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There are strong arguments for this. Alcoholics have support groups to keep themselves accountable, but also when they do relapse to help get them back on track

There are strong arguments for this. Alcoholics have support groups to keep themselves accountable, but also when they do relapse to help get them back on track. Having a firmly held belief doesn't mean you're immune to temptation or are unforgivable if you have a lapse. Moreover the kind of criticism and shaming that comes from not giving people "a break" does two things 1. It lowers the power of the shamer to make real change in a persons life and 2. It can cause exactly the kind of depression that leads to more of the undesirable behavior.

seanwilson 6y ago
If you really think killing animals for food is wrong (if that's the reason you're vegan), doing it just a little bit shouldn't be okay to you and shows you weren't really that serious in the first place. I wouldn't try to shame someone with a drug addiction but I don't think this is anything similar. What would you say to someone who said they were going to give up plastic straws but gave in and still used them once a week for example? There's certain cases where strong disapproval is more valid and you can't blame lack of self control so much. I'd argue giving people too much of a break doesn't help either. I think a big part about why people can't give up meat is that they're surrounded by people telling them it's okay. There's people that know meat is bad for climate change and know killing animals is wrong but won't reduce their meat eating because they see people around them are complacent too. I'd be interested to see some evidence that promoting the "baby steps" approach is the right one because it could easily be making it worse.