Veganism is gaining popularity, and yet, the excitement and endless curiosity associated with vegan celebrities and vegan food do not seem to extend to animal rights, the core aspect of veganism. There seems to be an inescapable assumption that the prevalence of the vegan lifestyle will lead to an increase in the concern over the welfare of nonhuman animals. However, the ideological mainstream narrative regarding the animal rights movement seems to be unwaveringly poor. The position of nonhuman rights still remains an "extreme" one and those advocating for said rights remain fringe "extremists," and nonhumans are still largely dismissed as collateral damage. Will the path of vegan consumerism eventually cause a shift in the animal rights narrative? Or are we missing some crucial factor...like the animals themselves?

Revisiting Veganuary

In what has now become a yearly ritual, this January, there was once again a surge in the number of mainstream discussions surrounding veganism. A considerable portion of this annual peak can be attributed to the great work by folks at Veganuary, a campaign that encourages people to try veganism in January. In fact, this year has seen a record number - 250,000 - of people sign up for Veganuary, a statistic that serves as a testament to the increasing popularity of the vegan lifestyle. It also foreshadows the direction the animal rights movement will likely take in the near future.

The increase in the number of vegans expectedly came with a dose of media publicity, a large portion of it surrounding a certain Piers Morgan. All one needs to know about Morgan is that he is an unfunny troll who thrives on making exaggerated statements and getting a rise out of people. He got a lot of warranted attention for expressing disdain for UK bakery chain Greggs' introduction of a vegan sausage roll.

Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns. https://t.co/QEiqG9qx2G — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 2, 2019

Despite the concurrent human rights abuses and government shutdowns, media outlets everywhere carried this piece of news like it was the most important thing in the world. Greggs banked on the publicity and ran a very effective campaign centered around Veganuary, and boy, did it work! The sausage rolls sold like well-marketed vegan hotcakes. Gregg's wasn't able to even keep up with the demand.

What happened next wasn't completely unexpected. Other fast food corporations like McDonald's and Pizza Hut joined in with sassy tweets; Morgan claimed victimhood; International news outlets ran stories on Morgan claiming victimhood; Morgan threw more tantrums; and news outlets ran more stories. Piers Morgan's bullshit dominated Veganuary. In fact, many nonvegans pledged to eat vegan sausages just to piss off Piers Morgan. Apparently, these people believe that annoying Morgan is a better reason to try vegan food than minimizing the suffering of animals.

Every meal I eat is around 50% meat, even breakfast. I ate roadkill deer for a month. I've tried veggie food but can't get into anything except cauliflower cheese (as a side!). That said, I will happily buy and consume a vegan sausage roll if it might piss off Piers Morgan. — KevyMetal (@metal_kevy) January 2, 2019

Although the Morgan thing was the big one, there were many other media vegan stories in January. Forbes deduced that veganism is in the spotlight this year, The Irish Times warned of the exaggerated perils of Veganuary, The Financial Times explored the financial aspects of "eating woke," Spiked warned against the "cult" of veganism, Independent.ie and The Guardian gave us vegan recipes, The Spectator announced that vegans are "winning the war on meat," Jeopardy the game show had a strangely inane vegan category, Channel 4 visited a vegan football club,The Chicago Tribune had conversations with those who tried Veganuary, and Adam ruined bacon. Things are going so well for veganism that "technology" can now be added to the list of reasons to go vegan, and Canada went as far as to recommend against animal products in its new food guide.

Things have not been looking that bad on the vegan food side either. Popular Science rightfully named the vegan egg alternative 'Just Egg' one of the greatest innovations of 2018. Due to the increasing popularity of vegan food, Sainsbury's is selling it right next to nonhuman flesh. Beyond Meat, the geniuses behind the absolutely amazing Beyond Burger, are planning to expand their products to include vegan steak and bacon. The Beyond Burger 2.0, the meatier version of its predecessor is also now available at Carl's Jr locations across the US. The Impossible Burger, the other big vegan meat burger, is getting a massive upgrade as well. Almond Breeze now has banana-flavoured milk (sounds gross to me, but whatever). Following a petition, Papa John's added vegan cheese to its menu. Aldi's has an entirely new range of vegan products and Lightlife is introducing vegan patties. Even McDonald's is stepping up its vegan game.

