I just want to start off by saying that I consider veganism to be an ethical lifestyle that is against all animal exploitation, so far as is practicable and possible (vegan society definition). So, if someone doesn't eat any animal products, but still wears animal skin or fur, he's not vegan. If someone doesn't eat animal products, but will buy them for those who do, she's not vegan.
Most of the people in my life claim to be animal lovers. They love their dogs, their cats - they love specific species, like seals or eagles. But they're happy to eat animals and support animal exploitation. This, to me, is so hypocritical.
My mother, for instance, claims to be vegan. She buys leather, wool, silk, and beeswax without a second thought. She buys meat, dairy, and eggs for her omnivorous family members. She says she loves animals and she owns dogs, who happened to be bought from a breeder. She's outraged by people who use shock collars or otherwise cause pain to their dogs. And yet, she doesn't see any harm in paying someone to kill pigs just because her son wants to eat bacon.
Most of my family members love dogs. They love dogs more than I do, in terms of how excited they are to spend time with them. They treat their dogs with the level of care most people treat children. And yet, they're happy to support industries who kill or cause cruelty to baby animals who are only days old.
My best friend loves her cat more than most people. And she rescued a dog from the shelter because he was going to be put down. She was so sad about this dog (whoe she didn't know) losing his life that she opened her already crowded home to him and spent her limited finances to buy him heartworm medication and get a trainer to help him with behavioural issues. And yet, when I remarked that pigs were cute, all she could say was that she liked to eat them.
I don't understand how people can live such contradictory lives. They are such hypocrites. As if that weren't bad enough, they all attack me for being, "too extreme." They try to make me feel guilty because I don't want to buy animal products for my neighbour or cook animal products for my grandparents. They think it's strange that I'm not a "dog person," (I think dogs are great, for the record, and I also think cows are) and yet choose to be vegan. They hate that I don't condone their lifestyle, even if the only evidence is from my actions (and granted, tears often, if they're cooking animals while I'm there). I'm sure they wouldn't dare cook a dog or buy a dead cat, even if it was sor someone else's dinner. But then they say things like, "I love animals." Not specific animals or species, just animals in general.
I choose not to lecture or bring up veganism verbally, because I know others will just become defensive. I figure, when they're ready to consider a change, they'll bring it up to me. The most I'll ever do is recommend a book or documentary, and it's very rare that I'll do even that.
I feel so alone though. It's especially hard because I have a few plant-based family members who call themselves vegan (vegans who buy cow skin and flesh?) and as a result I just come across to the rest of the family as an extremest. There's no one in my life whom I can talk to about all of this hypocrisy. It makes me so sad to witness the minute by minute cruelty to animals and I can't even share that I'm upset by it because literally everyone I know supports it and doesn't even think it's wrong. It makes me angry that this injustice is happening without even acknowledgent that it's wrong. I had a nightmare that someone fried a chicken (at a restaurant) and gave it to me, laughing. In my dream, I was sobbing and digging a grave for the chicken, and I woke up crying - the tears had been real. I told my brother and he just thought it was funny.
Do you ever feel alone as a vegan? How do you handle being the only vegan you know? What do you do when people whom you love belittle you for being ethical?
. Not sure who here meets their definition of 'vegan'. Maybe someone in the vegan pets thread.
