Who I am, why I’m here

My name is Steve. I’m a poet, student, and writing tutor living in Mount Pleasant, MI. I’ve been eating vegan for a year and a half, but I’ve been more involved in veganism for the past eight months. I’ve done some leafleting and tabling, and I’ve created a Myspace tool for online activism, to be relaunched soon [now up]. Online activism holds “a special place” for me because it was how I learned about veganism.

My interest in L.O.V.E.’s mission arose from an e-mail conversation with L.O.V.E. member V, who wrote about veganism as anti-oppression. Initially I struggled to understand how power and privilege connect to nonhuman animal use, probably because I have a very privileged (white, male, able-bodied, heterosexual, middle-class) background. At the time I advocated Peter Singer’s understanding of veg*nism, which centers suffering and happiness.

I kept writing to V because of an intuition I had about promoting veganism as opposed to reduced meat consumption. Singer’s philosophy said promoting veganism was “asking too much,” but I felt the opposite way: I felt I wasn’t asking enough when people said they had a reduced meat diet and walked away. I felt dishonest not to say more; I felt I had to silence a “crying out” in me. The same thing happened when I found an insect in my apartment. Singer’s logic said it’s o.k. to kill an insect, but killing the insect felt wrong to me.  I didn’t want to be the person Singer’s logic told me I should be.

I started to appreciate anti-oppression veganism once I understood that preventable nonhuman suffering is only a result of speciesist oppression. Then instead of asking, “Would I rather end suffering or end oppression?” I thought, “If I want to end suffering, then I need to end oppression.” I read from more anti-oppression writers. I thought more about racism, sexism, and homophobia, as well—I always opposed these things, but I had never thought about them in relation to veganism.

I feel I am now a “testament” to the fact that even the most privileged people can understand and reject privilege. I feel I am a “testament” to the fact that a person doesn’t need to be part of an oppressed group to want liberation for all oppressed groups.