Veganism as an ideology is such a great framework for forcing myself to learn about how stuff is made out of things. Recently my partner helped me to put two and two together that film photography requires gelatin, which is animals, which means that (2+2=4) film photography is not vegan. Obviously. Obviously gelatin is animals. It just didn't occur to me to put it together (I probably also didn't want to put it together), which is why veganism as an ideology is great imo. Film photography requires animal agriculture. This is a material fact whether I like it or not. And tbh doesn't that kind of point to the silliness of the idea that gelatin (for example) is simply a byproduct of the meat-and-dairy industry that we happen to make use of in order to not be wasteful? I think it does. Gelatin is a multi-billion dollar industry, and trying to practice veganism as best I can has meant realizing how much stuff has animal skin and bones in it. Like film, which I love. I gave away my film cameras and it genuinely hurt my feelings, but tbh what's there to be done? It is what it is. I'm not going to invest in the animal bones industry.

I'm hoping to become more and more of a materialist and it's got me asking questions like: does the rise of digital and the decline of film photography (gelatin) have any visible ramifications when it comes to the gelatin industry? What gelatin products are getting promoted in the place of film? I *feel* like I've seen a rise in cosmetics with gelatin that promise better skin, hair, and nails, but I bet that's just my recency bias. Thinking about film not being vegan is making me wonder about the history of feeding women animal skin and bones to make us better women. I think veganism as an ideology is really good for me. Also, the way that animal agriculture requires everyone to ignore animal suffering is very relatable to me, a person in some overlapping exploited populations whose suffering has to be ignored in order for society to function. (In particular rn: my ex-family is harassing me, as is their norm: I feel like a cow with a hoof infection.)

Stuff is made out of things and veganism is one of the best ways I've encountered to realize that all the time. I appreciate vegans for teaching me, I hope to be a vegan one day.