Being called a hypocrite?

Aoifums

One of my veg friendly friends called me a hypocrite for being a vegan. I mean, of course I still have all my old leather stuff, I can't afford to throw them away. I'm still in school! She was talking about me owning a pair of DCs and two pairs of leather shoes. Is it hypocritical?

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Depends on your reasons for doing it I suppose, if you walk around in your Docs going "Meat is murder! PETA is awesome!" then yeah, it's kinda weird. If it's for reasons other than moral though, feckit

titwank

I wouldn't worry about it you're probably just growing into your veggie skin. If you don't mind me asking are you a bit emo?

StackODinos

If your a vegan for animal rights then yes.. If you do it just because that is what you want the eat then no.

Aoifums

Electro~bitch, I'm nothing like that. I only told my friends I was a vegan after six weeks when one them asked me. Since then it's spread around and they tell everyone. And I hate PETA for so many reasons.

Titwank (delightful name), eh no. I'm not emo at all. I went throught that stage around three years ago. Well and truly out of it. I know my post was a little emotional, but not that emo.

StackODinos, it's mainly animal rights but I never go into my reasons in school, so no one knows. I actually can't afford to throw away €80 shoes that I bought a year and a half ago. I turned vegan less than three months ago.

raah!

It depends really, if shoes that aren't made of leather are too hard for you to find, then you could easily justify buying those shoes, and not be a hypocrite, Just as most vegetarians could justify eating meat in a no other food situation. You could say that you value your own hide over that of a cow. Because if you don't wear shoes... your..foot hide will be damage...

Or maybe you coudln't, it all depends on your own specific reasoning. My post didn't make much sense.

sweet-rasmus

you bought them before turning vegan. the deed was done and throwing them out won't change that. it's up to you if you are happy to wear then. every veg*n has their own opinions. you have the future of searching for appropriate non-leather shoes to look forward to!

Monkey61

Your friend's an ass. I'm a recent vegan and my rule is, if I bought it before I became a vegan, then it's fine to wear. It's not like you went out and bought a wardrobe full of leather clothes the day before becoming a vegan just so you could wear them.

Throwing out perfectly good shoes, woolen jumpers and suchlike would be totally wasteful. IMO anyway, it would be more hypocritical for an animal product that already exists and has been bought and paid for to be discarded - that's not helping anybody or any cause.

Fair play for becoming a vegan anyway. Feck it if your friends tell everyone - brilliant I'd say. After all, spreading awareness of it as a possible lifestyle choice can only be good!

Tar.Aldarion

I don't think there is anything wrong with using them and then not getting new ones. You got them before making a decision. Ask her is the glue used in her shoes vegetarian? She won't know, call her a hypocrite for not checking it out.

sweet-rasmus

Woo hoo! Brilliant words in here I hope it all helps Aoifums.

WooPeeA

Depend why you became veggie. Much more animals are killed for meat than for a leather. Maybe except ferrets and few others...

Aoifums

Thanks. She hasn't said anything and we've been eating together all week. So I reckon she won't bring it up again.

dynastygal

Buying them before you turned vegan and wearing them out is in no way hypocritical. It would be a waste of a life to throw them away. I'm vegan and still wearing my old leather trainers that are still perfectly usable. I'm not wasting money on vegan shoes (which are hard to get unless I travel down to brighton - a long way - and expensive) when I have old shoes that I bought before turning vegan and that do the job fine.

Gadjodilo

dynastygal wrote: »

Buying them before you turned vegan and wearing them out is in no way hypocritical. It would be a waste of a life to throw them away. I'm vegan and still wearing my old leather trainers that are still perfectly usable. I'm not wasting money on vegan shoes (which are hard to get unless I travel down to brighton - a long way - and expensive) when I have old shoes that I bought before turning vegan and that do the job fine.

Is this the Vegetarian Shoes shop? You can order stuff from their website.

(Actually, I think Ethical Wares is better......)

damselnat

Vegan, still wearing my dubes and using a leather bag I had before I became vegan. I would desperately avoid buying leather, suede etc now, but if I it before I'm keeping it. Screw everyone else!

dynastygal

Gadjodilo wrote: »

Is this the Vegetarian Shoes shop? You can order stuff from their website.

(Actually, I think Ethical Wares is better......)

Yeah, but need to try them on, as my size changes depending on shoe type/brand.

Tar.Aldarion

Yeah I think the issus(hello) got shoes from them but they didn't fit.

Gadjodilo

dynastygal wrote: »

Yeah, but need to try them on, as my size changes depending on shoe type/brand.

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Yeah I think the issus(hello) got shoes from them but they didn't fit.

This is true. Mind you, I've never had a problem with size but the colours in the pictures on the website sometimes seem a little off. What looked to be a mainly brown pair of trainers turned out to have mad yellowy-orange patches. Must have been the light. I wore them anyway.

rubadub

sweet-rasmus wrote: »

you bought them before turning vegan. the deed was done and throwing them out won't change that.

Monkey61 wrote: »

Your friend's an ass. I'm a recent vegan and my rule is, if I bought it before I became a vegan, then it's fine to wear.

What if you find a steak in the bottom of your freezer 6 months on? would you eat it, or give it to somebody else.

The clothes could be given away to charity, you could sell them and give to some vegan charity or animal welfare place.

It would be a waste of a life to throw them away

Much more animals are killed for meat than for a leather

So there is possibly a lot of leather "going to waste" in this case. The damage is done as said before.

This reminds me a little of the thread of vegans keeping pets. Saying they would take them from animal shelters etc, i.e. the damage in that case is also done, animals bred purely as pets, sometimes for solely their own "personal use/gain". But now the animal is born others will "use" them.

Are there any vegan groups or organisations that would actually want animals to be used to their fullest once dead, i.e. so the death is less purposeless?

Aoifums- I think your mate just wants to get all your shoes! You should tell her she was right, and that you gave them to some girl that she happens to hate!

Monkey61

rubadub wrote: »

What if you find a steak in the bottom of your freezer 6 months on? would you eat it, or give it to somebody else.

The clothes could be given away to charity, you could sell them and give to some vegan charity or animal welfare place.

Ooo interesting. I'd give the steak away to someone who would appreciate it and it would stop them buying one days worth of meat. Take that meat industry, may you crumble for loss of that two euro.

Yes the clothes could be given away...or sold. If my leather goods were worth more than a combined total of 20 euro I might consider it.

In fairness I could eat the steak with the same logical argument as the clothes. I just wouldn't because I'm used to my new menu now and wouldn't break it for a once off meal that would be over in 15 minutes.

Censorsh!t

Hmmm the steak argument is interesting and does put a twist on things!
I personally would have said what others have said about "it's not your fault that you bought them before you turned vegan, you may as well use them now". I guess it depends on your view towards meat though...if it's solely about ethics, and nothing at all to fo with health, then yeah, i guess you should have the same viewpoint as the using the leather now that it's too late, the deed is done. Of course...you can always give the meat to someone else. It's different with clothes...yeah you could sell them on, but if money is an issue, i doubt you'd get very much money in return for them, i spose it depends on your financial situation.
It is rather thought provoking though

Aoifums

I can skip out of the steak arguement by not liking steak. Which I don't. And if I had one I would probably give it to my dog. But I can see the difference between however much a steak costs and €80 runners, which are the warmest and only decent pair I own. Steak will last 10 minutes, but the shoes will hopefully last a few years.