Analyzing Context

Topic: Veganism

1. What are the key perspectives or schools of thought on the debate that you are studying?

When it comes to veganism, the two perspectives are pretty cut-and-dry: you're vegan or you're not. People are either for or against being vegan, and there are a select few that say that they "wish they could" or that they support veganism and what it stands for, but won't do it themselves (because that makes sense).

2. What are the major points of contention or major disagreements among the perspectives?

Mainly, non vegans who are against veganism use a few arguments such as getting proper nutrients (protein), saying that animals will overpopulate if we don't kill them, saying vegans drink too much water, and other contentions that are refutable. Vegans can have manny different reasons for their lifestyle, some use animal rights as their reason, others do it for environmental sustainability, others for personal health and vanity.

3. What are the possible points of agreement between these perspectives?

Well most people don't want to kill animals, so they remove themselves from the process by buying the meat at stores. But generally people are against animal cruelty when they aren't ignorant to it. Most people are respectful of different lifestyles, and even if they don't agree in practice they'll agree in principle.

4. What are the ideological differences between the perspectives?

I don't want it to seem like a person is horrible if they aren't vegan, someone could be the most wonderful person in the world but still be ignorant to the horrible side effects of the animal agriculture industry, but the main differences lie in compassion and empathy for other earthlings, humans, and the earth itself. Then actually educating ones self and doing something to change it.

5. What specific actions do these perspectives ask their audience to take?

People who are vegan don't necessarily have the same goal. Some people want everyone else to be vegan and are aggressive about it, just like some non-vegans are aggressively against it and try to change people who are vegan. I think one common goal is that each side wants the other to be 100% educated on their lifestyle. Meat-eaters want vegans to understand why they think they're right and vegans want meat-eaters to understand why they're right. It isn't always about changing someone's lifestyle but more about making sure they know what they're doing.

6. What perspectives are useful in supporting your own arguments? Why?

Pretty much every pro-vegan website or article or book will support my argument, but also the anti-vegan ones because they will allow me to develop a bulletproof response to their arguments. The only thing I can't argue with is that someone doesn't care about the consequences.

7. What perspective will be the greatest threat to your argument?

If someone genuinely does not care at all about respecting the autonomy of another life, saving our ecosystem, trying to end world hunger, and having their body function as efficiently as possible then I really can't argue with them.