this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2024
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A lot of leftists are marxist-leninist, anti-sexist, LGBT+ and anti-racist. BUT, they'll tell you the dumbest right-wing arguments to justify eating animals. I get that people aren't ideal, but when you are the urban middle class of the West, there's no excuse to not be vegan. Absolutely, no, excuse, to, murder, animals. Historical materialism lets me ok people from poor/oppressed backgrounds being carnist. I would never denounce a carnist in Gaza, but the Westerners have no any excuses to abuse animals.

I get that some people just have no will, I know people can be addicted. But at least DON'T BE A JERK to vegans. Some "leftists" post propaganda about veganism like YT videos that are literally funded by oil corporations. Some "leftists" are so toxic I'd rather have a conservative as my roommate than them.

The "leftists" lie all the time. Meat, dairy, eggs and honey are luxury products available mosty to those in the imperial core. The poor countries like India, Nigeria, Uganda and North Korea eat diets closest to veganism BECAUSE plant foods are the cheapest foods, not carnist subsidized McFood.

Dealing with leftists, especially online, is draining to me. How can I be productive as a leftist and not go insane? How can I cooperate with carnists to achieve the revolution? I see no easy solution here

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[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Yeah, it's some thing, isn't it? It's like, someone should be able to recognize an evil act for what it is, instead of pulling this "actually veganism is about environmentalism" or "we should forget about veganism and focus on other issues" or "the evil of carnism is merely hyperbole" like I'm seeing in the comments under this post — no, carnists should just think, "I am doing a bad thing right now, I should not do this, why am I doing this instead of doing the better action?". No "that huuuuurts!!! >:(((" should be heard from a carnist whenever someone calls thon out on sy nonsense, even when vegans' critiques are very harsh — as they rightfully should be — rather we should only hear, "Yeah, I could and should do better". Tolerance of rightful criticism is a show of real virtue and strength of character that all self-described leftists should aspire to.

The problem as I see it is that many people are still to some extent hung up on a very sort of unproductive, non-materialist framework of morality. They to some extent still believe that committing an evil act gives them an evil "essence" — therefore if they believe themselves to have a fundamentally good essence, as most people would (who wants to see itself as evil?), then this belief in a "good essence" is overpowering enough to make them redefine what an evil act even is, just so that they don't need to confront their own immorality. We call this "cognitive dissonance". It's pure and simple liberalism and individualist thinking, which has no place in any self-purported leftist.— Attitudes towards veganism can then be reflective of the broader brainworms that someone has.

And I suppose this puts Me in an awkward spot as I continue to consume animal products regardless of fully acknowledging that it's a bad thing to do. But oh, I feel a bit Bad about it each time, and I Try To Do It Less Oft— awh shut the hell up, what am I expecting, pats on the back for doing literally less than the bare minimum‽ Lmao. Tough love is better for such a case, maybe. But at least in this framework where I can recognize evil for evil, this means that I can try to identify the barriers and the brainworms that keep me from aligning my actions with my values: it's a baseline, a foundation, far more productive than liberals flailing their little baby-arms around and crying about any questioning of their decadence. Although we must also be careful that the "barriers" don't end up becoming an excuse for getting set in immoral ways: a barrier is after all only a barrier as long as it's being pushed against.

A positive morality, one that is actively done, one that shapes the world and oneself, is always far superior to a negative morality — a passive morality where evil actions are simply temporarily redefined as good and moral whenever it's convenient.

But all this being said, I don't really have any answers for what you can do about carnist leftists, how to cooperate and be productive without going insane... One part of me says to never stop explaining, like Sankara said, and to always be uncompromisingly harsh and thorough in your critiques; another part of me says to "separate the wheat from the chaff", to identify where your mental resources are best allocated, compared to who is the biggest drain on your mental resources for the least progress. Aside from that I don't really know, someone else said to focus on your own actions in front of changing others' minds, and that sounds reasonable to me.

Edit: Damn the rules say "no omni apologists or carnists", why did I read that as "no carnist apologists"? I guess I'm not supposed to be here quite yet. Shoot.

Edit 2: Or is "no carnists" just supposed to mean "people who consume animal products and try to justify this"...? This community might like to clarify its rules more.

I'm probably being a lib by commenting here regardless, though, it's not like my opinions are at all original or important.