Sunday, February 06, 2011
Types of Vegans
I distinguish three (3) broad categories of vegan practice (real vegan practice, not 'pretenders' to be vegan, who may or may not be vegetarian):
* Dietary vegans (includes rawfooders involved with diet ONLY)
* Lifestyle vegans (who exclude ALL products resulting from exploitation of sentient beings in their lifestyle: clothing, food, accessories, household furnishings, medication as much as possible, etc.). These folks MAY CALL themselves 'ethical vegans' if their motivations are ethical (or altruistic), but there's much quibble room here
* Abolitionist vegans (who work for the abolition of all exploitation of sentient beings, and the abolition of all structures, industrial processes, and business or military operations that exploit animals).
I place vegans doing rescue operations in the 2nd category UNLESS they are working for structural upheaval (not merely punitive legal action for welfare violations). I do NOT believe that animal rescue operations are in themselves abolitionist actions.
These distinctions can be helpful in sorting out here folks 'are coming from' in their conversations about 'veganism' and 'vegan' this and that.
I do NOT believe that things OR food can be vegan; they MIGHT, however, be vegan-friendly. I believe that ONLY persons can be vegan by one or more of these categories.
