August
1996
Being
Vegan, Living Vegan: The Challenges and the Potential
By Matt Ball
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As the office manager for
Vegan Outreach, I often get letters, calls, and e-mail about
various aspects of the vegan lifestyle. These range from questions
about ingredients (Is ketchup made with blood?) to specificity
(Why didnt you say that not all soy cheese is vegan?) to possible
links with the enemy (How can you promote Vegetarian
Times when their publisher also publishes a pro-hunting magazine?).
List versus Philosophy
These types of questions are in keeping with the general view that veganism
is a restrictive diet, a laundry list of ingredients to avoid. However,
being a vegan is much more than this. In many ways, veganism is the embodiment
of ahimsa the philosophy of non-violence towards and all-encompassing
respect for all sentient beings. Certainly, there are many concrete,
negative implications of choosing to live according to the understanding
that the other animals with whom we share the world feel pain and desire
to live. Specifically, if one does not want to cause suffering to innocent
animals, one cannot pay others to raise and slaughter these creatures
for food. However, where does one stop? Animal products and by-products
are in the most unlikely of places, including non-food items that almost
everyone takes for granted in their everyday lives. Several years ago,
Vegetarian Times ran an article about why it is impossible to be a vegetarian,
in which they listed all the various items that contain (or utilize during
production) animal products or by-products.
The Perfect Vegan
Many people, infused with the fire of the newly-aware, go on a crusade
to root out these animal products, in order to be completely consistent,
to purify themselves and become the perfect vegan. This process can have
several severe side effects.
The most common result of the pure vegan campaign is to quit the entire
process. I have known many people who became overwhelmed with the extent
of animal abuse in this world, bogged down in ingredients, by-products,
nit-picking, and perceived inconsistencies. They realize that complicity
is impossible to avoid unless, like the Bloom County comic strip, they
hang from a tree with a mask over their mouth. Since they cannot achieve
perfection avoiding all suffering they choose to do nothing, and go back
to overt cruelty like eating animals.
Embarking on the hard-core path can keep us from being the optimal voice
for the animals. As is clear to anyone who has been a long-term vegan,
complicity, at some level, is difficult to avoid. We live in a world
of tremendous suffering we cannot end or even avoid (in our lifetime
most everything, including fruits, vegetables, and even water have been
tested on animals; most anytime we use money, we may well be paying the
salary of a carnivore; etc.). When they finally become aware of everything
that goes on behind the scenes, some people become overwhelmed by the
amount of suffering and submit to the despair brought about by their
relative powerlessness. I can certainly understand these reactions, but
I must say that they do not do anything to help the animals or ourselves.
The Other Side
We so often overlook the second half of ahimsa: the positive, life-embracing
aspects that the philosophy entails. If we want to make our world a better
place, we must accept the fact that in order to make a difference, we
have to be a part of a world that is corrupt, cruel, and indifferent.
We cannot remove ourselves entirely from exploitation and suffering,
and still be a part of the change so desperately needed.
As an organization dedicated to respect for the individual, it is difficult
for Vegan Outreach to advocate utilitarian outlooks. Yet the simple reality
remains that it is impossible to be everything to everyone and to avoid
all complicity while doing the most we can actively to create a better
world.
A good example of this is the use of film, a product which isnt vegan.
Although use of film contributes to animal exploitation through the use
of a processing by-product, how many people would contend that the world
is worse off because of film? How many people have been moved to positive
action because of photographs they have seen? How many injustices have
been exposed, how many tragedies ended directly because of the use of
film? This is only one example of how striving for personal absolution
can run counter to active participation in the advancement of understanding,
justice, and compassion.
Hating Meat Eaters?
I recently received e-mail that said, in part, I think I hate meat-eaters.
I responded: I must admit that I understand your feelings. When I see
pictures or videos of what is done to animals, I get very angry. When
I hear people say, But I like meat as their final argument, I find the
idea of hating them very appealing. However, I dont think this, in the
end, is a productive reaction. For one, I used to eat animals. Not only
did I eat them, but I did so even after I had started to consider the
reality behind the situation I wouldnt eat veal because I considered
it cruel, but I continued to eat all other animals. For some reason,
the connection didnt click in my head right away. I didnt want to think
about it. I am glad that the vegetarians I met didnt react to me with
anger and hatred, but rather with gentle prodding and education. It took
me quite a while to open up to the knowledge that had always been right
there, but eventually I did. Now, we try to reach the people who I used
to be compassionate individuals who would eventually change if they knew,
but just dont know/havent listened yet.
Some, if not most, people find the idea of a vegan, or even vegetarian,
diet to be overwhelmingly difficult, especially students living in dorms
or eating on the run. And despite the reality to the contrary, a vegan
diet is not generally accepted as healthy. Confronting people struggling
to change with the Vegan Police does nothing positive. Indeed, it generally
creates a more negative impression of vegetarians, let alone vegans,
as joyless, humorless fanatics. We must reach out to people in the same
spirit of affirmation and compassion which we would like them to embrace
and incorporate into their lives.
VO, You, and the Future
There is a great deal of stress involved in our lives; as much as we
would like to believe otherwise, we only have a certain amount of energy
to deal with our own problems, let alone save the world. Given this,
obvious animal products should be avoided, but a persons energy and efforts
may well be better spent trying to get others to stop eating burgers
than in trying to avoid sugar bleached with bone char or trying to figure
out if the monoglyceride in the cafeterias bread comes from animals or
plants.
Vegan Outreach has evolved over the years to be a very effective tool
for reaching as many people as possible in a meaningful and compelling
way. Feedback we have received indicates that we are being successful:
there are numerous vegans in the world today as a direct result of members
support.
Still the most important and powerful tool we have in the journey of
justice is each one of us. Our positive example is the greatest voice
we have. Our movement has moved beyond the point where anger, slogans,
and soundbites serve any further constructive purpose. In many cases,
the animals wont be helped by hatred and chanting. We must realize and
accept that we are in a public relations campaign. I have always contended
that there are many people who cannot and will not be reached. We should
ignore these people in favor of the many compassionate yet unaware people
we must reach.
Certainly, we must educate people about the facts of the situation for
animals (e.g., factory farms, etc.). And this article is in no way meant
to encourage people to turn a blind eye to non-vegan products, i.e.,
to buy non-vegan soy cheese and give dairy farmers a market for their
casein. But becoming angry only robs us of the happiness and pleasure
each of us deserves from life. I firmly believe that each one of us,
in our example, actions, attitude our entire existence is changing the
world. Living consistently and compassionately as a vegan is an affirmation
of life, a means to fulfillment and joy; these positive aspects of veganism
are what we must embrace for ourselves and communicate to others.
Matt Ball is co-founder of Vegan Outreach (VO),
a national, grassroots organization which promotes veganism,
mainly through their booklet, Why Vegan? To support VO, for
copies of Why Vegan?, or more information, write to: 10410
Forbes Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15235. Matthew Ball can be e-mailed
at: mba8+@andrew.cmu.edu and
VOs website address is: http://envirolink.org./arrs/vo/index.html
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