But then I remember I didn’t take their children away, hook them up to a machine to extract food from them, or kill them. And that makes me feel like making fun of carnists is not so bad.
They are not helping by reminding their friend that is eating an ice cream that the cow was kidnapped and raped unprompted.
I disagree. Shame teaches. So does peer pressure.
If the non-vegan friend stops eating animal products around their vegan friend, that’s a small win. If that makes them think about why the vegan friend is so outspoken about their moral boundaries, that’s a bigger win. If the vegan friend’s public assertion of their moral boundary makes other vegans more willing to speak up in public, that’s also a bigger win.
And if the non-vegan cuts ties with the vegan because they value eating animals more than respecting their friend’s moral boundaries, that’s not a loss for veganism, because the non-vegan will keep eating exactly as many animals as they would have otherwise.
Veganism is an activist movement, not just a lifestyle. And if you’re afraid to speak up for what you believe you’re not being activist.