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Discomfort with Labels?


Aaron
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So before thanksgiving I'm at the store. A girl asks me about thanksgiving and I explain that I'm vegan and not into the whole animal death thing. But the explanation centered at me being vegan. A vegan.

 

Meanwhile in one of my classes we continue to discuss the sort of mental creations we manifest when someone is an autistic kid. Or is a person with dyslexia. Or even worse probably the person is simply a parapalegic. We take the person completely out at that point. Or at minimum we create some sort of classification of them like they belong to some category then they're a person or that they're a person with some thing that defines them. But what is better is rather to say, and more true probably as well, is that a person is a person and that because we are all a little different some of us require certain assistances in some things while others do not.

 

And so I consider the question of why not thanksgiving. I realize it's not that I'm vegan. It's that meat-centered holidays are uncomfortable for me because I am discomforted by meat consumption - I'm not big on killing animals. Or something like that. I may just be reacting to my own failure to differentiate myself from my diet and to consider that I'm eat a vegan diet because I care about animals, I don't care about animals because I eat a vegan diet...

 

As it stands at this moment though - I'm still grappling with how to best describe myself. Vegan is what I am. But it feels confining at the same time - not the diet, but the label.

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I believe we each define who we are and our own label. labels I have chosen dont confine me because I define the label. I no longer worry about stereotypes, or what other people who are under the same label do or think.

its irrelevant to me. my actions and my thoughts are my own.

 

 

I dont worry about how other people view me or the labels I have chosen, because I know who I am and what Im doing and thats all that matters to me.

 

I dont celebrate holidays cause I dont believe in the commercialism nor the premise behind them. although around family I will partake in birthdays and other holidays for my family's sake. so If I do attend a thanksgiving with them, I eat vegan. etc. but I am getting away from all that.

but I am starting to find almost all traditions are null and void to me.

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Yeah saying 'I'm vegan' or 'I'm vegetarian' is just a short way of summing up a reason for something, or an explanation. It's easier to say that. But upon being questioned you can go into more detail. If every time someone said 'Do you want some turkey?' and you said 'No' and they said 'Why not?' if you answered and gave all the reasons why it's wrong, you'd be there all day. It's just easier to say 'I don't eat meat' or 'I am vegan'. People can then ask you more specific stuff, but don't worry about it being a 'label'. It's just a word to help people understand quickly what you're about, it doesn't define you or your beliefs.

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I hate the holidays, way too much emphasis on meat eating and buying stupid things to give to people who probably dont want them. I'd prefer just hanging out with family eating some veg lasagna. Or just doing my own thing and not having the obligation of visiting with family about superficial issues that we talk about because we dont want to confront the true realities of our lives. In summation I'd like some meaningful conversation with the family not this eat some turky put on football B.S. that happens each year.

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There is reason I adopted the label straightedge when I was in highschool. If I told people, "No, I don't smoke," "No, I don't drink," or whatever it didn't stop those people from asking me if I wanted to. Vegan, straightedge, or whatever tells people that you have a principle for not using animals or doing drugs. Even though vegan is more part of a collective action and straightedge is more a personal choice, they both have worked better than saying "No thanks; I don't..." For some reason people respond better to these labels. They tell people this is who I am, I know what I'm doing.

Edited by Anonymous
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Ya I hate labels. Some people attatch Stigmas to veganism. Like we live in trees and eat bark. I don't walk around screaming "I'm a Vegan!" but I am very open about it, and usually willing to talk to someone about it if they are interested. Unless they are being antagonizing. Once people get to know me they just accept it as part of my personality. It's not my whole being. I think sometimes people get consumed by labels. They become only "vegan" or only "gay" and they lose themselves.

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