Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack!

In typical VWPA fashion, we made the sudden decision to launch “Bitchy Shitshow” next week, so this week we are here with our very last VWPA episode, looking back at our first episode and examining how our thinking has changed over the years; also talking politics and SJW bullshit.

In This Episode

Next week, we’ll be launching “Bitchy Shitshow” and retiring VWPA, so this week we’re here to say goodbye to a wonderful, hard, messy, awesome, frustrating, magical phase of our lives and look forward to the next adventure. We hope you all will come along for the ride!

We look back at our very first episode called “The Opposite of Right is….” where we take a very black and white view on doing harm, and discuss how our perspective has evolved over the years and what we think of this topic today. We roam into talks of politics and cancel culture. There’s a lot of laughs and passion (read: anger, especially from Nichole, she was all fired up during this one) and when we pulled off our headphones, there were tears in our eyes.

Thank you for all the support and love, and please join us on the new show!

It’s our anniversary! We’re celebrating five glorious years of TMI, rants, laughs, tangents, and listener love!

In This Episode

This year we’re talking about former celebrity crushes that now make us cringe, how much we love our listeners, tell a listener-original joke custom made for Nichole, and more!

Sheabutterfemme’s amazing Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/sheabutterfemme/status/1218894917709246469

We tried to fight it, we held off for weeks, but, y’all…we need to talk about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Spoilers ahead! (We honestly feel this is one of our best episodes we’ve ever done, please listen even if you don’t give a fuck about Star Wars!)

In This Episode

Advice Question

I’d love to ask you a question. I’ve read many vegan forums and couldn’t believe what people’s stance is. Would love to get yours. I ate some vegan chocolates the other day. Was reading the ingredients and back of package. Realized that the chocolates were made in a facility that process milk products. A) there could be traces of milk in the vegan items. How can they claim it’s vegan and how are vegans ok with it being processed in animal product facility. I’m very upset about it and I’m only a transitioning vegan. Most vegans don’t care that it’s processed in that type of facility. What’s your stance?

Joke

Why is Kylo Ren so angry?

Main Topic

This week we finally cave and talk about the latest and final installment in the Constellation Battles saga. The movie was eating at us ever since we saw it opening weekend and after watching several analyses of it (links to some of our faves below), we felt obligated to weigh-in.

Beyond our feelings about whether the movie was good or not, we could not move beyond issues we saw with racism and homophobia, as well as a narrative that essentially supports eugenics, completely trashed Leia’s/Carrie Fisher’s legacy, erased an important lesson about avoiding abusive relationships and self-love.

References/Resources

* Kelly Marie Tran: I Won’t Be Marginalized by Online Harassment (New York Times)* Oh no! The Rise of Skywalker was real bad :( | Jenny Nicholson (YouTube)* Rise of Skywalker is (hilariously) Bad | Quinton Review (YouTube)

Inspired by (a.k.a. enraged by) the CNN Democratic Debate on January 14, 2020, we decided to do a bonus episode this week to talk about key points we wish the candidates and moderators were addressing, as well as our thoughts about the Warren-Sanders drama and the SJW reaction online.

In This Episode

(Posted early for Patreon members, support us on Patreon here)

We talk about the recent Democratic Debate in terms of issues that continuously come up but are never properly addressed, namely, single-payer healthcare and free public education, as well as the way that no one goes in on candidates like Pete Buttigieg the way they should on certain issues.

We also address the Elizabeth Warren / Bernie Sanders “feud” in terms of SJW scripts run rampant on the internet, a call for us to use critical thinking skills in light of political tactics rather than following ally scripts, and not confusing issues like this with sexual assault claims.

Resources

* Ep. 19: The Sad Downfall of Elizabeth Warren | Michael Moore (Rumble Podcast) – links to valuable resources, comprehensive* Jenny Nicholson Twitter Thread with link to Medium article by Katie McCort that talks about the alt-right and “antis” going after women on the internet with equal destruction fervor* Angie Speaks tweet: “The neoliberal recuperation of identity politics is a poison that will destroy the left unless we are bold enough to not back down when faced with cynical attacks. Warren is a liar PERIOD.”

This week we cover Trump’s illegal assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, and then Nichole goes off on a tear about people being ableist AF around other people’s travel plans.

In This Episode

Iran

We give our take on the response to Trump’s actions against Iran this week, calling out Democrats for playing the “but he was a bad guy” game in regards to the ILLEGAL assassination of Qasem Soleimani and the threat of war. We talk about what a bully the

Referenced in this Episode

* You are expendable. | Thought Slime (YouTube) * Eyes Left Podcast (iTunes)* Twitter thread by Kathrin on Veganuary

Post-recording update: Trump says ‘it doesn’t really matter’ if Iranian general posed an imminent threat (Washington Post)

Joke

What is gray, has four legs, and a trunk?

