Legal Niches

Why does veganism make other people so mad?

By jennifer

I’ve often wondered why other people sometimes get defensive when they realize I’m vegan — why is it such a personal affront that I’ve chosen not to eat animal products?

In his new book, Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights, Bob Torres has an insightful paragraph on this dynamic. He writes,

[M]ost ethical vegans wish only to apply standards of equality to interactions with animals, and to live that to the greatest extent possible. One way this takes place is symbolically. A wrench in the mental machinery of carnism [i.e., the ideology of consuming meat and animal products], veganism has perhaps its greatest impact as a form of inducing cognitive dissonance. [M]any people don’t want to know about the origins of thier food; veganism gets people to think. Carol Adams has referred to this function of veganism as the “absent referent:” namely, that vegans effectively “stand in” for the animal at a table where people are eating animal flesh. It reminds people that they are consuming a someone rather than a something, and it roots the violence done for the dinner plate in a very real and personal context. Because food is more than simple sustenance, because food cuts across our cultures, our emotions, and our lives in complex ways, the symbolic import of being the “absent referent” should not be underestimated–that presence can cut deeper than we initially imagine. By being that referent, by taking a stand, and by denying the products of violence and exploitation that others are engaging in, the vegan asks others to consider their choices, even if the vegan does not actually say anything.

Full post as published by Animal Blawg on December 10, 2007 (boomark / email).