Reasons Why That Vegan Teacher is Problematic

Hello, Team Ronstar readers and welcome back to “Ronstar’s Urban Legends”. For today’s blog, I’ll be talking about That Vegan Teacher and why she’s problematic on social media. I’ve been watching multiple YouTube videos about her for a while now, whether it’s people reacting to her live videos on YouTube or to her multiple TikTok accounts. This blog will detail about That Vegan Teacher’s words and actions has caused her to be the comic relief and annoyance on social media. Disclaimer: please do not send any hate towards That Vegan Teacher. This blog is to understand why That Vegan Teacher has gotten a bad reputation. So, without further ado, here’s reasons why That Vegan Teacher is problematic. Enjoy!

1. Who is That Vegan Teacher?– In order to understand her infamous reputation, let’s look at who she is. Before becoming as That Vegan Teacher, Kadie Karen Diekmeyer (yes, her middle name is Karen) was a former 6th grade English teacher, nurse and is currently a animal rights activist. She started her YouTube channel back in July 2018 and began her TikTok account That Vegan Teacher two years later. She started to become viral on TikTok due to her song “Eating Animals is Wrong, McDonald’s”, which she calls out McDonald’s for not having a vegan menu. Majority of her content is based around veganism, which is a practice of abstaining from animal-based products while following a plant-based diet. Someone who follows the diet is called a vegan. Some choose a vegan lifestyle for health reasons, some for environmental reasons, some for nutritional values, and some for the combination of the three.

2. Controversy #1: Bella- Now that we know much about That Vegan Teacher’s history, here are the controversies that landed her in hot water. The first controversy that got viewers heated was the treatment of Bella. Bella is That Vegan Teacher’s dog that appears in most of her TikTok videos, showing everyone that a vegan diet would work for dogs and paints Bella as really happy of being a vegan dog for years. However, many TikTok users were outraged because That Vegan Teacher’s feeding a diet that isn’t ideal for dogs since dogs are usually carnivores. In one video, Bella is seen eating grass while That Vegan Teacher acts all happy for her vegan dog. According to an article from Hill’s Pet, dogs can be technically vegan, as long as the owner plans that diet with help from a licensed veterinarian. Otherwise, the dog can suffer from malnutrition and severe health complications. As for Bella eating grass, it’s a normal thing for dogs. According to Pet MD, a dog eating grass could be a sign of these common ideas: inducing vomit, improving digestion, treating intestinal worms, and fulfilling a nutritional need that it lacks. In short, Bella is eating grass as a way to fulfill the fiber content she lacks due to the vegan diet. Also, since That Vegan Teacher didn’t have a licensed veterinarian to help her with the vegan diet for Bella and fed Bella a vegan diet for years, she’s basically making Bella malnourished. I even found a petition to save Bella from That Vegan Teacher and it shows how upset are with That Vegan Teacher and wanting to save Bella. I’ll put the link of the petition down below.

https://www.change.org/p/tiktok-saving-bella-from-thatveganteacher-because-is-forcing-bella-who-is-a-dog-to-be-vegan

3. Controversy #2: Using religion to guilt trip people into veganism– Along with the Bella controversy, That Vegan Teacher also stirred up more controversy with religion. Most of her TikTok videos have her commonly saying “Change your religion like you change your underwear” or “Being vegan is the only way into heaven”. She also thinks that if you change your religion, you won’t be cruel to animals. Most of her comments in those videos feel that way because she’s trying to persuade people that are following their religious beliefs into a new one, which is disrespectful. Many other comments defend their religion and beliefs. What That Vegan Teacher says in her TikToks videos are misguiding and disrespectful because there are people in the world that follow a religion they follow and respect other people’s religious beliefs, but she views it as a form of guilt trip by using cruelty to animals to change religion and becoming vegan. I understand that there are certain rules that every religion has and foods that certain religions refrain from eating, but comparing veganism to religion is so wrong and offensive on so many levels. Also, she’s misguided because she feels like you can change religions everyday. I’m sorry to burst her bubble but that’s not how religion works.

4. Controversy #3: Constant awful comparisons to veganism– TW: certain words mentioned in this section would be censored due to younger readers and may be disturbing/upsetting to others due to traumatic experiences. Viewer discretion is advised. Now, this one really got people mad. If anyone has seen her TikTok or YouTube videos, chances are is that she often compares veganism to s*xism, r*cism, misogyny, and homophobia. For one, there’s no linkage between veganism to homophobia, r*cism, s*xism. Also, it’s disturbing that she had the nerve to compare veganism to these disturbing examples, not to mention the fact that she likes to use someone’s traumatic experiences as a way to compare veganism. Sadly, she doesn’t and still doesn’t understand that constantly comparing veganism to any dark side of humanity/traumatic experiences is really messed up on so many levels. Had she not make these disturbing examples in comparison to veganism, this mess wouldn’t have happened and she wouldn’t have dug herself a deeper hole.

5. Controversy #4: Her r*cist song– Halfway through the list, this next entry is really screwed up. That Vegan Teacher wrote and uploaded a song on YouTube called “I Can’t Breathe” on May 25th a year ago. For context, this date is remembered for the day that George Floyd lost his life to police brutality and his last words were “I can’t breathe”. His death gave rise to the famous Black Lives Matter movement, in which the purpose was to bring an end of police brutality and racially motivated incidents against the African-American community. However, she added a new line to her song on June 19th as reference to the untimely end of Regan Russell, a vegan and animal rights activist that lost her life by a careless truck driver. On the surface, it seems as she’s taking a stand against police brutality due to the title of her song. But, it’s more of a tribute towards Regan Russell than a tribute towards George Floyd right off the bat. After listening to the song, I felt that this song needs to be put right next to SCP-804 to be disintegrated immediately because I wouldn’t even performing that disturbing song if I didn’t have to imagine the other lyrics. Also, I believe that her intentions were sickening because she was trying to use the movement and George Floyd as a way to promote veganism. Of course, she turned off her comments section to this abomination to avoid the criticism of her song. To put this simply, she wrote it on the day that George Floyd lost his life, but didn’t want to put out, only to revised it because another vegan activist lost her life and released it to pay tribute to her than to George Floyd. Next time, don’t use any movement/victim to promote veganism. That’s not okay. I’ll leave the link to her song below and comment below if you think her song is atrocious as much as I do.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QsDZatyrM2I