Don't worry, they'll let you know.
It's an old joke, but a versatile one. I've heard it told about vegans, atheists, people who do crossfit, and just about any group of people who reasonably fit into a "lifestyle". But the joke depends on failing to make an important distinction. It fails to distinguish between vegans and Vegans(tm).
So what's the difference? Well, veganism is a lifestyle. Veganism(TM) is a Lifestyle(TM).
OK, that wasn't helpful. Let me try again.
As I use the word, a lifestyle is a series of choices people make centered around a core set of values or principles. Veganism is generally centered on ending the exploitation of non-human animals for human gain. This includes not killing animals for food, but also choices like not eating milk or eggs because eating animal products is still exploiting animals even if that exploitation doesn't kill the animal.It can also include not wearing fur or leather or not buying from companies that test products on animals. In a way, veganism is extending anti-capitalist values to non-human animals. Pretty neat.
But in the United States, we live in a capitalist economy. So, like most things under capitalism, the choices in veganism mostly come down to choices about consumption. It's mostly choices about what to buy and who to buy it from. And when there is a common core of principles about consumption, there is a market. And where there is a market, capitalism is going to exploit that market. Thus we get Veganism(TM).
Lifestyles(TM) aren't much concerned with core values. Lifestyles(TM) are much more concerned with guiding consumption choices in a way that most benefits capital. It does this by cultivating identity. If your choices can be subtly separated from core principles and redirected towards personal identity, those choices can be guided more easily. If the market can associate a product with an identity, it can convince people to reliably purchase that product based on that association rather than its concordance with principles. They can offer you validation for your identity. Just slap a Vegan(TM) label on it and watch Vegans(TM) buy it because that' what Vegans(TM) do.
Social media plays a roll in this as well. After all, the "marketplace of ideas" is still a market. There are YouTube channels and Twitters and Instagrams focused on Veganism(TM); talking about Veganism(TM) and how to be Vegan(TM) and the virtues of Veganism(TM) etcetera etcetera etcetera. They grow their audience by offering a community around the personal identity of Vegans(TM) . They offer validation for that identity. And that's a pretty compelling offer in a broader society that likes to make bad jokes about how insufferable vegans are.
Now, this isn't about giving vegans a reason to feel superior to Vegans(TM) . That's just more validation of identity. And it isn't even true. We all exist under capitalism and we are all subject to its whims. And we all have personal identities built around things that markets want to sell us, whether that's Vegans(TM) or Gamers(TM) or Liberals(TM) or Conservatives(TM) or any other personal identities. Our identities exist on a spectrum from organic to cultivated. This isn't about "real" vegans v. "fake" vegans.
I'm talking about vegans as a backdoor to talk about somebody else; Christians(TM).
I've seen a particular pair of bible verses being spread around social media lately. They are Exodus 22:21;"Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt." and Leviticus 19:33-34; "When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God." They are being spread as a response to our use of concentration camps at the US Mexican border. They seem to want to appeal to evangelical Christians who support President Trump and his policies on immigration. But there is a problem with using these verses to appeal to Trump supporters.
They do not care.
Where Christianity is built upon the central values and principles of adherence to Biblical teachings and faith in God, Christianity(TM) is built upon the cultivated identity of American Christianity(TM). Cultivated Christianity(TM) is built on people's sense of what it means to be Christian. It means hating abortion and not liking homosexuals and trans* people not really existing. It's built on shaming women for liking sex and puritanical notions of purity.And that identity has been cultivated alongside American jingoism. So being Christian(TM) is also about loving America as long as America(TM) is also about being Christian(TM). And rejecting foreigners is all a part of America(TM).
So many markets, including the marketplace of politics, have done an amazing job of connecting the personal identity, the brand, of Christianity to their products. I used to buy into it. I wore t shirts
with White Jesus's face on them. I wore a WWJD bracelet. I bought "Testa-Mints", breath mints with crosses on them and bible verses on the wrappers (Mostly, I liked the pun. I would probably still buy them). So much of Christian consumption has been deliberately cultivated by markets to exploit that identity. None of us are immune.
And politics is no different. A big part of Republican political success has been due to their successful connection of America(TM) and Christianity(TM). Politicians can use that connection to sell people on the idea that baking me a cake is fundamentally unAmerican(TM), or that refusing to issue me a marriage certificate is a deeply American(TM) act of protest, or that all these brown people are going to ruin Christian(TM) America(TM). Which is, of course, exactly what the evil Liberals(TM) want.
So sharing those bible verses means absolutely nothing to them. Because those verses might mean everything to Christians, but they don't mean anything to Christians(TM) as long as they conflict with American(TM) Christianity(TM). They do not care about the hypocrisy because, to them, there isn't any hypocrisy. Because American(TM) Christianity(TM) has nothing at all to do with the bible and everything to do with "God, Guns, Grits and Gravy".
