How many times have you heard the statement, “Veganism is so extreme! Vegans are of course rightfully overcome with the irony of this statement considering the extreme nature of how we use and treat animals. Even if you’re not a vegan and the subject comes up in conversation, you’re bound to hear this knee-jerk reaction from someone. Veganism is dismissed as extreme in our culture only because veganism challenges the dominant majority’s disconnect between what they say they believe about how animals should be treated, and their actions, which support unnecessary suffering and violence to animals. What is truly extreme is not veganism, but
- the fact that a species of 7 billion kills 120 billion land and aquatic animals every year for a food source that is completely unnecessary for our survival or health;
- the delusional belief that we are the only species that matters, and that “might makes right” when it comes to how we treat other species;
- the notion that we are somehow “above,” rather than an integral part of, the natural world;
- the level of violence and oppression that fuels the standard Western diet;
- the endless moral acrobatics and irrational defenses that people use to justify the immense suffering we inflict on other animals;
- the collective cultural denial that blocks our aversion to the reality behind our food choices;
- the claim that a belief in causing less suffering is “extreme.