Vegan food wasn't even the most popular item on the plant-based menu this year; it was celebrities. Several celebrities came out in support of Veganuary. Jay-Z and Beyoncé even offered a chance to win a lifetime supply of concert tickets to their fans who try eating more vegan. After retaining his WWE championship, pro-wrestler Daniel Bryan switched out the leather belt for a vegan hemp one, making a point about veganism in the process.

There were also the made-up vegan celebrities. Snoop Dogg never claimed to be vegan as far as we know, but that didn't stop vegans for claiming him as one of our own for eating at a vegan restaurant and being friends with a vegan. David Beckham posted about vegan food on social media, and that was a reason to celebrate, apparently. Several vegans were also celebrating Chris Pratt's strange Bible-inspired cleanse. Incidentally, both Beckham and Pratt are avid hunters. And in my all-time favorite fake celeb-goes-vegan news, many vegans shared false information that Gordon Ramsey was going vegan because he ate a vegan pizza LAST year.

So What's the Problem?

The rise of veganism is undoubtedly a good thing. Veganism as a dietary lifestyle is finally being normalized to a sustainable extent. The more people talk about veganism and the more vegan products there are, the more vegans there obviously will be. At the same time, however, this hyperfocus on consumerist veganism ends up creating a massive distraction from what - or rather who - veganism is actually about: the animals.

Between the celebrity worship, television debates, and the vegan fast food, we have created a strong vegans vs. farmers atmosphere where both sides are trying to prove that their life choices are better than the alternative. And yes, considering the fragility of pro-animal agriculture position, vegans will end up winning the debate on every level and we will end up changing minds. We are at a point in history where we are finally starting to see incredible change on an international scale. My question is, isn't it time we expand this conversation, as much as possible, to not only include but firmly center nonhuman animals?

Veganism, after all, is only the beginning. Our speciesist attitudes extend far beyond the individual consumption of animals. A grave majority of humans, including most vegans, trivialize nonhuman rights to such an extent that they believe refraining from consuming animals on a personal level is the most we can do for them. This cannot be further from the truth. In spite of the rising number of vegans and the number of vegan ice-cream flavors, the global consumption of animals is higher than ever before.

This doesn't even include the myriad of other ways in which we exploit nonhuman animals. Their homes and natural habitats are being destroyed at an unprecedented rate. Animals are tortured in labs and imprisoned in zoos. While conditions and laws surrounding animals we consider 'pets' have improved in recent years, they are not nearly enough. Today, more than 150 million fishes are enslaved in American homes as pets, and none of them have any kind of protection under the law, whether it comes to breeding, transportation, abuse, or killing. Even our plant food production involves the killing of many, many animals. Veganism does not solve any of these massive problems because systemic issues require a lot more than individualist change; they require systemic solutions. And we cannot begin to successfully address the omnipresent problem of nonhuman exploitation unless and until we start centering the victims of such exploitation in mainstream discussions.

The other problem with focusing on vegans as the purveyors of veganism is that vegans, like all humans, make mistakes. Some vegans say and do ridiculous things. And whenever the media finds any such incidents of vegans being "crazy," they latch onto them and make them the news.

Take the following news stories, for instance.

You don't need to ban people from your own wedding; you just don't invite them. That's what this woman did, following which, she posted about it in a closed Facebook group. News websites ran with the story, accompanied by a rather sexist image of a weeping bride. When did vegans venting about their nonvegan relatives in a CLOSED vegan group become newsworthy?

So a Florida hippie couple fed their baby nothing but some poorly-concocted potato-formula. They shouldn't have. But why is this international news? Why isn't there equal targeted outrage when thousands upon thousands of nonvegans abuse and neglect their children?

