Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Am I getting enough self-righteousness in my diet?

Tasha, The Voracious Vegan gives up being vegan in a post that applies the same religious fervor of her veganism to her new bicycle, being a localvore. With a new moral philosophy that seems mostly cribbed from Tool's Disgustipated ("Life feeds on life!"), she goes from MEAT IS MURDER to ZOMG BACON in less time (but more words) than it takes to make (vegan) ramen.

Ginny Messina, the Vegan RD, answers back, pointing out a lot of things that rang false to me about the Voracious Vegan.

Now, Tasha has answered some of the criticisms she's gotten, but it seems like she's ignored most of the trenchant criticism in order to focus on the asshole vegans that everyone knows (and she used to be). You can't declare that you no longer see things in black and white while simultaneously declaring that vegan or full-on bacon orgies are the only options.

And, you know, I'm a little bit annoyed by the constant ad hominem dismissal of legitimate criticism as coming from a misogynistic place — it's OK to call women obnoxious when they're acting obnoxious. It's not because you're a strong woman challenging the patriarchy here, it's because you come off as a self-righteous taint, and in order to be self-righteous it helps if you're right.

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