Veganism, the Long Game and the Short Game (Mike's Question).

got a question here from Mike on Raw
Mike on Raw I've known him via YouTube since forever he talks to me by a patreon once in awhile and he just was talking to me now by a you now which miraculously is working tonight in China live streaming application Mike asks a very simple question he asks if we say there was a long game and a short game to be played or vegans playing either game well today I think you have to separate this into a couple of categories and I think the real game that that you're asking about Mike is probably the culture or game there's a term that's not only used in disparaging a negative way new sweater by the way guys just just bought this today try I'm trying to look 65 is it working anyway you know I think I think what you're really asking about is what people in politics used to call the culture wars it's a shame the term the culture wars is now used only negatively and people tend to use it in reference to for example cultural struggles within the United States about the status of abortion with the status of homosexuals that this is a culture war that conservatives were trying to win not through Democratic means but through churches through through for example the contrast between the culture that you see on a left-wing University campus in the United States and a right-wing university campus in the United States I come from Canada I don't think we have any right-wing universities in Canada every every campus I've been on candidates so left-wing it's it's almost communist or there are there are a lot of Communists okay he first he campuses they pay up I probably you know what I think Prince Edward Island I think in Canada we have one right wing University that I know of but it was in the u.s. they're both so term culture wars is often used in that way disparagingly or lamenting ly about those struggles over those kinds changes but yeah I mean you talk about a long game and a short game I don't think we could possibly be talking about fundraising for a particular institution throwing a particular picnic having a particular you know concert or event like that which there's plenty of going on on planet earth under the heading of veganism which is you know hopeful in some ways I think the question is how are we trying to influence culture short term and long term um you know when you go to Google Ngram which is this internet-based application that measures how many times a word is used the word vegan the use has gone up exponentially but that's because Google Ngram is above all influenced by words in print traditional old-fashioned on paper book publishing and the word vegan is used all the time because it's used in cookbooks so the currency of the word itself as measured by Google and Graham and what-have-you cookbooks themselves are huge but do cookbooks influence cultural change I'd say no I mean if someone buys a cookbook as a gift to give to someone else who isn't already vegan that's a form of influence but I remember when I was in Germany and there's in effect no vegan food no vegan restaurants in the city I was in Germany I'm not even complaining it's just the reality I remember the one time I would see the word vegan leap out of me when I was walking past the bookstores one in particular in the front display window they had a couple of vegan recipe books you know think oh that legally thought you know kind of even if you've seen it before you can't help noticing the word vegan at the corner of your eye but you know this is like the old distinction tree hot media and cold media the fact that that book is sitting on a shelf doesn't mean that it's influencing cultural change it's like a lagging indicator people who already become vegan are buying vegan cookbooks or maybe some people aren't vegan or try to lose weight you know but the same indication before September 11th 2001 all the books about Islam as a religion were on the shelves at the bookstores and they were on the shelves of the libraries of course but I can remember because I was part of my own education I studied political science I studied politics in the Muslim world before September 11th and nobody was reading those books a parent not even in the courses that require you to read them and it used to be that a lot of the watchwords you know like the difference between the hadith and the Koran the different concepts that are fundamental to Muslim jurisprudence Muslim legal said nobody knew those terms if you said them in English in a political conversation people would just look at you like what what the hell are you talking about this is in a you know formal academic setting after September 11th everything changed so I mean the books were there you know but they weren't changing the world the world changed and then people started reaching out for making use of those books um I may seem like an exceedingly bizarre comparison to make but I do think it's a salient one in the same way when people become vegan they start making use of those those books and otherwise the books sit there you know as you know as meaningless and inert as a tombstone as easily ignored as a monument you can walk past the same monument on the street every day it means nothing to you and you know the other elements of cultural change the other elements of the movement give them life or what have you I don't know man I mean um so you know vegans trying to achieve cultural change uh the the people who are winning the people who are winning in the long game are the people honestly this is the only positive the people are opening restaurants restaurants are probably the most underrated institution and veganism I've talked to the vegans also but opening like a food truck you know mobile restaurant I do think that both in terms of the short game in the long game I think that restaurants as such you know inherently political restaurants vegan restaurants can be can be a very powerful card to be played I think for the short game the long game that is very positive I would really have to wrack my brains to think of even one other positive example under any heading whatsoever to mention here and you guys have heard me say if you've been watching this channel for a while I used to talk a lot about street protests the different methods of activism I haven't lately just couldn't like to repeat myself but you know when I see people you know down to and including like vegan gains running up to strangers and yelling at them on the street because they're wearing fur coats I understand why they're doing that I may sympathize that the motives or what-have-you but both in terms of the short game and the long game you know obviously no I do not think that's playing the game well and it's not just about the people who get yelled at the people wearing the fur coats I think the people who engage in those forms of activism themselves even though it may be cathartic and the short term long term they burn out hopefully they move on to other more productive forms of activism but a lot of them just burn out on activism period if that's their their motive activism so that's it man I mean restaurants they are institutions and that is really currently the only positive institution-building aspect of what's going on in veganism that I know of that I can think of there is today there's no such thing as a vegan theater there's no such thing as a vegan sitcom there could be on YouTube we could put together a vegan sitcom we still do not have anything like a vegan news program comparable to you know the Young Turks sorry clothes and there's a guy named clothes who tries to do that it's not it's not what I'm talking about you know we have nothing going on in terms of publications like newspapers or magazines I know sorry I don't want to go on and on here aside from the restaurants which are obviously crew I don't even know about saris a good example I don't even know about vegan gyms I have talked to some of the beings with the idea of opening a vegan gym you know place to workout but all the stuff is is vegan and including the foods of you know well yeah so someone here in the chat is just joking at least there's vegan drama so those people have already burnt out also right we just had vegan cheetah so he's gonna quit etc etc yeah [Music] hopefully that wasn't too abstract for you Mike