The worst part is the way activism is reacted to. Every form of activism is too "extreme" and too "violent." When activists try to convey their message in a not-too-serious manner, they are just being silly, and when they do the same earnestly, they are being too "pushy" and "forceful." For example, take the following reaction to PETA's brilliant advocacy stunt, where they barbecued a toy dog to draw comparisons to other animals.

And it goes on and on. There hasn't been a single day in the past few years where I haven't seen some overeager news story about how "crazy" vegans can be. There hasn't been a single day where I haven't seen vegans whine about how activists make them look bad by gaining negative publicity. However, I know that that's how news media works-- it benefits off of creating drama targeting an outlier group. As overt discrimination in the form of racism, sexism, etc., becomes less socially acceptable by the day, the media will increasingly turn to a more tolerable target-- vegans. The horrible consequence of this is that those affected most by such media-induced negativity aren't vegans themselves; it's nonhuman animals whose lives are considered too unworthy of any positive attention.

To make matters worse, fame-hungry YouTubers like Rawvana and Tim Shieff have abandoned their fad vegan diets, leading to grotesque levels of despair among the white hippie vegan community. The media, as you have probably guessed by now, were all over this ingloriously unimportant drama. People don't stick to their diets, even if they are slim attractive-looking YouTubers; we know this. Let us please stop giving attention to every raw-dieting, smooth-talking, piss-drinking, science-denying loser on social media, and more importantly, let's stop idolizing them as the leaders of the movement. Why are these fools even remotely a thing?

In addition to the "crazy" vegan stories, there are also the "extremist" vegan stories. We have all seen those around; everything from PETA grilling a plastic dog to Cory Booker talking about the environmental impact of animal agriculture has been deemed extremist by media outlets. It's almost like any form of activism, however mild, leads to accusations of extremism. This portrayal of the "extremist vegan" also leads to some otherwise rational thinking vegans to lash out at fellow activists. Instead of attempting to understand and counter the media's false narratives, they blame the lack of progress in the animal rights movement on animal rights activists. For example, take this poorly-written criticism of PETA by a reputed animal rights advocate. Not only does the article fail to back up its atrociously grand accusations, judging by the comments, but its primary audience was nonvegans with absolutely no understanding of animal rights strategies or theory. It seems to be nothing but the writer's attempt to protect his status as an activist by distancing himself from the supposedly bad parts of the movement.

Here's a suggestion to animal advocates who would like to criticize the animal rights movement: do it internally, focus on actual strategical suggestions instead of making unsubstantiated claims about those you disagree with, and try not to make any arguments based on your fear of gaining a bad reputation. There is absolutely no point in writing critiques like this for non-activist, nonvegan audiences through platforms which don't have a history of publishing pro-animal articles. If you have a chance to write for such an audience, write about nonhuman animals. Why in the world would you squander an opportunity to introduce a nonvegan public to animal rights by needlessly complaining about fellow-activists instead? Why are you more keen to denounce a DxE protest or a PETA demonstration than you are to criticize animal exploitation?

To me, vegans seem to be as interested as everyone else in lessening the importance of nonhuman rights in favor of social standing. Whether it's excusing Steve Irwin's animal abuse or whether it's advocating prison for animal rescuers, vegans are not far behind others in making a mockery of the animal liberation movement. I think it's fair to say that these vegans who excuse animal abuse are a result of the popularity of the watered-down consumerist movement, which is what veganism has essentially become. In spite of being thrust into the spotlight, we have managed to stay in the shadows of true resistance.

In conclusion, Veganuary, vegan products, and anything else that normalizes veganism are good things, but they are hardly enough to create a moral paradigm shift for animals, especially when not supplemented by fierce animal rights advocacy. We should not be demonizing radical advocacy tactics and we should not be apologetic about our stances to appease the speciesist masses.

