Every time a public figure passes — especially one with a complicated relationship to animals — a familiar fracture emerges in the vegan and animal rights community. Some mourn. Others condemn the mourning. Some say, “He wasn’t vegan.” Others reply, “He tried.” And some, louder still, ask: “How dare you grieve a man who once bit the head off a bat?”
It’s a pattern we know well. But it’s worth pausing to ask: What purpose does this purity test serve?
There is no ethical point scored when we strip one another of humanity in the name of moral perfection. If veganism is about compassion, then that compassion cannot be conditional. People change. People grow. Some stumble. Some fall short. But many try — and those attempts, however flawed, matter.
When we create a culture where even sadness is suspect — where mourning must be justified, and grief must pass through a gate of ideological approval — we don’t just alienate one another. We weaken the very message we hope to spread.
In the wake of his death, even disputed or debunked claims have reignited outrage — and made it harder still to separate grief from ideology.
This is not to excuse violence or celebrate half-measures. It is, rather, to acknowledge that humans — like movements — are messy. Compassion cannot be a cudgel against those who mourn differently. If we demand a world of empathy, we must model it — even, and especially, when it’s uncomfortable.
If we want a more humane world, we must begin by being humane to each other.
REMEMBERING OZZY OSBOURNE
Ozzy Osbourne, the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness and heavy metal icon, passed away this week at 76. Known for his wild stage antics — including the infamous bat incident — he also spent much of his later life promoting animal adoption, advocating against factory farming, and speaking out against animal cruelty.
His legacy is tangled. He was not a vegan, nor a model of consistent ethics. But in his final decades, he moved in the direction of compassion. And that’s a story worth telling — not to excuse the past, but to reflect on the possibility of change. Even the loudest voices can evolve. And sometimes, the ones who once shocked the world become unlikely allies in the fight for a kinder one.
To millions, Ozzy was more than a tabloid headline. He was the soundtrack of rebellion, of survival, of refusing to be sanitized. His influence on music is undeniable. And that cultural impact, too, shapes why so many grieve — not in spite of his flaws, but in full awareness of them.
The Humane Herald 