Do you guys challenge non-vegan opinions on Lemmy? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 3 weeks ago by v4ld1z@lemmy.zip to c/vegan@lemmy.world

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IRL, whenever I deem it fit to talk about veganism - its perks vs omni diet, environmental impact, etc. - I get a little tense but usually follow through to voice my opinions and challenge other people's views. I feel good about it because it's only to the benefit of animals if even a little seed of doubt is seeded into omni minds.

On Lemmy, I feel like there are a lot of vegans around but omnis are more prevalent. I realise that I might be "picking fights" in that I bring up veganism when the subject does not exactly "demand it", if that makes sense, but I feel like it's such a huge injustice for animals that being a little uncomfortable for the sake of animals is nothing, really.

In text, I can formulate my thoughts and make better arguments, I feel like, but so do most people on here, so I back off rather quickly. In the end, I wonder if it's even worth mentioning at all?

Do you guys do that on here? I just can't not say something. Maybe it's just wasted breath and key strokes, though. I don't know. Ty

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[-] Binzy_Boi@feddit.online 4 points 3 weeks ago

I'm new to being vegan, so feel free to take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I made a little bit of a controversial post asking how to be a "good vegan" probably a week or so back, and the replies I got were a bit interesting, and it has me thinking about how to approach this. I saw people saying not to claim "moral superiority" which I understand people can get frustrated by if it were to happen, but at the same time, it's like, with the reasons I chose to go vegan, I'm taking my personal beliefs and bringing them to their logical endpoint to maintain consistency best I can, and I feel it's fair not to feel "above" others, but rather feel more altruistic, as you're being more selfless in not wanting animals to die for your personal welfare when that can be achieved otherwise.

That small rant out of the way, I find it hard it hard to engage with people regarding myself and veganism, cause on the one hand, I want to mention it where necessary, but on the other, I want to avoid coming across as inserting that fact about myself into every conversation.

However, if I were to approach things, I would personally avoid talking about animal welfare and more about the other benefits of a vegan diet. That might get me scolded, but the reality of the fact is that people know how their food is made and what it entails, but don't want to be greeted with the graphic imagery that comes with that reality, and I think that's fair cause it's almost natural instinct to avoid that imagery. Sure, words don't do justice to what happens to these animals, but while graphic imagery may help some to make the swap, that approach doesn't work with everyone. My father showing me how hotdogs were made and us having them for years afterwards comes to mind.

Instead, talking about other benefits would likely sway more people over, and likely avoid the tiresome back-and-forth that vegans have with staunch defenders of meat. Whereas animal welfare can be seen as a more "abstract" issue (unfortunate as that is), talking about the health benefits, environmental impact, and economics of a vegan diet would likely sell more people over as it would defeat the skewed perception of vegans as the people who show graphic imagery to people in public and base their thoughts in emotions, and instead showcase them as people rooted in rational thought and absolute facts as those aspects can be backed up more with inarguable points backed by studies and paper evidence.

Anyway that's my TED talk, hope my thoughts aren't too misaligned with the general community.

this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2024

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