Being Vegan Is Not A "Choice"

I often hear talk about "choosing to be vegan." But this assumes that eating animals and animal products is "natural, normal, and necessary," and that being vegan is an alternative to this norm—a radical "choice" to go against what the majority of people in our society do.

I submit to you that it is the other way around. Eating animals and animal products is neither natural nor necessary; therefore, it must be a choice to consume them—a choice that has simply become "normal" in our society. In contrast, not eating animals and animal products is completely natural (since it is not necessary to do so), which means it is not a choice at all, anymore than breathing oxygen from the air is a choice.

If 90% of human beings walked around with an oxygen tank on their back, breathing canned air through a mask, this would be "normal" for most people. But it would be a choice to do so. On the other hand, breathing oxygen from the air directly into our lungs with no mask or filter is not a choice at all since it is completely natural to do so. Nevertheless, in this hypothetical society, the "radical" direct-air breathers (the DABS) would probably be ridiculed for their "choice" to not breathe canned air, just as vegans are often challenged for their "choice" to not eat animal products.

Dr. Melanie Joy often talks about how, in our current society, most people believe that "eating animals is normal, natural, and necessary" (something she calls the "Three Ns of Justification"). She coined the term "carnism" to describe this set of beliefs:

Carnism is the invisible belief system, or ideology, that conditions people to eat certain animals [or animal products]. It is essentially the opposite of veganism....Because carnism is invisible, people rarely realize that eating animals is a choice, rather than a given.

Carnism is a dominant belief system. This means that it’s so widespread that its principles and practices are considered common sense, “the way things are,” rather than a set of widely held opinions.

Carnism is also a violent system, as it's organized around intensive and extensive (and unnecessary) violence toward animals. Even the production of so-called humane meat, eggs, and dairy—a tiny percentage of the carnistic products produced in the world today—exploits animals and involves brutality. Most people are opposed to such violence, and so to keep itself intact, carnism uses a set of psychological defense mechanisms designed to prevent people from becoming aware of the violence of the system or of the fact that the system even exists.

[Read more about carnism here and here.]

Essentially, carnists are making a choice to eat animals and animal products without realizing they are making a choice, whereas vegans are simply not making that choice. So, you see, the "choice" to be vegan is actually a refusal to make the choice (or continue making the choice) to be carnist. A vegan is someone who has become conscious of that conditioned choice and no longer chooses to make it. And that is why I said at the start: being vegan is not a "choice."

Mahalo for reading. Aloha...

By Crista Forest

You may think that it is peculiar that some people are vegans — that is, they don’t eat, wear, or use animals. You may even regard veganism as extreme. But, if truth be told, what is peculiar and extreme is that, given what most of us believe about our moral obligations to animals, more of us aren’t vegan. To put the matter another way: what most of us already believe should make veganism the normal position. -Gary L. Francione