I saw a term today that got me thinking a lot.
The politics of convenience.
All of the easy options in our life come at a cost to people, animals, and the planet. After watching a documentary about consumerism a few days ago called Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy, and now being confronted by the above term, I was inspired to share a few thoughts.
Read more below.
So much of modern life is engineered to reward the easiest option. The quickest route. The least resistance. The lowest effort choice. We are encouraged to value convenience above almost everything else, even when that convenience comes with a trail of harm attached to it. Harm to animals, harm to workers, harm to the planet, and harm to our own sense of responsibility.
Convenience is not neutral. It is political. Systems are designed by people with power and those systems tend to prioritise speed, profit, and comfort over care and ethics. When something harmful is also convenient, it becomes normalised. When something compassionate requires a pause, a question, or a change in habit, it is framed as difficult or unrealistic.
Think about how often we are told that caring is inconvenient. Caring about animals is inconvenient. Caring about exploited workers is inconvenient. Caring about the environment is inconvenient. Caring about marginalised people is inconvenient. The message is always the same. This is too much to ask. This is too hard. This will disrupt your routine.
Veganism cuts straight through the politics of convenience. It asks us to stop and think about what we are eating, wearing, and supporting. It challenges the idea that the easiest option is automatically the right one. It is not about perfection or purity, but it is about refusing to let convenience be the ultimate moral compass.
What I find interesting is how quickly people defend convenience when it is questioned. The discomfort often has very little to do with the actual change being asked for and everything to do with being reminded that our choices exist within a wider system of impact.
Convenience allows us to forget that connection. Ethics brings it back into focus.
This is not about shaming individuals. We are all navigating systems that are deliberately stacked against us making thoughtful choices. But acknowledging the politics of convenience gives us back a bit of agency. It allows us to say, I know this is easy, but I also know it causes harm, and I am willing to choose differently where I can.
Small acts of inconvenience, when shared by many people, can shift systems. They call for and create alternatives. They remind those in power that convenience is not the same as justice.
The world keeps telling us to take the easiest path. Sometimes the most meaningful thing we can do is pause, think for even just a moment, and choose care over convenience.
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Very well written, as ever. I agree 100%.
Thank you xx