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'Once You Know Something, You Can't Not
Know It': An Empirical Look at Becoming Vegan"
Author of original article: Barbara
McDonald
Originally published in Society and Animals
Volume 8, Number 1, 2000*
The author analyzed how people become vegan, defined as
objecting to the use of nonhuman animal products for food,
cosmetics, clothing, and vivisection. She interviewed 12 people
whom she determined to be committed vegans inasmuch as they had
been vegan for at least one year. She subsequently examined the
content of their accounts of becoming vegan and found common
elements of their experience. The article describes how they
learned about cruelty to animals in industries that exploit them;
decided whether and how to act on what they learned; and adopted
new practices that reject speciesism and do not support industries
that harm animals.
A broad finding was that learning to become vegan was rooted in
the interviewees' understanding of who they are and their place in
the world. Most were but some were not longtime "animal people"
before their transformations began. Key elements of the process of
learning to become vegan were as follows: an experience that
introduced the participant to animal cruelty and resulted in
repression of the experience or becoming inclined to learn more
and possibly to make a life-altering decision; acquiring new
knowledge of animal abuse or how to live as a vegan; making the
choice to become vegan; and establishing a new world view
according to which being vegan is morally right and the human
connection with other-than-human animals is paramount.
Most interviewees spent a long time-some took years-learning about
animal cruelty or how to live as a vegan after the experiences
that set them on their way. Two reacted by repressing their
initial experience, putting the information at the back of their
minds until a later event recalled it. Typically, reading played a
large part in the learning process after a sudden recognition
while, for example, viewing a video on cruelty to animals or
exchanging a long gaze with a deer. Several participants described
how they learned not to think of companion animals as the only
animals deserving of consideration. Most said recognizing that all
other animals share with human beings the capacity to feel pain
played an important part in their change to a vegan lifestyle.
Emotion and cognition were crucial. Emotion alone, such as horror
at learning of the clubbing of harp seals, did not teach
connections among one's customs, animal suffering, the kind of
person one wishes to be, and the kind of world one wishes to
inhabit. Nor did cognition, such as understanding that animals are
eaten and to be eaten they must first be killed, suffice to set
the interviewees on a new course-strong feelings for animals were
necessary. Once they committed themselves to veganism, the world
views participants adopted were informed by a felt connection with
animals and nature, the moral rightness of veganism, and
spirituality related to the oneness of all beings. Advocating for
the rights of animals became a dominant purpose in their lives.
Many interviewees recounted experiences in which family members
and others rebuffed their efforts to explain the need for a vegan
lifestyle. Most gave up trying to push their new practices and
world views on others but typically would provide information in
the hope that a seed would be planted that would eventually lead
to others' moving toward a vegan lifestyle. People's degree of
openness to new information appears to be an important element in
whether people repress or accept the kinds of knowledge that lead
to a vegan lifestyle. Understanding that and other findings of
this research may be valuable for all who work to bring about an
end to animal exploitation.
*Available from Psychologists for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals, P.O. Box 1297, Washington Grove,
MD 20880-1297; 301-963-4751.
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of Applied Animal Welfare Science or Society & Animals,
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