human privilege is, in some ways, worse than any other kind of privilege. Mainly because humans seem to be the only ones who understand privilege and that in itself leads to the idea that we alone deserve ethical consideration. (So check your privilege before you assume I’m not checking mine.)
While that might make sense to some people, what I don’t understand is even if that is “the way it is”, why the fuck isn’t anyone doing anything about it? I see a lot of people concerned with privilege, hacking away at branches but never bothering to find the roots and it exposes them as frauds. Okay, you can’t be vegan because you’re below the poverty line and all you can afford is federally subsidized meat from fast food chains. Given the countless studies about health issues of non-vegan diets and given the fact that you “would totally go vegan if you could because [you] love the animals”, why the FUCK aren’t you doing anything about it? How many letters have you written to your representative? How many times have you actively participated in demonstrations against animal suffering? Why is it that despite being so concerned, just simply unable to help, most people lamenting about their inability to make the choice to go vegan haven’t done a single thing to make it better?
What people don’t seem to understand is that not supporting veganism where you can (through public voice and those times where you CAN make vegan choices) is ensuring that nothing changes. Logically, raising food to feed to food makes no sense and is a massive waste of resources and it should be no surprise that if federal subsidies were going to raising crops to eat instead of raising crops to feed to animals to eat, food would be a fraction of what it costs now. How about 5 cent veggie burgers? Wouldn’t that be a fuck ton better for the single mothers of three struggling to keep their families fed that everyone is so intent on fighting for? If you gave a fuck about anyone who can’t afford to feed their families, you should be advocating veganism at the top of your fucking lungs, not complaining that people are advocating veganism because of some idiotic notion that they don’t understand the concept of privilege.
As far as inability to go vegan because of health reasons, I am still unconvinced. Show me one (just one) case where a patient absolutely needed something only found in animals or they wouldn’t be able to function. Show me one. For those saying, “Yeah, I’d go vegan except I need so much more X to get as much Y as I get from Z”, see the previous paragraph. When the subsidies go to growing crops instead of wasting billions for hamburgers, you’ll get much more iron for much less money from dark, leafy greens and supplements than you’ll ever get from meat. Are you in a food desert? Grow your own food if you can. Don’t want to go to the grocery store twice a week? Go once a week and buy twice as much. Too expensive? START ADVOCATING VEGANISM, DUMB SHIT. Tell your government that you’re educated and you know what’s up and demand that they start selling you food that’s better for you and stop keeping people hungry with asinine systems of waste.
Yeah, there are a lot of legitimate problems that prevent some people from going vegan and they aren’t going to be solved until people stop making excuses and start putting some effort into making changes. Go vegan. If you can’t, start yelling and don’t stop until you can.
