About 2 months late, but I finally finished the punk scarf I was knitting for my mom. I got word that it safely reached her, so I figure it's safe to post now. ( Pics and details under the cut )
Part of me wonders though - what is the moral obligation to be an example of your principles? Because it's hard to say you're vegan and walk around in a wool sweater, even if you know how it was made and that it meets ethical standards, and not seem to be endorsing animal products. I just wonder where to draw the line - like, is it ok to recycle wool and silk that's already in the thrift shop?
The way I see it, the answer to the following question (bluntly put, but gets to the point) will help you in finding your answer: are you doing all of this so as not to contribute to industries that you feel ethically opposed to, or are you doing it to be a holier-than-thou pompous ass? While you may not actually be being the latter, it is easy to be perceived as such, which would be counter-effective; for example, I have wanted for years to commute by bike (or foot, preferably, when possible), but the truth of the matter is that I see more bicyclists that make me feel like driving a big-ass SUV across country for no reason other than to be not them, which has helped delay the biking thing for years.
On the specific question, the reason I ask is because I am big into the idea of reusing things, but you could make the case that by wearing wool or silk you're helping fuel the desire for those materials, which is most easily met by industries whose practices I don't agree with. So that's why I wonder if it's better to drop animal products entirely, because under the logic of industrial production, it's too easy to start exploiting animals to keep up quota. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with places like Sheep Street - the animals seem happy and well-cared for and it's a nice place to be. I also don't see anything ethically problematic with dairy from old-style family farms where the animals get to roam and have lives without being confined and driven to overproduce. I even don't see anything wrong with hunting animals for food and using the products from that, as you only take what you need and again, the animal has a life before it dies and the death is relatively quick and painless compared to what factory farmed animals endure in their short lives and the grotesque machinery of the disassembly-line slaughterhouse. (Much of which I didn't even know prior to reading up on it - I thought things were still run like the farms my great grandparents grew up on.) So a lot of it really comes down to a ethic of local, subsistence-based living vs. industrial production as well. Veganism and buying at the farmer's market when possible seem like an easy way for me to enact those principles in my daily life that I can accomplish around grad school and other stuff that's important to me.
The pompous ass image is a bummer though. I hesitated about posting anything on this and how to word it due to that for about a month. I don't want to come across as preaching on how to live (and I really hope it didn't come across that way), but it is something that's occupying a lot of my thoughts lately, so I wanted to document it and get feedback on how others have negotiated this kind of territory. (Plus it's something new and shiny and I'm excited about it.) And I do wonder whether it's enough to make a change that satisfies your personal conscience, or whether you have to live with the exact "rules" of the label. Because I have noticed that when I claimed to only be vegetarian, any deviation from what that was perceived to mean was immediately pounced upon and used to dissect me. And much of the most intense commentary was from friends and family - since they'd encountered the media stereotype of the holier-than-thou vegetarian, I got hassled because of it, even though I wasn't acting like one. I didn't attempt to preach or convert them, or even make a big deal of it (though I was forced to explain why I brought veggie food to Thanksgiving and didn't want to eat turkey or the green beans with bacon in them), but I did get a lot of pointed and hostile commentary directed my way nonetheless. So I realized that there was a lot more to making a statement like that than my personal reason of just doing it because I didn't like eating land meat and vegetarian was the closest label to it. Even after 6 years and I've convinced people I'm not going to be malnourished as a vegetarian and veggie cooking can in fact be darned tasty, they all still "forget" I'm vegetarian at the holidays and make all meat-based food. In contrast, my grandfather was diagnosed with a gluten allergy 2 years ago and there's always a plethora of gluten-free alternatives for him to eat.
I'm not saying the above to sound bitchy, but I've just noticed that people are a lot more accepting of food and other lifestyle choices you make out of biological or situational necessity vs. voluntary ones based on how it seems correct to you to live. So you get to deal with the moral component whether or not that was part of your decision-making process. I guess I shouldn't let the opinions of others control me, but if I'm honest, part of it is living consistently with the principles of non-violence and sustainability, and part of it is trying to stave off as many personal headaches as possible. I guess the only thing I can do is sort it out as thoroughly for myself as possible and be prepared to explain my position calmly and patiently when asked, because it will come up with vegans and non-vegans alike if I choose to eat vegan but continue using animal fibers.
Thanks for the comment, it obviously gave me lots to think about. Good luck with the cycling thing - it sounds like it'd be fun. If you really want to do it, I'd say just go for it and be the polite one on the road that defies the stereotype. :D
First, no, you didn't come across as the holier-than-thou type; a couple of your comments about the questions you're asking yourself (understandable questions given the changes you're making and thinking of making etc) reminded me of multiple instances where people I somewhat agree with make me want to rebel against them, and I just wanted to make sure you thought of that as part of the process. I didn't have the impression that you would be that way, and actually felt you would be opposed to that sort of behavior, and just wanted to warn you to keep that potential in mind.
