Image source: Underground Health Reporter
In our day and age, labels are everywhere. You know what they are—one-word identifiers that tell everyone who you are, what you do, or what you represent. You will meet people who hang onto them to totally define themselves and their identity. You will also meet those who stray away from them at all costs. Some labels that I commonly see being used these days include feminist, hipster, woke, or anything that could determine assignment like gender/religion/intelligence/financial status/style.
The one that I’d like to discuss a bit today is the vegan label.
I want to dissect this a bit because it was brought to my attention recently. These days, people choose to go vegan for a multitude of reasons. Some do it because they want to prevent animal abuse in the meat industry, and some do it to help promote a healthy environment, some do it strictly for health reasons. I do it for a combination of those reasons. I even advocate for veganism on social media and constantly referring to myself as a vegan. But there’s a great big misconception that goes unnoticed with calling yourself a vegan.
Begin a vegan means not only promoting a meatless/fishless/dairy-free diet but also promoting a lifestyle that completely avoids animal cruelty. I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing more and more people convert to a meatless/fishless/dairy-free diet—the best part is watching their conscious mind flourish—but I’ve realized that only comes if you’re aware & doing things for the right reason. I’m in no way promoting one or the other as each is an avenue in the right direction in my eyes. A decision for every person to make for themselves.
Image Source: PETA Latino
PETA’s “Caring Consumer” animal cruelty-free bunny logo for products that don’t test on animals.
This should serve as an educational and informative post to teach you one thing: there is no one that is a true vegan. If you call yourself vegan but are still using things like leather, gelatin, or honey, then you’re not really vegan. It is impossible, in the current state of the world, to not find some sort of animal or human exploitation in the process of producing food, manufacturing goods, and transporting them. Even the PETA “Caring Consumer” logo above could be misleading as it only helps consumers discern if a product has been tested on animals, but is that enough to know it’s cruelty-free?
This is a hard reality to face but it’s the truth—we need to act with discretion and with research.
Instead of being vegan, what more people are actually doing is choosing a vegan diet. It does still completely transform your life and brings much wisdom due to your increased level of awareness. I would also even say that a vegan diet is best and easiest way to increase your being a vegan. With that being said I hope this post brings insight to those reading and please do share if you think it’ll enlighten someone else.
Alyssa Perez 