He's not right. Veganism is an ethical positionality, not a "diet."
Well I didn't mean veganism is just a diet. I think veganism has multiple aspects : ethics, aesthetics, medecine, socio-economics, diet, culture, politics, (religion for some vegans)... etc. And all these aspects work together and give veganism its strenth. But yea, I would recognise that without an ethical comitment to animal liberation one cannot be a Vegan.
But this ethical position isn't sufficient: you also needs to be a plant&fungus-based dieter.
I used to be a freegan (I even ate meat in the dust beans once, and it was fun because it's the only time in my life the gypsies considered me as one of them, but after doing so I regreted it a lot). And I disagree vegetarian freegans are not vegan. They are vegetarian. Freeganism is an ethical position which could be related to the refusal of animal exploitation as is veganism. But nope freegans who eat animal products aren't vegans.
Also I think the word Vegan could be a synecdoche:
For example, a vegan product is vegan even though it might not be about ethics.
Also in some scientific studies "vegan" means "plant-based". And I think it's good for the vegan movment. Plant-based diets could be the Vegan Tojan Horse. Many people said they went vegan for health and stayed vegan for the animals.
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