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A review by studiomikarts
Vystopia: the anguish of being vegan in a non-vegan world by Clare Mann
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
If you're a vegan--especially a new vegan just starting to realize what kind of world we live in--who is struggling with or even paralyzed by the soul-crushing magnitude of the cruel animal exploitation that humanity is currently engaged in, get yourself a copy of this book and read it. It will not only release you from the overwhelming weight of our sadistic reality, it will help you add your momentum to the waves of change that are already growing with each capable, compassionate person (that means you!) who takes action.
My first reaction to this book was a lot of crying. I went vegan and THEN began to learn about how bad things actually are for non-human animals on this planet. The more I learned, the more powerless I felt. I even lost my fear of death, because it felt like I'd be glad to leave this sick world behind. I cried almost continually while reading the first third of the book because I had never felt so understood. The author went through the same things and, as a psychologist, has seen others go through them as well. Just knowing I wasn't alone in these feelings of despair and rage helped me so much.
After that, the book becomes more and more action-oriented, which I LOVED. I don't just want to be understood, I want to know what I can do to make things better! The book literally provides lists of things to do to resource yourself as a vegan fighting for a better world and to further the vegan cause, including taking good care of yourself (not only so you're able to speak up for the animals, but so that by simply existing as a happy, healthy vegan you are a living advertisement for veganism), learning to be an effective communicator (this suggestion led me to join the Vegan Toastmasters club, which is not only helping my communication skills, it's giving me emotional support simply by meeting regularly with nice people who are just as passionate about helping animals), and even accepting resistance to change as a positive, because resistance to new knowledge is still a step forward from complete ignorance.
I'll end my review with some of my favorite quotes from Vystopia:
My first reaction to this book was a lot of crying. I went vegan and THEN began to learn about how bad things actually are for non-human animals on this planet. The more I learned, the more powerless I felt. I even lost my fear of death, because it felt like I'd be glad to leave this sick world behind. I cried almost continually while reading the first third of the book because I had never felt so understood. The author went through the same things and, as a psychologist, has seen others go through them as well. Just knowing I wasn't alone in these feelings of despair and rage helped me so much.
After that, the book becomes more and more action-oriented, which I LOVED. I don't just want to be understood, I want to know what I can do to make things better! The book literally provides lists of things to do to resource yourself as a vegan fighting for a better world and to further the vegan cause, including taking good care of yourself (not only so you're able to speak up for the animals, but so that by simply existing as a happy, healthy vegan you are a living advertisement for veganism), learning to be an effective communicator (this suggestion led me to join the Vegan Toastmasters club, which is not only helping my communication skills, it's giving me emotional support simply by meeting regularly with nice people who are just as passionate about helping animals), and even accepting resistance to change as a positive, because resistance to new knowledge is still a step forward from complete ignorance.
I'll end my review with some of my favorite quotes from Vystopia:
- I am particularly sensitive to the emotional condition of a rapidly growing number people who become vegans based on their ethical beliefs about animal cruelty. These intrepid souls bear the brunt of abuse, criticism, ostracization, and in many cases, violence, from those who choose to ignore (for their own self-serving reasons) the screams coming from those well concealed, ghastly gulags of despair we call slaughterhouses, fur-farms, or vivisection laboratories. In my own journey through Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” I have learned to see these vegans in a much more heroic light. I describe these vegans, who are in fact Animal Rights Activists, as brave, quintessential “First Responders”. Like firefighters who run into burning, high rise buildings; citizens who swim out to rescue strangers caught in a rip; ordinary Germans who hid terrified Jews from the encroaching Nazis.
- I strongly encourage vegans to go beyond this and have “down-time,” because the animals need us to be well-resourced and strong to speak on their behalf. Also, the vegan lifestyle is exponentially healthier, and the healthy, abundant, fun, and interesting vegan is a powerful advert for veganism.
- There is little more painful to the vegan than being told they are selfish and only want others to be like them, when their value system is based on compassion, kindness, and lack of selfishness.
- The best thing a vegan can do is to be a great example of a happy, adjusted, open-minded, caring person who also happens to be vegan.
- Cowardice asks the question: Is it safe? Expediency asks the question: Is it politic? Vanity asks the question: Is it popular? But, conscience asks the question: Is it right? And there comes a time one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular -- but one must take it simply because it is right. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
- The sheer number of animals whose lives stand to change for the better makes this the largest social justice movement on the planet.
- Most people are nearer to veganism than you think because they recognise the truth when they hear it.