Vegans in Asia: Spreading the Message... or Neocolonialism?

1. Thank you Marine. Your videos are thought provoking and always inspire me to think more critically about the intersections of oppression. As an anglophone who is trying to improve my French accent I also appreciate that your channel is bilingual <3
2. You make very interesting and valid points!
3. Good for you young lady! Very mature from many different angles! Good for you! Namaste and blessings! What is sad is the way the people treat women and children as well... so many things that are just unjust. Keep spreading info.!
4. THANK YOU!!!
5. Well done.
6. I asked durianrider in 2014 "Isn't it exploitation of people who have to give massages to survive?" While He was bragging about how it is cheap and he gets it all the time. He commented and as you can imagine mock me and distract the critique with other claims "but they make money and you don't know Thai people, they're happy to rub my legs" etc... I found it very bizarre, unethical of him but I kept following him until this year. I am glad that there are more people exposing the flaws of vegans on YouTube. I am vegan myself but I don't want to live and spread lies. Just because someone is vegan doesn't make them any better than average person. We must work on ourselves to become a better person, and that requires awareness, truthfulness, being open to criticism, open-mindedness, compassion, understanding of all sides ... and many more. veganism is just a result of questioning the status quo, but there is more to be achieved and more to do as an individual. Love you content! 👏👏👏👏
7. Wow! Very well articulated video! I'm sure you got some heat in the comment section after this video but this is the truth. I feel like I have been brainwashed with vegan propaganda on youtube. Although I'm vegan and will be vegan but I come to realization again that being vegan doesn't make you any more ethical than an average person. We live in this delusional and lie to others to 'spread' veganism which is another form of exploitation: fooling people with false hope just to get what we want them to do: go vegan, you'll be healthier, happier, and you'll save the planet. What a BS... I used to question this dogma in the beginning of my vegan journey but then I caught up hard to the propaganda because everyone seems to believe in and support it. Of course, that doesn't mean anything. Thank you for this video! Great, unique, very needed content over here!
8. When I went to the Dominican Republic (Punta Cana specifically) for my high school graduation present (talk about privilege), I talked to and become friends with a few of the locals who worked at the resort. My favorite bartender told me how he spends two weeks up at the resort working 12+ hours a day for the entirety of that time and then travels a couple hours to where his family lives and only spends about two or three days with them and he told me how that is how most of them lived. I traveled outside our little bubble of paradise and caught a glimpse of the real Dominican Republic.
   
   Children panhandling fruits, grass hats, and even buckling us in to our vehicles in an attempt to put money on the table. I saw the lack of interaction that travelers had with the locals to the point that it was like they did not exist in their eyes. I saw what the overuse of boating and snorkeling in a particular part of their coral reefs have done (granted, the dying ecosystem could also be due to over fishing as well). I saw mountains of plastic bottles from the nearby resorts overtaking large amounts of their land, most being right beside locals homes. I went to their country and only experienced an Americanized version of paradise where it felt like we used and abused the locals and their land and once the trip was over, my sister and I vowed to never do something like that again. It has actually fueled her desire to go to underprivileged communities and try and make a difference.
   
   The point of this story is that I saw what you're talking about first hand. I cannot say whether or not the resort business has helped or hurt the Dominican Republic economically, but I can see how this style of travelling can have a negative affect for the travelers or the locals. It felt elitist and wrong and I just wish that more people could see and understand these issues. Thank you for putting it into words.
9. Thank you for this video! I agree with most of what you said. I am also very sceptical about this vegan mass tourism in Thailand as it is completely ignoring and destroying local social and cultural structures. I as a westerner who used to live as a daughter of a Thai family for one year am really offended seeing Freely walking around a `taladnat` (meeting-market) wearing yoga-pants and a sport bra. Of course there are tons of ignorant tourists in those exotic countries who are omnivores but I feel like those arrogant vegans (who make up only a small percentage of the movement, thanks God) are becoming too self-confident enjoying their luxury lives taking advantage of their position in the social hierarchy that Thai culture offers them.
10. Thanks you so much for this video. Iam glad you explain to me why I was so ill-at-ease  when I was looking at those pictures, those videos, which are showing a perfect world, without poverty and without the real tailand culture and populations. And what makes me sick is this overexposure of FRUIT, of FOOD when those countries are suffering from malnutrition and poverty. This is sooooo Strange when Vegans claims to care about equality and love and peace...... First, this travel sounded to me great and amazing but finally, I totally agree with you. My problem is that, as a white woman, I still Wonder how to travel without making neocolonialism, or without making things worse. :((((((  I hate how white people are adored and privileged in those countries that we were (and we still) taking their cultures away, and where we finally impose our destroying capitalism and our impoverished western culture.
    (sorry for my English, im french)
11. Damn you're smart as a whip. Myself as a father of 3 and entirely vegan family, the Thailand thing is a far off and impractical thing geared to young single mobile vegans. It is a vacation social retreat, a summer camp for vegans. As someone who made lifestyle sacrifices to work in the non profit sector, I can't afford to fly my family there or anywhere
12. Sounds like the festival has been an economic boom for the locals. Tourism is bad? Many western cities benefit from tourism! But Asia can't? Sounds like a double standard going on.
13. Just a thought : Did a-bas-le-ciel steal an idea of 'a permanent vacation' from you?
14. I'm Asian and i think you are taking offense to something that isn't offensive. I think cultural appropriation goes too far sometimes and really is only a problem in America and other countries with a lot of races. People in Asia i know for sure do not have this problem with them enjoying only certain aspects of their culture. You are making offense where it odes not need to be had. If the Thai people do not have a problem don't start making into a problem. I know for sure because I lived in Asia, but Asians love it when other people are interested even a small bit in the other countries. And it is so rude of you to generalize Asia as being not as wealthy as white countries. Japan and Korea are highly developed. China has the most billionaires in the world and Vietnam economy is skyrocketing so don't general Asia. We have so much money and influence now so I hate when people think Asia is not a power house like white countries
15. I found you through Cheap Lazy Vegan and have started to binge-watch many of your videos. So much insight and important discussions on capitalism, intersectionality, colonialism, speciesism. I can't tell you how much I relate to what you say. You surmise in a concise way so many of the ideas and thoughts I've had on veganism and its relationship to other world issues, but haven't been able to articulate or make sense of before. Thank you!
16. very interesting...
17. I'm sure all the yuppies will flee during the next coup
18. Bless you and the content you produce. You are one of the only vegan YouTubers that really think about the pros and cons of the vegan movement.
    
    It should be just as high of a priority in our community to aid our fellow humans in racism and exploitation and considering our impact on the environment through travel and consumerism, as we emphasize "for the animals".
    
    Thank you for your insight. it is truly a breath of fresh air in this predominantly privileged community.
19. i love this video, I've thought about this too.
20. thanks for your video! I used to think your opinions are going against the 'main crowd' for views but I really appreciate your view after having my blinds removed!