The Reluctant Vegan: “He’s not vegan–he’s crazy.”
image courtesy of the one and only Dave Warwak.
As a journalist, I’m not ashamed to admit that crazy vegans make for really fun news stories. But as a vegan, I sometimes have trouble reading past the headlines.
For the last few weeks I’ve watched the drama around school teacher and loudly proclaimed vegan Dave Warwak play out in Google News. In a soy nutshell (if you, too, winced at those headlines): Warwak, 44, went on a personal mission to convert the students in his art classes at Wisconsin’s Fox River Grove Middle School to veganism. As soon as the news hit the papes, Warwak was fired.
I don’t doubt that Warwak meant well. He just went vegan(gelical) in January, he’s used to molding impressionable young minds, and he probably thought he was doing the right thing. Tactless proselytizing looks much better from the inside–just like for religious teachers who’ve similarly been fired for leading prayers in class.
It’s not totally the media’s fault for characterizing people such as Warwak and the countless irresponsible “vegan” parents as vegan first and crazy second: that’s how they portray themselves. And when the vegan community stays quiet in implicit support it only makes it easier for the next crazy vegan to run with their unfounded moral righteousness. Even worse when they’re loud, misinformed and on the offensive defensive.
Vegans across the country have taken up Warwak’s “cause”–the same Warwak who just crashed the middle school homecoming parade, and handed out cards that said Santa Claus “is a lie,” and, “‘Naming a rock, a banana, does not make it food.’” Clearly he teaches art, not English.
Yet Warwak champions are popping up everywhere, from PETA (“Sound the alarm!”), to Meetup.org groups in Chicago, to Manhattan activist-bloggers.
Take Elaine Vigneault, for example.
“It’s yet another example of how vegans are painted as ‘crazy’ and our ideas are not taken seriously,” she writes. Unfortunately for Elaine, a lot of us are crazy: bat-shit, balls-to-the-wall, all-out freaking crazy. And the less that reasonable vegans differentiate themselves from the crazies, the more the entire world will go on believing that we are humorless ascetics.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, however, the humorless ascetics appear to be winning. Elaine says vegans “should be rude and obnoxious,” because we are the enlightened, and should spread our wisdom among the evil-doing masses. Well, that’s basically what she says. “Needlessly killing millions of animals is far beyond rude and obnoxious… And people who do it, people who promote it, and people who buy it deserve a little dose of the uncomfortable, rude reality.”
I guess that’s why not a lot of religious extremists hold teaching positions in public American schools, right? Because the uncomfortable, rude reality is just too tempting? Elaine claims Mr. Warwak didn’t have “some vegan cult he was recruiting for,” but when this kind of obnoxious attitude prevails, and the preaching continues, and converting the damned and absolving them of their sins is priority #1, that’s not truly the case. It just gives people more reason to block out, marginalize, alienate and fire the crazy.
You have to give people a reason to take your ideas seriously, especially if you’re challenging their entire paradigm. I don’t know one vegan who chose “the lifestyle” because they saw a disgusting PETA video or were yelled at for wearing leather. Making friends and influencing people is not about breaking them down. This isn’t a debate about animal rights or veganism: it’s about being a responsible, non-crazy adult.
And it’s also about not taking yourself so seriously. Because really, I for one think Warwak, PETA, Vigneault and the rest of the gang are hilarious.
Elaine Vigneault wrote:
Point 1:
You know, I have a lot of friends who are above average intelligence. In fact, I’d say ALL of my friends are smarty-pants. That doesn’t mean average people don’t exist.
You wrote:
“I don’t know one vegan who chose “the lifestyle” because they saw a disgusting PETA video or were yelled at for wearing leather.”
Your personal life experiences are not the end all and be all of reality.
Just because you don’t know anyone who attributes their veganism to the abrasive methods some folks use, doesn’t mean they haven’t been influenced by them and it doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there that “disgusting PETA videos” influence.
Point 2:
Take a close look at your argument. Substitute the name of another marginalized group and reread it.
