Extreme
05 December 2006

Ryan’s recent (and excellent) entry over at vegblog about how veganism is viewed as extreme nicely turns the tables on carnism by showing that our cultural fascination with foods and products of death is literally the most extreme — and that veganism is, instead, an affirmation of compassion and of a thoughtful life well-lived.

I like what Ryan does in this essay. By turning the tables so eloquently, he’ll get people to think, and perhaps introduce some of that valuable cognitive dissonance that gets people to consider going vegan in the first place. For that reason alone, you should bookmark this one and send it to those folks who don’t “get” your veganism.

But also, Ryan’s essay comes at an interesting time for me. As those of you who subscribe to our podcast know, I recently had to defend a student whose veganism was deeply misunderstood by a study-abroad program director as an extreme choice that should be abandoned when entering another culture. The director’s assumption that veganism was “extreme” was clearly driven by his not understanding why people go vegan. To him, it was just a simple personal choice (and probably not even a valid one in his book). To many of us who are ethical vegans — and to this student — it is a deeply personal characteristic that partly defines who we are. I’m not a religious person, but my dedication not to live animal exploitation in my daily life is probably at least as much a part of my moral makeup as is the religious outlook of the convert. This isn’t to say that I’m brainwashed, just that my perception has shifted, and now that it’s shifted, I’m not sure it’ll go back. Some things you just can’t “un-know.”

In the end with some advice from Gary Francione and a quick email from me on her behalf explaining what veganism is about, the situation with the student resolved itself gracefully. But I can’t help but imagine that had people understood the “extremism” of our predatory culture, they might have better understood the “extremism” of this student’s veganism. Ryan’s essay paves the way for this kind of understanding, and that’s a valuable thing.

p.s. the comments are worth reading too.

  Posted by Bob Torres    Permalink    Filed under:

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