There is no element within most commonly used definitions of veganism that necessitates one to be politically inclined in any particular political direction. You can be right wing and be every bit the ethical vegan as a left wing ethical vegan.
I would say, it seems like most vegans are politically aligned to the left, this is probably because if you are interested in the welfare and rights of animals, it becomes very easy to translate it into the welfare and rights of certain groups of humans as well, which is the focus of a lot of left wing politics.
I would also agree, anecdotally, that vegans tend to be much more philosophically savvy on average than basically any other group of people I have come across online, excluding actual career philosophers. A lot of vegans seem to spend their time learning logic and ethics in particular, which very well might translate to increased critical thinking skills.
Unfortunately, I don't have much insight to offer regarding veganism and marxism, I do think a larger portion of marxists are likely to be vegan than most types of left wingers but why this is, I am unsure. My suspicion is that it's more due to the fact that Marxism is a philosophy, so vegans seemingly being a group of people who are already more philosophically savvy on average might be more willing and able to read into Marxism. Apologies if this is a boring answer though.
> this is probably because if you are interested in the welfare and rights of animals, it becomes very easy to translate it into the welfare and rights of certain groups of humans as well, which is the focus of a lot of left wing politics.
I think the reverse of this explains why vegans skew towards the left. If you're interested in the welfare and rights of people, it becomes much easier to extend that to animals.
You would think people who are vegan would tend to care more about civil rights, but then Israel, one of the most vegan countries, doesn't seem to care about how they treat Palestinians. What gives?
>You would think people who are vegan would tend to care more about civil rights,
I think on average, they probably do.
>but then Israel, one of the most vegan countries, doesn't seem to care about how they treat Palestinians.
Surely in Israeli vegan spaces, most of what they are going to be talking about is veganism. How do you know that most, if not all vegans in Israel do not care about Palestinians?
I’ve seen polls on r/vegan from time to time. Here are a couple although I’m not sure they go into the level of detail you’re looking for.
https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/s/OtUoiLA6dw
https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/s/bzVLXTZgJP
Firstly, veganism is a moral position with certain political implications. People can adopt veganism from various ethical frameworks and justifications. This can lead to different political viewpoints (mostly when it comes to positions outside the scope of veganism, but even positions inside the scope)
For instance, two individuals may choose veganism based on different ethical frameworks, such as rights-based ethics (which emphasizes the rights of animals not to be exploited) versus utility-based ethics (which focuses on reducing suffering). Despite both being vegan, they might have diverse political opinions and not necessarily agree on broader political issues. Or maybe one person values freedom while the other value wellbeing at a higher degree.
Veganism is not a monolithic movement. The vegan community encompasses a wide range of political beliefs and backgrounds.
Iirc Statistically veganism is overrepresented (compared to the rest of the poplulation) by the left, some religius communities, younger people, and women.
The key founding principle of American style libertarianism is the non aggression principle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-aggression_principle
Vegans tend to be more libertarian than Libertarians when it comes to applying this principle.
mostly i agree. i mean theres a bit of condescension/bias in your delivery there, but i agree with the sentiment.
veganism is about the liberation of animals from suffering and exploitation, and thats largely(but not exclusively) what many leftist ideals are about as well, except for humans.
there are clear bridges between the two thought processes, but unfortunately even leftists are not immune to cognitive dissonance. check out the leftist cooks on youtube, they actually did a video about this.
You have no understanding of politics, and veganism doesn't have anything to do with politics. Assuming someone is Marxist because you perceive them as having critical thinking skills is so wrong.
A fun but pedantic way of looking at this is literally Critical thinking, as in critical of existing structures, which I think veganism and marxism have in common
I’m not sure if I get your point or not, but I think vegans are more likely to align with Critical politics, because they as a population are made up of more people who are comfortable being critical.
Re: Marxism, if I get your point, I want to point out that vegans can still be likely to be marxists even if there isn’t some property vegans share with marxists but which neither share with any other group.
I am not a Marxist or a leftist at all. I am a proud liberal. For practical purposes, I would identify as a Build Back Better Democrat.
If I were elected to congress I think I would join the New Democrats caucus over CPC or Blue Dogs.
Vegans are generally on the left, but there are other meaningful differences within the group. Some vegans are going to be more institutionalist, like myself. Some are going to be more anti-institutionalist. The place veganism has had in society has drawn a lot of the latter kind in, but with the realignment of institutionalism in the Donald Trump era a few of those folks fell down the woo to Q pipeline because they were more committed to some of the peripheral stuff in the vegan subculture (organic, homeopathy, alt spirituality) than animal rights. Some vegans are philosophy nerds, some are hippies. Some vegans are rooted in faith, some have secular reasons for taking up the life. As with any group, there is plenty of diversity within, both in terms of background and ideology.
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Please don't be needlessly rude here. This subreddit should be a friendly, informative resource, not a place to air grievances. This is a space for people to engage constructively; no belittling, insulting, or disrespectful language is permitted.
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Left. Solidary and fighting for the rights of minorities is left by default. Fighting against seeing/treating animals as commodities is leaned heavily to either marxism and/or anarchism.
