Compromise: A False Idol. (vegan / vegans / veganism)

hey guys what up this is a really short
video in response to a question I got on the livestream you guys will notice from time to time I post on YouTube that I'm live-streaming click on the link the live streams are on another website called Yunel which is in some ways a sister website to youtube and in some ways a competitor but when you see that you can click over and join the conversation and sometimes I do announce my live streams in advance so I do answer questions from people who donate $1 a month on patreon and I answer questions from whoever happens to show up when I'm live-streaming and and this is an example that someone just showed up and and in happen ask question the question boils down to what would you do if you are a vegan and your parents are demanding that you compromise with the compromise being that you're expected to eat meat or fish a couple of times a year no it wasn't stated in the question but I'd assume the nature of the compromise is Christmas Thanksgiving Kwanzaa du Valley Presidents Day yo the Ides of March that there are some I assume it's for special holidays or especially maybe it's going to your brother's wedding wouldn't it be easier for the whole family if when you went to the wedding you just ate meat like everyone else I assume that's the point and that it's not that they want you to eat meat when you happen to be at the side of a road and stop at a McDonald's but it wasn't wasn't stated the question some parents might be won't make some some of you the others so I started my reply by saying it is a little bit different depending on the person you're giving the advice to you know not everyone is confident standing up to an authority figure not everyone is confident standing up to an authority figure who raised you and cared for you and you have these kinds of complex emotional connections - it can be hard it can be traumatizing it can be it can be really traumatizing for the person doing the standing up whether or not it's traumatizing for your parents I kind of doubt it and you know beyond that is the question then of what kind of rhetoric you deploy if you're gonna stand up here your parents so comment on that first and they don't comment a little bit about the concept of compromise itself here's an example what I used to call a vegan mind trick used to have a blog called vegan mine if your parents ask you to be a meat-eater for just a few days a year you can turn around and ask them for me would you be Muslim for just a few days a year the point being if you converted to Islam would they participate in Muslim prayer going to Muslim temple going to an Islamic temple participating in that ideology that religion and that identity for a few days a year for a few festivals probably for a few ceremonies a few days a year now I think again most white Western parents would be shocked at that they would would suddenly make them think about it in a very different way that the type of compromise they're asking you to make is a compromise an ideological compromise compromising your identity a compromise in your beliefs that is I think in many ways much more fundamental than someone pretending to be Muslim because you can you can participate in Muslim ceremonies without actually believing in the Muslim faith and you can participate in Muslim ceremonies without doing harm and the reality is by buying meat and eating meat you are doing harm you're doing damage you're doing damage to yourself to ecology to the animals etc right there are real outcomes okay now I think I mean again this is the problem with giving advice on the Internet there are some families where if you said that to your parents they would be delighted and say oh yeah great that'd be fine they'd be totally happy to for you know become a fake Muslim as it were for several days a year there'd be some families where you could ask the same thing about Hinduism instead of Islam and it might be more impactful to say okay well if I want you to participate in Hindu ceremonies and maybe dress as and behave as and learn the the behaviors of and pretend that you're Hindu would you do it or not there might be some families in which asking the parents well would you join the Republican Party for me would you come to a Republican Party meeting and support Donald Trump for several days a year where that could get them thinking along the lines and of course for other families that wouldn't be effective at all it's better give me bucks - and and what that that impact every consideration might be but you know I think the next step has to be if you say to them look dad if you came with me and you sat in the crowd and you just applauded for Donald Trump we're assuming this is someone who opposes Donald Trump or in another family you know you could switch the examples we ask them to come to the Democrat Party sorry for those of you aren't Americans you can use your imagination you know in your country someone supporting an opposite political candidate the reality is dad mom if you come to a rally for Donald Trump and you just sit there quietly and politely and go through the motions of applauding and approving of Donald Trump you do no harm there are no outcomes it makes no difference all you would be agreeing to do would be to come and listen Buddhists actually make that argument about converting to Buddhism by the way that all you're committing to is to is to come and listen you know and I think you could say that even about you know becoming Muslim in a temporary sense in a non-committal sense if you're not believing anything what are you actually doing by participating in the prayer what are you actually doing you're just coming and listening and yet it's stirring to people even have to imagine doing that several this year because it violates their sense of ethics ideology identity etc they don't want to be a fake Muslim for even one day let alone several days a year they don't want to sit in the pews and listen at a Catholic Church if they're not Catholic and so on even though there is no harm but the difference is unlike going to a rally for Donald Trump when you're going to a rally for the meat party when you're eating beef when you're eating yogurt and ice cream and fish you really are doing harm you really are having these kinds of negative impacts apart from in addition to the sense of you know violating or sacrificing your personal identity okay so I think that wraps it up for this video the general point I wanted to make about I've said it in many ways on the internet I've said it in writing of set in videos I think one of the false ideologies were raised with from childhood forward is the idea that that compromise is a good thing and it's not it's worse than poison compromise is a false god compromise is something that people are taught to believe in and it's an idol that people are taught to make sacrifices to and that is very very dangerous I do not think that anyone should sacrifice anything for the sake of compromise and that's exactly what our society is constantly urging us to do and you know apart from sacrificing your time or your money or sacrificing your worldly possessions I mean traditional religious sacrifices only taking something precious and putting it into the fire the worst thing about the the ideologies of compromise the false idol the false god of compromise is that what you're being asked to sacrifice is really something much more precious than anything you own you're being asked to sacrifice your ethics you're being asked to sacrifice who you are so whether it's your parents who are asking you to compromise or an authority figure in a school or university I tell you any time you do it you're gonna look back later and and regret it and say I wish I hadn't compromised about this Yale