Veganism: Ideological forces may oxidate the idea of veganism in the long-term

Veganism needs to blur the conceptual and linguistic boundaries between existing cultural norms and the new cultural norms it aims to create

Resistance based on costs and benefits suggests that authentic competing assertions of calculable merit can be unraveled with agreeability. The persuader’s civilized encroachment every bit as preordained as the resistors gracious deterrence, until finally, no ifs and buts about it, there is an indisputable top dog.

Conversely, ideological resistance that yearns to preserve the status quo tends to summon an indiscriminate hell-bent glint in the eyes, a perpetual reengineering of argument from the foundries and yards of industrial idea-bashing, a walk-in wardrobe of get out of jail cards and sick notes, or a drip-feed of seemingly endless random rationalization.

Ideological resistance is characterized by people clinging to an idea, in order to maintain the status quo, irrespective of how the legitimate merits of that idea may change over time.

This is arguably the most troublesome type of resistance for veganism because any remit whatsoever that is perceived to disrupt a person’s meticulously well-groomed cultural routine might be considered unpalatable.

Regardless of how well veganism is able to preserve or uphold any intrinsic aspects of ‘deliciousness’ from the most unmistakable markers or representatives of our existing food culture, it will be very difficult to initiate a state of curiosity around a new cultural experience.

For ideologically resistant people, there may be something inherently reassuring about cultural norms that already exist. It’s as if, even if existing cultural norms are really bad, maybe they’re not that bad, because if they were that bad, they wouldn’t exist. Or similarly, if your idea is so good, surely it would already exist.

Any temptation to plant a vegan flag and score an early goal in this quest for cultural legitimacy needs to be weighed against the potential negative ideological forces that could oxidate the idea of veganism in the long-term.

As a tagged crusade, veganism probably cannot emerge without some level of conflict between itself and others, after all, the existence of a vegan flag infers or necessitates the existence of a non-vegan flag.

And if the viability and stability of our existing cultural norms is perceived to be threatened, the embryonic idea of veganism may need to be shepherded through an increasingly hostile cultural immune system which seeks to protect its own enterprise.

Perhaps, veganism has a deluded sense of ease at odds with the corrosive circumstances it is marching towards. Indeed, the somewhat prophetic rise of veganism has already stirred a not-insignificant amount of anti-veganism and some differing belief systems have gleefully identified veganism as their arch enemy.

Moreover, to pursue and cradle this ideological disaccord seems like a kind of low-quality activism more akin to letting off steam. Accepting a tag or label may be to risk being thought of — and dismissed as — a disagreeable subculture whose primary — or only — aim is to antagonize the status quo.

And if our existing cultural norms are allowed to willfully misrepresent veganism for their own ends, the potential of vegan states of affairs to migrate towards cultural norms will be diminished.

But, by using ‘camouflage’ or by going ‘stealth mode’, and not using the word ‘vegan’, vegan products become more difficult to identify and the possibility for ideological resistance is less.

If veganism can successfully blur the conceptual and linguistic boundaries between our existing cultural norms and the new cultural norms it aims to create, it will be very difficult for any kind of ideological resistance to take affirmative action.

The resistance will not easily be able to say things like ‘I won’t go to that restaurant because it’s vegan’ or ‘I will not eat that hamburger because it’s vegan’ any more than people currently say things like ‘I don’t drink orange juice because it’s vegan’.

It’s not a question of taking refuge in the herd. Veganism is no less vegan by dropping its nametag. It’s simply a question of avoiding the cultural lynch mob and any potential ideological smear campaign.

Veganism isn’t a garage startup or even a company. It doesn’t need to break through the noise and sharply differentiate itself from the competition. It just needs to subtly hitch its wagon to existing cultural norms — and it needs to do so without any kind of inferiority complex.

On the contrary, if it pours all its energy into winning at any cost and this ideological combativeness continues, veganism may squander its vitality. The glow of excitement that currently runs through this movement may grind to a halt and its wagon may run amok.

And, in this era of masochistic disagreeability and absolutist mania, it may “remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained”, (Haile Selassie I, United Nations Address, 1963).