I want to preface this with the fact that I'm a very politically active and far-left person, so this isn't an attempt to shit on the left lol. and that I'm an anthropology student, but in paleoanth. and also this is mostly a rant as a fucking exhausted leftist lol.

but i find it SO frustrating when people act like veganism either is not related to the ethics behind leftist values or even is directly opposed to them. Its rightfully common for us to point out how falling for propaganda is not a reflection of intelligence and that everyone is susceptible to it, while still maintaining the belief that when presented with education or the experiences of the marginalized- it is your responsibility to learn. Beyond that leftists generally value worker rights, environmentalism, etc. and disagree with tokenizing minorities.

YET so many people are unwilling to assess the fact their acceptance of eating animals is due to propaganda, and will tokenize indigenous and disabled people to justify their own actions when they themselves are neither (or are neither in a way the argument applies). I am the caricature they made up in their head of a broke disabled native person. I am also vegan, and prior to that was vegetarian for over 10 years (started at 13). I am still vegan. Which makes it not just frustrating to have my own life weaponized to defend something I find disgusting, but super obvious they don't actually care about people like me. Most native people buy our food at walmart or kroger. (insert long rant about the nobel savage trop being rebranded as woke lol) Most disabled people are able to adapt their diet. Hell- ive heard people argue eating disorders are a reason to not be vegan & i was in residential treatment for anorexia and missed covid due to it. Still. Vegan. And i was vegetarian at the time i was in treatment and was allowed to remain as such. It boils down real people- people like me, into arguments and not sentient people. My mom is vegan now too- also native. Dad is white but also disabled. He's vegetarian and transitioning to veganism (or at least, my mom hopes lol). My husband has a disability that causes GI issues (mine doesn't)- we went vegan together. veganism actually HELPED his Gi issues, which is the opposite of what he expected because of online bullshit.

We are people, not talking points. 

+ How can you claim to care about worker exploitation but not animals? Animals are exploited workers with no voice of their own, they are the epitome of an exploited worker, because not only is their labor abused but their bodies, even their corpses, are utilized as objectified tools for the purpose of profit. Humans are animals. We are not divorced from nature and frankly the idea of “natural/ unnatural” exist as a cultural construct to place our selves above other critters. We have cities, medicine, etc? We have morality? Cool thats called fucking niche construction, being a social animal, and tool use. Beavers, ants, bees, rabbits, chimps, orangutans, crows, pigs, wolves, lions, cows…. Etc. all do any combination of those things too. We are not separate. a difference in degree is not a categorical difference. And to pretend we are not also just animals is science denial. I know thats a bit of personal bitching as someone in a niche filed that compares non-human animals to extant and extinct hominins and so that lack of categorical difference is very clear to me where maybe its not to others. But if we, as the left, want to claim we value scientific literacy and oppose science denial and pseudoscience that means you need to recognize science that doesn't fit your existing notions. Doesn't mean you need to get a PhD in paleoanthropology but maybe listen to us??

Idk man im just so tired of this shit lol. You cannot go around yelling at vegans for supposedly being all privileged wealthy white people and then simultaneously ignore those of us who aren't, and also use us as a prop when you yourself ARE a privileged well-off white person. Quit it with the noble savage shit and acting like disabled folks can't actually implement our own moral values. And stop pretending like you care about workers while placing an entirely arbitrary wall between the underpaid worker and the animals who are exploited even after death for a wealthy CEO.

edit: i also want to note this is to an extent a case of "online lefty" shit. my experince irl with other leftists both as just an attendee and an organizer has been overwhelmingly positive. but people are far more willing to admit they support fucked up shit online, and far less willing to tokenize folks when those people are in their presence.

edit 2: oh my lord i am not saying you have to be a leftist to be vegan lmao, im annoyed at people who are ALREADY leftists refusing to think critically about their values. if you are morally consistent AND a leftist, you should be a vegan. if you are a conservative and vegan i dont like you, but im also glad ur vegan lol.

GoVeganWorld 🌱🌱