Well…I see lots of posters laughing at vegans wearing leather shoes.
I’m sure that some vegans do thoughtlessly wear leather shoes.
However, I’d like to offer some direct personal experience on this isuue. I’ve been to some vegetarian/vegan fairs and some protests. Not what I would characterize as “a lot,” just “some.”
Despite this limited exposure, I have seen many incidents – dozens – of people yelling at/laughing at/pointing at/accusing of hypocrisy vegans who were NOT wearing leather.
The typical yelling person is a driveby, safely in a vehicle with several others, usually young. He’ll (it’s overwhelmingly men) yell out “Nice leather shoes, hypocrite!” and peel out, high-fiving his passengers smugly. Boy, he showed us!
Except, of course, the people he’s making fun of are NOT wearing leather shoes. It’s not MY fault if he’s too stupid to tell the difference – or stupid enough to claim he can, from 200 feet away in a moving SUV.
But years from now, he’ll go on message boards and smugly bring up the hypocritical vegans who wore leather shoes, not even realizing he imagined the whole thing.
I’ve been there and can certify that the shoes (belt, purse, gloves, etc.) were not animal products. Yet some people have such a need to belittle (or are so defensive…guilty, perhaps?) that they will make the claim anyway.
I’d like to reiterate that I’m sure there are a few thoughtless/mistaken/hypocritical/brand-new-and-unable-to-afford-new-shoes-yet vegans out there, and you may have seen one.
Sailboat