Veganism as Digital Activism: Moving Beyond Bikinis & Bicycles.

and real-world veganism, just as there's a
real-world political activism. that's not something to beat yourself up about. from some of the guys who are in Thailand Thailand) who are part of the online phenomenon new vegan movement; the question they sent given the concerns I've already raised, given further and further away from the core concerns is not about looking good in a bikini, that and riding it over 100 km a day in Thailand; veganism have nothing to do with being on to the world on instagram a phony life of name it. what can we do now? give a sincere answer or not?" geared to digital veganism as something that to the real world, but only tenuously, and the geographical reality: we're talking about of whom are in Thailand, some of whom are to make a difference, and people who already in their way), but who are definitely not in any one place. who are in Northern Thailand have shockingly in Northern Thailand, and whether or not that's what can we do now? work with, positively, constructively, what also given the opportunities. (who are spread out all over the world), this bit strange, but it reflects positive examples and real-world religious organizations (you from the same two fields, politics and religion). in this situation, vegans on Youtube, digital can build a talk-show, similar to T.Y.T., and successful news-discussion programs on I said that, "Wait a minute, you're not contrasting talking about a different type of emphasis". real-world issues (any kind of sincere reporting, an impossibly high standard here to compare Turks is a very casual format for debate and when you put up that kind of content, when political issues (and, of course, vegans would as The Young Turks, they'd have more interest of issues, you define your mandate however week after week and just show a sober, sincere mistakes and you come back in the next episode (showing, "look, we messed up last week, here is, even at that lowest level of just discussion is a constituency in the old-fashioned political kinds of people who are not vegan will be good reporting, or good discussion of what of the facts, whatever it is you're doing) vegan perspective implicitly built into that, fore, if you just have a group of vegans doing will build a constituency. direction will (over time) select themselves, in that their big political accomplishment, spun off an anti-corruption program that's to try to reform legislation that defines in the United States. narrow constituency in the U.S. saying, "We're going to build a news program about political corruption". be the internet news-show that talks about financial reform in the American political is, they build a generally respectable, factual issues, and then within that broad audience who will really support these efforts to reform in the last 25 years in American politics it's a unique example and its uniqueness means in Asia, my experience with Asian politics, Confucianism, and other Asian religions. Dynasty network; they abbreviate that as N.T.D., group of Buddhists… people involved with best to say Buddhism in the narrow definition a religious movement that (in many ways) nobody politically credible. democracy, and that they're, um, critical China). traditionalists they're into respecting your but conservative from a Chinese perspective. in terms of left and right. stuff, you can find them through Youtube, news-network, they do documentaries, they kinds of things, and they broadcast over Satellite and professional-looking than The Young Turks, a unique example. small, crowded nation) there's actually a channels, that are operated by different religious sometimes groups that were always in Taiwan, by talking in a transparent, down-to-earth prove, again and again, you build up a constituency: people and those like-minded people may donate Young Turks you spin off a separate political question of what can happen now to make the current-events talk-show (The Young Turks about original, primary-source journalism) who could really co-operate, who all happen on Youtube that's really substantive, that is not about how good you look in a bikini, in the world. your mandate and how you define it from day based in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada, talk a lot about First Nations issues, about you're going to want to look at agriculture animal rights to some extent; you would define issues that are out. Chiang Mai, if you were putting together a original opinions [in reaction to] what's in the air. you'd have to have people who come on really we not going to report on?" news show. and she, as one woman, alone, is currently about vegan issues that have popped up in with Beyonce deciding she's vegan, and these newspapers). although that's very praiseworthy in its way. who have written to me (from Northern Thailand, been going on there), some of them have said, shallow, and it may be vain, it may be all bicycles, but we want to think of this as showing beauty, luxury, a life of self-indulgence, showing is a meaningless life, and you're life." man. see the harm in it: they can't see the harm weight-loss miracle, in promising you that that you'll make more money, that you'll be to work a four-hour work-week, and you're power of positive thinking: that's not a slippery is some cult bullshit. but it does not build a constituency in this you're not celebrating the most meaningless, and you're not promoting to people, "Hey, vacation in Chiang Mai, you too can live a abundance'", and all this other stuff that on. in Northern Thailand, you guys who are making believe in it, why are you preaching it to the Western world? ticket to go to Northern Thailand? already been on a bicycle and gone more than like. you believed that people could have "abundance" thinking, why don't you preach that to the that message, as a charity, to people who Thailand, from Myanmar into Thailand, who bring that message to the people who need if it worked? already have money, who already have leisure? an airplane ticket, and pretend to dissimulate for turning vegan; with a whole bunch of distractions, have nothing to do with the core issues of veganism, and I accept that. the illusion they present on Instagram is veganism. in, in Canada, and their idea of vegan activism literally carrying out sabotage. real-world, that's not digital veganism), is, "Look, I've never met a vegan where I future, to make a difference, is spending you're doing [to yourself]." I don't think it's a good use of your time you may imagine committing crimes and going action or protest in real life. back door into City Call when you haven't issues, all these concerns that are central ethical, public form of engagement, and only look at bending the rules. in Toronto). issues publicly and responsibly in terms of from that range of options and issues I've going out and trying to sabotage a mink farm in the first place, you know, he went to jail we're looking at on Youtube and Instagram it's so far away. the question, "Look, should people really a mink farm?" so far away from its core issues and become "Don't I look hot in this new swimsuit?", our money (or wasting our parents' money) manufactured in Italy, while I'm in Southeast and the struggle that's just out of the frame. sympathize with all these people, okay. important issue that there is almost no wrong that any debate of this kind is making a positive is better than the silence that we're all question, "How can we do better in 'digital can 'we' as a group of entrepreneurs and Youtube scattered around the world, how can we do at The Young Turks. and religious movements, that built up their not by glorifying themselves, not by making kind of snake-oil-salesman "positive thinking", not by any of that cult bullshit, but by having issues, through active research, informed when you're wrong about something. that. be a plurality of vegan voices, both on a of particular places, like Chiang Mai, Thailand, people on Youtube, right now, talking about than bikinis and bicycles.