Lightlife makes a good tempeh bacon.

I think that knowing the definition of veganism is the bare minimum. Gatekeeping is one thing, but you should at least know what the thing you’re trying to join is. If you’ve done zero research, that’s on you.

Veganism is not a boycott. Here’s the commonly-accepted definition of veganism from the Vegan Society:

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 for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.

Trump used to support a Canadian-style, single-payer health care plan. However, the closer he got to the presidency, the more he backed away from that. Funny how that works.

That’s also what Obamacare does. It’s just that Obamacare is much, much better.

You should check out Earthling Ed on YouTube. He’s really good about breaking this stuff down so that it’s easy to understand.

This is why I disagree with vegans who don’t want to watch footage from slaughterhouses and stuff like that. “Oh, I already know what happens there, so I don’t need to traumatize myself.” Okay, I’m not going to force anybody to watch anything, but I will say one thing. It’s really hard to go back to reading meat after that. It makes it much more visceral, in a very literal sense.

It reminds me of that saying “To know and not to do is not to know”. Once you know, there really isn’t any going back.

But if you’re the kind of person who eats meat out of spite, then I’ve already given up on trying to persuade you. I’m going to move on to talk to somebody who’s actually compassionate and not an asshole.

It’s like that Trump voter argument: i.e. some people voted for Trump because leftists were too extreme. No, they voted for him because he said something that appeared to a nasty part of them, and it’s easier to blame the left than to admit that.

There’s a rather large subset of the population that hears “oh no animals products at all? Forget that.”

Then they aren’t getting the message. The answer to that is not to give up the message. It’s to find a way to communicate that message so that it’s understood.

Either you have solidarity with the oppressed, in which case you’d be horrified at the thought of eating bacon, or you’re still looking at yourself and what you’re ““sacrificing””. Centering once again the humans when its about non-human animal liberation.

Oof. I want to print this out and frame it.

After being vegan for several years, it just hit me one day. I was thinking about how when I was a carnist, I felt like I had a right to eat a cow or a pig if I wanted to. That sense of entitlement to someone else’s body is insane!

I don’t put them on a pedestal. I would still be vegan even if I hated animals. You don’t have to love or even like somebody to not want them to be tortured and killed. The conditions that chickens, pigs, and cows live in aren’t something I would wish on my worst enemy.

Sometimes it tastes better. The last 10 years has been really depressing, because I’ve discovered that there are quite a lot of people who are unwilling to change even in the face of pandemics and environmental collapse.

Nope! Change is bad. Always. Just cross your arms and dig in your heels.

Do you have a problem with outspoken anti-fascists?

What would convince them to change?

If you aren’t vegan for the animals, then you aren’t vegan. Most people think that “vegan” is a diet, and it isn’t. This is unfortunate, but I think that vegans are partly to blame for this. I think that a lot of us believed that we could woo people over to our side with yummy food and avoid all of those awkward, uncomfortable conversations about animal abuse. The net result is that people’s palates expanded to include more plant protein (which is good), but many of them quit being vegan because they had no compelling rationale to remain vegan (which is bad).

The reason why we hate it is because it creates confusion about what a “vegan” is. Nobody cares if you want to eat an entirely plant-based diet except for bacon, but calling it “vegan + bacon” is misleading. It would be like if a Christian went around calling themselves an “atheist” because they disbelieve in all gods except for the one true God in the Bible. That isn’t how the term “atheist” is commonly used and understood.

Vegans already have to deal with people who think that vegan is the same as vegetarian, or that veganism has something to do with health (it doesn’t), or that it means you’re also gluten-free, etc.

I recently ordered a sandwich labeled “vegan” at a restaurant. Mayonnaise was listed as one of the ingredients. Of course, there is vegan mayo, but I thought I better ask just to make sure. Maybe these people don’t know what “vegan” is. Sure enough, the mayo was made in-house, and it contained eggs! I was trying to explain to the lady that eggs weren’t vegan and her menu was misleading people, but her English wasn’t very good and she couldn’t understand me. So I finally just gave up and ordered the sandwich without mayo.

I could never go vegan.

That’s what I thought, too. Then I went vegan 10 years later. You never know where life’s going to take you.

The only thing is I wish I had gone vegan sooner.

If you’re doing it for the animals, it shouldn’t matter what some random asshole says. I’m not a vegan because I want to impress other vegans. I’m doing it to be more in alignment with my values.

Sure, but there are really good vegan substitutes for bacon now. I think that tempeh bacon tastes better, and it’s healthier, too.

It’s Notepad with postfix notation.