Militant veganism?

[IndianVegan]

Does militant veganism do more harm than good?

If our goal is to minimise animal suffering, I think it's better to nudge people gently to make better choices. Encouraging meat eaters to be vegan just one day every week could save several animal lives.

The reason I think militant veganism is counterproductive is because it could cause some idiots to do things like "eating twice as much meat to offset the effect of a vegan".

 

[Tom L.]

If our goal is to minimise animal suffering, I think it's better to nudge people gently to make better choices. Encouraging meat eaters to be vegan just one day every week could save several animal lives.

The reason I think militant veganism is counterproductive is because it could cause some idiots to do things like "eating twice as much meat to offset the effect of a vegan".

I doubt militant veganism has that effect on people these days, because of the high cost of meat (if for no other reason). Also, it's rather evident that a diet high in meat is also high in saturated fat- which would tend to shorten vindictive meat-eaters' lives, so that they didn't eat any more meat over the course of their lives than they otherwise would have. (Hmmmm... at least I THINK even lean meat has a fairly high fat content... Google time. BRB.

Edited to add: the following data is from the Mayo Clinic's website: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-...thy-eating/in-depth/cuts-of-beef/art-20043833

"Prime" grade beef is considered to be the best-quality grade, as far as flavor or taste goes, with "Choice" and "Select" being progressively less desirable. They also have progressively less fat content. In other words, higher fat content generally means tastier, and tastier means higher fat. But high fat content is correlated with a higher health risk.

 

[Graeme M]

I think the main problem of "militant veganism/animal rights advocacy (VARA)" is turning people off the message. Animal rights etc is quite different from human rights because the average person believes a human being is quite a different thing from all other animals, particularly in the context of being able to speak for ourselves. Worse, choosing not to eat animals is also seen as a survival risk (many cultural beliefs and traditions centre on animal use for group success). So, I think VARA is up against before we even start and extremely vocal and militant agitation etc is viewed quite negatively by everyone else.

However, what has probably been a major shortcoming of recent advocacy is that the messaging hasn't withstood scrutiny, with advocates/activists found to be violating their own arguments (eg vegans saying milk is only for baby cows, you aren't a baby, etc yet promoting plant-sourced milks). Messaging should have remained on point and encouraging, not making up stories and discouraging people by condemning them.