It's time to screw the formalities, bring in the Ooby. It's time for a Bite Size Vegan
Q & A. That was me attempting to be exciting without singing because of complaints about
my singing. Very, very valid complaints.
Hi, it's Emily and Ooby from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget of Friday
Q & A.
I hope to do more of these in the future maybe, maybe pretty frequently because I think that
it's important to be able to answer you guys questions as directly as I can. And in a little
bit faster method than my highly research videos which I will continue to do as well.
I will pet you.
Max Power asked. “How do you react if you out yourself as a vegan in front of many people
who are offended by that. For example in a new school class and you are the only the
in the room.”
So I guess personally, I have never been super concerned in school and stuff about what people
thought of me. I have always kind of been the weird kid and just accepted that to a
certain extent but yeah it can be it can be challenging and especially when you know you're
in middle school and high school. It is a rough time--it is a hard time in life. And you know
I think it can be really helpful just kind of having confidence in your decision or faking
confidence in your decision because I've done that a lot. When I started my You Tube channel
and even now, you guys, I have people say that I come off very confident. I mean
you guys don't know what's going on inside my head but I do not always feel that way.
The vast majority of the time I do not. But it's kind of you know you can kind of fake
it till you make it. You can also you know kind of again have to have your facts behind
you but you don't have to be aggressive about it and you know what honestly. If you're not
comfortable yet. Saying that you're vegan. If it really is difficult at this point if
you’re brand new and you're young and you're in an unsupportive school environment. I don't
think you have to lie. But I don't think you have to make it a huge deal you don't have
to announce it unless you want to and you’re ready to. You know I think that there's something
to be said for growing into your veganism. You know when I was younger I had a really
hard time finding my voice about it. And I was afraid to talk about it sometimes because
of people. They’d come out and attack and I didn't always feel like I had the right
thing to say to you know to talk to answer their questions and so it took me some time.
It took me a lot of time to figure out how to best express myself. You know and that's
something that you're just going grow and you're going to learn more and grow into so
I would have patience with yourself with it you know and see what feels right. You know
maybe talk to people who are supportive of you first and start to get that comfort.
And then you can you can bring it up in smaller situations and then start to become more confident
and more comfortable and the more you do it the better it's going to get. It might always
still be scary. But it gets better. So I hope that that's helpful.
Sstffl (That's the username) “Do you have many vegan friends how do you deal with
mean comments. I'm often afraid to say I'm vegan because of the criticism and the stupid
questions. I went vegan eight months ago mostly because of your videos lots of love.”
Number one thank you for going vegan, that’s fantastic and I'm honored to have any part
in that and we kind of talked about the criticism. And being afraid to say that your vegan. But
do I have that many vegan friends outside of online? No I do not. I never really have.
I didn't grow up around anyone who was vegan. And the only vegan friends I've had in real
life are ones who went vegan after knowing me for a very long time. It wasn't an instant
thing by any means. And I don't even live near them anymore. So no, I’ve typically
lived in areas that are not very vegan friendly and lived around people who are not vegan.
The vast majority. Actually my entire life. So how do you deal with mean comments? Well
I mean. Again I don't if you mean in real life or on You Tube or both because they're
all over the place. But I think again staying true to who it is that you are and why you've
made these decisions and just keeping that close to your heart and you'll know your motives
you'll know why it is that you’re vegan and you'll know. You know the truth about
your intentions with that. And people a lot of times you're going to have people be rude
or you're going to have people saying mean things and not always but a lot of times,
that just comes out of, you know, their own fear. Because most of us when we're afraid,
we become defensive and so sometimes we say things that are kind of a way to make
ourselves feel safe again. And that can be hurtful. At times. You know but it's kind
of it's a defense. It's a defense just to feel to feel that security. You know and we
all do it at least I know I do it. You know. So. So kind of knowing a lot of times what
people say if they say something mean a lot of times it's more about what they're going
through than than who you are as a person and just knowing that it's not really possible
to know what they're going through either. So you know you can kind of chalk it up that
you know maybe they've had a really bad day. You never know but I but just kind of moving
on and focusing on what's important and focusing on yourself and why you're doing what you're
doing.
KawaiiDollie (I think that’s how you say it?) “Do you think that wearing fake fur
perpetuates the idea that fur is OK or kind of normalizes it. As a fellow vegan I never
wear fake fur because of this reason I love to hear your thoughts.”
So I can see both sides of this. Honestly. I do understand the fact that having fake
fur or fake leather could make it seem permissible-- that it's OK to do. That sometimes is an issue
with wearing leather shoes that you might have had before you went vegan and you know give
people the impression that you're OK with up. But I think fake fur. Fake leather. And
the same to same reason I'm actually also in support of fate meats and fake cheeses
and fake milk. I think that they might do more good than harm. Because they make.. again
they open up veganism so much more to people because as as humans just by our nature. We
resist change. Especially when it means changing a lot. And the less people have to change
or alter about their behaviors to be vegan the more likely it is that they will be in
vegan. The more that we can still wear what we want to wear, look the way we want to look,
eat what we want to eat. You know have the tastes that we that we like and that we're
used to the far easier it is for us to go vegan and the animals don't really care what
we eat or what we wear as long as it’s not them. You know the planet doesn't really care
as long as it's not destroying the planet. So I do see that side of it seeming permissible
but it can also be kind of like a billboard for the fact that if people things to think
it's real fur. And it's fake fur then it shows the fact that you don't really need real fur
if it looks the same. You can you can do without the cruelty and still have the same aesthetic.
So for that since I do think that they can be a good thing but I do understand the other
side of it. And I think that it can be a bit of a double edged sword.
Ooby’s been terribly helpful for this. I hope that you enjoyed this Q&A and hope it
was helpful, and I do intend to do more of these in the future. If you liked it, if you
like the idea of having more of these give the video a big thumbs up. Please share it
around to help others who might have similar questions. If you're new I would love to have
you subscribe to the channel. You can just hit the button down there and you can get
more awesome vegan content every Monday, Wednesday, and some Fridays.
Hope that was helpful. Go live vegan get some answers, and I’ll see you soon.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community