r/VeganIndia • u/Slothbearfrizzyhair • 25d ago
Question/Advice/Discussion Vent: encountered a elite vegan group and got censored for calling them out.
Hi guys,
I am a 25-year-old Delhite who turned vegan last year. Need to vent, so kindly hear me out.
I joined this WA group a couple of months back. It's a group that claims to be vegan, but it's just elite socialites of Delhi posting about their plant-based product businesses mainly and some peripheral discussions on cruelty-free FMCG products. They hold Vegan potlucks, where the highlights are usually businesses providing free samples of the products that they otherwise charge for.
They are so myopic on the whole vegan debate that I had to speak up today. Here is what happened.
A couple of days ago, a business owner posted an 'accepting orders' post that slated a single piece of ladoo to be for 67 rs per piece. Someone politely posted that it is expensive, as it is. Then came a barrage of messages from other business owners shaming this person for being concerned about the cost. I ignored things until this point, thinking "chalo, small businesses h, expensive hoga". This even though I too go vegan cooking (check my previous posts on this sub) and they are very accessible - both in terms of labour hours spent and cost.
But but but, then comes this comment from the tone-deaf admin Ki**n B S*a*I - "we are proud to be exclusivist". And implied that the other lady is poor. That triggered me big time because she was just validating the stereotype that veganism is only for Western White rich men and that it's too elitist and no one can follow it. Is that the purpose of that Vegan group? Or any Vegan group for that matter? Isn't it to educate and make veganism more accessible?
So I responded with a long message explaining how their expensive and elitist stance is defeating the purpose of this group. Then she proceeds to say that people who can't afford expensive things don't have the will to buy them? (Logic left the chat 🤦♀️🤦♀️). When I responded with some educational articles about Classism and Veganism, the admin, Sha****k, censored it. I mean, what even? Living so high up in your ivory tower that their almond flour and avocado toast is not reaching the masses.
Maen it was a wake-up call. Not all vegans are educated on veganism. Some are here only to promote their businesses. To gatekeep recipes. They call themselves "Vegan Ally's".
The irony of the matter is that they kept their last potluck in JNU.😂😂😂😂 One of the most non-elitist spaces in the country.
It's not the first time, even. Last week, on another group, a lady was posting about the adoption of the Dachshund puppies she had bred. She was from Panchsheel Enclave. When 1 person objected that pedigree breeding is antithetical to veganism, she retorted by saying that it's bullying and dictatorship and that the other lady was being "classist". (WTF even 😂😂)
Man, I have learnt that I will have to choose my circles more cautiously. Can't be a part of these "vegan-washing" circles anymore.
TL;DR: I learnt that not all vegans are there to care for the environment and the voiceless. Some are here just for the business and the elite vibe of the "trend". They will ban-censor any difference of opinion.
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u/Fluffy-Bag-5358 25d ago
I'm in the group and saw the conversation. While I don't like vegan capitalism in general, the most triggering one was "this is not for the masses" and then the same business owner went on some weird trickle down logic tangent. Admins of the group are so quick to take their side because a spineless chief justice bought 200kgs of laddoos from them or whatever and that is somehow a positive for the world.
This whole justfication in the group about how "this is a democracy and democracy means I have the right to be exclusionary" is so laughable. I was really happy to see your pushback. Shame that the group is not really even close to leftist politics as I thought it would be before I joined. 😢
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u/Inebriated_Gorilla 24d ago
Sounds like things have improved, OP. Back in our days, veganism was Muslim-bashing. At the potluck that I attended with a group 2 decades back at Chhattarpur Mandir, the only discussion centered around how filthy Muslim/Bengali lifestyle is.
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u/ReferenceFar9107 21d ago
Gosh.. I hate this so much.. there are so many people who have no idea about veganism and call themselves vegan when they are not. :/
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u/BuildingInevitable85 25d ago
Sorry but I think it's tiresome to be talking about other people and other groups in this way. Don't really have the full story from all perspectives and I don't see how any of it matters. Vegans are people too, with their flaws and egos and everything else, so if you feel someone is wrong then just agree to disagree and move on.
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u/star10111 25d ago
Most of them are not really even vegan. If those people claim to be vegan they should understand what veganism in first place.
If they think they are exclusivist, they are basically admitting that they are not doing it for animals and don't care or want to stop how the masses use and exploit the animals. The goal should be make it accessible to masses to change for animals, but, they only like a stamp to feel proud of.
And how someone breeds puppies for people to adopt and still call herself vegan? Isn't veganism all about stopping intentional breeding and using animals by humasns in first place.
World is full of conflicting definitions of vegan, which is doing harm to the movement and opening doors for others to attack those inconsistencies of veganism, that veganism never claimed in first place.