Is veganism a privilege?

From dazeddigital.com

Billie Eilish’s take on meat eaters not being animal lovers has divided the internet and sparked a conversation on meat, classism and racism – young vegans and non-vegans alike weigh in

“Eating meat is inherently wrong”. That’s the hill Billie Eilish recently said she’d die on last month in an interview with ELLE. She went on: “Two things can not coincide: ‘I love all animals so much’ and ‘I eat meat’. You just can’t do both.” Those two sentences were enough to send the internet into a frenzy of vegan discourse. There are those who believe that it is a privileged perspective – a tale of white veganism – and that many people can’t be vegan because of financial or health-related reasons. Some have called veganism anti-indigenous or racist, considering that there are people across cultures who rely on and respect the animals they kill. In reaction to those upset by her views, Eilish recently shared videos on her story of animals suffering in the food industry. “Stay fucking mad at me… I really don’t give a goddamn fuck.” 

Veganism has always been a divisive topic – I know this because I am vegan. But, before non-vegans stop reading, I’m going to preface this by saying that I think Eilish’s hot take lacks nuance. We live in a culture that tells us what animals we should care about (usually because they are cute and easy to domesticate), without any guardrails in place to protect all sentient life. But whether or not people are “animal lovers” or not aside, I’m more interested in whether it’s possible to openly critique the factory farming industry today, without just blaming everyone who eats meat individually. It feels like an especially important conversation in the US right now: Just this year, for example, the Trump administration has backed proposals by the USDA to increase the speed of assembly lines in the pork and poultry industries (from slaughtering 140 birds per minute to 175). 

Factory farming is an environmental issue, and the proposed changes to federal rules happening in America right now would double down on an already polluting food system, increasing the amount of waste discharged into local ecosystems. But it’s also a matter of workers’ rights: slaughterhouses rely heavily on rural workers who are disproportionately immigrants, refugees and people of colour who often suffer physical injuries and illnesses because of the conditions. For this reason, throughout the recent iteration of online discourse around veganism, people have also been sharing their thoughts on how factory farming intersects with environmental racism, workers’ rights and even women’s rights. “Y’all’s hatred of vegans and vegetarians is rooted in sexism,” said one creator, Paris Mwendwa, on TikTok. 

In a time where it’s hotly contested to speak out against factory farming – as a shift towards conservatism in American culture encourages people to eat more meat – we asked young people (plant-based and meat eaters alike) for their take on the current state of veganism. 

KAREN, 27, US, NOT VEGAN

“Billie’s comment came from a place of privilege. It was like when Kim Kardashian said people needed to stop being lazy and work. The controversy of it all is that it centres whiteness, as if it were the default. Many BIPOC communities live in food deserts where vegan options may not be available. If they are available, they’re priced higher than meat products. For example, I live in Chicago. The city is so big, and there are a million grocery stores, yet vegan products are still not accessible to all people because of how expensive they are. Shopping at a Trader Joe’s is a luxury to me.”

ANNALEESAH GARCIA-PIÑA, 25, TEXAS, US, VEGAN

“Before I went vegan, I felt uncomfortable when veganism was brought up. I get it. Food is more a part of who we are than we care to admit, so it feels like being attacked, but it’s bigger than just me or you. It is interesting how veganism has always been seen as a white or privileged lifestyle, though it was originally built by low-income communities. I find it weird when people who aren’t indigenous speak on behalf of us and think we can’t be educated enough to be vegan or make our own lifestyle choices. I know plenty of Indigenous vegans who were happy Billie started this conversation.”

YAPARONI, 24, SOUTH KOREA, NOT VEGAN

“I don’t agree with the notion that eating meat is inherently wrong, but I don’t think you can say you love all animals while you consume meat and animal products. It’s fascinating because I feel like years prior, millennials’ rebuttal against veganism was much more direct. Most people acknowledged the unethical practices of the meat industry, but they simply liked eating meat, so they wanted to keep doing it. But it seems my generation is trying to find a moral justification for eating meat to refute the ideology of veganism, when there are plenty of cultures around the world that have various vegan and vegetarian options.”

ANGEL KUTENGULE, 22, BRIGHTON, UK, VEGAN

“As a Black woman who originates from one of the poorest countries in the world, Malawi, the idea that veganism is racist and anti-indigenous is honestly laughable to me. Animal agriculture is the leading driver of climate change, which will disproportionately affect the global south and Indigenous communities more. Because meat is so expensive, it’s frankly offensive to assert that that lifestyle, or those similar to it, come from privilege. The transition to veganism for me came partially as a financial decision.”

ADISA, US, NOT VEGAN

“Veganism is unpopular, and its practitioners even more so. Most vegans are of this white, middle, or upper-middle-class family background, and convey their message poorly to the average person. The position that simply consuming animal products is immoral is untenable. POC have less money and mental bandwidth due to socioeconomic struggles to rework their entire diet and shift to a vegan diet they’ll actually stick to. Even on the cultural point, are POC supposed to forego their entire cultural dishes to eat like livestock? The issue isn’t eating meat, it’s the immoral practices caused by capitalism and the primary motivator being capital, not the well-being of animals.”

LILY HIʻILANI OKIMURA, 28, HONOLULU, HAWAI’I, VEGAN

“People are still heavily misguided on veganism and think it’s just a diet, or that it was invented by white people who go to Whole Foods and do pilates on the weekends. They don’t understand it’s a movement that seeks to exclude all forms of animal exploitation and cruelty, as far as is possible and practicable. The thing that keeps getting missed is that this was never a debate about Indigenous hunting practices. This is an argument that non-Indigenous people especially love to make to avoid accountability for their participation in industrial animal agriculture. If you have the means to, you should absolutely be reducing your meat and dairy intake.”

https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/70244/1/young-people-feel-veganism-privilege-billie-eilish-meat-animals