Wearing Fur in a Vegan Restaurant: Outreach vs. Exclusivity.

why does the vegan restaurant exist does
the vegan restaurant exist as a place for vegans or does it exist as a place to reach out to and make comfortable non vegans to cater to non vegans and do you sacrifice the principles of veganism through outreach itself about us yen [Music] think the fundamental problem here I want to address is this problem of thinking of veganism in terms of outreach as opposed to thinking of veganism in terms of principle and the assumed tension between the two that if we take a stand on a matter of principle then we're not reaching out to non vegans we're not making this kind of effort there was a memorable video from a guy called vegan nut vegan not as a friend of vegan gains to my knowledge they're both based in Toronto vegan nut in a restaurant yelling at people because they were wearing fur coats inside the vegan restaurant no I didn't make my point because you're still here it's disgusting [Music] do you think those animals were harassed when they were skinned alive for a fashion statement okay now the owner of the restaurant didn't like that the owner or the manager could be the managers but the boss present in the restaurant the boss said no this restaurants opened everybody we want meat eaters here why does the vegan restaurant exist does the vegan restaurant exist as a place for vegans or does it exist as a place to reach out to and make comfortable non vegans to cater to non vegans and do you sacrifice the principles of veganism through outreach itself to me this is parallel this is parallel this question of you know idiots like a natural vegan saying well we shouldn't really inhibition it would be extreme to actually preach veganism we should we should just you know preach meatless Mondays in this horseshit you know you know basically conflating veganism and flexitarian ISM or whatever gonna say I don't know if what if you had a vegan restaurant that actually refused to admit people because they were wearing fur what if you have a vegan restaurant that refuses to admit people because they're wearing wool what if you have a vegan restaurant that refuses to admit people because they're wearing leather shoes that's most of the population in Toronto in New York in most Western countries the majority be wearing leather shoes leather boots what if there's a middle path what if people enter the restaurant wearing leather shoes and at the door you have a coat check and say I'm sorry could you change into these slippers you know like a Japanese restaurant or Japanese different types of Japanese attitude Japanese style you have some plastic sandals some plastic slippers and gettin's I'm sorry could you take off your leather shoes here at the door and where these plastic slippers and said this is a vegan restaurant I'm sorry I realize you have a fur coat can you leave your fur coat in the coat check there is a middle way there is but a lot of people would say no and we'll walk out of the restaurant right they'd say forget it I'm not taking off my shoes to sit here and eat with you it's sure a lot of people will turn around all you would lose a lot of business walk at the door you know I think there's an interesting parallel I would not do what vegan not had done in that video in that video vegan not just verbally whatever excoriates these people for daring to wear a fur coat in a vegan restaurant I wouldn't have done that I think it's only the role of the manager or the waiter or the owner of the boss I think that's the rule the restaurant owner to make that it's a I think it's not my role as a patron I think I can go I could go and ask the waiter I could ask the manager but I would not myself kick out a customer because it's not my business not my decision and you know to give a more extreme example in parallel what would you do if somebody walks into a Jewish synagogue into a Jewish temple wearing a Nazi swastika wearing a Nazi symbol the most obvious the easiest answer is to say they should not be allowed to enter the Jewish temple because you're assuming the purpose of the temple is for that exclusive community right but the truth is one of the most important and one of the most powerful things you can do in running a Jewish temple is outreach is to reach out to anti-semitic people to reach out to neo-nazis and literally invite them into the temple and try to get them to see you as a human being right now obviously the level of hostility is on another level there but in a sense the most beautiful thing you could possibly do for the Prague of human civilization would be to actively have outreach to actively invite in anti-semitic people who might be indeed wearing a swastika and sit down and have that conversation it's a difficult question I think you know the reality is vegans need both vegans do need a place where they can sit down and say this place is for us this is by us for us this is our temple and a lot of vegans are so morose and sick at heart and maybe so confrontational because they lack that in their lives they don't have a synagogue they go they don't have a temple to go to they may not have a family they can go to if in your own house in your own home your parents are eating meat it may be your own wife is eating meat or your own husband is eating meat a lot of mixed couples like that you feel hounded and disrespected and denigrated everywhere and then when you go to that vegan restaurant you sit down and you feel this is the one place I should not have to look at your fur coat or your leather shoes this is the one place that's supposed to be special for me it's supposed to be for me right but on the other hand there's the question of outreach and as I say there's the question of remaining steadfast in our principles of not compromising what veganism is in reaching out to meat eaters and inviting them in ultimately so they can sit down and have that conversation and CSS human beings ah Lucien