I think there is a clear liberal and conservative divide on vegans and vegetarians. Less than 2% of American registered Republicans identify as EITHER vegetarian or vegan, while between 16-17% of American Democrats are vegetarians, and American Democrats are between 2.5-3 times more likely to be vegan than Republicans.
I am a fan of some vegan activists who are obviously conservatives, but they also obviously live in other countries. Vegan Gains lives in Canada so would be considered liberal in the US with his hardcore environmentalism and vegan beliefs, but is actually conservative in his approach to politics, economics, and even marriage. That Vegan Lawyer lives in Australia, and would be no doubt liberal in the US for being a mouthy vegan but also a loud feminist. But she also loves Candace Owens and is pretty obviously to me not a liberal in her own country (I've often questioned where I'd fall in a different country, tbh).
I also complain about the bullying and religiosity of American traditionalists in terms of meat consumption et al.
ON THE OTHER HAND, I realized when I was ranting in another thread about roommates that some of the most respectful non-vegan roommates I had were conservatives. On the other hand. I also grew up in the South. So even as a liberal, I practically used to bow like an Asian grandmother to my exes Mexican father in my early 20s when we lived in his parents house. I've also easily lived with traditional Catholic South American people for a few years in LA, because there's something about being Southern that just sets you up to respect other people in their homes.
Imagine my shock, loving California overall as a whole, and the tolerance I enjoyed in work and school settings of different lifestyles then finding in intimate interpersonal interactions that liberal California people are some of the most interpersonally selfish, disrespectful people that have walked the Earth. I'm serious. I have lived a total of 15 years outside of the South and I still continue to be shocked sometimes by how people in California behave (and you see very well how I behave!!!) That's because I was pretty much raised with a level of certain decorum, that even if you're the town drunk who burns down villages, you honor people in their home and naturally obey the 10 Commandments. I just never questioned why someone wouldn't do this in another person's home. It actually makes me a more "tolerant" vegan than you might imagine from knowing me online in formal settings like work, school or other people's homes. Like you just don't do that IN OTHER PEOPLE'S HOMES. The young men I've known in CA free of jobs who live yet with their mothers and seem entitled to female support past the age of 21, the men and women I've met who feel like the ultimate "moral" is tolerance or passivity. Meaning that OVER AND OVER I've encountered living in a four bedroom home with roommates, people who expressed surprise that they were expected to honor the morals of other people who lived in the same home, or people who felt that saying "no" firmly was somehow aggressive. I actually had a teacher tell me this in college. "You say no to people very aggressively. I think that's normal on the East coast. People in California don't really do that."
It's like having healthy boundaries or house rules is against the moral law here. It's worse to ruin someone's mellow than to bring animal products flagrantly into a vegan's home or to spread COVID-19.
TBH, I know that people are also spreading COVID flagrantly in places like Florida. But Florida isn't really South just FYI and all "true Southerners" know it's a white trash hell that is populated by trailer park swamp dwellers. I can't even believe I'm pulling that card, but it's true. My dead Republican grandfather would roll in his grave if he knew Donald Trump was president.
I just find this to be an interesting dynamic and I think it should be explored more openly. I see even my own bias as categorizing leftists or liberals more freely as "vegan allies" but that hasn't always been my experience. Also animal rights intellectuals have posted entire documents about what exactly is wrong with secular humanism, so I'm not alone here.
Anyone else think about this at all?
I am a fan of some vegan activists who are obviously conservatives, but they also obviously live in other countries. Vegan Gains lives in Canada so would be considered liberal in the US with his hardcore environmentalism and vegan beliefs, but is actually conservative in his approach to politics, economics, and even marriage. That Vegan Lawyer lives in Australia, and would be no doubt liberal in the US for being a mouthy vegan but also a loud feminist. But she also loves Candace Owens and is pretty obviously to me not a liberal in her own country (I've often questioned where I'd fall in a different country, tbh).
I also complain about the bullying and religiosity of American traditionalists in terms of meat consumption et al.
ON THE OTHER HAND, I realized when I was ranting in another thread about roommates that some of the most respectful non-vegan roommates I had were conservatives. On the other hand. I also grew up in the South. So even as a liberal, I practically used to bow like an Asian grandmother to my exes Mexican father in my early 20s when we lived in his parents house. I've also easily lived with traditional Catholic South American people for a few years in LA, because there's something about being Southern that just sets you up to respect other people in their homes.
Imagine my shock, loving California overall as a whole, and the tolerance I enjoyed in work and school settings of different lifestyles then finding in intimate interpersonal interactions that liberal California people are some of the most interpersonally selfish, disrespectful people that have walked the Earth. I'm serious. I have lived a total of 15 years outside of the South and I still continue to be shocked sometimes by how people in California behave (and you see very well how I behave!!!) That's because I was pretty much raised with a level of certain decorum, that even if you're the town drunk who burns down villages, you honor people in their home and naturally obey the 10 Commandments. I just never questioned why someone wouldn't do this in another person's home. It actually makes me a more "tolerant" vegan than you might imagine from knowing me online in formal settings like work, school or other people's homes. Like you just don't do that IN OTHER PEOPLE'S HOMES. The young men I've known in CA free of jobs who live yet with their mothers and seem entitled to female support past the age of 21, the men and women I've met who feel like the ultimate "moral" is tolerance or passivity. Meaning that OVER AND OVER I've encountered living in a four bedroom home with roommates, people who expressed surprise that they were expected to honor the morals of other people who lived in the same home, or people who felt that saying "no" firmly was somehow aggressive. I actually had a teacher tell me this in college. "You say no to people very aggressively. I think that's normal on the East coast. People in California don't really do that."
It's like having healthy boundaries or house rules is against the moral law here. It's worse to ruin someone's mellow than to bring animal products flagrantly into a vegan's home or to spread COVID-19.
TBH, I know that people are also spreading COVID flagrantly in places like Florida. But Florida isn't really South just FYI and all "true Southerners" know it's a white trash hell that is populated by trailer park swamp dwellers. I can't even believe I'm pulling that card, but it's true. My dead Republican grandfather would roll in his grave if he knew Donald Trump was president.
I just find this to be an interesting dynamic and I think it should be explored more openly. I see even my own bias as categorizing leftists or liberals more freely as "vegan allies" but that hasn't always been my experience. Also animal rights intellectuals have posted entire documents about what exactly is wrong with secular humanism, so I'm not alone here.
Anyone else think about this at all?
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