Shame difference
The story of #IceCreamGate begins innocently enough: a vegan buys an ice cream for a crying child. But in what is surely a sign of our times, no random act of kindness can go for too long without devolving into vegan mansplaining and attempted online shaming.
Zara (a.k.a. @itsallzara), a 22-year-old vegan blogger, came across a tearful child on her driveway. After enquiring about her wellbeing, she learned that the little girl didn’t have enough money for ice cream.
Zara gave her £5 and all was well – she even got her “very sticky” change back.
But then Zara tweeted about the exchange, and that’s when a fellow vegan stepped in. Anthony Dagher (a 25-year-old “spiritual but completely non-religious vegan”) took issue with the fact that Zara may have enabled the purchase of non-vegan ice cream. He messaged the do-gooder to confirm his assumption, and his selfrighteous tone went viral.
Dissatisfied with Zara’s responses, he tweeted their screen-capped correspondence. Since she had since blocked him, he encouraged his followers to send her private messages, saying: “I do not want her to be attacked. I just want her to see she was wrong, which I hope enough vegans talking with her will accomplish.”
Zara posted on her blog that despite his attempt “to humiliate and hassle” her, the tweet had the opposite effect. She has received “a TON of support.” At the time of writing, Dagher’s tweet has 11,000 comments, with the lion’s share calling him out on his vegan mansplaining.
“So just because you’re vegan means you can’t make a kids (sic) day? One ice cream cone isn’t gonna make the world spontaneously combust. Get a grip Anthony,” VeganGenesis commented. Meanwhile, foxxyfay also condemned the act for supporting the dairy industry: “I’m disappointed that @itsallzara paid for dairy ice cream. I admired her for her activism & positivity, but her actions in private show a different side of her. Knowingly contributing to the dairy industry IS ‘ that deep’”.
On her blog, Zara summed up what it was like to be at the heart of #IceCreamGate: “I made a kid smile and gave her something to eat. No I didn’t abandon my Vegan morals and will still eat, shop and live as Vegan friendly as possible, if people want to hold it against me that I gave money to one small child for a treat then go right ahead, but I find that very petty.”