"You're JUST a Youtube Vegan" — DON'T BE ASHAMED.
29 April 2017 [link youtube]
This is "a more modest manifesto" for Veganism WITHIN YOUTUBE, and the important role that youtube plays in many of our lives. Don't quit, don't be ashamed: if youtube is the only thing remotely resembling activism you've got going on in your life, recognize it for what it is (the good and the bad), don't lose your sense of purpose, and rep your set.
Youtube Automatic Transcription
look guys in the history of United
States of America Mothers Against Drunk Driving is one of the most successful examples of a civil society organization okay they lobbied for social political change they have a huge foundation they've got a voice in government they passed legislation that they wanted passed they changed the history of the world they have public education and outreach campaigns huge presence in high schools reaching out to the youth and thus ultimately the Fed impact changing the culture but unlike veganism their whole movement is based on something highly visible that everyone sees the reality of day by day on the front page of the newspaper and on the side of the road as they drive down the highway okay car crashes have a kind of reality an indisputable impossible to ignore impossible Bobby a reality that everyone in the political process faces up to right the car crashes literally stack up by the side of the road that dead bodies stack up at the morgue the headlines stack up in the newspaper and there's a sense in which we can really easily imagine an alternate history an alternate universe in which Mothers Against Drunk Driving never existed in which there was no public login campaign but basically basically the same legal changes happen basically the same cultural changes happen maybe not as fast maybe not in the same way because we can all imagine so easily that one way or another people have to face up to the awesome sense of responsibility that getting drunk and driving a car can lead to the deaths of hapless strangers and everyone knows someone who's been in a drunk driving accident whether it's fatal or not and everyone sees in the newspaper these actions probably okay but what we do here in veganism is invisible unless we make it visible all right the only time the animals getting slaughtered appear in the newspaper is if the truck brings them to the slaughterhouse gets a car crash if you die rhotic Lee I have seen that where you know people don't give a damn if a million cows get slaughtered but there are 20 cows and the car has a car crash and then that's a big deal in the newspapers the cows end up some of the cows end up running around free or some story like that cows sheep pigs we do have stories of that about car crashes right I kind of see one generation after another here in the demi-monde here in vegan YouTube they sign up with a certain sense of idealism and purpose and then they get disenchanted they lose that sense of purpose and they need to even feel ashamed they feel ashamed to be just a youtube Leegin right and as I've said many times myself talking on YouTube is not real activism it's not now I'm going to put in a cab you hear I got an email from my boy Dorney Dorney is a vegan activist in Ireland and Dorney really does have a vegan community he does have a circle of fellow activists he does have a movement he's a part of and he made the choice that for him there was just no point in producing the same kind of YouTube content that other people were already producing so he would quit YouTube but he would continue in the movement and he has a real moment the apartment okay so shout out Dorney that's great I can totally relate to that if you've got that luxury you've got that choice for the vast majority of us we don't have that choice for the vast majority of us in YouTube or maybe for you it's Facebook or whatever let's just stick with YouTube for this video YouTube may be the only little piece of the movement you've got any control over but you've got any ownership of that you can participate okay maybe that's because you live somewhere where there is no vegan community and I know you know I spoke to an Israeli filmmaker the Israeli documentary filmmaker who made a life according to ohad and when I talked to him he said that for him watching my videos was a bit surreal because I talked about the fact that veganism the community isn't yet but its own conspire to be it isn't really even a movement yet but it's like to aspire to be because this guy this filmmaker he lives in Tel Aviv he lives in one of the only places in the world where it really has already reached that critical mass where it really is a movement it really is a community they really do have the kind of events and institutions you know that I'm saying veganism desperately needs and doesn't have right so the way you may just live somewhere I mean as I did in Victoria BC as I did many place in the world where there is no movement or no community for you to be a part of and the other hand a lot of you a lot you know what I'm talking about whether or not you ever fess up on the internet wouldn't you have a reflect on a lot of you may be living in places where there are other vegan activists there are other aspiring vegans who want to make plus difference in the world but you're really needed from them or they are alienated from you there are some barriers whether they're political differences or simply you regard them as crazy or they regard you as crazy to you regardless of who's at fault maybe you're all crazy but there are some differences where you can't cooperate with them they can't cooperate with you maybe they're too left-wing maybe they're to right-wing maybe they're just too stupid maybe they're obsessed with particular issues in the movement that you don't want to get involved with you totally possibly are living somewhere where the vegans are only doing anti-vivisection activism where they're only doing anti-fur activism and for you that's not where it's at right you could be living somewhere I mean the social side they will do a begin picnic once with only thing the people were talking about was