that good old fashioned razzmatazz

I somehow managed to come across some vegan discourse, and it left me with some thoughts.

A lot of people who complain about veganism are so genuinely misinformed about it. Like, veganism is sustainable and the way animal products are produced is not only harmful to the enviroment but also objectively unethical.

At the same time though, there are definitely vegans who are crossing the line, pushy, and very disrespectful with people for simply eating their cultural foods, or being tone deaf by calling it "animal slavery" or comparing it to things like the holocaust. Animal abuse is horrific, but comparing it to racial issues has some really chilling implications.

I don't think eating animals is unethical by itself, it's literally a part of life that is undeniable. But the state of animal agriculture is abhorrent and in a perfect world, we simply would not eat as much animal products as we currently do. The reality is that in a sustainable world we would not be treating animals as commodities.

That being said, most people are obviously not going to go vegan or involve themselves in any activism. And I do not believe this makes anyone evil, so a lot of the guilt tripping really bothers me, it's not going to make people want to get involved. And even vegans consume products made through exploitation, because almost everything we consume is made unethically, and I just don't find it feasible for people to try and cut off everything damaging that they consume. At the end of the day, it's the fault of corporations, and the average consumer doesn't do much of a difference.

I think a helpful approach is to encourage harm reduction in every way an individual is willing and able to. Maybe cutting off animal products is too overwhelming, but there are other ways to include enviromentalism in your life. Buying food locally is also much better in general. That still isn't going to change the world, and so I don't think individuals should be held responsible, but at least it minimizes it. Idk what the solution to these large problems would be when corporations are not going to stop any time soon, it really does feel like the world is just doomed.

TW: Discussions of war, genocide and colonization

I don't want to bring subjects of this kind into my journal but here goes.

I've seen a lot of people online be very dismissive about the idea that the Israel-Palestinian conflict is "complicated" and acting like that's equivalent to placing equal blame on all parties.

There is a clear oppresor in this situation. The fact that Israel can cut off food and water from Palestine should tell you everything about how unequal the power dynamics are. This is colonization. We are witnessing genocide. Of course that's all true.

But this doesn't change that the topic is complex. Many of the people living in Israel were born there. It's not as easy as simply telling them to "leave." Leave to where? You can say none of this should have happened in the first place, but it did happen, those people are very much now living there and finding a solution is complcated.

The reality of the situation is that ALL conversations surrounding colonization and land-back movements are complicated, as much as we would like them not to be. And I think it's fair for people to not speak on the subject if they barely know anything about it, if anything that's preferable. I'm only just now informing myself about the conflict, so I haven't engaged with the subject much. This is really the only place I feel comfortable saying anything about it.

The news about Gaza's evacuation have left me feeling empty. We are so powerless to stop this. Those israelian victims are being used to justify this ethnic cleansing and I just can't fathom how vile that is. I feel so much dread just imagining it.

I hope the innocent israelian civilians are safe. And I wish freedom to Palestine.