I love that you put so much time and effort into this @moonunit! I trolled your comments just now because I was feeling especially empowered today promoting our NO MEAT EATING movement ;) This is a really crucial distinction to understand and I'm really glad you brought it up because I was recently letting my friends coax me into using the term plant based and so I just kind of started dropping it instead of vegan. The reason was because VEGAN is getting a shit ton of flack right now and I didn't want to go down with all the people shouting and making problems for the 'label.' I'm also a rebel and hate labels so all that together I was feeling lost with how to explain to people what I believe in.
Although OF COURSE I already know the difference, this article really reminded me that I am not just plant based. I'm super vegan and I really support that whole movement so I'm proud of it and have been re-empowered to tell everyone to f-off that tells me not to associate with a label I believe in. At least by definition, perhaps not what's going on in the movement itself sometimes ;)
You are awesome- thanks for the incredibly well written article!
HUGE HUG!
Ah thank you so much @heart-to-heart, There certainly polarizing people within the Vegan movement, as with all movements. I do find that they can sometimes be put forward as "the voice" for the Vegan movement which is obviously incorrect. I believe that this is done so carnists can just say " hey look at that crazy person saying crazy things" the reality of the movement is of course that we want to end pain and death for billions and not just sit comfortably back etc.
I am so glad to hear the my writing has given you the boost to identify once again as Vegan, I mean we should, that is what we are. Fuck the haters! I am not a big one for labels myself, but if we live in line with our ethics we should wear it with pride. Unlike so many other groups, veganism has no head, no principal, no funding, no structures per say. We are just individuals who want to stand up for what we see as morally correct.
Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed and indeed inspiring reply. When people view this post in the future I hope that replies like yours and others will also inspire them too.