I Don’t Eat Fake Meat: An Etymological Appeal for Living (and Speaking) Compassionately
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I believe that change will occur for animals only as we change their status, and one thing we need to change is the way we talk about them. Every word we choose can contribute to upholding the existing paradigm that sees animals as ours to hurt, ours to eat, ours to kill, ours to use, as ours to do with whatever we please. OR we can choose words that reflect a new compassionate paragigm: one that sees animals as ours to share this planet with – not as subjects of ours but as co-habitants, as fellow Earthlings. We can shift that paradigm everytime we open our mouths to speak. Join me on an etymological journey that demonstrates that how we talk about animals can liberate THEM and US from our violence against them.
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5 Comments for this Post
October 25, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Hello Colleen! I’m very excited to be posting on your blog. 30 Day Vegan Challenge was my single Christmas gift request last year and I read it cover to cover in one day. I’ve been vegan for 14 months now and have never felt better and more inspired. I just discovered your podcasts and am so looking forward to listening to each episode.
You bring up great points about vocabulary and the importance of speaking about animals with respect and compassion. Instead of saying “I don’t eat meat”… I can say “I don’t eat animals” – to many it may seem to be the same thing, but I hope to bring some awareness about the differentiation between meat and animals.
Thank you for the amazing and very real insight you share through your books, website and podcasts.
October 30, 2012 at 5:06 pm
Hello Colleen,
I’ll be celebrating my one year “veganniversary” pretty soon, but I still have a lot of struggles with language and perception in regards to the over-culture perception of a so-called healthy diet. In listening to your “I Don’t Eat Fake Meat” episode about vegan language, and I am now wondering how I can re-design my own way of talking about my food choices in a way that helps demystify and positive-fy veganism. I want to thank you for that! You have given me a new perspective on this issue, and have given me a lot of tools to use.
I wanted to ask two questions that I think are related to this topic.
1) How do you deal with the conceptualization of veganism as a “dietary restriction”? I’ve experienced this redefinition often and it drives me nuts (heehee, that’s a good veggie idiom).
2) Do you have any advice as to how one can deal with (or combat) the system mechanics of a weight-loss/maintenance program that tends to exclude vegan choices (i.e. they include dairy and animal meat in their tracking system…nothing that would prevent a vegan from participating as a whole, but excluding them from certain features of the program)?
Thank you again for your wonderful and inspiring words. Keep up the good work!
November 20, 2012 at 9:43 pm
Colleen,
Thank you for this podcast and its important message. It is critical that we think about the language we use to describe our food so we can bring about change. I am vegan and am really looking forward to using the ideas you have presented here in conversation with others.
Thank you again~
Janet
November 28, 2012 at 9:16 am
What an absolutely extraordinary discussion about the intrinsic value and beauty of animals FOR THEIR OWN SAKE. Thank You and God Bless You, Colleen!
April 8, 2013 at 10:50 am
Because of this Podcast I always say “grain-based” meat, and I try to encourage others (vegan or not) to think about doing the same. It’s true, when you hear the word “mock”, “imitation”, or “alternative” there is some implication that the grain-based stuff must taste like a bike tire. They don’t! They taste different but they are delicious. Variety is the spice of life.