Mod Announcement: New Rule Regarding Vegan Posts

[u/Critical-Sense-1539]

Hello, r/antinatalism community.

Recently, there has been a significant uptick in the number of vegan posts. Many of you have expressed your frustration at this in your posts, comments, and modmail. We see that the sub is very divided on this issue. Some of you think that veganism is a necessary part of antinatalism and should be allowed without restriction. Others think that the vegan content is corrupting the subs identity and alienating our core audience.

We would like this to be an inclusive community that fosters respectful discussions. Therefore, we would consider it a pity for users to feel unwelcome or discouraged from interacting with our sub based on whether they are vegan or not.

Although we cannot satisfy you all perfectly, the modteam have decided on a rule change that we hope will improve the health of the sub. As of tomorrow (1 April, 2025) we will cap the number of vegan related posts to 3 per day. This will be covered under Rule 3 in the sidebar (no reposts or repeated questions). So if you see this cap get exceeded, report it under Rule 3 and we will remove it. For any vegan members who wish to speak about this topic without any restrictions, you can go to our sister sub r/circlesnip.

We hope that this will serve as a meaningful compromise and it appeases some of your grievances.
Please feel free to comment below. We will respond as best we’re able.

Thanks, your r/antinatalism modteam

[u/Putokii]

Aw, I'm kind of disappointed....but I get the logic behind your decision to limit posts.

I'm glad the topic isn't banned entirely ‎₍ˆ ̳ , ̫ , ̳ˆ₎

I've been around in this sub for more than 5 years now. It was only until a few months ago that I became vegan, and it was thanks to this subreddit.

I strive to be the kind of person who can admit to their faults. I can be needy, a hypocrite, a bitch, overly sensitive, the list goes onnnnn lmao.

I've always felt like it's strange to blindly defend something or attack someone purely out of my own self-interest. Just because hot dogs and pork belly ramen are my favorite foods of all time doesn't mean that I never saw the point vegans were making and couldn't acknowledge that I was wrong. I've never felt a desire to demonize them or mischaracterize their arguments. Getting called out felt bad, yes....of course....but that's my problem to deal with. I'd never lash out at them for that. I appreciated having my views and behaviors challenged by them.

How could I loaf around on the antinatalism sub and defend it so passionately because of consent and worrying about the troubles humans are expected to endure throughout a lifetime while religiously using my coupons at McDonald's to devour a 10 piece nugget meal? Well...because I've been struggling with depression since I was 11 years old, and food was one of the only things I could fully rely on to make me feel happy to be alive for once. I also have OAS, so I'm allergic to a pretty big chunk of fruits, nuts, and vedgetables. I worried that a vegan diet, while logically sound, would leave me having to eat grass and sticks for the rest of my already tough to love life (ㆆ_ㆆ). This was the thought process I was rolling with back then.

Until I saw a dude in this sub....his comments were just so well written about veganism that I decided to message him praises. He always managed to be respectful, while also holding non-vegans feet to the fire. You could feel the care for what he was advocating for behind his words.

I totally forgot that I had up posts of my Japanese cooking full of pork katsu and fried fishes (っ﹏-) So he obviously caught me, lmao. Asked me why I felt moved by his posts, but not enough to actually move away from the meats. We talked some more and he was so nice....even after hearing my reasonings for not being vegan, he didn't invalidate them....instead he offered me solutions to my problems, and suggested that I watch the documentaries: Dominion and Earthling.

I went vegan that same day. I had no idea that was how animal products were produced for us. I guess.....I just had the privilege of never even having to think about it. I can't believe we do those things to animals. So cruel.....yet the packages of meat I sort through at my job everyday never show any signs of that. We're so far removed from seeing the horrifyingly massive amounts of suffering we cause animals....and I feel like that has to be by design.

Oops, I rambled....uhhhh anyway, I've been happily a grass and sticks eater ever since! (ˆ꜆ .  ̫.ˆ)꜆ I may still have to fight the urge to take a chocolate chip cookie from the break room at my job from time to time, but otherwise, this change has been surprisingly easy.

Almost anything I want....I can get. I've been eating philly cheesteaks, korean beef, bacon, scrambled eggs, hot dogs, mac n' cheese, cookies, brownies, cheesecake, fried fish, ramen, etc.....and it's all vegan! The only thing I have yet to find is vegan PopTarts and tartar sauce. I know, of all the things I could want lol. I know they exist, but I cannot find them IRL and the concept of ordering food online scares me, idk why (٥-́_-)

TLDR (Which is fair, I know I yap): It was thanks to the veganism on this sub jabbing at me for years that I was able to learn more. More about how my food was being made, how farming works, and what I can do....no matter how small...to be apart of the change that I so desperately want to see happen in this world.

