Vegans are well known for being outspoken and there is a common perception that we all bang on incessantly about our lifestyle. But in general, this is not the case. The more vocal vegans tend to drive the narrative and it is this brand of vegan which cause many to ask questions like “how to make a vegan shut up?” … here’s my humble take on it:
How To Make a Vegan Shut Up?
The best way to make a vegan shut up is to join the movement and go vegan yourself. If you cannot entertain the idea then you will have to endure the endless commentary from the loud ones. Vegans will never be silenced. Let me elaborate …
Sadly, this is a common search online and it speaks to a general negative perception of veganism, especially in the ‘developed’ world.
If someone is asking Google (other search engines are available) how they can silence vegan voices then they’ve already been triggered and when it comes to getting through to these individuals, we’re already on the back foot.
Veganism often triggers anger in those who don’t understand our position. Anger is a difficult emotion to overcome with reasoned argument. Logic just doesn’t cut through.
When someone who is already angered by veganism sees endless social media posts from our community about how meat eating is beyond the pale and such like, we’re just reinforcing those prejudices.
But here’s the thing …
Vegans will never be silenced because we believe so strongly in our cause. It’s like a religion. The emotions run that deep.
So it would be best to assume it’s almost impossible to make a vegan “shut up”. Rather than getting angry about that, try to come from a place of understanding.
Why Vegans Will Never “Shut Up”
As I mentioned above, veganism is an immensely powerful belief borne from a desire to end the horrific cruelty perpetrated on the animals we share this beautiful planet with.
Veganism is not about a diet or the environment or our health. It’s about living our lives in a way which causes the least amount of harm to animals. If you’re not doing it for the animals then you’re plant-based, as opposed to vegan.
Of course, the health benefits and the environmental impacts are a nice bonus to going vegan but those are not the primary aims of our movement.
Many of us have seen the senseless brutality that goes on behind the walls of the slaughterhouse. Or we have been made aware of the realities of the dairy industry. Usually both.
Those of us who cannot turn a blind eye to this barbarism feel compelled to make a stand against the accepted status quo.
If you’re struggling to understand where these powerful emotions come from then why not try taking the #dontlookaway challenge? If you’re on Twitter just search the hashtag #watchdominionchallenge or go to https://www.dominionmovement.com/watch
Warning: the video contains graphic scenes which many will find upsetting.
But that is the whole point!
If you can watch this all the way through without feeling any empathy towards the defenceless animals featured then it’s time to take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror.
But I hear you ask … Who am I to tell you what to do? Why won’t vegans just shut up about their self-righteous existence?
Just watch the film … and then ask those questions again.
Ignorance Is Bliss – But Vegans Cannot Ignore
The problem is, once you’ve seen the reality of the meat and dairy industries, you cannot unsee. Once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s almost impossible to put it back in there!
We were vegetarian for 20 years before going vegan and for so long, I thought I was doing my bit. My wife had tried veganism a few times but always met with resistance from the family. She was the one who showed me the truth.
As soon as I saw the horrendous treatment of dairy cows I knew I had to do something. I could not look away and I could not forget the images of those poor tortured souls.
I vowed, there and then, to vote with my wallet. As consumers, it is one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal to avoid being responsible for this animal genocide taking place every single day on our planet.
Genocide may seem like a strong word and you may baulk at it’s use in this context but consider this for a second …
When holocaust survivors are shown videos of what goes on in the big slaughterhouses, they liken it to what they saw in the concentration camps and it brings back those raw emotions. Many break down in tears.
So please don’t turn around and tell me I don’t have the authority to use that word when discussing animal agriculture. Actual holocaust survivors can relate [1].
Have The Vegans Shut Up & Gone Away Yet?
In the immortal words of Gavin Williamson (ineffectual British politician), they should “shut up and go away” … he was actually talking about Russia but this is how many meat eaters feel about vegans.
Well, I’ve got some bad news for you people … we’re not going anywhere.
If you want to know how to make a vegan shut up then you’ll be searching for the answer until the day you die. Because vegans will never stop fighting for the cause.
How can we when the brutality and cruelty inflicted on these beautiful animals keeps happening. Vegans see those who demand these products as part of the problem and will speak out against this insanity until our dying breath.
Yes, this annoys many people. But your anger is an inevitable by-product of our compassionate stance. When faced with a choice between hurting your feelings or hurting defenceless animals, guess which one we choose?
Choose Compassion. Choose Empathy. Choose Life!
The global demand for meat and dairy is growing rapidly and with it, the utterly inhumane treatment of cows, pigs and chickens (to name but a few).
If you buy milk, cheese or yogurt then you’re culpable. If you consume beef, chicken or pork then you’re culpable.
If you demand any animal products regularly then you have to take on some of the responsibility for what is happening to billions of sentient creatures every single month.
77 billion farmed land animals every year, to put a figure on it.
… and this doesn’t even include the fish (which is a whole ‘nother story).
Can you even imagine the logistics of attempting to kill this many land animals every year? The reality is very grim indeed.
This is why we’re vegan and this is why we bang on about it until the cows come home!
Consequently, maybe the only way to make a vegan shut up is to become one yourself.
If you can’t beat ‘em … join ‘em.
Then you won’t be seen as part of the problem and our frustrations will be directed at others.
Simples.
I’d love to hear from you. Please comment below and thanks so much for reading!
Rohan.
[1] – Waldkoenig, Kirstin, “Can Nonhumans Be Victims of Genocide?” (2019). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 11401. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/11401
Now if only the militantly vocal vegans would show their commitment by getting up off their soft backsides, moving out of their cushy comfort zones, away from the convenient emporia that supply all their nutritional needs and get into the field to combat the illegal exotic pet trade and the slaughter of critically endangered animals around the world.
They won’t however, because it’s too much work and will expose them to hardships they do not have the capacity to understand. How many of those noisy plant noshers have gone with no access to food of any kind for more than a week?
How many realise that a tiny minority of people who have milk allergy are allergic to red meat? It is the safest, and when eaten with animal fat, the most nutritious single food on Earth, bar none.
Another thing, only carnivores, rodents, marsupials, monotremes and birds bear young that are completely helpless at birth and for a long time time afterwards.
Hey Keith, you’re sounding a little bit defensive there, if you don’t mind me saying.
The convenient emporia of which you speak are usually held up as shining beacons of human progression. The fact it’s so easy to obtain foods to satisfy our nutritional needs must be a good thing, surely?
Are you suggesting we should all return to subsistence living? Or is it just the vegans who should do so?
You seem to be saying that because most vegans don’t get directly involved in eliminating the exotic pet trade then we may as well not bother being vegan and doing what we can to mitigate the obscene cruelty of the meat and dairy industries.
As for the slaughter of critically endangered animals around the world, much of that is driven by rainforest destruction. Clearing virgin forest to make way for monocrops, 80% of which is destined to feed our ‘food animals’.
Your ‘access to food’ comment is also a wierd one. I could come back with: “how many meat eaters have gone without access to food of any kind for more than a week?” … can you explain what you’re driving at here?
Also, your ‘milk allergy’ comment makes no sense. 95% of South East Asians are lactose intolerant so that’s far from a tiny minority. I’m not sure what connection you’re trying to make with a red meat allergy either?
Furthermore, meat is not the most nutritious food on Earth ‘bar none’ … there is precisely zero fibre in meat so your comment falls apart quickly upon the most basic scrutiny.
Your last comment about animals which bear helpless young … I’m genuinely baffled as to the point you’re trying to make.
I’d welcome your response to my questions. I want to understand where you’re coming from but I honestly have no idea.