FAQ – Answers to questions that shouldn’t be asked

It is a sad indicator of the state of this ‘movement’ that I have even thought about writing this post in the first place.

While I do expect narrow minded comments on the things that I write, what has annoyed me the most was a troll who came to my personal facebook profile and demanded to know what my AUTHORity was to be able to make a comment about anything vegan related.

This troll claimed it was his ‘path’ that lead him to me.

Though once he found out, he deleted his comments and went back to hide in the hole he came from.

So, to save me having to repeat myself time and time again, here are the answers to the most common ‘questions’ I get asked.

If you are reading this post because you want to know the answers, shame on you for even thinking they needed to be asked in the first place.

Are you even vegan?

Yes I am.

I even have “VEGAN” tattooed on the inside of my left wrist.

As a matter of fact I have been vegan for close to 25 years now.

Which, when you think about is almost as long, or longer than those who are criticising me have been alive.

Before you ask, my reason for going vegan was due to reading a book called Fit for Life by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond.

What Do You “DO”?

I have been blogging for around about 10 years.

My first blog was Ausvegan.wordpress.com.

I then moved to AusVegan.com, then onto AusVegan.com.au

I has only been recently, a few years, that I have been using the domain VeganPolice.com.au

For the record, no I do not think I am the vegan police. Nor have I ever claimed to be.

I adopted that name to silence those bullies who call other vegans the “vegan police” to keep them quiet and shift the attention away from their actions.

Yeah but are you “ACTIVE”?

If by ‘active’ you mean, doing things then yes I am.

Whereas if you define being “active” as being “out on the streets” then you need to think again about what “active” actually means.

There was a time where I turned up to events.

Though sadly, the bullies won and got the better of me.

I decided that the safety of my family and friends was more important than getting selfies taken.

You can read more about that incident here.

Yeah, but that’s not enough

Ok then, you tell me what will be enough?

You need to be “out there” doing “something”

Really?

Let’s talk about that for a minute.

As I said at the start, I have been blogging for around a bout 10 years.

That means there are 10 years worth of “animal rights” and “vegan” articles with my name attached to it.

Google my name and you will see a mixture of IR and vegan related articles.

They will be there ‘for ever’.

It is worth noting that blog posts I have written four or five years ago are still being read today.

There is also no evidence at all that says that protesting and waving a placard around is less ‘effective’ than writing a blog post or creating a podcast.

Everything is a form of advocacy.

Even wearing a vegan t-shirt while out shopping and talking to no one.

I also suggest that you read this article titled “On Advocacy Media Preferences“

Nope. That’s still not enough

Gees.

Way back in 2009/10 I started a not-for-profit to promote animal rights and ‘abolitionism’.

I gave talks at BCC libraries, held potlucks, etc.

I made the mistake of doing everything myself, and as a consequence I burnt out.

A handful of years ago I worked heavily behind the scenes for another NFP to help them get appropriate insurance cover for their volunteers.

Created their HR and WHS policies

And even started them on the path to getting DGR status with the ACNC.

Oh, and helped out at every open day, and giving talks, etc.

That was until ego got in the way. (Not mine for the record).

In 2011 I was featured on an ARZone podcast that featured 35 most influential vegans in the world at the time.

This included people like Tom Regan, Peter Singer, Ronnie Lee, Steven Wise and David Nibert.

You can find that podcast here.

I ‘spose that will do. Though why are you always hating on other activists?

Really?

Where have I “hated” on an “activist”?

If I do write something about someone, it is usually because their actions aren’t living up to who they claim to be.

Here’s the deal.

The higher the standard we hold the “leaders’ up to, the better this movement will become.

Now that you have got this far, let me ask you this.

If you demand to see the credentials of someone who challenges the status quo, when was the list time you challenged the ‘credentials’ of those who enforce it?

I also hope that you can sleep well in bed at night knowing that because of people like you, veganism will only ever be seen as a thing of white privilege, rather than the social justice movement that it was intended to be.