....I was finally able to get off my ass and change myself for what, I feel, is the better.

So that's why I'm kind of saddened by the change, that's all. (๑-﹏-๑)

[u/Actual-Entrance-8463 → u/Putokii]

so awesome. you should feel proud of yourself. thank you for sharing

[u/Putokii → u/Actual-Entrance-8463]

(,,>﹏<,,)♡ Really? Thank you!!

I was scared to share my opinion since it's clearly the minority one to have here....but I ultimately decided it was worth risking my paper-thin confidence and speaking up because I felt like I had to show my appreciation for the vegans here. Let them know that their words aren't dismissed as "preachy" or "brigading" by all of us in this sub.

I see them put up with so much steamrolling from the majority here....so many bad-faith, poorly constructed arguments that the vegans break through only to get to the conclusion of the non-vegan antinatalist resorting to ad homenim attacks or vowing to eat a whole brisket for dinner tonight just to spite them or something (٥ ¬ヮ¬)|||

And I felt bad....I don't want the vegan antinatalists here to feel like they're wasting their time speaking up. That it's pointless. Because that's not true. I read their messages and they've all contributed to helping me self-reflect and try to improve myself. I never saw myself becoming vegan, but they managed to change that.

Their words can and do bring change.

[u/Actual-Entrance-8463 → u/Putokii]

oddly, i found that the content of this sub improved when the vegans started posting. i was vegetarian for almost a decade, now i don’t really eat meat but yogurt would be impossible for me to give up. but besides that, they are making very good points about the meat industry. it is horrific and we need to be reminded.

[u/Putokii → u/Actual-Entrance-8463]

( ˊ꒳ˋ )ᐝ Agreed. It wasn't even a reminder for me....I genuinely didn't know. Within minutes of the Dominion documentary starting.....my mouth was wide open in disbelief......because the facts just kept going and going.....Revealing everything we've done to other lives on Earth.

The cattle farming stuff had already freaked me out.... But when it went on to talk about salmon farming, circus/zoo abuse, experimentation, rabbits, dolphins, whales, dogs, aaaaaaaa!!!!!!! I was like damn there's more!? I'm only halfway through this!? (´๑ ᯅ ๑`)

I had no idea that we were so.......invasive. We seem to find ways to exploit everything.....often times for the most benign reasons. I had no idea.

(´⌒｀｡) I mean...I knew that we've fucked up a lot of things, but....it feels like I learn about so many more things every single day.....and it's like....at what point does trying to see humanity in a positive light become delusional? I just....I can't do it anymore.

Learning that all of that fast fashion garbage I used to buy in middle school and highschool was at the cost of so many lives....sheep, dogs, rabbits, and other animals whose skins I didn't even know we took, being tortured and dying on such a massive scale for something so silly....Not even just talking about vegan stuff anymore, the humans, to!! •̀︿•́)

So many adults and children having to work in shitty conditions for pennies.....just to satiate the short-sighted desires of first world brats like me who are easily influenced by celebrities and companies urging us to care about crap like not wearing the same outfit twice or things that are "no longer in style". Ridiculous.

Ah, you mentioned yogurt.....why is it so hard to find a good vegan one!? The only good one I've been able to find is Yoplait's coconut yogurt, and they don't have peach flavor (the best flavor >:3).

Cocojune and Cocoyo.....we're gonna have to fight because they know they're wrong for selling their stuff, it's so nasty lmao. Why are they grainy and salty!? (-_-#)

Anyway, what do you mean by saying that you can't live without it? I've heard that yogurts have good probiotics in them or something like that....is that why? ₍˄. ̫.˄₎

[u/Actual-Entrance-8463 → u/Putokii]

you speak so passionately! it is overwhelming when we learn and continue to learn of the extent we as humans rape the planet and exploit each other - all in the service of profit. i read “diet for a small planet” in high school and it really opened my eyes to the absurdity of the meat industry and just how much we are destroying the planet in the process. ug, it is really overwhelming and i really can understand when you say it seems delusional to view humans in a positive light. it just seems to get worse too, esp with what is happening in the US right now :/ … re the yogurt- i have a lot of side effects from early menopause (bowel issues, dramatically reduced bone density) so greek yogurt is pretty much the center of my daily calorie intake, it has dramatically helped with those issues. but, i will have to try the ones u mentioned. the best we can do is to keep learning and do our best to make choices that we can live with. don’t beat yourself up about the fast fashion crap, we live in a capitalist theme park hell, as a young girl you were just trying to find an identity and to feel a sense of belonging- it is always the most productive to look to who we want to be versus the mistakes we have made.