It doesn’t matter how non-mainstream Warwak is. He’s a little odd, so what? Most art teachers are. It’s really not relevant how eccentric he is. Warwak was teaching his students about false advertising, compassion, integrity, and truth.
If you really don’t think kids deserve to learn the truth just say so. But don’t go around calling people names like “crazy” just so meat-eaters won’t call you crazy.
Point 3:
I do not appreciate being called crazy. I am not crazy. Do not defame me. Attack my argument, not me.
Posted on 16-Oct-07 at 7:22 pm | Permalink
warwak wrote:
This is not about me. It is about school shootings, Milk Mustache’ posters, and Humane Education. And pollution, starvation, war, health Care Crisis, and on and on. Be a real super veagn and get vocal and stop bashing your own out of your own insecurities. Stop blaming me or the message to save face out of embarrassment in being complicit in hiding the lie with your silence. Santa Caus is not real and animals are not food. Stop lieing to children Susie. Silence is complicity - even if you silence the critics, you are to blame for every person you meet that you remain silent - especially children! Shame on Susie who claims to be a super vegan! You hide behind your puter and toss stones at those who are making real change. Typical bully behavior - again, not super vegan behavior. Moveon to the real evil in the world - FACTORY FARMING, GOVERNMENT, AND AMERICAN EDUCATION
Posted on 16-Oct-07 at 9:50 pm | Permalink
Laura wrote:
Susie, I love your snark and your sanity. Thank you for being a voice of reason.
Posted on 17-Oct-07 at 8:05 pm | Permalink
Chickenheart wrote:
Even most vegans don’t realize how deep the roots of violence go, and how they are traced to the violence on our daily lunch plates. As vegans, we are called to make the perpetrators uncomfortable, though they of course hate being uncomfortable and having the light shine on their behavior and the remorseless cruelty it requires. The perpetrators are those all around us who are the direct cause of suffering to animals when they buy the flesh and secretions of brutalized animals. If we don’t speak up for these beings, who will? We are called to do it skillfully, of course, and yet who among us really has the temerity to say that another’s way is wrong. We must follow our intuition. Sometimes it calls for gentle nudgings, and sometimes for a stronger wake-up comment or action. Dave Warwak is bringing national attention to the most pervasive form of child abuse: forcing children to numb themselves to the horror they are forced to eat. We should be thankful to him. He is shouldering a huge amount of psychological abuse heaped up on him by angry perpetrators (omnivores). Thank you Dave for taking a stand and telling it like it is! It is shocking to a system that is so cruel to be so directly challenged. I believ we are called to be more confrontive and challenging. It is love that calls us–love for suffering animals, for starving children, and for devastated ecosystems. As Emerson said, “It is only when people are discomforted that there is any hope for them.”
Bless you, Dave!
Posted on 18-Oct-07 at 1:18 pm | Permalink
Vegan wars of words: method or madness? wrote:
[…] Warwak’s ‘obnoxious’ actions are not doing anyone, least of all vegans, any good. Susie is also not impressed with Warwak, and thinks his “extremist” actions are earning him the crazy label. In turn, Elaine […]
Posted on 19-Oct-07 at 3:23 am | Permalink
Becci wrote:
I’m not totally thrilled with this whole issue either, but I do take exception with your assertion that “I don’t know one vegan who chose “the lifestyle” because they saw a disgusting PETA video”.
I personally became vegan that way and I know, off the top of my head, of two other people who did as well.
Posted on 21-Oct-07 at 8:19 pm | Permalink
kathryn wrote:
Suzie, personally I’m with you. Good post, excellent argument. You can’t shove your opinions down other people’s throats - we all have the right to make up our own minds.
Just because someone doesn’t agree with you, doesn’t make them evil, child abusers or perpetrators of a crime. They just don’t agree with you.