Travel Rant

Nichole pops off and Callie joins right in about how much they fucking hate people being such busy-bodies about what you do on vacation. It’s annoying and ableist. Obviously not as important as Iran, but a fun way for us to end an otherwise heavy show.

Relevant: September 2019 Short Questions: Part 1 (Captain Awkward) – specifically Q5

“…words like “should” and “just” are shame-amplifiers…” Captain Awkward

We had planned to talk about Veganuary this week when we saw our friend Jaime K post about it on her social media and thought, hey, let’s collab! The three of us discuss the potential dark side of Veganuary in the way it has been co-opted by those who profit off of health veganism.

In This Episode

Jaime K, Callie and Nichole discuss Veganuary, health veganism, colonization through viral movements, ableism, sizeism, and more in this brief (for us!) episode collaboration.

About Our Guest

Jaime Karpovich, “Jaime K”, is a vegan plus size queer femme writer and speaker. She was nominated for an Emmy for her vegan TV show “Save the Kales”. By day, she works for a children’s literacy campaign. She leads workshops and writes about inclusive veganism, diet culture, self-esteem, and queer identities; and lives in Easton, Pennsylvania.

You can find Jaime on:

* Instagram: Save the Kales! | Hello Jaime K!* Twitter: Save the Kales!* YouTube: Save the Kales!

We got a great question this week from a listener who asked us how we anti-capitalists can make money when it contradicts our beliefs, so we dedicated the whole episode to this topic!

photo credit: Jp Valery

In This Episode

Joke

Why can’t anarchists draw straight lines?

Main Topic

We received a listener question this week regarding how to navigate making money while also being anti-capitalist. This is something we’ve touched on in bits and pieces over the years but welcomed the opportunity to go more in-depth about it in one episode.

Listener Question

Submitted by Collette

How do we make money as anticapitalists?

I love the show and would love to hear your take on this question. It eats many of us up and I think you could take a deep look in many directions in an episode. Just heard some of Nicole’s take on it at the end of your episode with Andy on anticapitalist veganism, but dying to hear any more thoughts you have developed and other stuff you and other anarchists may be struggling with in more detail. 

We’re back this week to answer our next two listener questions regarding family advice: one about dealing with the death of a loved one who passed before they could grow beyond their bigotry, and the second about practicing restorative justice with someone who just can’t seem to change.

In This Episode

Joke

Why is it hard to get a second date with a panda?

Referenced in this episode

* How to Support Harm Doers in Being Accountable | Bernard Center for Research on Women (YouTube)* Twitter Thread with links to amazing Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker and The Last Jedi articles | Jeanette Ng (Twitter)* adrienne maree brown (website)* Philly Stands Up (Transformative Justice for Sexual Assault Offenders)

Main Topic

We tackle some poignant and complicated questions this week, generating a really good conversation. One about grief, one about forgiveness, but both tying into something larger and more complex:

First Question

Submitted by Krista (she/they)

In the episode about the Joker film, you talked a lot about creating boundaries with family members. I’ve recently come out as queer and it’s caused me to make some harsh boundaries with my middle sister who is very homophobic and racist. We are currently not on speaking terms. Though I know this is right and better for my health, the guilt plagues me as I’ve always been a giving person.

With that context in mind, the advice I want to ask is about my dad. My father died in 2016. My mom, dad, and middle sister were always racist and homophobic. The small-town type who could grow but aren’t forced to. Growing up knowing about their fear kept me in the closet for a long time. Now that I’m out, my youngest sister has been so wonderfully supportive, my mom has come around and reacted better than I could have hoped for, my middle sister I am not talking to anymore and my dad is deceased. It hurts knowing that I’m growing exponentially and my dad is forever stuck in 2016. I don’t know if he would be accepting of me. It’s hard to navigate coming out not knowing if he’d come around. It’s easy to assume he wouldn’t be and that causes me to feel so distant from him. And even if he were accepting, there are many things that he used to do that would now really bother me. It’s hard feeling like I’ve outgrown my dad.

How do I come to terms with this and still maintain a level of connectedness and love for my dad?

Second Question

Submitted by Anonymous (she/her)

Hey Callie and Nichole! I was wondering if maybe you could talk about/do an episode about the whole idea of restorative justice and forgiveness and all that. I’ve been struggling with an emotionally abusive family member for a long time and they keep on doing really hurtful shit to me, but every time they apologize I “forgive” them and nothing changes. Recently, something happened and I kinda put my foot down and was like, “I’m not taking this bullshit anymore.” But now, it’s looking like that person is going to apologize again and I’m struggling with what to do. I do believe in the idea of restorative justice and I have seen it work in another one of my relationships, but I just don’t feel like this family member has any desire to change. I just wanted to hear your thoughts on what restorative justice means and what you all think about forgiveness.