food you know like obviously there are a lot of Facebook groups like that there were a lot of YouTube channel for that and you know I'm saying there it's like yeah you know we can talk about you know where to buy where to buy cheaper strawberries like you you how where is this conversation going you like you can sit down with your meeting on some peakins and there's no potential for activism because they're vegans who are only interested in lifestyle they're only interested in food only restartable gourmet cooking or something you know this place that totally fine but if that's it if that's all you've got in common substantial you could be elated for them for that reason so look guys I mean if your YouTube begin don't be ashamed don't get you know disheartened don't lose your motivation and don't drop out for that reason I've seen people like Jason Posey no you know look people come into this and they say how much it means to them and how important it is when they're on the way in and then when they're on the way out when they quit they pretend it never meant anything like it never mattered you know it matter this is a big part of your life well a lot of us it is whether you have 300 viewers or 30,000 viewers wherever you're at in the demi-monde man making and uploading videos talking real talk sharing your hopes and aspirations in your life it matters it matters now and it's going to matter 10 years from now when you look back on those videos it may matter 20 years from now when you watch those videos with your own kids or your grandkids I just made that video talking about how did I first get involved with Cambodia right what if my daughter asked me that question 20 years from now I can give an answer then 20 years from now but it won't be the same as the answer I gave today it's very meaningful just to the amount on what life to have that kind of video as a record of who I am how to change and it's meaningful to YouTube what do you think of it in those terms not what you have kids are not however you think of your own future for your future personally and for the future of the movement I really think it is meaningful in a guy like Jason fizzy know he worked so hard at one stage he was in durianrider shadow and then he worked so hard to get at a dirty minor shadow but one stage he was the guy standing next to durianrider at the Thai fruit festival that's how people knew him he was literally the guy standing there staring right at those events and then he was known for the longest time as hey Nia's boyfriend the guy standing next to Hannya and he worked so hard to get out of that he worked so hard to build up a you know an internet presence on his own terms and then at some point he just decides to throw it away like it's nothing like never really mattered now on some level depending on what your video content is but I can identify with that if your videos are about permanent vacation course of course it's meaningless if your videos are about going swimming whether it's insane my or in Greece or in Germany videos about weight loss how much do you really have to say about weight loss of course you're going to run out of your good or out of the content at some point sure you're going to move on but if your videos are about you if your videos about your life your hope your aspirations if your videos are about this movement if your videos are about giving voice to the voiceless don't be ashamed don't be ashamed because at the end of the day this is not like a car crash this is something invisible the animals have no voice unless you give voice to the animals the ecological issues are completely invisible unless someone stands up and complains about them nobody sees the difference between a polluted river on a non polluted river most the time we don't see the difference of air pollution or any other stuff and above all else dreams do not exist without dreamers and other people won't even know the dream is out there and to live if we don't stand up and make our voices heard and talk about our lives talk about our hopes and inspiration and say yeah I dream this dream too I'm another person's out there I don't want to be part of a society that's built on the infinite exploitation of animals the unending meaningless slaughter of millions of animals I don't want to be a part of that culture I want this culture to change I want to be in a future on a planet or in a country or in a society or in a community or in a suburb where people see the value of an animal's life as more than zero as being enough you know just sacrifice the the fleeting pleasure of the difference between a you know hamburger made at a tofu and a hamburger made out of rotting carcasses you know all the other levels do I have to repeat this stuff you guys but if you're not talking about that dream and what it means in your life whether that's the suffering you go through or the aspirations of the joys you know the good and the bad of it nobody is going to know and it means so much it means a lot to your fellow vegans it means a lot to your family members it means a lot to the people who know you personally it means a lot of the people who will know you personally who haven't met you yet there are people who are my friends now who can watch my youtube videos from two years ago and really understand who I am where I'm come Ramin you know don't be ashamed yeah it would be great if you could be the head of an influential and important foundation like PCRM or even if you could be a retino a minor secretary or functionary in an institution like pea serum the vast majority of us can't be the vast majority of us never will be okay it'd be great if you can be doing real world activism that's really effective and really meaningful or real-world research or running your own vegan restaurant or your own foundation sure but if this is all you've got really remember it's worth a lot more than nothing because this movement if we don't communicate it if we don't make it real and accessible and meaningful for one another for new vegans in the future for the friends and family we've already got for the friends and family we haven't met yet then unlike that car crash on the side of the road this it is that this is a disaster that everyone's going to ignore no one's going to know that it even exists and no one is going to know how much it means and why it matters to you and me