Posted on 25-Oct-07 at 2:53 am | Permalink
Randy W. Sandberg wrote:
Susie,
Several hundred years ago African Americans were thought of by the majority of people as “lowly animals” (i.e., chattel). Abolitionists of the day, calling for the end of slavery, were thought of as crackpots, cRaZy dreamers, agitators, etc. Fast forward to the Civil Rights Movement. Same thing. Martin Luther King Junior gave a brilliant speech stating African Americans want ALL of their rights HERE in the United States NOW. He was hated by many people and even called a communist by the FBI.
The list of people who were brave enough to tell the truth to the world even though the world wasn’t ready to hear them is long and bloody. But, if it were not for these brave “agitators” where would we be now? I take the bus to work everyday and thank goodness for all the brave “Rosa Parks” of the past that had the guts to stand up against injustice and do what was needed to be done.
Veganism: The boycott of an evil industry that enslaves nonhuman animals is still in its infancy similar to the abolitionist movement to end the Slave Trade in the late 1700s and then the abolitionist movement in the 1800s to end slavery altogether. Social injustice movements generally begin with a handful of people who against all odds do what is needed to wake the sleeping masses up and eventually persevere. Thus, if someone has the guts to nonviolently educate his or her class about veganism I applaud them. Just like I applaud those brave folks of the past who dared to teach that cRaZy theory of evolution.
In conclusion, Susie, please think about people of the past who tried their best to educate others and were wrongly shot down for it AND remember that it’s thanks to them, for example, that it is now “mostly” excepted that the world is not only round but is NOT located in the center of the universe.
Sincerely,
Randy William Sandberg
Webmaster
www.AbolitionistApproach.com
Posted on 01-Nov-07 at 4:37 am | Permalink
Randy Sandberg wrote:
Several hundred years ago African Americans were thought of by the majority of people as “lowly animals” (i.e., chattel). Abolitionists of the day, calling for the end of slavery, were thought of as crackpots, cRaZy dreamers, agitators, etc. Fast forward to the Civil Rights Movement. Same thing. Martin Luther King Junior gave a brilliant speech stating that African Americans want ALL of their rights HERE in the United States NOW. He was hated by many people and even called a communist by the FBI.
The list of people who were brave enough to tell the truth to the world even though the world wasn’t ready to hear them quite yet is long and bloody. But, if it were not for these brave “agitators” where would we be? I take the bus to work everyday and thank goodness for all the brave “Rosa Parks” of the past that had the guts to stand up against injustice and do what was needed to be done.
Veganism: The boycott of an evil industry that enslaves nonhuman animals is still in its infancy similar to the abolitionist movement to end the Slave Trade in the late 1700s and then the abolitionist movement in the 1800s to end slavery altogether. Social justice movements generally begin with a handful of people who against all odds do what’s needed to wake the sleeping masses up and eventually persevere. Thus, if someone has the guts to nonviolently educate his or her class about veganism I applaud them. Just like I applaud those brave folks of the past who dared to teach that cRaZy theory of evolution.
In conclusion, Susie, please think about people of the past who tried their best to educate others and were wrongly shot down for it AND remember that it’s thanks to them, for example, that it is now “mostly” excepted that the world is not only round but is NOT located in the center of the universe.
Posted on 06-Nov-07 at 7:01 pm | Permalink
warwak wrote:
What about the kids who don’t have a voice that have meat and dairy shoved down their throats everyday at school? And you cry if someone else suggests a better way. If you were an animal in a cage, you surely would advocate being just a tad bit more vocal
Posted on 07-Nov-07 at 8:57 pm | Permalink
megan wrote:
“shoved down their throats”? that is a bit much. i reckon i ain’t never seen a kid needing to be so much as nudged toward an ice cream cone. get real! i’ve been for half my life. i tried to give it up, briefly because my heart really wasn’t able to shrug it off, because of all the hippydippy crackpot pains in the ass. i didn’t want to be in that club anymore enough to try to embrace apathy (like i do with a whole lot of other things, by the way) because of it. i still feel pretty f’n awful about it. i love animals more than i can’t stand the likes of most vegans, so i’m a secular vegan…a nonpracting omnivore. you can only account for your own actions. welcome to the real world, you special people you!
Posted on 07-Jan-08 at 2:35 pm | Permalink