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353 sats \ 6 replies \ @Undisciplined 26 Dec 2024 \ on: Why are vegans ok with using plastic products? culture
The vast majority of living matter is plants, not animal, therefor the vast majority of oil derives from plants.
That said, this is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what veganism is. Veganism is about avoiding animal "exploitation" to whatever extent possible. Being turned into oil after dying in tar 100 million years ago has nothing whatsoever to do with human exploitation of animals.
I hear you, but whenever I hear the phrase "to whatever extent possible", it seems like a cop-out for "to whatever extent I deem convenient". If all of a sudden some component of veganism becomes too inconvenient, would they just change the rules?
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"Possible" isn't really that weak of a condition. You'd have to be very disingenuous to interpret that as "convenient". I don't know why anyone would do that, since there aren't any social advantages to being vegan.
If there were some sort of mandate to be vegan, then I'm sure people would invoke all manner of excuses. That's not the world we live in, though.
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"Possible" is a really strong condition. The reason I replace it with convenient is because I don't think anyone takes the word "possible" seriously.
It's possible to live in a world without plywood, glue, and dyes derived from animals, but I don't know any vegans who are willing to go that far. It's just not very convenient.
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You're right. The real definition uses the word "practicable", which is obviously weaker.
Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals
Like most ethical systems, there's an acknowledgement that living requires being able to act without fully accounting for the morality of each action.
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That's a more accurate word, still feels odd to me that the rules are open to so much interpretation
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When extreme moral philosophies try to exist in a complex economy, allowances have to be made for human limitations.
Abolitionists couldn't exist entirely without the products of slavery and anarchists can't exist independent of the state, but that doesn't change the point of what they're trying to do.
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