Ex-Vegans: Directory of ex-vegans, vegan sellouts

UPDATED (July 8, 2013) Ex-Vegans Directory is no longer there. This is what is now shown as of this writing: Ex-Vegans

There is now a directory online of Ex-Vegans, where you can register to "out" anyone you know as a fact that they are no longer vegan. The site gives further rules on outing people, be they famous people or not.

I responded to the directory and this article: "Vegan Sellout List" Publicizes, Shames, and Threatens Former Vegans - Yahoo! News at my Facebook, but I have cut and pasted my same response here as today's blogpost:

I'm ambivalent about the directory. 

I do love seeing a directory of what famous person is not vegan anymore, because I like knowing the celebrities that embraces my passion and those that no longer do anymore--no different from any other group/community. We all like to know who our "kindred spirits" are and if they aren't anymore, I want to know as a reference that they are no longer vegans, ESPECIALLY if I ever want to mention famous vegans in my blog, I want to get my facts straight as many other vegans would want when they post articles/blogs. 

I see many people getting upset, erroneously calling vegans a "cult" as said in the article (which, by definition, a cult is not evil, but society makes the word evil; plus, a cult is a religion worshiping some leader or god. Vegans don't worship anyone.)

Also, it's interesting how people say why are people interested in knowing who are vegan and who are not, but again it goes with being no different from any other group in wanting to know your fellow activists. People get defensive when someone asks if a person is gay, by snapping at them saying, "Why? Does it matter?" But even MANY gays themselves ask and want to know who is gay, so to possibly be role models, kindred spirits, etc., no different from the vegan community or from any other community. 

So, again, I think the site is great to let people know the famous people who are no longer vegan, but letting us know about non-famous people who are ex-vegans...hmmm, I don't know...I don't think it's really contributing in any positive way. If not being vegan was illegal, then I say--YAY! Go for it! Out them! To put them in jail, but that's not the law, so what's the point in outing people, and no one knows them except their friends, acquaintances and families? And there is a brutal suicide link on the Ex-Vegans site to go to if a person doesn't ever want to be vegan again which, in my opinion, is wrong and evil to post. 

It'll be interesting to hear what the rest of the vegan community thinks about it; I'm sure I'll be hearing/reading a lot! 

I don't believe people should have the choice of not being vegan because of the horrific harm it does to an innocent being. Veganism is not about sticking our noses into someone else's business (people don't feel that way about child abuse--that's everyone's business, people would say); vegansim is about stopping abominable cruelty of *sentient beings*, but unfortunately the law (as of now) doesn't see it that way.

Appearances in Activism

This blogpost is for anyone who does public activism, but since this is an animal rights blog, I will talk specifically about animal activists.

When being an activist in public, especially while out on the streets, it's important to have a certain look. Having knowledge about the cause is great of course, but your public activism may fail if you lack the proper appearance.

For example, which group do you think people in general will be more drawn to, will stop on the sidewalk and pay more attention to what they're saying?:

The people in T-shirt and old jeans.

The people (if female) in a casual but nice looking dress and (if male) in a nice shirt and wearing casual pants but not jeans.

How one dresses is important because it makes what you're talking about look more important and you are more likely to be less intimidated if you dress nicer. Also, regardless of whether it's cool or not, having multiple piercings and tattoos on your body is very intimidating to some people--especially older people. As animal activists, want to come across as being extremely approachable, so you need to look as less threatening as possible. It would be best to take out the multiple piercings and hide the tattoos with your clothing. Appear as if you were going on a job interview because, afterall, animal activism IS work.

Activists don't have to wear a suit and tie or wear stunning evening dresses--dressing causally nice is best--but if you were to dress like that and compete for people's attention on the street, you would probably get more people coming toward you than activists wearing T-shirts and faded old blue jeans, even though both groups are speaking on the same cause in the same way.

The exception would be if your group needs to wear costumes and do theatrical scenes to make a point.

Also, to attract more people and to be taken more seriously, try to find older people, like over 30, to participate in your street activism. People in general tend to pooh-pooh groups that are made up of teens-20s as stereotypically just a bunch of "rebellious kids" to ignore. With a healthy mixture of ages, people will more likely stop and pay attention if some of the activists are in their 40-50s or older.

So, next time your group goes out on the street to speak out for the animals, make sure you not only have the knowledge to speak on the cause but the appearance as well to make people stop and listen to what you have to say.