#alternatively future employers could literally just pay me in acid

[donnerpartyofone]

I just caught myself thinking I wished I could rip a large bill in half to tip a delivery guy, and then I started fantasizing that paper currency should come in giant perforated sheets like blotter paper and you just rip off as much as you need at a time.

[inkwingart]

Okay so we're going to have us a fucking talk about veganism.

^^^^^^ this bullshit pisses me off. How fucking dare you talk about “animal liberation” as if even BEGINS to compare with Black Liberation. Or Women’s Liberation. Or LGBTQ Liberation. It’s so disrespectful and presumptuous that I’m almost speechless. Almost.

https://www.facebook.com/directactioneverywhere/photos/a.529892957041058.121652.515856298444724/1462935987070079/?type=3 

I can’t seem to link the post I wrote about this here, so I’m copy-pasting it here:

“Let me make myself clear. I don't support animal cruelty. I do support the ethical treatment of animals raised for the meat industry. I also support people's right to choose whether or not to eat meat. 

WHAT I CANNOT SUPPORT, under any circumstances, is vegans using the language of social justice movements to talk about animals. "Liberation"? Are you fucking kidding me? There are real people who are fighting for their liberation from government and societal oppression and you fucking DARE use the word "liberation" for a COW??? And this isn't the only instance either. Vegan movements have repeatedly compared the meat industry to THE HOLOCAUST.

So unless you are a working class/impoverished POC who actively participates in ACTUAL liberation movements, shut up, and get those words out of your mouth. You don't have the right to talk about liberation. Because all you're doing is showing you care more about liberating animals than actual human lives.”

But I’m far from done with talking about this subject.

Other people have written about how veganism co-opts social justice movements and I'm not particularly well-informed enough about the extent of it to say more. 

But food and classism? Oh boy. 

VEGANISM IS CLASSIST. Period. Has anyone ever looked at how expensive high-protein plant foods are? Quinoa is fucking ridiculous and it is the only food other than eggs that has particular amino acids found nowhere else. IT'S ALSO COMPLETELY INACCESSIBLE to anybody who actually NEEDS MORE PROTEIN IN THEIR DIET. Are you going to tell the parent working three jobs to buy quinoa (which doesn't expand very much btw, unlike rice) instead of eggs or meat? Which are comparably priced by lb but far more filling and satisfying? Are you going to tell them to figure out mushrooms or five million types of beans when meat is easy and familiar and kid friendly, and they have maybe five hours to cook, clean, and sleep before getting up and going to work again? 

You can't afford to be vegan even if it's "cheaper" in the long run unless you're already economically comfortable. Because when you’re poor, truly poor, you don’t have the time or money to care about the long run. You’re worried about now. A pound of spinach doesn't fill the way a pound of meat does. And if you're poor, that makes a huge difference. And you can eat nutrient-rich veggies are you like but without fat you can't get anything out of them. When you have only so much to spare, you can't have both. So you choose the things that fill, the things that will keep your children from crying and complaining now, future health consequences be damned. 

You want to talk about animal cruelty? Environmental impact?

Let's talk about food allergies. Nuts and soy, common ingredients for alternatives to milk and meat, are common food allergens, especially tree nuts. Do I even need to go into peanut butter? Comparatively, meat is much less likely to cause severe or even vaguely uncomfortable allergies. Eggs are another matter, but that's a rare allergy that happens to be extremely severe in most cases so we're not going to get into that. 

Let's talk nutrition because that comes up a lot. Stop giving me these examples of vegan athletes as if that's supposed to mean anything to someone who doesn't have the income of a professional athlete. You have to take supplements for B12 because only animal products contain B12 and it’s important for health. And when you’re barely getting by, and you don’t even know what B12 is or why you need it, you’re not going to make mealtime more complicated and buy this medicine you don’t understand.

Let's talk about how veganism is a luxury because when someone is pinching pennies to make ends meet, they don't care if this chapstick is vegan or not so long as it keeps their daughter's lips from bleeding because she has severe eczema. They're going to buy that jar of honey because it works better than cough syrup and will last forever, and they don't know when that medicine will expire. Let's talk about how ironic it is that vegan leather products are cheaper, because they wish they could afford real leather. Because leather will last years, while that pair of vegan boots might last a few months, and they’ll have to buy another pair, and another, and another. And wool will keep them warm in a way acrylic never will, but they can’t afford that either. And they wish they could because they can’t afford to pay so much for electricity, so the house has to stay unheated during cold the cold months until it’s absolutely unavoidable. Forget silk, that's something they can only dream of, so expensive and unnecessary that it's barely relevant. (But while we're on that topic, did you know that ethical silk exists? It's called ahimsa or peace silk, and no worms are killed in production.)

