MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: The father of ‘Reducetarianism’ doesn’t believe people can be vegan
It’s fine to not identify as vegan if that’s not something you want to do, but why say the word connotes perfection when the definition clearly states that it’s not about that.
UNPARALLELED SUFFERING: Brian Kateman, founder of the Reducetarian Foundation,… believes that people can save animal lives by eating less animals, essentially banking on a fantasy supply and demand version of how our rigged, overabundant, corporation-dominated, artificially inflated, and waste-heavy food system actually works. He also believes that factory farming can be eradicated if people just reduce their amount of animal consumption, as if more humans eating less animals won’t still require cramming billions of individuals together to meet society’s reducetarian demands.
Despite professing in numerous interviews that he would like to see a “vegan world” eventually, the Reducetarian Foundation’s vision is “a world in which societal consumption of red meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy is significantly reduced.” What constitutes significant reduction I do not know. In a recent interview he did with Sentient Media Brian Kateman said, “To me, particularly vegan, from my perspective, is an impossible standard to reach according to its own definition,” yet in the above tweet he calls for people to do the best they can to avoid being complicit in animal cruelty, which is precisely what veganism is about (if individuals are being honest about the term “best”)…
In his latest article published in the Daily Beast, Veganism Is Impossible, Because People Aren’t Perfect, I was thrilled that Brian shared the original definition of veganism, which I believe contradicts his headline that veganism is unattainable.
“Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.”
What is critical to grasping the meaning of veganism as a whole is “possible and practicable.” Notice that the definition doesn’t state that exclusion to the exploitation and cruelty to animals can be done perfectly. People often try to pull gotcha cards on vegans by pointing out things that we may do that can very well cause harm to animals (e.g. how the food we buy is grown, how the vehicles we drive cause pollution, or how what some vegans feed to their companion animals is derived from murder), falsely implying that veganism is about perfection, which we have to keep reminding people over and over again that it’s not…
From Brian’s interview on the podcast Our Hen House:
“I don’t identify as a vegan. I want more vegans and I want a vegan world, so let’s get that straight. I don’t identify as a vegan because for me personally it connotes perfection and it makes me feel uncomfortable because I know I’m never going to live a perfect life.”
It’s fine to not identify as vegan if that’s not something you want to do, but why say the word connotes perfection when the definition clearly states that it’s not about that and the one thing perhaps all vegans can agree on is that veganism isn’t about perfection? Promoting the idea that veganism is about perfection is just going to push more people away from wanting or trying to be vegan. A term that jumps out to me at connoting perfection that I’ve heard many vegans misuse is “cruelty-free.” Although the production of a lot of vegan-friendly foods don’t cause intentional cruelty to animals like what is required for the production of flesh, dairy, eggs, and honey – vegan food can still be tied to cruelty that does indeed harm (and sometimes kill) such as deforestation, pesticides, pollution, water mismanagement, plastic packaging, and human trafficking. I’ve often described veganism to people as trying to suck less, not trying to not suck all the way. SOURCE…
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