Discourse community: fruits of success

Fruits of Success

    Whenever I hear the word vegan I get confused because I really don’t know the difference between being vegan or vegetarian. One of my closest friends is a vegetarian, or is he a vegan?

Admittedly I really don’t know, but I do know that he does not eat meat nor does he drink milk from animals. So would that make him a vegan, they don’t use anything made from animal’s right?  It can get really confusing because of all the vegetarian types such as, Lacto vegetarians who eat diary, but not eggs. Then there are Ovo vegetarians, who will eat eggs, but not diary, the Ovo-lacto vegetarians eat both eggs and diary.

    As I mentioned earlier a true vegan would not eat, bathe in, or wear anything made from animals. I don’t know if this behavior stems from a sense of Altruism or if people who decide to go vegan are doing so strictly for health purposes.  According to the Harvard School of Public Health people who consume 18 ounces or more of red meat per week have a higher risk of getting colon cancer. Studies also show that eating red meat in moderation will significantly reduce the chance of diabetes. So the healthy aspect of the lifestyle has been well documented and as more people crossover I wonder, what is the ultimate goal?

    After listening to Jason from staying vegan.com, I was left with the impression that he was a bit defiant, as he compared vegans to movie stars and people who question their lifestyle as paparazzi. The “us against the carnivores” attitude displayed on the video wasn’t my first encounter with a vegan-warrior.  Earlier this year, the friend I previously mentioned and I were having a conversation about organic food and how I thought it was a scam. He didn’t take to kindly to my suggestion and acted as if I was attacking his lifestyle, in turn he proceeded to inform me of the grotesqueness of ground beef and poisoned chickens.

    I guess a person would build up a defense mechanism if they were constantly questioned about the food they chose to consume. I am in a similar circumstance because I don’t eat pork and every now and then I get interrogated about it or asked am I a Muslim. So I guess the attitude some take towards people outside of the vegan group can seem irritable but who would want to constantly be in defense of their lifestyle? As far as using the naysayers for motivation, I say we all draw our inspiration from one source or the other. If doubters compel you not to backslide and have that double cheeseburger, more power to you.

    Since there are so many people that are falling off the “fruit cart” according to Jason from vegan.com, from what he described, vegans enjoy small successes. Successes like fighting off the cravings for meat, which I imagined would happen more frequently to the newer vegans trying to stay pure in a grill infested world.  Jason also mentioned how triumphant one would be after he was weaned off meat products, and then you can fully represent the best of the vegan culture. Success was basically measured by simply remaining in the lifestyle which seems to be very easy criteria on the surface, but to seriously consider discontinuing the use of animal products one has to posses a strong will and be ready to defend their beliefs.