This week, we answer the first (two) of a series of questions about family. Shit gets real, dark, and real dark, girl. We work our way through these related questions by bringing in our own experiences with emotional abuse. It’s a heavy but important conversation, with loads of dark humor along the way. Plus, a very long tangent about true-crime TV. Plus a takedown of our latest favorite terrible holiday romantic video. Discussion about a Twitter thread around emotional labor. Content warning for descriptions of actions by deeply emotionally abusive parents.

In This Episode

Intro topics

TikTok Video Conversation from Twitter around Emotional Labor:

* Gay Boyfriend’s Twitter Thread * Emotional Labor Definition and Origin (Wikipedia): the process of managing feelings and expressions to fulfill the emotional requirements of a job. More specifically, workers are expected to regulate their emotions during interactions with customers, co-workers and superiors. This includes analysis and decision making in terms of the expression of emotion, whether actually felt or not, as well as its opposite: the suppression of emotions that are felt but not expressed. Term defined by sociologist Arlie Hochschild.

The hol-rom movie we watched this week was “Married by Christmas” on Hulu. So bad.

Joke

I only have one qualification to be a parent…Thanks, Dmitry!

Main Topic

(Sorry this is late, I (Nichole) thought I’d be cute and try to activate my new modem and router last night and ended up losing internet access in my house which persists as I write this, even after spending three hours with Cox support. Pray to the internet gods for me!)

We initially intended (as you will hear) to answer three/four questions this week that are all family-themed as we are in the midst of the holidays and probably steeped in family foolishness, however, the first two-part question ended up inspiring a long, serious conversation about emotional abuse, domestic violence, gaslighting, and other dark themes. It was a great but heavy talk, so content warning for all of that plus racism and assimilation tactics, in case you’re not in the mood. There is a lot of dark humor along the way but the content is very serious so decide if that is ok for you.

As a reminder, we recommend researching the following topics and see what resonates for you: emotionally immature parents, toxic people, narcissistic parents, being a child of an alcoholic/addict, loving those with borderline personality disorder, safely leaving a domestic violence situation and/or resources for safely leaving relationships with emotionally abusive people.

NOTE: As stated in the episode, we want to reiterate that we do not advocate diagnosing people over the internet and we do not advocate assigning bad behavior to mental illness. BUT when you have been severely emotionally abused in the kind of inexplicable and utterly fucked up ways that the letter writer’s husband has, it’s extremely unlikely that mental illness isn’t playing a role and even if it somehow is not, these resources can be enormously helpful to start to unpack what the fuck has happened to you, protect yourself, put healthy coping mechanisms in place, safely set boundaries and start doing the work of realizing it’s not your fault and that the other person(s) can and will not change so you have to look at what it is today and make a decision about that person(s) role in your life based on that ...

Prompted by an amazing listener email, we deconstruct “survivor” vs “victim” for those who have experienced trauma, exploring the ways language really matters when we discuss difficult experiences.

In This Episode

Joke

If a libertarian masturbates to completion…

Credit to Hbomberguy for the joke! Please watch his Lovecraft video essay, it’s unbearably beautiful <3

“News”

This fucking thing: Why We Asked President Trump to Go Vegan for January (Million Dollar Vegan)

Also mentioned today: Ad Astra is Clickbait (where Nichole first heard of the “Sadstronaut” genre) – YouTube

Main Topic

Inspired by a listener email, we unexpectedly turned the advice section into the main topic! Thank you to listener Cari for the thought-provoking and thoughtfully written topic idea. Cari’s email reads:

I’ve been thinking about the use of the word “survivor” instead of “victim” in the case of traumas or even relating to people with cancer and I just have some thoughts and want to hear what you think!

I feel like calling a victim a survivor is meant to be an empowering thing. Victimhood is historically tied to shame so no one wants to think of themselves in that way. But 1. Being a victim is not something to be ashamed of and that is something we need to work really hard on as a culture and 2. What if you don’t survive? What about victims of abuse who turn to drugs or alcohol and don’t “overcome” it in a way society deems appropriate? What about people who commit suicide following a trauma? What about cancer patients who don’t survive or “win the battle” as they say? Isn’t the use of survivor further belittling them or passing judgment or declaring these people weak, less moral, less worthy of compassion or acknowledgment? It seems to be another way to subtly put the blame on the victim if you don’t manage to move past it and live what others would call a “productive life” (ew). It’s a “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality that you are solely responsible for whether or not you “allow” trauma to completely fuck up your life. 

Recommended Related Media

* 42. Sexual Violence, Pedophilia, and the Systems that Perpetuate Them with Kathrin (The Vegan Vanguard)* 39. Death Positivity and Doomsday Preppers w/ Ash from Horror Vanguard (The Vegan Vanguard)