Monday, February 12, 2007

Veganfreak... yea, freak is the r ight (but not so nice) word.

I suppose occasionally I'll post book reviews too. I used to rely on the internet for all my information, but people tend to believe you more if you cite a book rather than a website (especially when it comes to PeTA).

Now, I am not completely through with reading Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-vegan World, but I have been surfing through their blog (Veganfreaks.org) and I am becoming increasingly critical of their point of view. The book takes a very "holier than thou" type of tone (even though they look down upon that in the opening chapters) and they claim that being vegetarian is simply not enough.

Now, I am just as much an animal activist as the next vegan, but these people are pushing it too far. I'd rather have someone be vegetarian, than claim that I am way to radical and continue their unchanged lifestyle. I can assure you 100% that if I hounded my boyfriend about everything he ate every day, he would 1) not even bother becoming vegetarian, and 2) dump me a long time ago.

I don't consider myself to have any kind of god complex or hounding people. Sure I'll throw out a joke when people tease me of my dietary choices, and if they ask serious questions, I'll give serious answers. Thats as far as I go when expressing myself. Who wants a "veganazi" shouting in your face telling you what you have to do or you're just not good enough? No one likes that!

I am open for comments and other opinions on this matter, I'd like to know what other people think, and once I'm through with the book, I'll give a more in depth review with specific quotes on how I feel about it.

1 comment:

J. Lance said...

I think that is a very noble view-point on Veganism. As you mentioned, Veganfreaks does seem to take an "All or None" approach to veganism. I believe that anyone taking any sort of effort towards vegetarianism or veganism is commendable. The book actually says that those who don't become vegan because of moral reasons will not stay vegan. I think that no matter what reason you become vegan or vegitarian it is a noble cause of self-discipline. If you become vegan because it is "cool", "Hip", "Counter-culture", or for health reasons you still aren't eating the animals, and therefore you maintain the same goal whether being moral is your primary reason or not.