Month: April 2026

Vegan Hypocrisy

~ Graeme M ~ Leave a comment

A common criticism we see from non-vegans is that vegans are hypocrites because animals are killed for them as well. One of the reasons for this seems to be that some vegans claim their lifestyle/diet results in no animals being harmed or killed, or that veganism is always the “least harm” option.

Of course neither is true, but does that make vegans hypocrites?

First we need to know, what is a hypocrite. The usual definition is someone who acts in contradiction to their stated views, especially when proclaiming their virtue. However, most definitions also agree that there must an element of deception – people pretend or intend to portray one thing while doing another. In other words, someone who is not committed to the virtue they claim to have and represents themselves disingenuously.

Secondly, we should be sure what veganism is really about. The answer is that veganism is a doctrine of freedom and represents the principle that people should not exploit other animals when we can do otherwise. It is NOT a doctrine of least harm, though minimising animal harm and suffering can often be a consequence of vegan ethics. Vegans, like anyone else, can apply the principle of least harm – a genuine ethical principle – but it’s not an overt part of vegan principles.

So the question is, are vegans pretending to hold some moral belief but not acting accordingly? The answer is – for any genuine vegan – no. Vegans truly believe that the guiding principles of veganism represent the best tool we have for tackling animal injustice and mitigating the scale of harm and suffering to animals from human choices.

And they are backed in that belief by the fact that their choices align with those principles AND more often than not lead to genuinely lesser animal injustice and harm.

Overall, a vegan lifestyle will do much more to deliver these outcomes than does the average consumer. In other words, if how animals are treated and the harming of animals for our benefit matters to anyone, they can be reassurred that vegans are making the effort to do more than most.

Vegans are not hypocrites. They are out there walking their talk.

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Don’t forget, no-one needs to be a vegan to adopt and apply vegan ethical principles in their daily lives to make a positive difference for other animals. If you’d like to know more, you can read my essay that offers a deeper dive into the meaning and application of vegan ethics at the link below:

Click here to access: Animals Matter – Veganism for Everyone (pdf, 466kb)

What Would a Vegan World Look Like?

~ Graeme M ~ 1 Comment

In this short post, I tackle the question of what might a “vegan world” really be like.

First of all, a caveat. I honestly doubt that a truly vegan world is possible in all places and contexts, if by “vegan” we mean no animal use at all and everyone eating a wholly plant-sourced diet. While the founders of veganism believed that we might one day achieve a vegan world for the betterment of both animals and human society, I think this is overall rather unlikely. We haven’t even reached that state for human beings so it’s hard to imagine us doing better for other animals.

Also, let me explain what I think “veganism” is really about because that informs what a vegan world would be like. As I see it, veganism is primarily a doctrine of freedom – it’s main goal is to keep animals free. For that to have real meaning, how we think about other animals has to change. That’s really what the principle of veganism is trying to achieve. The founders of veganism saw vegan ethics as leading to a fundamentally changed relationship between people and other animals such that animals are no longer regarded as little more than a means to our ends.

To remind readers, I see veganism as having three aims or outcomes:

  1. To keep animals free (by rejecting their chattel property status, whenever we can)
  2. To prevent their unfair use (where “unfair” means using animals even when we have alternatives or can choose not to use an animal for some benefit)
  3. To protect them from unnecessary cruelty (where “unnecessary” means we cannot find other viable ways to prevent causing pain and suffering).

This somewhat rights-based perspective is deeply different from the everyday belief of most people that animals are not rights-holders AND are available for any use we regard as valuable to us (even when “valuable” simply means entertainment). The everyday paradigm, if you like, is that animals can be used however we like just because we can.

So, the way I think about this is that a vegan world would be one in which that paradigm is fundamentally challenged. In a truly vegan world, many if not most people would recognise the inherent value and dignity of other species and act accordingly by making choices that reflect the aims of veganism.

A genuinely vegan world would be one in which most people regarded animals as mattering enough to treat them fairly and with justice, whenever we can do that. Such a general attitude would lead to far-reaching changes to our relationship with other animals such that the dignity and interests of other animals share similar billing to our own.

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Don’t forget, no-one needs to be a vegan to adopt and apply vegan ethical principles in their daily lives to make a positive difference for other animals. If you’d like to know more, you can read my essay that offers a deeper dive into the meaning and application of vegan ethics at the link below:

Click here to access: Animals Matter – Veganism for Everyone (pdf, 466kb)