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Bluesky idea: if people who didn't agree with you change their opinions so that they do agree with you, why not be happy that you are making progress - rather than complaining that they are "only just catching up"?

Counterpoint: maybe the next time someone goes vegan, I will just shout "SOME OF US HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS" at them and see how it goes.

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I mean, I agree this is counterproductive. Welcome them to the cause. But at the same time, if that person had spent a decade screaming at you that you're a complete idiot who is destroying the country - I'd sympathise if you didn't personally invite them round for brunch.

Going vegan is a choice that has zero consequences to others in the real world. Going Nazi means people fucking die. If that's your basis for comparison, you're probably an unbearable asshole to begin with.

the problem isn't that people can't think it's that some people believe that it's impossible for a thinking person to disagree with them and that means they assume that anyone who does disagree must be a member of the irrational out group Other

here’s the thing — being wrong is, in many cases, an evil act. and you know it, that’s why you’re so defensive about it. if you truly realize you were wrong, you must admit fault and work to earn forgiveness. you, of course, and people like you, are too venal for that. too selfish, too greedy

Are you a witness though, or a judge, for judgement doesn't really belong to us. We may choose, Not to Forget, wrongs done, to keep people honest and learn who to trust, but if we choose, Not to Forgive, we only harm ourselves.

Oh because you’re mad that people aren’t welcoming the “both sides are the same” people into the fold after their attempts to normalize Trump have all flopped 👍

I mean, if you're saying that to a person who published an article titled "Where Vegans Went Wrong" a year ago I think a bit of opprobrium is warranted

We *have* been telling them so, in fact. And many of the people we’ve been telling so, have made considerable money for what they said. Great that they’ve changed their minds. But there’ll be pressure to forget — and to let those folks go on profiting. That’s what worries me.

we've all encountered white liberalism before and the assumption that anyone who doesn't welcome it must be irrational/uneducated/uncivilised

Omigod what a whiny bitch. Maybe instead of being for s consolation prize, you could shit the fuck up and listen to the people who demonstrably know better than you

It’s more like this person made money by being either grossly incompetent or willfully ignorant in a way that contributed to the present moment, but let’s not hold people on positions of influence accountable.

*Waking up the next morning* *Sees massive number of notifications* "Huh, I wonder what tha.." "Oh. Oh no. Oh *NO*" ---- I can hope, but wouldn't put money on it.

It would probably go fine because when you make a choice borne of your own conviction, you don’t get riled up about what mildly annoying people have to say about it. If the person respond by eating a filet mignon out of spite, they weren’t good vegans to begin with (I’m not a vegan at all).

Vegans are dumb and shouldn’t be elected, veganism was stupid until I came around to it, my veganism will only last until that guy who stops running around biting chunks of flesh off of live animals, and he’s here because vegans were not nicer to meat eaters. Dumb vegans still won’t listen to me.

Grew up vegan, life long vegetarian. This is a heinously embarrassing thing you wrote for everyone to see. Reexamine your values. Comparing your dietary choices to people who have been targets of this system for hundreds of years while being ignored could be a place to see your mistakes and change

is the premise of this that vegans don’t take the opportunity to let people know they are vegan and how long they have been vegan? because in my experience vegans love doing that.

If that person has personally said that veganism is impractical and unrealistic insanity and that vegans are dangerous idiots, and still maintains that veganism was a stupid idea until now, and existing vegans are still suspect, then the analogy will fit.

You are, were, and continue to be a shitty person who just happens to realize that the things you were in favor of for other people suck when applied to people you relate to. You're a cad and a mollycoddle, feckless and soft of both body and wit. Repent with your whole body or not at all.

Are they actively trying to dominate the conversation about veganism and dictate how people who have been vegans for decades should approach living cruelty and exploitation-free? Are they insisting that it's really the vegans' fault they didn't understand? If so, you tell them to kick rocks!

You know there’s a lot of replies here explaining the reactions you’re mad about, but you seem to be ignoring them in favour of just arrogantly deciding everyone else is too stupid and evil to teach you anything.

Wow, so I am guessing alot of people are pointing out that it should depend on the situation, like someone being complicit with an authoritarian regime should not be just let off the hook. Cause now you've wandered into false equivalence territory.

Sure, women, black, and indigenous people have endured endless state violence, but have you considered that I'm paid to share my opinions and only yesterday I learned my opinions are dog shit and I should still be paid for being historically untrustworthy? I'm the REAL victim.

Exactly. This isn't "I didn't get it, now I do." This is "I got it, I just supported it until now, when I'm also at risk." Anyone coming over that doesn't abhor what they used to be is still at least partially on the side of "Actually, some killings are okay, just not so many."

Except vegetables don’t kidnap 5 years, separate them from their parents, and send them to countries in which they have never lived. Fuck off w these weak ass disingenuous bullshit.

But failing to recognise the rise of fascism and not being vegan aren't really comparable, are they, and making the comparison really doesn't do you any further favours as a serious commentator.

A lot of journos and commentators had a little list of the characteristics of fascism, assuring that no, he hasn't checked them all off so it's not fascism yet. They tick all the boxes when it's too late.

If someone only just decided to go vegan and began giving you advice on how to be a good vegan or started telling you why you should be vegan- how would you react to that?

Counterpoint You: I love the guy threatening to hit me Me: Are you sure? You: I love the guy threatening to hit me Me: That's a bad idea. You: The guy threatening to hit me, hit me. Me: Told you so. You: "I will just shout 'SOME OF US HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS' at them and see how it goes."

I am happy if someone goes vegan because it's not particularly consequential that they weren't. When it comes to an autocrat takeover and the destruction of civil society, I say they better wise the fuck up before it's too late and damn them to hell for being so stupid.

Here‘s an example of someone taking real accountability and doing repair work: bsky.app/profile/did:... Journalists who are now just coming to the realization that Trump is a fascist may learn from Rev Schenck:

Mother Jones@motherjones.com

He spent decades bringing the religious right to power. Now he's marching to undo it. Rev. Rob Schenck spent decades helping build the Religious Right—commingling church and state to advance conservative causes. Now, he says he must confront the damage he helped cause.

Jesus christ you are a fragile man 🙄 People aren't quick to accept those kinds of apologies because rarely if ever is there any acknowledgement of the people you basically called hysterical for years & even if there is it takes time to rebuild trust and fits like the one youre throwing- bad look.

It's not that we've been saying it for years. It's that liberals and centrists demonized us for doing so. Told us we were worthless, below worthy of consideration. We were told to shut up and be thankful we got to vote for right-wingers. Liberals shamed and shunned us for being right.

Counter to the counterpoint: I'm one of those "saying this for years" people - it provoked, among other silencing attempts, Neo-Nazi organizations taking out a hit on my life that I (obviously) narrowly survived. Perhaps if veganism caused similar 'existential threat' backlash you'd have a point.