"How does not wearing leather and silk help with your health?"
"Oh no, I still wear leather, and silk. But I eat a vegan diet because of my health. I'm not one of *those* ethical vegans."
You mean one of those vegans who actually use the word in the way it was intended?
Now, don't get me wrong, labels are best served identifying the food I can eat (which in these days comes in the shape of The Vegan Society's logo), but there is something to be said for clarity.
The discussions that has arisen in the past couple of weeks as I have been immersing myself more in the general vegan populous is getting very confusing and very muddled. People are appearing here and there claiming to be vegans, but not because of animal rights, but because of their health.
Phrases and words that have been used in the past to describe someone who eats a plant-based diet but does not follow the vegan lifestyle has been "strict vegetarian" and "someone who eats a plant based diet". This new fascination with saying that one is a vegan or eating a "vegan diet" seems to me, quite ludicrous. Along with this comes the justifications "the mainstream media uses vegan to describe all who adhere to a plant based diet".
The mainstream media of today corrupts words and twists facts all of the time... ask any scientist how correct the mainstream media are in their reporting of possible new discoveries. "We think we might have found a virus that has very interesting effects on cancer cells, we're conducting a lot of studies into if this can help with cancer treatments in the future." becomes "Scientists has found the cure for cancer!"
Please, don't let the mainstream media tell you how things work. You'll probably end up very misinformed and with conflicting information very quickly.
Now, back to the use of the term vegan. It was created by a group of vegetarians in 1944 who were concerned with the ETHICAL compromise that eating dairy and eggs presented. The ethics has been a constant companion of the word vegan and veganism since the word was coined.
Don't get me wrong, more people eating a plant based diet is awesome, but it does lead to confusion.
One vegan you meet claim to eat only plants, but sometimes they have honey, and they wear leather, silk and wool, and think that animal rights and ethics regarding animals is stupid.
The second vegan you meet eats only plants, never honey, they don't wear leather, silk or wool. They are passionate about animal rights and animal ethics and are amazed you wouldn't be, since it's supported by science that animals are more than just meat, they have sentience.
The third vegan eats only plants, never honey, don't wear leather, silk or wool and want equal rights for animals because they are all our brothers and sisters in this big cosmic wheel. We are all connected through the universal consciousness and when we harm animals we harm our own karma.
The confusion was big enough when there was the more secular vegan and the more spiritual vegan. (British type vegan and American type vegan that incorporates ahimsa into their veganism.)
And now we have a new breed, the health-nut vegan who doesn't care about ethics and rights, they just think it's healthy.
Well, I'm sorry, but just eating a plant based diet does not a vegan make.
And no, this is not me being attached to a label. It is me wanting clarity. It is me knowing that in most parts of the world when I say "I am a vegan" people know I abstain from any animal product and by-product because of an ethical conviction on my part. To expand the term "vegan" to include anyone who eats a plant based diet will mean clarifying to each and every person this comes up with which KIND of vegan I am.
"I am a vegan who does not eat any animal products or by-products and I do not wear or use them in make-up, clothes, cleaning products e.t.c as far as possible and practicable because of my ethics." instead of "I am a vegan" does not strike me as very short, concise and clear.
"I am a vegan because of my health, because I want what is best for me, but I still use leather, silk and allow for animal products to be in any kind of cleaning product, beauty product and similar because I don't care about the ethics of it." instead of "I eat a plant based diet for my health." isn't very clear either.
Maybe I am "resisting the fluidity of language" by being staunch. It's not that I don't think you have the right to call yourself whatever. Call yourself a chair or Jesus if you wish, but with that comes a few things you should expect. You can expect Christians to lash out at you if you call yourself "Jesus Christ". And yes, I will continue to assume that a vegan is someone who leads a vegan lifestyle, not someone who simply eats a plant based diet because of their health. I will also continue to be amazed that people would call themselves vegans when they are, for all intents and purposes according to the definition put forward by those who coined it, not vegan.
Clarity, is something I value. If you want to be a vegan, become a vegan. Don't just call yourself a vegan and think that will work. I can call myself a professional author all I want to, because I write. That doesn't mean I am one. My income from writing is still nil, and you cannot be a professional without ever having gotten paid for doing it, just as you cannot be a vegan without ethical concerns about the treatment of animals.
No comments:
Post a Comment