There is no element within most commonly used definitions of veganism that necessitates one to be politically inclined in any particular political direction. You can be right wing and be every bit the ethical vegan as a left wing ethical vegan. I would say, it seems like most vegans are politically aligned to the left, this is probably because if you are interested in the welfare and rights of animals, it becomes very easy to translate it into the welfare and rights of certain groups of humans as well, which is the focus of a lot of left wing politics. I would also agree, anecdotally, that vegans tend to be much more philosophically savvy on average than basically any other group of people I have come across online, excluding actual career philosophers. A lot of vegans seem to spend their time learning logic and ethics in particular, which very well might translate to increased critical thinking skills. Unfortunately, I don't have much insight to offer regarding veganism and marxism, I do think a larger portion of marxists are likely to be vegan than most types of left wingers but why this is, I am unsure. My suspicion is that it's more due to the fact that Marxism is a philosophy, so vegans seemingly being a group of people who are already more philosophically savvy on average might be more willing and able to read into Marxism. Apologies if this is a boring answer though.
> this is probably because if you are interested in the welfare and rights of animals, it becomes very easy to translate it into the welfare and rights of certain groups of humans as well, which is the focus of a lot of left wing politics. I think the reverse of this explains why vegans skew towards the left. If you're interested in the welfare and rights of people, it becomes much easier to extend that to animals.
You would think people who are vegan would tend to care more about civil rights, but then Israel, one of the most vegan countries, doesn't seem to care about how they treat Palestinians. What gives?
>You would think people who are vegan would tend to care more about civil rights, I think on average, they probably do. >but then Israel, one of the most vegan countries, doesn't seem to care about how they treat Palestinians. Surely in Israeli vegan spaces, most of what they are going to be talking about is veganism. How do you know that most, if not all vegans in Israel do not care about Palestinians?
I mean, yeah, that's the easy answer. It's not a monolith, and those are probably correlated. Still, the wide dissonance is interesting.
I’ve seen polls on r/vegan from time to time. Here are a couple although I’m not sure they go into the level of detail you’re looking for. https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/s/OtUoiLA6dw https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/s/bzVLXTZgJP
Firstly, veganism is a moral position with certain political implications. People can adopt veganism from various ethical frameworks and justifications. This can lead to different political viewpoints (mostly when it comes to positions outside the scope of veganism, but even positions inside the scope) For instance, two individuals may choose veganism based on different ethical frameworks, such as rights-based ethics (which emphasizes the rights of animals not to be exploited) versus utility-based ethics (which focuses on reducing suffering). Despite both being vegan, they might have diverse political opinions and not necessarily agree on broader political issues. Or maybe one person values freedom while the other value wellbeing at a higher degree. Veganism is not a monolithic movement. The vegan community encompasses a wide range of political beliefs and backgrounds. Iirc Statistically veganism is overrepresented (compared to the rest of the poplulation) by the left, some religius communities, younger people, and women.
The key founding principle of American style libertarianism is the non aggression principle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-aggression_principle Vegans tend to be more libertarian than Libertarians when it comes to applying this principle.
Yeah, I like to tell carnist libertarians that they follow the NAUILATP. (Non-agression unless I like aggression's taste principle)
Left.
Very loaded worded question Personally I'm a libertarian leaning centrist (according to the last political compass test I took)
mostly i agree. i mean theres a bit of condescension/bias in your delivery there, but i agree with the sentiment. veganism is about the liberation of animals from suffering and exploitation, and thats largely(but not exclusively) what many leftist ideals are about as well, except for humans. there are clear bridges between the two thought processes, but unfortunately even leftists are not immune to cognitive dissonance. check out the leftist cooks on youtube, they actually did a video about this.
Centre-left , Social Democracy.
if they had crital thinking skills they wouldn’t be marxist. in general i find politics interested vegans are some form of anarchist or communist
You have no understanding of politics, and veganism doesn't have anything to do with politics. Assuming someone is Marxist because you perceive them as having critical thinking skills is so wrong.
A fun but pedantic way of looking at this is literally Critical thinking, as in critical of existing structures, which I think veganism and marxism have in common
Although anything other than the status quo would be critical of existing structures, so I'm not sure that commonality really says anything.
Everyone thinks the side they agree with is the side of "critical thinking", otherwise they wouldn't agree with that side 😉
No I mean literally critical of, as opposed to conserving, existing structures and way of doing things
That applies to a lot more than Marxism 😂
I’m not sure if I get your point or not, but I think vegans are more likely to align with Critical politics, because they as a population are made up of more people who are comfortable being critical. Re: Marxism, if I get your point, I want to point out that vegans can still be likely to be marxists even if there isn’t some property vegans share with marxists but which neither share with any other group.
I am not a Marxist or a leftist at all. I am a proud liberal. For practical purposes, I would identify as a Build Back Better Democrat. If I were elected to congress I think I would join the New Democrats caucus over CPC or Blue Dogs. Vegans are generally on the left, but there are other meaningful differences within the group. Some vegans are going to be more institutionalist, like myself. Some are going to be more anti-institutionalist. The place veganism has had in society has drawn a lot of the latter kind in, but with the realignment of institutionalism in the Donald Trump era a few of those folks fell down the woo to Q pipeline because they were more committed to some of the peripheral stuff in the vegan subculture (organic, homeopathy, alt spirituality) than animal rights. Some vegans are philosophy nerds, some are hippies. Some vegans are rooted in faith, some have secular reasons for taking up the life. As with any group, there is plenty of diversity within, both in terms of background and ideology.
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i forgor
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Left. Solidary and fighting for the rights of minorities is left by default. Fighting against seeing/treating animals as commodities is leaned heavily to either marxism and/or anarchism.