Let’s talk about the fact that farming in the US exploits migrant farmers who work for pennies and are constantly in legal jeopardy, who are always beholden to their employers, who are often abused and assaulted by their employers. Let’s talk about how migrant workers are high-risk workers. Let’s talk about about strawberry pickers and the fact that people starve because they’re exporting all of their native grains to countries like the US to feed middle class vegans and health food nuts.

Let’s talk about people who don’t eat meat, not out of choice, but because they have no choice. They���re too poor for meat, and can barely afford vegetables, which don’t even begin to cover the nutrition they need. Let’s talk about how, for some, a pound of meat has to feed a family of fourteen and most of it goes to the father because there’s never enough. The children might not get the nutrition they need to grow up healthy, but the father needs to be strong enough to work so that they don’t straight up starve. 

I’m not done yet. Not only is veganism classist af, it’s also imperialist. Bear with me here.

It’s not about fucking health benefits for me, and for countless others. Because my reasons aren’t all economic. I’m in no danger of starvation. If I wanted to, I could probably get by as a vegan, though I’d be significantly set back, and I probably wouldn’t be able to buy as much in terms of art supplies. For me, it is impossible to be Vietnamese and be vegan. Vegetarian, maybe. 

It’s easy enough for you to cut out animal products and say it’s no big sacrifice, but for me, a first-gen Vietnamese American it would mean severing some of the only ties I have with my heritage. It’s not about fucking health benefits, for me (and for countless others). Because my reasons aren’t entirely economic. I’m in no danger of starvation. If I wanted to, I could probably get by as a vegan but I’d be significantly set back, and I probably wouldn’t be able to fund other parts of my lifestyle, like art supplies. But I will not sacrifice my identity to assuage your guilt.

Culture is defined by the things it produces, as well as the things it consumes. For example, much of Vietnam’s economy is based on fishing. Most of our food, in some way or another involves fish sauce. Veganism would demand the destruction of an entire pillar of cultural identity for nearly a 90 million people. And that’s only in Vietnam. There are another 4 million Viet people worldwide. There’s the rest of Southeast Asia, which includes Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines. Do you get what you’re asking here? You’re not simply asking people to reject animal cruelty, you’re asking them to reject their nation. Their heritage. The soul of their culture. That’s just one innocuous ingredient. It is central to the cultures of around 200 million people. But it’s not your culture so you don’t care.

And without fail, it is ethnic minorities and developing countries whose cultures would be most affected by veganism. America in particular has the luxury of having a nebulous and indistinct food culture. Yes, a luxury. Meat isn’t part middle class, coastal white culture. It’s cultural for the South, for sure, with it’s history of barbecue and other meat dishes, but not so much for New York or Seattle. And that’s a big deal, because you’re not losing any of your identity in giving up animal products. 

Not only that, veganism demands that you cut all possible animal products from your entire lifestyle, not just your diet.

So cultural treasures of rural Viet and Chinese silk production? Gone. Pearl fishermen who dive with no gear and only a shot of sodium-rich fish sauce to up their blood pressure? Their income source would suddenly vanish. Cormorant fishing? Gone. (By the way, cormorant fishing isn’t cruel to the birds, because the birds are literally the fishermen’s only source of income so they care for their birds meticulously and lovingly.) Oh, and let’s not forget all the rice farmers that plow their fields with water buffalo, that’s animal cruelty too, right? Who cares if the farmer starves because they can’t produce any grain. 

I would assume that you make an exception for small tribes that rely on animal protein, and whose cultures are inextricably intertwined with the consumption of animals and animal products. But if that’s the case, why don’t you make the same exception for other cultures, ones that are less “exotic,” ones that aren’t disappearing or endangered but are linked to animal products in exactly the same way. Is it because you only care about “noble” aboriginal/indigenous peoples? Is it because you don’t care about brown people unless they fit your idea of the “beautiful savage”? Is it because you subconsciously have fetishized our brownness and our “exotic”-ness, and as we become more and more Westernized, you become less and less concerned with our welfare, because poverty wearing khakis and t-shirts isn’t romantic? And if you wouldn’t make that exception, at least you're consistent, but you’re also a disgusting person.

People who push veganism, who demand that others, especially POCs, become vegans, are in my opinion, as shitty and imperialist as people who think cultural dress is inappropriate work attire. They’re the same as people who say that natural hair and braids and locs aren’t work-appropriate. You’re exactly the same as people who support burqa bans. It’s no imposition on you. It has no cultural meaning for you. And you think that because it doesn’t affect you, because it doesn’t hurt you, that it isn’t painful for anyone else. 

Well guess what. You’re wrong.