And when I do get off my lazy ass and do the biking thing, you can be sure I'll be one of the ones who realizes they have to follow the rules too.
Just to butt in, living with the rules of the label is NOT worth it. A lot of people wouldn't consider me vegan at all, because I do eat things with white sugar in them sometimes, I do eat faux cheese with casein, etc. I just try to do the least harm I can, and anyone who really cares understands that.
And, as I read once someplace (I cannot remember where), it's still better to eliminate meat, etc from your diet, even if you're still wearing animal fibers (to use your case as an example), because you are still *reducing* harm and making a healthy, ethically informed choice. Of course, there are the other people who think we should disdain all forms of faux meat...veggie burgers just perpetuate the idea of hamburgers, and they don't think that's ok. Seriously.
The way I see it, the answer to the following question (bluntly put, but gets to the point) will help you in finding your answer: are you doing all of this so as not to contribute to industries that you feel ethically opposed to, or are you doing it to be a holier-than-thou pompous ass? While you may not actually be being the latter, it is easy to be perceived as such, which would be counter-effective; for example, I have wanted for years to commute by bike (or foot, preferably, when possible), but the truth of the matter is that I see more bicyclists that make me feel like driving a big-ass SUV across country for no reason other than to be not them, which has helped delay the biking thing for years.
Good luck on figuring it all out for yourself.
Reply
The pompous ass image is a bummer though. I hesitated about posting anything on this and how to word it due to that for about a month. I don't want to come across as preaching on how to live (and I really hope it didn't come across that way), but it is something that's occupying a lot of my thoughts lately, so I wanted to document it and get feedback on how others have negotiated this kind of territory. (Plus it's something new and shiny and I'm excited about it.) And I do wonder whether it's enough to make a change that satisfies your personal conscience, or whether you have to live with the exact "rules" of the label. Because I have noticed that when I claimed to only be vegetarian, any deviation from what that was perceived to mean was immediately pounced upon and used to dissect me. And much of the most intense commentary was from friends and family - since they'd encountered the media stereotype of the holier-than-thou vegetarian, I got hassled because of it, even though I wasn't acting like one. I didn't attempt to preach or convert them, or even make a big deal of it (though I was forced to explain why I brought veggie food to Thanksgiving and didn't want to eat turkey or the green beans with bacon in them), but I did get a lot of pointed and hostile commentary directed my way nonetheless. So I realized that there was a lot more to making a statement like that than my personal reason of just doing it because I didn't like eating land meat and vegetarian was the closest label to it. Even after 6 years and I've convinced people I'm not going to be malnourished as a vegetarian and veggie cooking can in fact be darned tasty, they all still "forget" I'm vegetarian at the holidays and make all meat-based food. In contrast, my grandfather was diagnosed with a gluten allergy 2 years ago and there's always a plethora of gluten-free alternatives for him to eat.
Reply
I'm not saying the above to sound bitchy, but I've just noticed that people are a lot more accepting of food and other lifestyle choices you make out of biological or situational necessity vs. voluntary ones based on how it seems correct to you to live. So you get to deal with the moral component whether or not that was part of your decision-making process. I guess I shouldn't let the opinions of others control me, but if I'm honest, part of it is living consistently with the principles of non-violence and sustainability, and part of it is trying to stave off as many personal headaches as possible. I guess the only thing I can do is sort it out as thoroughly for myself as possible and be prepared to explain my position calmly and patiently when asked, because it will come up with vegans and non-vegans alike if I choose to eat vegan but continue using animal fibers.
Thanks for the comment, it obviously gave me lots to think about. Good luck with the cycling thing - it sounds like it'd be fun. If you really want to do it, I'd say just go for it and be the polite one on the road that defies the stereotype. :D
Reply
And when I do get off my lazy ass and do the biking thing, you can be sure I'll be one of the ones who realizes they have to follow the rules too.
Reply
And, as I read once someplace (I cannot remember where), it's still better to eliminate meat, etc from your diet, even if you're still wearing animal fibers (to use your case as an example), because you are still *reducing* harm and making a healthy, ethically informed choice. Of course, there are the other people who think we should disdain all forms of faux meat...veggie burgers just perpetuate the idea of hamburgers, and they don't think that's ok. Seriously.
I say, whateverrrrr, come back to EARTH!
Reply
Leave a comment