Why Are Vegans So Angry?

Maybe it’s PETA, maybe it’s Twitter – but for one reason or another, animal rights activists tend to have a reputation for being…well, abrasive. Animal rights activists have been known to throw red paint at people wearing fur coats, and to protest fast food restaurants and anyone eating in them. They’ve used rhetoric that’s perceived to be so extreme as to offend people, like comparing animal cruelty to sexual assault or the Holocaust.

You may even have even found yourself on the ugly side of vegan ire, and if so, you know that it doesn’t always take much to get there. I know this first hand – I’m the founder of an organization devoted to encouraging people to eat fewer – but not necessarily zero – animal products. I consider myself to be on the same side as vegans, but some of them vehemently disagree. Once, someone went so far as to compare my speaking at an animal rights conference to Donald Trump speaking at a women’s rights conference. While I view cutting back on meat, eggs, and dairy as a step toward veganism, many vegans view it as a step in the wrong direction. In other words, it’s all or nothing, and so, incrementalism, and anything less than a 100% commitment, inspires rage.

But two things can be true at the same time. A person can want to help animals and also eat them. A non-vegan might be just as horrified by the treatment of animals as a vegan, but not change their behavior in the same way. And even if every non-vegan really is malicious, shaming and unbridled anger probably aren’t the best ways to win them over. Vegans need to set aside their emotional reactions, at least partially, to think strategically – or even just to get by peaceably in the world.

Here’s the thing, though: I don’t blame vegans for being angry. When it comes to animal exploitation, there’s a lot to be mad about. Some truly horrific things happen to animals in our world, and worst of all, they’re common practice. On factory farms, dairy cows are forcibly and continuously impregnated so they can keep producing milk, baby cows are chained up and eventually slaughtered for veal, male baby chicks are ground up alive because they have no commercial value, chickens and pigs are mutilated without anesthetic, foxes are skinned alive…the list goes on. Frankly, it’s difficult to be aware of the vast amount of animal suffering and not start seeing anyone who’s not vegan as the enemy. It’s not a very nuanced worldview, but it is one I can understand.

Though virtually no one is raised vegan from birth, some people apparently suffer from a sort of “vegan amnesia.” They seemingly don’t remember what it was like when they ate animal products themselves. They don’t have much patience with non-vegans and their life circumstances. Whether it’s a lack of knowledge, the feeling of not having much of a choice, economic constraints, or something else – no excuse will cut it.

It can be chilling to look around at the world we live in and realize that almost everyone, even the people you love, are participating in this cruelty even indirectly. And vegans have it tough. They get made fun of or accused of being pretentious for acting on their compassion for animals. I think something similar happens to champions of any undersung cause. While they’re acutely aware of a serious issue, the people around them are not. Worse, maybe they are and they just don’t care.

Of course, the “angry vegan” is a stereotype. Most vegans I’ve encountered are perfectly pleasant people who direct their ire at systems rather than individuals. Most of them don’t go around yelling at or shaming people who eat meat, eggs, and dairy – though if you ask, they will gladly tell you their reasons for not eating those things. As with pretty much any socio-political stance, it seems, the loudest voices are the ones that dominate. Angry vegans might be the most visible ones, but they’re not representative of vegans as a whole.

We live in a complicated world where it’s actually very difficult – essentially impossible – to abstain from participating in any system or supply chain that abuses people and other animals in some way. (Vegans do love their cashews.) Pointing fingers at each other – particularly at people who ultimately share your goals – isn’t going to accomplish very much. Instead of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good when it comes to diets, we need to allow people options if we want to grow our movement. It’s going to take a lot of public pressure to enact change at higher levels in society, like government regulations on animal welfare, for example. We need to build solidarity between all those who share our beliefs – not simply our diets.

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