The Speciesism of Ex-Veganism

Sep 21, 2020

"You had eyes but sowed them shut,
But that feeling in your gut won’t fade"
-Starset,
"Other Worlds Than These"

As we've recently had another celebrity detractor, Miley Cyrus, I just want to remind everyone that this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Veganism is growing significantly every year, and the more vegans there are, the more ex-vegans there will be. Also, please don't put all your faith in celebrities and influencers because they often care more about themselves and their image than the animals or the other issues surrounding animal exploitation; our message is more important than a few messengers. Instead of lamenting over Miley Cyrus, remember Regan Russell, a true activist who was killed for her belief in a better future, and make sure everyone knows her name. Let's remember the goal here and keep fighting for the animals.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled blog posting!

Underlying Bias

There are things going on in all our minds that we don't share with the world, and for ex-vegans, some of those things are speciesism, anthropocentrism, and egotism. Even if they care about animals, it's still on a lesser level than humans, which isn't necessarily unnatural, and especially lesser than their own needs or desires. Because of this view, they may not have fully aligned all their actions with veganism, rationalizing that they've done enough to allow one small exception.

Take Kalel, for instance, who appeared in PETA campaigns but continued using a nonvegan razor (among other things) because it was the only one she found to work best for her. Obviously, it's better to be almost vegan than completely nonvegan, but there's a difference between being vegan -- or even trying to be vegan -- and just going through the motions of what vegans are supposed to do. Like I said in "Why Are There So Many Ex-Vegans?," sometimes you can do the right things for the wrong reasons.

Intersectional Speciesism

Nearly all ex-vegans begin introducing eggs and fish products back into their diets first, and they make a moral distinction between "meat" and "seafood," as if the flesh from aquatic creatures is somehow not meat. Even before that, they may, like Bonny Rebecca, buy wool rugs and sofas or other products that "don't kill the animal."

They always make sure to let their followers know that they only buy the best, humane fish and eggs because they certainly wouldn't want to support those terrible factory farms. After that comes the chicken, dairy, and all other animal products. Then, we have people like Alyse Parker -- I'm ashamed to share the same name as her -- who go full-carnivore or Jon Venus and Tim Shieff who claimed to want to hunt and kill animals for sustenance. As they become more and more detached from the vegan ethics, if there ever were any in their lifestyle, it becomes easier to start thinking like carnists.

Weak Backbone

Additionally, they generally prioritize their own health issues over the welfare of animals, which, of course, is nonsensical because animal products are the opposite of healthful. They let the people around them make decisions about their health and what is compromising it, people that have no clue about the myriad issues with eating animals, both healthfully and ethically. But ex-vegans allow these ideas to penetrate their minds because most of them went "vegan" for their health and had very little connection with the animal rights side of it.

It may sound strange to point this out, but ex-vegans don't go back to eating all animals and animal products. They just go back to the Standard American Diet. It'd actually be less speciesist (but not morally justifiable) to eat all kinds of animals -- dogs, cats, turtles, monkeys, hummingbirds, even humans -- instead of just the few species that nearly all humans eat. (And they don't start wearing dog hide boots or buying cockatoo feather-stuffed couches or go poaching rhinos in Africa, either.) While they try to justify all their actions as some step towards enlightened eating, they're just doing what everyone else is doing; they're simply giving in to peer pressure.

Warning Signs

One of the first warning signs is that future ex-vegans begin talking about health issues with which they're having difficulty overcoming. Of course, vegans, like all beings, can get sick, even fatally so, but vegans also know that there's nothing in an animal-based diet that could help us, so we seek out information for how to work through it veganically. Generally, ex-vegans will sound cagey when it comes to how they're handling their illnesses because they're afraid to admit that they're experimenting with or considering introducing animals back into their diets.

Also, they often talk about being more "open-minded" with their diet and lifestyle, and they generally refer to veganism or a plant-based diet as a personal choice. This pandering to carnists is a way of distancing themselves from vegans and the "crazy animal-rights activists" and making themselves seem more accepting than the rest of us. After all, they still see carnism (a form of speciesism) as a legitimate lifestyle and see carnists as people to which they want to appear appealing.

Most egregiously, ex-vegans often condemn other vegans as extremists or perfectionists, don't defend vegans or veganism against unjust criticism, say they don't care if others are vegan or not, and don't condone or promote graphic footage. (Then, they have the audacity to say that the vegan community is toxic and they had to escape, as if they weren't part of the problem.) They prefer the uber-PC approach, justifying that they don't need to see what's happening because they already know about it or that it's too graphic and extreme to show people how the food they buy is made. As I said in "The Importance of Bearing Witness," if everybody really knew just how bad things were for the animals, the world would already be vegan, and there certainly wouldn't be any ex-vegans.

What to Do

Please note that not all of the things above are true 100 percent of the time, but these are general consistencies throughout the ex-vegan community. However, if you suspect someone may be having difficulty with staying vegan or may be introducing animal products back into their life, try to help them find their way out of it. Provide them with support and evidence that can help them get back on the right track. But don't put all your energy into keeping someone vegan if it becomes too difficult. Sometimes, people will use any excuse to be "normal" again, and nothing you can say will change their minds. Focus your energy instead on yourself and aiding others that are more open. Eventually, ex-vegans will realize they were wrong.

be conscious, be kind, be vegan