There was a twitter (why do I do this to myself) hashtag trending last evening. From the vegan community who, observing the struggles of the dairy industry, exacerbated by the crisis, who want it to die. I don't want the dairy industry to die. Dairy is a wonderful source of nutrition. Certainly there are issues with animal agriculture and you'd be a fool to ignore this. In fact adopting a better economic system, if not already proven by the current crisis, is the best solution. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism because everything - and everyone - is subject to exploitation.
Food is something that has become very important to me over the last few years. Which on reflection seems like an odd statement as food is important to everyone (unless they have a secret they'd like to share with the class). I say this because I used to have real problems with my blood sugar which led toa vicious cycle of ill health and junk food. I switched to a low carb high fat diet and it has been transformative. While I have no problem with people making their own choices, I can't recommend this approach highly enough.
Moreover, as someone who follows this way of eating (it's not a diet per se), I have become aware of a number of Corona related health claims. Specifically that if you're obese or diabetic then the virus is considerably more likely to do greater harm. This does not appear to be a controversial claim; it's well established that, for people with poor health and underlying conditions, this virus is much more of a problem.
So I find it deeply troubling for certain vegan activists to push this kind of agenda at this time. I get their reasons. That's fine; it's a principled position. It isn't one, obviously that I share. But this to me seems an incredibly counter productive and anti social approach. By all means let's reform the dairy industry, all the yes! But given people are already facing unemployment and the loss of business (particularly the dairy industry which has long struggled under capitalism), this just seems to be an opportunity gladly taken to stick the boot in.
I worry that these are people happy to sacrifice everyone else's health on the altar of personal principle. Again, I get it. But there is no way the whole world is going to go vegan, and certainly not in the middle of a pandemic. If businesses are shutting down, then now is hardly going to be appropriate for starting them up (in the form of growing plants or whatever the alternative is).
Eat what you want, be happy and health. We can all agree that chomping on corporate junk, sugar laden cereals marketed to kids, and energy drinks with more ferocity than a supernova is absolutely not the way to go. Especially now. But let's not throw people under the bus because they drink milk and eat cheese.
In fact this is a topic I've avoided delving into because I really don't want to upset people. I genuinely have no problem with people choosing a vegan diet. You don't need to eat meat to go low carb either; there are plenty who follow a vegan low carb diet. Good luck to them, there's enough to go around. We shouldn't be at each other's throats while the capitalist class dances on our grave (and will subsequently send us the bill). Please look after yourselves, regardless of what you eat.
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