Vegans: more carrot, less (bloody) stick
Today, Veganism is everywhere.
This year has seen more people than ever signing up for Veganuary (an introductory month of plant-based eating). From celebrity endorsements, to the Earth-shattering unveiling of the Greggs’ vegan sausage roll in the UK (if you’re American, imagine Arby’s announcing a vegan roast beef sandwich), 2019 has already been heralded as ‘The Year of the Vegan’.
As a vegan of four years, I couldn’t be happier.
Too often, however, this great news is overshadowed by videos of angry vegan protestors screaming in restaurants, like pro-life fanatics camped outside an abortion clinic. The US-founded protest group, Direct Action Everywhere, went viral in the UK last year after footage emerged of protestors being booed out of a steak in house in Brighton, having previously stormed in with speakers blaring alleged audio from an abattoir. This antagonistic style of activism isn’t a new phenomenon, of course; over the last 20 years, ‘red-paint’ vandals have defaced everything from Joan Rivers’ sable fur coat to the Iowa State Fair’s butter cow sculpture in the name of animal rights.
If, at this point, you’re nodding away thinking, “yeah, you’re right, vegans are the worst”, then you’re going to be disappointed, sorry. Morrissey had it right in 1985 — meat is murder. There’s no way around it — unnecessarily ending the life of a sentient, innocent being is, as far as I’m concerned, morally indefensible. The sooner we ascend into a vegan utopia of bean burgers and vegan cheese that no longer feels like a slice of linoleum in your mouth, the better.
But, vegans have got an image problem. The guilt tripping activism that organisations like PETA favour is ugly, and it isn’t helping any animals — just our egos. Every time someone films these well-meant, yet intrinsically confrontational, protests you can be sure that some equally sanctimonious, steak-loving celebrity like Piers Morgan will rush to Twitter and brand the entire vegan community a radical cult. You’ve only got to read the comments on any article about veganism, even the positive ones, to see the effect this conflict has on people’s attitudes towards the movement. Vegans are not political prisoners — we have a voice, and a loud one at that. PETA currently boasts over a million followers on Twitter, nearly 300,000 more than the British Prime Minister. When the suffragettes stormed the UK parliament in 1907, they did so because they were denied a platform; we have a massive platform, and it’s time we used it.
If vegans really want to see an end to animal exploitation, we must start living our lives without even a flicker of the arrogance that we are so routinely accused of basking in. If veganism really is about compassion for animals, then that should include humans too. It’s hard to preach peaceful living when the news is filled with stories of trigger happy morons sending death threats to farmers and telling working parents that they’re evil for feeding their kids chicken nuggets. Animal agriculture is undeniably awful; but, if that’s all we ever talk about, no one is ever going to hear about how good veganism can be.
This is where ‘positive activism’ comes in. No one likes being told what to do — humans are stubborn, it’s just the way we’re built. Right now, the popular face of veganism exists solely as a cult of crystal worshipping hippies who won’t wash their hair, or a celebrity health fad (neither of which is entirely accurate). We need credibility, and that means putting the megaphone down. The issue has been raised and it’s not going away; now it’s time to start talking to people, not throwing red paint on them.
Vegan food has soared to new heights in recent years, with GQ declaring New York restaurant Superiority Burger’s meatless burger the best burger of 2015 (yeah, beef included). Rather than condemning someone for eating a McDonalds, take them out for an Impossible Burger instead. Forget the quinoa and grab some vegan chicken nuggets on your way home. Damn, soya protein never tasted so good. With more and more meat and dairy free options appearing across the country, it’s become easier than ever, and cheaper than ever to eat vegan. This is the face of veganism that we need people to see.
So, next time a Monday rolls around why not encourage your mates to try Meat-free Monday. Show them all the strange and wonderful things you can make with the left-over liquid in a can of chickpeas, accept that nutritional yeast sounds like something out of an 18th century medicine cabinet, but show them just how good it can taste in a vegan cheese sauce, and do it all without a single self-righteous word.
We aren’t going to change minds overnight, just one block of tofu at a time.
