Is The Vegan Diet A Diet Or An Ideology?

The vegan diet is the strictest form of vegetarianism that completely omits the consumption of any animal-based products. It is said that

Some people decide to go vegan strictly for health reasons (of which there are plenty — more on that later), while others do it because they feel it’s morally wrong to consume animal products. Some include environmental reasons in their intention to follow a vegan diet.

Personally, I tried vegan cuisine just once when I was living in Melbourne, Australia. I didn’t really like the taste of the food (the vegan pizza crust wasn’t really appealing to me), but my goodness, the coconut milk gelato was awesome. If you’re in Melbourne and looking for vegan/vegetarian food options, do feel free to check out The Vegie Bar in Fitzroy.

But yet, I was reading a few articles the other day about how veganism is linked to racism and nationalism — things that are pretty bad when used in situations to justify a certain group’s positional superiority or domination over other groups.

Some people may use the vegan diet as an ideology to promote an air of positional superiority. After all, if I can market myself as being environmentally friendly because I’m vegan, then isn’t it better than your meat-eating diet?

Unfortunately, that’s how even a diet can become a weapon to belittle the choices of other people. We have to remember that what we eat isn’t about positional superiority. A person on a keto diet is consuming food that supports ketosis within the body, for instance. A person on a vegan diet is consuming food that isn’t animal-based. That’s it.

But well, even Christianity is used as a weapon these days…

A Christian is a person who subscribes to and follows various beliefs and values behind the person of Jesus Christ.

But even then, Christianity can be linked to nationalism. In the United States, for instance, it was said that:

It’s no longer hard to find evidence of just how deeply Christian nationalism influences our politics and policymaking. During the pandemic, the Bible has repeatedly been used (and distorted) to justify Covid-19 denialism and government inaction, not to speak of outright repression. In late March, as cities were locking down and public health officials were recommending strict quarantine measures, one of Donald Trump’s first acts was to gather his followers at the White House for what was billed as a “National Day of Prayer” to give Americans the strength to press on through death and difficulty.

The problem comes about when we use an ideology to distort the truth to fit the narrative that one wants to market.

It’s a scarily powerful tool.

If I can carry out this sort of marketing manipulation as a war cry to rally like-minded people around me…

How much unrest, chaos and anarchy can I create out of it?

Well… we can already see how Black Friday discounts turn people into stark raving maniacs trying to get their hands on some product that they’ve got their eyes on, especially when the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) kicks in.

Because emotions. Humans can’t really think logically or make proper decisions when they let their emotions get the better of them.

If I can incite a similar fear among my like-minded Christian or vegan brothers, how much anarchy can I manipulate out of these suckers?

Unfortunately, when idealogies and philosophies become conflated with one’s beliefs and values…

It becomes a pretty dangerous slippery slope to be on. The ideology of white veganism has clumsily navigated the issue of skin colour. When the People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) organisation uses people of colour (POC) for shock advertising purposes, going so far as to relate the poultry industry to the Holocaust...

It is important to keep in mind that veganism is based in part on the idea of “speciesism.” A major part of vegan philosophy is that animal lives are equal to human lives. So with that being said, what is the big deal with these advertisements?

The issue is that POC are virtually never portrayed in large-scale vegan advertising and promotion, and when they are, it is to serve as a metaphor for violence and tragedy. The advertisements also present the two issues — racism and animal rights — as existing in two separate time periods. It’s taking a part of history that continues to affect society today and using it to provoke a reaction.

Another article describes speciesism and its discrimination against POC as such:

White vegans, and their respective organisations, co-opt the language of Black activists where ‘speciesism’ is involved, in order to get their point across. By using the ‘ism’ suffix to show cruelty against animals, they instead present as anti-black and racially tone-deaf.

Hence, it isn’t surprising at all to see that many white supremacists to subscribe to a vegan culture. Whether it’s scientifically beneficial or not.

Because one does have to carefully consider what they’re eating, whether vegan or keto or whatever.

There’s always a tradeoff/opportunity cost involved in whatever I’m eating. (And that’s why we make a mad dash for the most expensive buffet foods first to maximise our spending’s worth, not the cheap starches!)

When I’m eating something, I’m eliminating space in my stomach that could be used for something else.

When I’m eating a ton of fast food, I’ve got no space for healthy foods.

When I’m eating a ton of vegan food, I may not even have room to consume other vegan foods.

And Healthline does highlight 7 nutrients that a vegan diet may lack, especially if those crucial nutrients are found in vegan foods that one may not be consuming sufficient quantities of.

Vitamin B12 has been traditionally one of the things that vegans may lack in their diet. The anti-inflammatory mediators, or the fish-based omega-3 fatty acids such as eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA) aren’t found in vegan foods — there is a plant-based alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), but that only converts into EPA/DHA in the body at a paltry rate of <10%. Hence the vegan diet may be lacking in that too, but it can regulate the immune system’s inflammatory response via other pathways.

So honestly speaking, there isn’t really much science to be considered when going on a vegan diet.

The food may not be to the liking of everyone, and

It may lack certain crucial nutrients that the body needs.

But it is also highly likely that one goes vegan because of an ideology or philosophy.

The Coptic Orthodox Christians, for instance, may go up to 60 days a year on a vegan diet as part of their religious beliefs and practices. But if I were a Coptic Orthodox Christian going about my religious beliefs, do I have any right to force these down the throat of a non-Coptic Orthodox Christian?

No, I don’t. But I would see it fit to encourage the younger believers to stick to these practices because they chose to become followers in the first place.

But of course, there will be militant vegans out there, and definitely the Karens will come out too:

This is a request by me, a fed up person, asking for certain people to rethink their “persuasion tactics”.

It’s become a trend for those who’re… passionate about veganism to immediately cast shame and judgement on those who aren’t vegan in effort to change their mind. From backhanded tweets to YouTubers like Sorsha who compare the mistreatment of animals to sexual assault, there’s plenty of people who view their veganism as a social mandate instead of a lifestyle choice.

Would it be surprising if those people who viewed veganism as a social mandate ended up joining the ranks of the militant anti-animal abuse groups, while simultaneously casting a blind eye on the underlying issues of racial discrimination and/or nationalism?

It isn’t such a far-fetched thought now, is it?

Now imagine what some manipulative marketing tactics could do when coupled with that level of fervency.

After all, if I do know how to market myself and speak the right language to a group of people, I’d be able to sell my product like hotcakes.

But if I were to proclaim a slogan such as Make America Great Again and use it as a rallying call to stir certain groups of people to action?

I’d be Donald Trump inciting riots at the Capitol Building.

And that’s absolutely dangerous. Imagine a legion of Karens being manipulated by Donald Trump to do things for a certain cause. Including rioting, breaking into offices and chaos and lawlessness…

While he sits back and twiddles his thumbs. After all, the manipulated pawns get into trouble, not him.

And some end up losing their lives for the cause too. Because they chose to subscribe to his false “vision” of “Christianity”.

A belief or an ideology is not something that we can easily link to what we’re eating, much less how the health benefits that it does or does not provide.

It may be said that ignorance is bliss.

But when there is ignorance coupled with rabid emotionality… the whole situation may deteriorate into riotous shenanigans that cause much damage to innocent bystanders. And that produces the human behaviour that the innocent bystander will end up loving to hate.

So let’s just be conscious of it. I have my “see food” diet — I eat what I see.

But I’m not going to advocate that everyone follows my diet, because why?

In the same way, one who wants to be vegan or keto or pescatarian can feel free to do so… but please don’t attempt to convert others. They may not like it one bit at all.

This article was originally published in Medium.