States of America Mothers Against Drunk Driving is one of the most successful examples of a civil society organization okay they lobbied for social political change they have a huge foundation they've got a voice in government they passed legislation that they wanted passed they changed the history of the world they have public education and outreach campaigns huge presence in high schools reaching out to the youth and thus ultimately the Fed impact changing the culture but unlike veganism their whole movement is based on something highly visible that everyone sees the reality of day by day on the front page of the newspaper and on the side of the road as they drive down the highway okay car crashes have a kind of reality an indisputable impossible to ignore impossible Bobby a reality that everyone in the political process faces up to right the car crashes literally stack up by the side of the road that dead bodies stack up at the morgue the headlines stack up in the newspaper and there's a sense in which we can really easily imagine an alternate history an alternate universe in which Mothers Against Drunk Driving never existed in which there was no public login campaign but basically basically the same legal changes happen basically the same cultural changes happen maybe not as fast maybe not in the same way because we can all imagine so easily that one way or another people have to face up to the awesome sense of responsibility that getting drunk and driving a car can lead to the deaths of hapless strangers and everyone knows someone who's been in a drunk driving accident whether it's fatal or not and everyone sees in the newspaper these actions probably okay but what we do here in veganism is invisible unless we make it visible all right the only time the animals getting slaughtered appear in the newspaper is if the truck brings them to the slaughterhouse gets a car crash if you die rhotic Lee I have seen that where you know people don't give a damn if a million cows get slaughtered but there are 20 cows and the car has a car crash and then that's a big deal in the newspapers the cows end up some of the cows end up running around free or some story like that cows sheep pigs we do have stories of that about car crashes right I kind of see one generation after another here in the demi-monde here in vegan YouTube they sign up with a certain sense of idealism and purpose and then they get disenchanted they lose that sense of purpose and they need to even feel ashamed they feel ashamed to be just a youtube Leegin right and as I've said many times myself talking on YouTube is not real activism it's not now I'm going to put in a cab you hear I got an email from my boy Dorney Dorney is a vegan activist in Ireland and Dorney really does have a vegan community he does have a circle of fellow activists he does have a movement he's a part of and he made the choice that for him there was just no point in producing the same kind of YouTube content that other people were already producing so he would quit YouTube but he would continue in the movement and he has a real moment the apartment okay so shout out Dorney that's great I can totally relate to that if you've got that luxury you've got that choice for the vast majority of us we don't have that choice for the vast majority of us in YouTube or maybe for you it's Facebook or whatever let's just stick with YouTube for this video YouTube may be the only little piece of the movement you've got any control over but you've got any ownership of that you can participate okay maybe that's because you live somewhere where there is no vegan community and I know you know I spoke to an Israeli filmmaker the Israeli documentary filmmaker who made a life according to ohad and when I talked to him he said that for him watching my videos was a bit surreal because I talked about the fact that veganism the community isn't yet but its own conspire to be it isn't really even a movement yet but it's like to aspire to be because this guy this filmmaker he lives in Tel Aviv he lives in one of the only places in the world where it really has already reached that critical mass where it really is a movement it really is a community they really do have the kind of events and institutions you know that I'm saying veganism desperately needs and doesn't have right so the way you may just live somewhere I mean as I did in Victoria BC as I did many place in the world where there is no movement or no community for you to be a part of and the other hand a lot of you a lot you know what I'm talking about whether or not you ever fess up on the internet wouldn't you have a reflect on a lot of you may be living in places where there are other vegan activists there are other aspiring vegans who want to make plus difference in the world but you're really needed from them or they are alienated from you there are some barriers whether they're political differences or simply you regard them as crazy or they regard you as crazy to you regardless of who's at fault maybe you're all crazy but there are some differences where you can't cooperate with them they can't cooperate with you maybe they're too left-wing maybe they're to right-wing maybe they're just too stupid maybe they're obsessed with particular issues in the movement that you don't want to get involved with you totally possibly are living somewhere where the vegans are only doing anti-vivisection activism where they're only doing anti-fur activism and for you that's not where it's at right you could be living somewhere I mean the social side they will do a begin picnic once with only thing the people were talking about was food you know like obviously there are a lot of Facebook groups like that there were a lot of YouTube channel for that and you know I'm saying there it's like yeah you know we can talk about you know where to buy where to buy cheaper strawberries like