What has worked best in your experience when you just want to answer the question and survive the interaction without it turning into an all-out war (but you also don’t want to lie about what your reasoning for being vegan is just to comfort the other person and fit in, as this feels to me wrong/harmful and disrespectful to the animal movement to mischaracterize what its purpose is)?
I am still trialing this, and haven’t experimented with all these responses to the question, but here is what I am thinking may carry the least likelihood of triggering an argument or defensive, hostile, mocking comments etc. And then for fun (as well as clarification of the kinds of responses I am avoiding for this purpose), we can also talk about what responses which we know are going to provoke people. Please list what your go-to answers to this question are, it can help a lot.
Least likely to cause an argument:
“All the reasons.” / “Many reasons”.
“It just felt right for me.”/“It felt like the right thing to do.” (Not sure I’m too happy about this one as far as watering down the movement, and its non-specificity, but it’s ok - I tried it before [1st version] and person just looked at me strangely and didn’t say anything, convo moved on.)
“For the animals.”
“For the ‘Big 3’ reasons: the animals, the planet, and my personal health.”
Somewhat likely to cause an argument:
“I couldn’t find a good enough justification not to be.”
“Because I love/respect animals/animals are cool individuals.”
“I learned about the cruelty involved in using animals for food, clothing, etc.”
“Because I’m a pacifist.”/“Because I’m against violence/I believe in peace, love, respect, ahimsa, etc.”
“Because I find what humans are doing to other animals cruel and unnecessary.”
“I’m not into the animal industry, it seems rather extreme.”
“Because it’s the future.”
“Because animals are sentient beings.”
“Because I believe animals deserve rights e.g. to self-preservation, freedom, autonomy, the pursuit of happiness, etc.”
Most likely to cause an argument (these are examples of the kinds of responses that I’m especially wanting to avoid in certain situations and searching for less-inflammatory/provocative, less-blunt alternatives for):
“Why wouldn’t I be?”/“It’s a moral obligation.”
“Because animals didn’t consent.”
“Non-human animals are non-human persons.” ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personhood#Non-human_animals )
“Non-human animals are someones, not somethings”.
“Because animals are here with us, not for us.”/“Because animals are ends in and of themselves, not means to our ends.”/“Because the value of an animal is intrinsic, not extrinsic/instrumental”./“I realized we have no right to own and take advantage of another living (sentient) being for our own ends.”
“I believe in justice and progress for all sentient beings and the liberation of marginalized groups of individuals.”
“I’m ideologically opposed to the institution of systemic animal commodification/domination/objectification/exploitation.”
“Because I’m against slavery/injustice/oppression/etc.”
“For the same reason you’re against eating dogs or humans, but extended consistently.”/“For the same reason you’re against dog-fighting.”/“For the same reason I’m against racism”.
“Because meat is murder and dairy is rape (Note: this refers to artificial insemination)”.
“I don’t like funding/contributing to/participating in holocausts/mass-murder/genocides/speciecides of other species.”
“Because I’m not a savage.”
“Because I’m not a speciesist”.
“Why aren’t you?”/“It’s not about why I’m vegan. It’s about why do you exploit & consume & use the lives and bodies of non-human animals?”
Joke answers (can be effective to soften the conversation and avoid talking about it seriously, but may belie the true intentions of veganism):
“I have a vendetta against plants and I’m on a mission to kill as many plants as possible… oh wait, I’m actually sparing more of them by being vegan than by supporting animal agriculture. That sucks.”
“I asked an animal what their preference was and they told me they’d rather not be eaten or used for products.”
“I’m avoiding being judged negatively by our descendants when we live in a vegan society.”
“I’m part of the evil woke vegan agenda.”
“I’m funded by Bill Gates.”
Disclaimers:
I know many would say “There is only one reason to be vegan, because veganism is a justice stance about animals - it’s not a diet and it’s not about health, environment, or any other side-benefit of animal-free living.” - Though I don’t think it’s necessarily a problem to acknowledge those other benefits in addition to focusing on animals. And yes, when I ask about how to answer the question of why one is vegan, I am referring to the definition of veganism that is an ethical philosophy for animals or animal rights, but there are actually a lot of different ways to answer this question truthfully, and you can come at it from many angles. For example, you don’t need to list every reason, you can just state one, and it would still be true - as long as it’s actually related to the animals from an ethical perspective (I don’t want to promote misconceptions about what veganism is). And the particular way in which you describe it - including the exact wording you use - can certainly elicit different responses.
I am totally fine with people who are in social situations answering this question (Why they are vegan) in a way that WILL likely trigger an argument or resistance from the other person, if you’re fine with doing that - and it can be a good opportunity for activism, advocacy, misinformation-correcting, etc.
