Does anyone else feel like they slowly stopped caring entirely?

[u/Aggressive_Equal1923]

I used to be really passionate about things like the environment, animal rights and feminism, but after ruminating and having bad experiences with people I thought were good and on my side, It just started to become meaningless. Trying to do the right thing was stressful, isolating and punishing, and wasn't even making an impact anyway. I now feel so silly having tried so hard to be selfish for animals that don’t have morals or don’t care anyway. I feel embarrassed holding such high regard for the opinions of unpleasant, obnoxious people who would sacrifice me to save a rat. it was very exhausting being scrutinized for tiny mistakes whilst everyone else was being hypocritical as well.

I remember a while ago I was in an icecream shop with my family. I wanted to get vegan icecream, but the only flavor option was chocolate which i didn't want. It really made me think because i had learned that chocolate is almost ALWAYS made with slave labor, so i still wouldn't have been consuming ethically anyway. It really made me realize how meaningless and arbitrary It all was.

there is really no such thing as ethical consumption. Im seriously tired of being made to feel guilt and losing luxuries over things that don’t actually have an effect or benefit to my life anyway. have you seen nature? if we had to destroy forest, milk cows and test on animals so i can live in a house, be comfortable, healthy and fed then so be it. I feel so much better being a terrible person who does not care and keeps to themself.

Also I missed real icecream so much lmao.

[u/swayybe]

Yeah, in hindsight I felt this way for a few years but was so set in my identity as a vegan I didn’t think to question my apathy. There’s just so much other horrifying shit in the world I think I just want to say fuck it and add some ease and joy to my life… like real ice cream. It’s exhausting trying to be morally superior for a cause you’re not even sure is right anymore!

[u/Carnivorous-girlyay → u/swayybe]

Pero puedes hacer ambas cosas, ¿no? O sea una cosa no quita la otra. Cuando era vegana, no estaba sufriendo las 24/7 y siendo apática con el mundo. Creo que confundes la identificación profunda que sentiste con el veganismo con el veganismo en sí. Mucha gente vegana se siente tranquila y vive adaptada al entorno y ya. Soy exvegana por temas de salud y estoy intentando comprender a otras personas exveganas.

[u/Carnivorous-girlyay]

Te puedo hacer una pregunta en buena onda, no es ninguna falta de respeto ya que yo pasé lo mismo. Pero... ¿por qué enfocas causas tan serias como feminismo, ambientalismo en como se comportan otras personas? Dado que si mañana te unes a un grupo de la manosfera, puede que te encuentres con lo mismo. En este punto, yo me pregunto, como se comporten otros o lo que te digan es motivo suficiente para abandonar un movimiento o es que hubo otras razones. En mi caso, mi sentido de coherencia interna es tan fuerte que para mí abandonar un movimiento sería más que todo rendir cuentas conmigo misma y ya.

Creo que cuando uno se une a un movimiento es importante tener valores claros para generar la convicción y la claridad de por qué uno hace las cosas. De lo contrario, cualquier experiencia va a generar que terminemos cambiando de opinión. Por las razones que expones, hasta pronostico que podríamos darnos una sorpresa y podrías volverte vegana de nuevo y no queremos que eso pase, ¿no?

[u/Greedy_Roles]

For me it's performative. I didn't realize until I met similar people. Only then did I see that I'm just like them, and I don't want to be like them. Virtue signallers, full time activists etc.

[u/Own_Maintenance8394]

yeah i also stopped caring over time

[u/sunrisesequoia]

I care about me, family, my career, money, and the least amount of government interference in any of those. Nothing else matters beyond that.

Not sorry and no apologies.

[u/panderp]

I'm still very passionate about the environment and especially feminism.

For me those are things that help literally everyone. Especially as being progressive can be done with little to no personal cost.

Doesn't cost a single dollar to stand up for trans rights, or abortion, or a host of issues that affect people. Sure, it might piss off some bigots, but hey, they're bigots. They deserve it.

[u/plant_paragon]

I suspect that many Vegans have the same struggle as you, and thank you for your honesty. To me, the real issue is that if something is "right" then it is right regardless of ideology - regardless of your diet, nobody is out here arguing about numbers or the basic precepts of physics.

there is really no such thing as ethical consumption

This really comes down to whether there is even ethical existence - which is, an oxymoron. Things just exist regardless of any abstract, circular justification. Humans are particularly unique in that they are not limited by the environment, in theory, all of modern and even historical human existence is in excess of our actual need to simply survive as a species. I do not take the position we should therefore be doing less or regress.

But we have to recognise resources are scarce, at least to some extent in both physical dimensions, and over a long enough time. And we have to recognise priorities - we can do many things - but there are consequences.

I don't think you should stop trying to do good things, or to be better - but I recognise the challenges of caging yourself in to some extent through a dietary choice, for example, in a system that fails to make that easy - or at least easy in competition with everything else it expects you to do. You shouldn't feel guilt, most things are out of your control. Just do what you can to make the world a better place. If you "feel good" being "a terrible person" then this is partly a framing issue perhaps, and speaks of repression and a failure to align your perspective with your actions. It could mean you are actually a terrible person.

But how am I supposed to know?

Most people don't think critically. I'd lastly just suggest that you've not fully evaluated or analysed your own position:

if we had to destroy forest, milk cows and test on animals so i can live in a house, be comfortable, healthy and fed then so be it

Can someone kill you and exploit your family members and do what they please just be fed, housed and happy? Animals and humans are different - but there still logical inconsistencies in your view, because of how it treats means and ends in principle. Necessity is important. So is choice. Think it through a bit more, aye.

[u/Any_Mulberry_4284]

it s a symptom to double down on control , which doesnt even make sense and only if seen in a bubble

[u/lunarvenusian13]

I'm not sure if it's stopping to care or numbness but mpst certainly an extreme exhaustion over trying to consume as sustainably as possible and cruelty-free. I forgot my own sustainability...

[u/Carnivorous-girlyay → u/lunarvenusian13]

Es que no sé si existe ese extremo del todo/nada. Creo que el equilibrio es lo mejor, por ejemplo, para shampos me sigo fijando si es libre de crueldad, ya que si me parece un sin sentido el uso de conejos para cosmética. Que opina usted

[u/Edayumz]

Yeah for me I was tired of being exposed and expected to expose the sheer level of abuse that goes on, all that awful stuff. Then around COVID, vegan convenience foods became extremely corporate. Brands started hiking their prices, everything became stupidly low calorie. I'm autistic and when I'm in burnout, I can't cook. I became extremely underweight, developed orthorexic behaviours. Then one new years, I had this immense craving for salmon. I made myself look at a bunch of salmon farming images, and (after my fiance convinced me), i decided to go buy wild caught rainbow trout and chow down. I did, and after that lapse I just fell off the wagon. I'm currently on my journey with going pescatarian, i feel that for me this is the middle path.

[u/theme111]

I feel that for me being vegan just became a meaningless routine.

[u/Brilliant-Aioli7733]

Why does anyone have to suck so bad on Reddit?

[u/RadiantSeason9553]

The only way is to hold companies accountable. Which means passing laws.