I suppose what she is trying to convey by saying ‘I’m vegan :’)’ is that she cares about animal welfare, and that she is an empathetic person - via a label. And yet, the way she acts and talks about it comes off really unempathetic. It ultimately seems a bit performative. Maybe she felt the need to share this on the internet not out of what she claims as a need to be ‘authentic’, but rather because she felt the need for validation that she was in fact a good, empathetic person.
For someone who has claimed to be such an expert on the ego, I think she likely still has an unhealthy need to be perceived in a very specific way.
I’m ‘vegan’ in so far as I try to reduce my contribution to animal suffering wherever feasible, but I have such an issue with the way that influencers use the term in order to bolster their ego more often than they advocate for the animals.
AND most of western society is fundamentally designed in a way that supports animal agriculture and makes it very difficult to live whilst not buying into those systems. It takes a lot of privilege to have the time, energy and money that enables influencers like Jade the ability to live like that. And I don’t think they address that enough.
Ultimately for her to say ‘I’m vegan :’)’ in the context of accidentally running over an animal is a performative attempt at validating her own morality, whilst insinuating that people who are not vegan are inherently less empathetic, without considering the systemic and cultural reasons for our collective attitude towards other species. She has a really individualistic kind of superiority which doesn’t take into account her privilege and I hate it.