Grapetruth

For a change from people asking who is your favorite vegan celebrity or person you didn't expect to be vegan or whatnot, I thought it would be interesting to see who is our least favorite vegan.

I know, vegans are usually good people (even outside of their veganism, that is), though not all of course, and we need to be able to admit that not all vegans are perfect, and be resistant against the association fallacy, which this is a test for. What is that?

In this context, association fallacy is assuming that because someone (or a sub-group within a group) shares something in common with a group of people, that group of people must automatically be similar to that person (or sub-group) in other ways. For example, Aileen Wuornos was a feminist, and a serial killer. Does that mean feminists are violent? Of course not.

The typical example of this fallacy is actually relevant but based on misinformation, which is that vegans are evil because Hitler was a vegetarian (not even vegan). This type of Hitler argument has become so common that it's known as its own class of association fallacy called ad Hitlerum. Well, apparently he wasn't actually even vegetarian, and it was a PR tactic deployed by Goebbels to make him appear peaceful, but even if he was, that's not evidence that vegans inherently share any qualities with Hitler.

A common relevant example that vegans come up against is, some vegans are X, or Y or Z (don't want to inflame people but I'm referring to different controversial political views that some vegans hold, even though they're in the minority of vegans), and therefore all vegans are X/Y/Z. I hope we can see how this is illogical.

By the way, answering this question with "all of them" is acceptable (though it misses the point) but completely expected, which makes it less funny. I'm interested to know of a particular well-known person who is vegan but who you also don't rate for one reason or another. And being "preachy" abour veganism I'm not counting as a reason because being outspoken about animal rights or the environment isn't a negative quality, and shouldn't be viewed as one. That said, name your target.

Note: It's become clear to me that so far the vegan community on Lemmy (unlike Reddit) is lacking and overrun by non-vegans. So please only answer this if you're actually vegan. I'm seeking a vegan perspective on this.

With that out of the way, is it speciesist to have a favourite animal? Many vegans consider themselves dog 🐕 lovers or cat 🐈 lovers ("ailurophiles") first and foremost, aside from animal lovers (who actually respect animals hence their veganism) in general. Others, like Joey Carbstrong, say that pigs 🐖 are their favourite animal and always have been even since before they went vegan; maybe some saw the movie "Babe" and developed an affection for them, for example. It's understandable. And others like cows 🐄 or chicks 🐥 or lambs 🐑 of course.

But as much as it might be a natural thing to gravitate to a certain species of animal, and "favouritise" them, is that still a form of speciesism? Of course if you're not actually exploiting the animals that aren't your favourite then it's only a mental matter. But is it still wrong even just to view them differentially and prefer or hold more love for some species than others? Loving an individual than another makes sense. But would you love one race of people more than other? Do you say "Greek people are my favourite race" (as a non-Greek person, for sake of example)? If not, and if that would be considered racist, then why is it not speciesist to prefer one species over others, even if just mentally?

Probably the only reason I would watch the series is to see something about veganism (it's pretty long otherwise). If anyone knows that might save me watching it. Thanks

For info, the anime, based on a popular movie, has a returning character named Todd Ingram who is vegan and has "vegan powers" that he loses if he eats animal products, or at least that was the case in the movie. And it spawned a bunch of vegan memes that non-vegans always quote to me.

And I feel powerless to stop them. Does anyone else feel like this?

Is it just "extreme temperatures" in general that can have medicinal properties?

.

The words don't seem that common, but I think 'animalist' or 'animalism' put the focus back on animals, similar to 'feminist/feminism', and more accurately describe what veganism means to me: a moral stance supporting animals. It somewhat confuses me that there isn't a simple term to denote full support and protection for animals, other than veganism I guess, and that veganism doesn't contain 'animal' in the name which could be misleading.

I feel like while veganism is a good term, it can sometimes carry the wrong connotations I'm trying to express due to public misunderstanding of what vegan means or what the point of it is. I think too many people think it's a religious/ascetic or arbitrary practice, rather than a progressive ethical stance to do with not exploiting animals. That said, vegan/veganism, whether intended to be used this way, seem like good catch-all terms for completely avoiding animal exploitation/animal "use" for whatever reasons, whether ethical, environmental and/or health-related. And, it may be the most accurately understood word that expresses to other people about what I don't partake in, including for dietary purposes (morso than 'plant-based').

Animalist/animalism could be used in tandem with vegan/veganism to specifically highlight the component/focus on animal ethics. For example "I'm vegan because I'm an animalist, and also because I'm an environmentalist." This can also be a way to answer the question of why you're vegan when people ask.

P.S.

I also like how animalist/animalism are simple, quick one-word terms, unlike wordy "animal liberationist" (which apparently means the same as animalist), or "animal rights supporter". Animal advocate sounds like animal activist which isn't what I'm trying to express with this particular term as much as an ideological support for animals, like how a feminist isn't necessarily a women's rights advocate.

I know the words can relate to a philosophy but those might not be used that much, especially 'animalist', and I hoped they could be co-opted for the animal movement as they seem like useful words. I try to imagine what a future vegan society would call themselves, and animalist / animalism just seem like easy words to gravitate to. According to my research, they've both been used in animal rights contexts as well.

Sorry for the long post, I've been wondering this for a while and wanted to see what other vegans think about the terms 'animalist' and 'animalism'.