Alex O’Connor, better known by his YouTube alias CosmicSkeptic, made a name for himself by championing rational discourse, ethical clarity, and — until recently — veganism. His articulate advocacy inspired countless people to reflect on their relationship with animals and make meaningful changes in their lives. So, when O’Connor recently stepped back from veganism, it was a disheartening moment for many who had looked up to him.

The arguments O’Connor now uses to challenge veganism aren’t just weak. They’re incoherent, misleading, and ethically hollow — a stark contrast to the rigorous moral reasoning that once defined his career. What’s even more troubling is that his reasoning mirrors a pattern increasingly common among anti-vegans.

In this article, I’ll show just how flawed and ethically unsound these arguments really are.

“Individual veganism doesn’t matter — we need systemic change.”

This is the core of O’Connor’s current stance: that going vegan is futile, and that we should focus instead on political lobbying and systemic reform to overcome the horrors of animal farming.

This stance may sound appealing on the surface, but it’s deeply flawed. Here’s why:

1) It’s a false binary

• Systemic change and individual action are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they reinforce each other. Going vegan is not a distraction from systemic change — it fuels it.

• The people who make ethical lifestyle changes are often the very people pushing for broader reforms.

• You don’t need to pick between “being vegan” and “help changing the system.” You can do both.

2) Culture leads legislation, not the other way around

• Every major social shift began with cultural change. First people stop normalizing injustice, then the laws follow.

• As long as animal exploitation is seen as normal, legal reforms will remain weak, rare, and unenforced.

• If no one is willing to change personally, who exactly is going to demand legal change?

3) You don’t need everyone on board to create change

• Not everyone supported women’s right to vote, marriage equality, and civil rights — yet these movements succeeded.

• Social progress has never required full consensus. It only ever needed enough people to stand up and start shifting the norm. In fact, a small portion of the population actively engaging in a cause has often been sufficient to bring about change.

• Suggesting that the “system” must change first before individual action matters is historically false and actively discourages meaningful progress.

4) We are the system

• The food system doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s made of us — of our choices, our habits, our norms. And it responds to our demand.

• When someone opts out of funding animal cruelty by going vegan, that’s not just a personal gesture — it’s a transformative act. It pulls money out of an industry built on suffering.

• Protest without corresponding consumption choices is hollow. If you fund the system you’re protesting, your message is incoherent.

5) It’s not just strategy — it’s also morality

• Veganism isn’t just tactically useful — it’s an ethical stance. If you believe something is morally wrong (like animal cruelty), your obligation is not to participate in it — regardless of what others do.

• Not stealing won’t end theft. Not being racist won’t end racism. But we still have a responsibility to do what’s right. The same logic applies here.

• Choosing not to harm animals is the right thing even if you were the only one doing it — because integrity isn’t conditional.

6) Individual veganism does have measurable impact

• A single meat eater is responsible for the death of hundreds or even thousands of animals over a lifetime.

• One person going vegan does save lives, reduce emissions, conserve land and water, and help shift market demand.

• Multiply that by millions of people, and you absolutely change the system.

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The Illusion of Reasonableness

O’Connor’s presentation is polished, composed, and measured. That’s always been part of his appeal. But it’s also part of the problem. Because when a smart-sounding person calmly defends a bad argument, people often mistake it for a good one.

To suggest that the importance of systemic change somehow invalidates individual action is not only illogical — it’s self-defeating. Widespread belief in that idea may be the very thing that prevents systemic change from ever happening.

Make no mistake: every person who goes vegan shifts demand, changes conversations, and helps build a world in which compassion and non-violence are more likely to flourish. That’s how change happens. That’s how it’s always happened.

His Absurd “Solution”

O’Connor’s alternative vision of change is to lobby for legal reforms and criminalize factory farming. Which, in theory, is great. In practice, it’s fantasy.

We can’t even pass basic animal welfare legislation without massive — and shockingly successful — pushback from the Animal Ag lobby. The idea that we’ll leap straight to outlawing the very foundation of industrial agriculture is laughably out of touch.

It implies you can keep buying bacon and burgers while waiting for laws to change — laws that, according to O’Connor himself, aren’t even enforced today.

Conclusion

I don’t believe Alex O’Connor is acting in bad faith. But I do believe he has made a deeply flawed moral and intellectual pivot — and he’s packaging it as rational insight. It’s not. It’s confusion wrapped in eloquence.

In the face of a worsening climate crisis, accelerating deforestation, and billions of animals slaughtered weekly in horrific conditions, plant-based living is not a fringe ideal.

It’s one of the most accessible, practical, and impactful changes any of us can make. To suggest otherwise — especially with a platform as large and influential as O’Connor’s — is not just misguided. It’s dangerous and incredibly irresponsible.

If you agree with my message, please share it. None of us can match O’Connor’s reach alone — but together, we can.

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