Excellent article. People like Nimai and Jordan Dranes (aka ConsciousMuscle) need to exist if for no other reason than to point to whenever people claim you can't build serious muscle on a plant based diet.
I used to do a lot of activism back in the day. In recent years, I ran social media channels that were very no-compromise hardcore vegan channels. I started to feel the only people who engaged with them were other vegans and trolls.
Nowadays, I post about other stuff and pepper vegan content amongst it. As a result, I have a lot more non vegan followers, who see my vegan content.
Proud cupcake vegan here! Next to the hard-hitting stuff, we all DO need some positivity. We need events where vegans can bring non-vegan friends and show the joyful side of veganism. We need people like Nimai showing that being strong and fit on a plant-based diet is possible. And we need people like me who talk about fashion, show off their banana-leather bags and talk about being vegan abroad. Once we've shown people the truth, we need to also show them the way. It's about balancing disruption with inspiration.
Measured and reasonable - a breath of fresh air as always! Let me push back a little - I don't think there's anything wrong with Cupcake Vegans. However, there is something incredibly wrong with the fact that the majority of Vegans pretend that's all you have to be. They pretend that neutrality through living Vegan is enough... This usually comes from a place of fear. Right now, the animals need far more people to be courageous. To hold non-Vegans accountable. There is almost no one doing this. The difference in the amount of Vegans vs Vegan activists is staggering! It's not helpful. The world needs more courage. Not more cupcakes.
We need a diversity of vegans, from the way we look to the way we vote. There is not a single vegan activist or advocate who can reach every single non-vegan. Some people would never listen to me talk about veganism because I am a centrist, but some people would only listen to me because they know I understand some of their points. We need DIVERSITY OF VEGANS, and if all they do is post shirtless photos, that is what their target audience is... non-vegans who want muscles but also wonder if veganism is the right choice for them. We need everyone to go vegan, and that is why we need all vegans to speak to the people only they can speak to.
I was getting ready to keyboard warrior this post until I read it all the way through. I thought you were bashing the cupcakes. Great writing.
Thanks! I've been following Nimai since 2017, he was a big inspiration for me when starting on social media. No hate for the cupcakes!
Excellent article. People like Nimai and Jordan Dranes (aka ConsciousMuscle) need to exist if for no other reason than to point to whenever people claim you can't build serious muscle on a plant based diet.
I used to do a lot of activism back in the day. In recent years, I ran social media channels that were very no-compromise hardcore vegan channels. I started to feel the only people who engaged with them were other vegans and trolls.
Nowadays, I post about other stuff and pepper vegan content amongst it. As a result, I have a lot more non vegan followers, who see my vegan content.
I totally agree we need all types.
Proud cupcake vegan here! Next to the hard-hitting stuff, we all DO need some positivity. We need events where vegans can bring non-vegan friends and show the joyful side of veganism. We need people like Nimai showing that being strong and fit on a plant-based diet is possible. And we need people like me who talk about fashion, show off their banana-leather bags and talk about being vegan abroad. Once we've shown people the truth, we need to also show them the way. It's about balancing disruption with inspiration.
Measured and reasonable - a breath of fresh air as always! Let me push back a little - I don't think there's anything wrong with Cupcake Vegans. However, there is something incredibly wrong with the fact that the majority of Vegans pretend that's all you have to be. They pretend that neutrality through living Vegan is enough... This usually comes from a place of fear. Right now, the animals need far more people to be courageous. To hold non-Vegans accountable. There is almost no one doing this. The difference in the amount of Vegans vs Vegan activists is staggering! It's not helpful. The world needs more courage. Not more cupcakes.
We need a diversity of vegans, from the way we look to the way we vote. There is not a single vegan activist or advocate who can reach every single non-vegan. Some people would never listen to me talk about veganism because I am a centrist, but some people would only listen to me because they know I understand some of their points. We need DIVERSITY OF VEGANS, and if all they do is post shirtless photos, that is what their target audience is... non-vegans who want muscles but also wonder if veganism is the right choice for them. We need everyone to go vegan, and that is why we need all vegans to speak to the people only they can speak to.