So what's the difference? Well, veganism is a lifestyle. Veganism(TM) is a Lifestyle(TM).
OK, that wasn't helpful. Let me try again.
As I use the word, a lifestyle is a series of choices people make centered around a core set of values or principles. Veganism is generally centered on ending the exploitation of non-human animals for human gain. This includes not killing animals for food, but also choices like not eating milk or eggs because eating animal products is still exploiting animals even if that exploitation doesn't kill the animal.It can also include not wearing fur or leather or not buying from companies that test products on animals. In a way, veganism is extending anti-capitalist values to non-human animals. Pretty neat.
But in the United States, we live in a capitalist economy. So, like most things under capitalism, the choices in veganism mostly come down to choices about consumption. It's mostly choices about what to buy and who to buy it from. And when there is a common core of principles about consumption, there is a market. And where there is a market, capitalism is going to exploit that market. Thus we get Veganism(TM).
Lifestyles(TM) aren't much concerned with core values. Lifestyles(TM) are much more concerned with guiding consumption choices in a way that most benefits capital. It does this by cultivating identity. If your choices can be subtly separated from core principles and redirected towards personal identity, those choices can be guided more easily. If the market can associate a product with an identity, it can convince people to reliably purchase that product based on that association rather than its concordance with principles. They can offer you validation for your identity. Just slap a Vegan(TM) label on it and watch Vegans(TM) buy it because that' what Vegans(TM) do.
Social media plays a roll in this as well. After all, the "marketplace of ideas" is still a market. There are YouTube channels and Twitters and Instagrams focused on Veganism(TM); talking about Veganism(TM) and how to be Vegan(TM) and the virtues of Veganism(TM) etcetera etcetera etcetera. They grow their audience by offering a community around the personal identity of Vegans(TM) . They offer validation for that identity. And that's a pretty compelling offer in a broader society that likes to make bad jokes about how insufferable vegans are.
Now, this isn't about giving vegans a reason to feel superior to Vegans(TM) . That's just more validation of identity. And it isn't even true. We all exist under capitalism and we are all subject to its whims. And we all have personal identities built around things that markets want to sell us, whether that's Vegans(TM) or Gamers(TM) or Liberals(TM) or Conservatives(TM) or any other personal identities. Our identities exist on a spectrum from organic to cultivated. This isn't about "real" vegans v. "fake" vegans.
I'm talking about vegans as a backdoor to talk about somebody else; Christians(TM).
I've seen a particular pair of bible verses being spread around social media lately. They are Exodus 22:21;"Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt." and Leviticus 19:33-34; "When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God." They are being spread as a response to our use of concentration camps at the US Mexican border. They seem to want to appeal to evangelical Christians who support President Trump and his policies on immigration. But there is a problem with using these verses to appeal to Trump supporters.
They do not care.
Where Christianity is built upon the central values and principles of adherence to Biblical teachings and faith in God, Christianity(TM) is built upon the cultivated identity of American Christianity(TM). Cultivated Christianity(TM) is built on people's sense of what it means to be Christian. It means hating abortion and not liking homosexuals and trans* people not really existing. It's built on shaming women for liking sex and puritanical notions of purity.And that identity has been cultivated alongside American jingoism. So being Christian(TM) is also about loving America as long as America(TM) is also about being Christian(TM). And rejecting foreigners is all a part of America(TM).
So many markets, including the marketplace of politics, have done an amazing job of connecting the personal identity, the brand, of Christianity to their products. I used to buy into it. I wore t shirts
with White Jesus's face on them. I wore a WWJD bracelet. I bought "Testa-Mints", breath mints with crosses on them and bible verses on the wrappers (Mostly, I liked the pun. I would probably still buy them). So much of Christian consumption has been deliberately cultivated by markets to exploit that identity. None of us are immune.
And politics is no different. A big part of Republican political success has been due to their successful connection of America(TM) and Christianity(TM). Politicians can use that connection to sell people on the idea that baking me a cake is fundamentally unAmerican(TM), or that refusing to issue me a marriage certificate is a deeply American(TM) act of protest, or that all these brown people are going to ruin Christian(TM) America(TM). Which is, of course, exactly what the evil Liberals(TM) want.
So sharing those bible verses means absolutely nothing to them. Because those verses might mean everything to Christians, but they don't mean anything to Christians(TM) as long as they conflict with American(TM) Christianity(TM). They do not care about the hypocrisy because, to them, there isn't any hypocrisy. Because American(TM) Christianity(TM) has nothing at all to do with the bible and everything to do with "God, Guns, Grits and Gravy".
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