No.111650
Characteristics of a cult:
>The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment
<Completely absent in veganism
>The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members
<Present no more than in most branches of christianity
>The group is preoccupied with making money
<Completely absent in veganism, money-making only goes to animal rights
>Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished
<Questioning is encouraged, as many vegans consider alternatives for normies, like saving Earth and smart mammals before saving insects
>Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s)
<Completely absent in veganism
>The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth)
<Completely absent in veganism, the only guidelines are just guidelines and are entirely practical, like how to meet micronutrient needs in a world "calculated" for carnism
>The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity)
<Everyone can "join veganism", mission of veganism is just to reduce suffering, making it less "messianic" than any major religion
>The group has a polarized us- versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society
<Present in very minor form, but not as strongly as in say, catholics or any other traditional christianity
>The group's leader is not accountable to any authorities (as are, for example, military commanders and ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream denominations)
<Entirely absent
>The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify means that members would have considered unethical before joining the group (for example: collecting money for bogus charities)
<Veganism supports freeing slaves, which might be considered vandalism by slave owners, but not by sane people
>The leadership induces guilt feelings in members in order to control them
<There's no leadership, guilt is comparable to what /fit/ards feel when they skip a day or weight-losers feel when they eat too much
>Members' subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family and friends, and to give up personal goals and activities that were of interest before joining the group
<Very rare, below that of converts to mainstream religions or people who lose weight while having fat social circles
>Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group
<Completely absent, veganism can be "done" alone
>Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members
<Completely absent
If veganism is a cult, then:
>every major religion is a cult
>losing weight or gaining muscle is a cult
>being fat is a cult
>communism is a cult, even if you don't want a violent revolution
>leftypol is a cult
As this would be silly, it's very safe and rational to claim that veganism is by no means a cult.