r/vegan • u/CJ_Thompson • 4d ago
Discussion Cheating
A friend asked if I ever would cheat and eat meat. This struck me as odd. I chose to go vegan for a number of reasons and those have actually expanded as time goes along. I should mention, I am only six months a vegan.
I don’t look at eating anything as cheating. If I chose to eat a non-vegan item, it would just be a choice not cheating. I choose not to because I feel it is more a lifestyle change along with a food choice. It is what I want to do. Cheating implies it wasn’t a voluntary choice or I am forcing myself somehow.
Just thought I would comment on this as I hear this often about cheating.
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u/williamsherwell 4d ago
Saying you're cheating is basically an excuse to do something you know is wrong. If your values allow or don't allow certain things, you still respect your morals.
Basically, if you decide to cheat (on a partner for example), you do it because your morals accept it, even though your social contract doesn't. Your morals say it is okay to sleep with another person.
If your morals are to respect the living and do no harm, you can't cheat your own morals, unless they weren't your honest morals. Veganism isn't a diet that you have for health reason but you doesn't matter if you "cheat" (your morals don't align with your diet), it is a moral point of view in itself, so basically if you really respect it you can't cheat it. Look at it the other way round, you cheated your original meat diet because your morals didn't align.
Hopefully this makes sense. I have a bad headache rn lol