this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2024
20 points (59.3% liked)
vegan
2626 readers
45 users here now
Please also check out vegantheoryclub.org for a great set of well-run communities for vegan news, cooking, gardening, and art. It is not federated with LW, but it is a nice, cozy, all-in-one space for vegans.
We ask that the you have an understanding on what veganism is before engaging in this community.
If you think you have been banned erroneously, please get in contact with one of the other mods for appeals.
Moderator reports may not federate properly and may delay moderator action. Please DM an active mod if an abusive comment remains after reporting it.
Welcome
Welcome to c/vegan@lemmy.world. Broadly, this community is a place to discuss veganism. Discussion on intersectional topics related to the animal rights movement are also encouraged.
What is Veganism?
'Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals ...'
— abridged definition from The Vegan Society
Rules
The rules are subject to change, especially upon community feedback.
- Discrimination is not tolerated. This includes speciesism.
- Topics not relating to veganism are subject to removal.
- Posts are to be as accessible as practicable:
- pictures of text require alt-text;
- paywalled articles must have an accessible non-paywalled link;
- use the original source whenever possible for a news article.
- Content warnings are required for triggering content.
- Bad-faith carnist rhetoric & anti-veganism are not allowed, as this is not a space to debate the merits of veganism. Anyone is welcome here, however, and so good-faith efforts to ask questions about veganism may be given their own weekly stickied post in the future.
- before jumping into the community, we encourage you to read examples of common fallacies here.
- if you're asking questions about veganism, be mindful that the person on the other end is trying to be helpful by answering you and treat them with at least as much respect as they give you.
- Posts and comments whose contents – text, images, etc. – are largely created by a generative AI model are subject to removal. We want you to be a part of the vegan community, not a multi-head attention layer running on a server farm.
- Misinformation, particularly that which is dangerous or has malicious intent, is subject to removal.
Resources on Veganism
A compilation of many vegan resources/sites in a Google spreadsheet:
Here are some documentaries that are recommended to watch if planning to or have recently become vegan:
- You Will Never Look at Your Life in the Same Way Again
- Dominion (2018) (CW: gore, animal abuse)
Vegan Fediverse
Lemmy: vegantheoryclub.org
Mastodon: veganism.social
Other Vegan Communities
General Vegan Comms
Circlejerk Comms
Vegan Food / Cooking
!homecooks@vegantheoryclub.org
Attribution
- Banner image credit: Jean Weber of INRA on Wikimedia Commons
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I doubt that you find a lot of people that enjoy killing pigs as implied by the smiling guy your comic. I think nowadays almost no one ever killed an animal or saw one being killed in real life. Most people just buy meat from the butcher or supermarket and try to ignore where it's coming from.
If we want veganism to grow, I don't think it's helpful to discredit those you'd like to change as fundamentally evil people. If 'we' don't want to be seem as the annoying, extremist vegans, we shouldn't declare 'them' as heartless, evil murderers.
Maybe just my personal opinion, but I saw the meme geared more towards the slaughterhouses themselves rather than the consumer individually. On the subject of slaughterhouses, the meme is a lot truer.
Slaughterhouses have a VERY high rate of problems, both in their practices and amongst employees. While I would describe employees as victims of circumstances in many cases (for example, they’re more likely to suffer an injury on the job than the average worker, or have high rates of alcoholism and drug addiction,) they also have a high rate of engaging in a lot of abuse towards the animals they’re killing, or in domestic violence at home. It’s often seen as a consequence of the emotional toll of the brutal conditions animals are in slaughterhouses. Most of these places completely ignore animal welfare laws.
Here is the wiki article on slaughterhouses, I know a lot of people poo-poo wiki since anyone can edit, but if you have any sources or evidence that is contrary to what I said, I’d be very interested in reading it, since I haven’t really encountered any.
Again, maybe it’s just me that sees something different than everyone else, as I never think of the individual consumer as being malicious - I really saw this as about being those that are actually in the factory farming business (whether as an employee or as a CEO.)
I see where you're coming from. For me 'completely normal person' implied that the comic refers to normal consumers and not a tiny minority. If it's targeted at slaughterhouse employees that enjoy killing animals then we're talking about a) a really small part of society and b) noone that would be considered a considered a normal person by the mainstream.
I'm completely on board with you that most and especially the bigger, industrialized slaughterhouses are horrible places. But I think also the majority of non-vegans agrees on that. And I also don't think that every employee working there is inherently an evil person. At least in Germany these jobs are paid extremely poor and as very few locals are willing to do that work, the industry exploits workers from Eastern Europe who desparately need the money to support their families. I doubt that these people enjoy what they do. And out of the few psychopathts who do, there's for sure a decent share that turned sick because of their violent job.
They’re still paying for the system, that’s still complicity in the murder of sentient beings.
Ever bought literally ANYTHING that is made in China, Bangladesh, India etc.? Oh what a monster of human being you are as you are clearly supporting child labor, slavery, horrible working conditions and destroying the environment with harmful chemistries!
Ever drove a car? Down to hell with you and the fossil fuel that's running through your veins!
Eating vegetables or fruit? Maybe even from non-ecological agriculture? So you obviously enjoy deforestation of the rain forest and poisoning all these innocent insects and birds!
I could continue that list like forever but I think you know where I'm going.
Veganism is not about being perfect but about reducing harm as much as possible.
I support better labour practices and public transit and active transport.
We need to report on the flaws of plant agriculture.
I think we agree that veganism is not the only aspect of morally superior behavior.
And I'm 100% sure that we can reach more people by including rather than shaming them. Bring vegan cake or cook for your coworkers. Show them that there's more than just bread and water. Invite them to a vegan restaurant. If someone tells you that they're trying to reduce meat in their diet, praise them for their efforts rather than reminding them that they're still causing harm drinking milk.
Positive affirmation is such a powerful tool whereas blaming is mostly divisive and increasing defensive behavior.