Also, I understand that if stating the truth in a particular way causes an emotional response, defensiveness or counter-arguments, mean comments/mockery/ridicule/bullying, or makes the person become outraged/pearl-clutching and strawman you and accuse you of things you didn’t actually say or mean, it’s largely on them and isn’t your fault. But as unreasonable as people can be, we have to work around them and coexist with them while living in society, and I still would like to be able to, in certain situations where I’m not in the mood for an argument/debate or tense/heated discussion (especially since I do care a lot about the topic), answer the question, which comes up a lot, in a peaceful and amicable manner that basically defuses/avoids the potential conflict and allows us to get on with the social interaction normally.
If it prompts further questioning or curiosity (even in an honest, good-faith manner), that still actually isn’t the most ideal (unless I want to talk about it, or I think they’re a reasonable person who will understand), since it can lead to opportunities for running into the same problems if the conversation continues and e.g. we reach a point of disagreement, but it doesn’t necessarily have to and can in some cases be a rewarding dialogue or simply last for a few more lines and then segue into something else seamlessly.
I also know it’s not possible to avoid upsetting/offending people 100% of the time, and some people will inevitably get triggered by your response to the question (whatever it is), or even from the get-go just from knowing you’re vegan and taking the chance to express their opinions on the matter or their objection to veganism and justification for not being vegan, concern trolling, mean-spirited teasing, etc. But the goal of finding the “Golden Answer” to this question which I’m searching for, is to reduce the likelihood of negative responses as much as realistically possible, and yet without betraying my true values and beliefs about animals etc (and what veganism is about).
P.S. Since there isn’t an AskAVegan server on Lemmy that I know of, and the vegan community here is pretty small and often gets non-vegans commenting in it, I’m just specifying I’d rather only vegans reply to this if that’s okay.
are you vegan?
Yup
Why?
Oh, lots of reasons. It gets complicated.
If they persist past that, then MAYBE they actually want an answer.
This is my default technique.
“There are three big reasons to go vegan. Planetary health, personal health and ethics. Plant based food is good for your body and its less destructive for global ecosystems. So we should do it. If we have the right to kill animals just because we are accustomed to a taste is up to you to decide. I think: No.”
I like that. “Accustomed to a taste” is so true as well and hits the nail on the head. Rather than “because it’s tasty to eat animal products” it’s more acknowledging that it’s just a habit they’re used to and they could just as easily develop a taste for many plant-based foods.
Because I can.
“Animals are cool.”
That’s it. Most people just agree.
Someone who worked at a sanctuary: “Animals are so much cooler when they’re alive and chilling, you should see them.” 😭
My go to is: “Because if I were an animal, I wouldn’t want to be eaten.”
I find it stradles the line of maximal honesty and minimal confrontation.
Everything we do is kinda shitty and bad. My shirt was bought from a mega corp that kills local economies, a sweat shop or child labour was probably involved at some point, the cotton in it might have been farmed using slave labour, I could go on, but we both know that the clothing industry is shitty all the way down. I can’t go to work naked or grow my own cotton, so I try to be less-bad in other ways. I choose to eat in a way that’s less-bad for the environment, and doesn’t directly profit from killing animals.
Admitting that no one is perfect goes a long way to defusing the defensive stance most people take when they hear you’re vegan, IME.
This is a good one. I’ve heard also “Vegan because I’m trying to reduce the disutility I cause” or “harm reduction” etc. I think it can be effective because it doesn’t specify anything and lets them interpret it for themselves so they can’t really blame you for what comes to mind for them. If you want to be more specific you can say toward animals & the environment etc. The only problem is that I’m not really a utilitarian (lean more toward deontology) and my reasons for being vegan are less to do with that and more about an intention of respect for animals to not participate in actions or systems which I deem to be unethical/in disagreement with my values, rather than necessarily the benefit it causes or harm it reduces - so for me to say this is kind of dishonest as to my real values in relation to veganism, even if it can be a convincing argument for it. And while most probably won’t, some could take advantage of this and make an attempt at a counter-argument against veganism using a utilitarian calculus at some kind (which is probably misguided, but then prompts you to defend your stance anyway - and can get very protracted). Or they can make the causal inefficacy claim, which is pretty much an argument that being vegan doesn’t actually make a difference or reduce disutility/lower the amount of animal agriculture/exploitation & slaughter that happens because of nebulous market forces (or because they don’t understand supply & demand). Again one can argue against this but that’s not what I want to do if I’m just trying to enjoy the social setting peacefully. I really like this response though and maybe I misinterpreted what you meant by it, either way the unprompted acknowledgment that you’re not perfect like everyone (far from it) but you just want to be less shitty in this one way or you’re trying to be more principled or whatever, could be very successful at disarming them/lowering their guard down by making them feel less personally attacked or inadequate by comparison or whatever they’re feeling that makes them so hostile sometimes.
Sample size of this study?
Pretty much entirely my intuitions and limited anecdotal experience with testing out these responses lol. I should clarify I’m definitely not suggesting I know for certain which ways to answer the question would cause less abrasive reactions on average; that’s what I’m trying to find out. Usually I just say something vague like “It’s something… that I kind of fell into over a period of time.” which I feel disappointed in myself about and like I’m letting the animals down for not saying how I really feel or my true reasoning (in an as polite and nonconfrontational way as possible).