you you how where is this conversation going you like you can sit down with your meeting on some peakins and there's no potential for activism because they're vegans who are only interested in lifestyle they're only interested in food only restartable gourmet cooking or something you know this place that totally fine but if that's it if that's all you've got in common substantial you could be elated for them for that reason so look guys I mean if your YouTube begin don't be ashamed don't get you know disheartened don't lose your motivation and don't drop out for that reason I've seen people like Jason Posey no you know look people come into this and they say how much it means to them and how important it is when they're on the way in and then when they're on the way out when they quit they pretend it never meant anything like it never mattered you know it matter this is a big part of your life well a lot of us it is whether you have 300 viewers or 30,000 viewers wherever you're at in the demi-monde man making and uploading videos talking real talk sharing your hopes and aspirations in your life it matters it matters now and it's going to matter 10 years from now when you look back on those videos it may matter 20 years from now when you watch those videos with your own kids or your grandkids I just made that video talking about how did I first get involved with Cambodia right what if my daughter asked me that question 20 years from now I can give an answer then 20 years from now but it won't be the same as the answer I gave today it's very meaningful just to the amount on what life to have that kind of video as a record of who I am how to change and it's meaningful to YouTube what do you think of it in those terms not what you have kids are not however you think of your own future for your future personally and for the future of the movement I really think it is meaningful in a guy like Jason fizzy know he worked so hard at one stage he was in durianrider shadow and then he worked so hard to get at a dirty minor shadow but one stage he was the guy standing next to durianrider at the Thai fruit festival that's how people knew him he was literally the guy standing there staring right at those events and then he was known for the longest time as hey Nia's boyfriend the guy standing next to Hannya and he worked so hard to get out of that he worked so hard to build up a you know an internet presence on his own terms and then at some point he just decides to throw it away like it's nothing like never really mattered now on some level depending on what your video content is but I can identify with that if your videos are about permanent vacation course of course it's meaningless if your videos are about going swimming whether it's insane my or in Greece or in Germany videos about weight loss how much do you really have to say about weight loss of course you're going to run out of your good or out of the content at some point sure you're going to move on but if your videos are about you if your videos about your life your hope your aspirations if your videos are about this movement if your videos are about giving voice to the voiceless don't be ashamed don't be ashamed because at the end of the day this is not like a car crash this is something invisible the animals have no voice unless you give voice to the animals the ecological issues are completely invisible unless someone stands up and complains about them nobody sees the difference between a polluted river on a non polluted river most the time we don't see the difference of air pollution or any other stuff and above all else dreams do not exist without dreamers and other people won't even know the dream is out there and to live if we don't stand up and make our voices heard and talk about our lives talk about our hopes and inspiration and say yeah I dream this dream too I'm another person's out there I don't want to be part of a society that's built on the infinite exploitation of animals the unending meaningless slaughter of millions of animals I don't want to be a part of that culture I want this culture to change I want to be in a future on a planet or in a country or in a society or in a community or in a suburb where people see the value of an animal's life as more than zero as being enough you know just sacrifice the the fleeting pleasure of the difference between a you know hamburger made at a tofu and a hamburger made out of rotting carcasses you know all the other levels do I have to repeat this stuff you guys but if you're not talking about that dream and what it means in your life whether that's the suffering you go through or the aspirations of the joys you know the good and the bad of it nobody is going to know and it means so much it means a lot to your fellow vegans it means a lot to your family members it means a lot to the people who know you personally it means a lot of the people who will know you personally who haven't met you yet there are people who are my friends now who can watch my youtube videos from two years ago and really understand who I am where I'm come Ramin you know don't be ashamed yeah it would be great if you could be the head of an influential and important foundation like PCRM or even if you could be a retino a minor secretary or functionary in an institution like pea serum the vast majority of us can't be the vast majority of us never will be okay it'd be great if you can be doing real world activism that's really effective and really meaningful or real-world research or running your own vegan restaurant or your own foundation sure but if this is all you've got really remember it's worth a lot more than nothing because this movement if we don't communicate it if we don't make it real and accessible and meaningful for one another for new vegans in the future for the friends and family we've already got for the friends and family we haven't met yet then unlike that car crash on the side of the road this it is that this is a disaster that everyone's going to ignore no one's going to know that it even exists and no one is going to know how much it means and why it matters to you and me