Myth #34: “But you vegans aren’t perfect.”
(also heard as “But you kill bugs when you drive”,
or “But you use medicine that was tested on animals”,
or “But you have a leather sofa”,
or “But you occasionally step on ants”,
etc etc etc etc etc)
My dear Friends, veganism is not about being perfect; it is about striving to consciously live in a way that consistently & earnestly intends to inflict no harm on other sentient animals, and thereby indeed inflicts very little such harm … That vegans are not perfect in their attempts to live a cruelty-free life in no way makes their attempt to do so incorrect or unworthy – to the contrary, the system is filled with products that rely on animal cruelty precisely because so many meat & dairy consumers continue to financially support the same. Indeed, the law of supply & demand mandates that the more people call for an end to cruelty-laden products, the more cruelty-free alternatives will be developed & provided.
As such, just because a vegan might occasionally fail in their mission to not use animal products — or just because a vegan might occasionally unintentionally kill another sentient being, does not mean that the Caring Life that we vegans try to lead is less worthy or noble … Indeed, it is FAR better to try to live cruelty-free and fail every now & then, than to be a non-vegan and not try at all!
Current status of this Myth: Annulled
Justification it provides for eating animals: NONE
“People sometimes look at me as a vegan and say that since I stepped on a snail or because the vegetables I ate resulted in the harvest-death of a mouse somewhere that somehow I am a hypocrite … In actuality, nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, the difference between you and the vegan standing next to you is that while you are both going to step on a bug at some point in the future, the vegan has decided to dedicate their lives to doing as little harm to others as possible … So in no way does the life form the vegan might accidentally kill relieve your responsibility for the cow or the pig or the chicken or the lamb you are paying a stranger to murder tomorrow. And when you think about it, falling 1% short of an ‘unattainable’ goal is actually pretty good – especially when you’re standing next to someone who isn’t even trying.” ~ inspired by Shelly Williams
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