Darcy Reeder for Tenderly:
When we try to catch each other on vegan technicalities, we’re just tearing down potential allies. Our world is big and complicated and no amount of personal effort will lead to 100% vegan purity. For example, the steel and rubber in cars (and bikes!) are usually made with animal fats.
So let’s acknowledge no one can live perfectly, but that’s not a reason to give up. We can do the best we can while realizing that an obsession with purity (especially when directed at others) reads as classist. I chose the store-brand cookies over the organic, definitely no-bone char ones because I was trying to (survive in Seattle and) feed a party full of people while earning $10/hour. I earned that low wage working as the pastry chef at a vegan restaurant, where the owner prioritized no-bone char sugar, but didn’t pay employees a living wage.
The Vegan Police’s classism shows up in other ways too. Maybe some vegans can afford new, vegan shoes, while other vegans will keep wearing the leather shoes they owned before going vegan. Can’t we agree both choices are valid?
This article speaks to many of the problems in veganism, which can be classist, sexist, and racist. As a vegan, I try to celebrate any carnivore using animals less in any way. More veggies, less butter, less meat. All of these steps are going in a good direction. And I apply the same approach with people doing their best to be vegan. We have to understand that it’s intentionally difficult to discern what is and isn’t vegan. Labeling is scarce (though getting better!) and reading the ingredient lists can be undecipherable.
All we can do is our best.