This fresh, trendy, fairly utopian rise of veganism does not brighten the dark corridors of the slaughterhouse. The mainstream acceptance of veganism does not challenge the root of the exploitation that nonveganism thrives on. The normalization of veganism does not denormalize speciesism.

Control the Narrative

One easy way to shift focus from consumerism to animal rights is by sharing important nonhuman-focused news stories ourselves, on our own social media platforms. Sure, Panda Express introducing vegan options is great and all, but there's no reason that should be filling our feeds while legislation affecting animals is given virtually no attention. It's time to bring back focus to the core of the vegan ethic - the animals.

Here are a few stories that you may have missed.

174 Foxes Liberated From the Fur Trade

In China, one hundred and seventy-four foxes find freedom after a fur farm shut down. Read more here.

The United States and Other Countries Fund Factory Farms in Sri Lanka

While the dairy industry is on its slow way out in many western countries, western corporations are investing large sums of money into expanding the dairy industry in Sri Lanka. This translates to extensive suffering for the animals who will be enslaved in these farms. Perhaps, instead of having petitions for corporations to provide veggie options, we need to demand that corporations like Nestle stop doing shit like this. Read more about the industry expansion here.

Psychological Mini-Experiment Demonstrates Our Callous Attitudes Towards "Roadkill"

Many of us ignore animals killed as "roadkill" because we consider them inevitable collateral damage. However, stories like this show that our attitudes towards such animals are a huge factor in how they are treated. We need to do a lot better.

New Jersey Assemblywoman Proposes Attorneys for Pets

Annette Quijano proposed legislation which, although, it pertains only to dogs and cats, will be a HUGE deal for many victims of abuse, if passed.

More Than 600 Chickens Find Sanctuary After "Poultry Farm" Goes Bankrupt

I don't know about you but I love a good "animal enslavement facility shuts down" story. After a dedicated effort from folks at Luvin Arms Animal Sanctuary and other activists, many of the chickens who had once been exploited in a Colorado farm were rescued and homed. Watch news coverage of the incident here.

Kellogg Ends Animal Testing

In a move that might have saved thousands of sentient lives, the cereal maker announced its decision to end animal testing.

Austin Zookeepers Speak Out Against Abuse

Zoos suck-- they are nothing but glorified prisons. In what has been termed a "zookeper's revolt," former and current staff members of the Austin Zoo opened up about the abuse within the facility, providing further evidence to expose zoos for what they really are.

Seals Reclaim California Beach During Government Shutdown

In a world where we humans have invaded nonhuman homes and destroyed their communities, these elephant seals in Carmel, California took back what is rightfully theirs by occupying the Piedras Blancas beach, forcing it to be closed to humans. Read the story here.

The Public Rallies Against an Industrial Dairy Farm In Hawaii...and Wins

In a significant victory for cows, the humans of Mahaulepu managed to shut down an industrial dairy farm even before it began, after a long legal battle.

A "Pink Revolution" Spells Immense Suffering for Pigs in Maharashtra

While Western countries move towards a society less reliant on nonhuman exploitation, Eastern countries are adopting the West's attitudes towards animals and have started to enslave them on an industrial scale. One recent example of such a shift can be seen through government-aided, massive factory farming in Maharashtra, India.

Cow Escapes Butcher, Charges Police, Takes Bullet and Leads Cops on Mile-Long Chase, Showing Tremendous Courage and Spirit Before Being Caught and Murdered

This story of resistance is both powerful and disheartening. Animals fight for their freedom every minute of their captivity. The enormity of the problem makes it so that very few can actually succeed in their quest for liberation. It's on us to make it easier for nonhumans to achieve liberation. Telling their stories is a good start.

Needless to say, these are but a few stories. With an endless amount of nonhuman exploitation comes an endless number of nonhuman stories. Some of these stories are hopeful and others are heart-breaking, but each one of them plays a prominent role in the lives of those it affects. We need to strategize our goals and actions around nonhuman lives, not around vegans. We need to make veganism about animals again.