Vegan hypocrite and proud
Don’t attack those making a positive change.
There is no such thing as perfection. Yet, people are routinely attacked for being hypocrites when they make changes to their lives for the benefit of others, animals or the planet. So if you’re ever called a “Vegan hypocrite”, wear it with pride.
Veganuary is here, which means, so is the wave of widespread “vegan-bashing” across national media and the internet. Selfless acts which defy the status-quo often trigger a defensive and disbelieving reaction in others, as it forces people to look inwardly and question their own actions.
The animal agriculture industry is, overwhelmingly, the main cause of animal suffering on the planet. How can we justify loving our pets, and care about all the wild animals we see on tv, but directly cause the suffering and slaughter of billions of pigs, cows, sheep and chickens?
Animal agriculture also has major negative impacts to our public-health and is the biggest driver of wild species population declines. It is one of the largest factors effecting pandemic disease, antibiotic resistance, drought, food poverty, climate change, habitat loss and pollution.
Veganism has been shown to be the single biggest way to reduce your impact on the environment and other animals, but it is impossible to live a life completely free of impact. Every person on this planet has an influence on other individuals, animals and the environment around them.
No vegan has ever argued that they are perfect. But those who want to challenge this positive, progressive and necessary movement, seem to think that by calling a vegan a hypocrite they have won some sort of argument.
The most famous advocate of the vegan hypocrite attack is Piers Morgan. He has invited numerous vegans onto his morning chat-show, and the segment always follows the same pattern. He shouts over them, dismisses logic and reason and berates them with questions like “Do you eat bread? Wheat harvests kill insects and rodents”, “Do you eat avocados? They require bees to pollinate and use gallons of water.”, “Do you eat tofu or soy milk? You’re causing destruction of the Amazon”. His theory is that because vegan diets also have an impact on animals and the planet, we just shouldn’t bother at all.
All of these arguments are of course completely flawed. Vegan diets have been shown to require 75% less land — largely released from the growth of animal feed — meaning that any insects and rodents that are accidentally killed during growth or harvest of crops are drastically reduced by just eating the plants ourselves. A vegan diet also uses around 75% less water — amounting to a saving of up to 1 million litres of water per person per year; even if you eat avocados!
Soy crops, which are responsible for massive environmental damage, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions across the Americas, China and India, are overwhelmingly used for feeding animals in rich nations. Only around 5% of global soy production is for human consumption, and a good proportion of that comes from more sustainable crops.
This is all supported by numerous scientific papers in a range of prestigious journals. However, it doesn’t stop those who want to justify their own lifestyles making completely illogical arguments and unfounded claims.
Environmental, social and animal rights campaigning has a long history of negative press coverage, along with verbal and physical attacks. If we allow the hypocrisy argument to spread, all progressive movements could be discredited. There is always room for improvement, but to have a planet that can sustain our human and non-human populations we must have a widespread shift towards veganism.
We need to support people making positive and progressive changes to their lives, not concentrate on their imperfections.
