Vacilando — Restaurant in Beyoğlu

Social justice language has become a tool for cheap displays of superiority, where personal frustrations get weaponized into moral posturing. My experience at this vegan café perfectly exposes this dynamic.

Being a straight male customer, I was publicly shamed by a gay waiter (who was going through a break-up) for gently moving the café's cat with my foot. Despite being a vegan with adopted pets (2 cats and 2 dogs) and LGBTQ+ ally myself, I became an easy target for displaced frustration masked as moral superiority. This interaction reveals three key patterns:

Weaponizing Vulnerability: Using one's marginalized identity as a platform to exert power, transforming the role of victim into that of aggressor. In this case, a gay waiter processing a breakup found an 'acceptable' target in a straight male customer.

Binary Oppression Theater: Complex human interactions get reduced to a simplified script of oppressor/oppressed, erasing nuanced identities (like being a vegan animal advocate) to maintain the performance of righteous victimhood.

Status Through Shaming: Public callouts become a way to climb an alternative social hierarchy. The more dramatic the accusation, the more social capital gained - especially when targeting those labeled as 'privileged.' Real dialogue gets sacrificed for the quick rush of moral superiority.

These mechanics show how personal emotional needs (like processing a breakup) can hijack social justice frameworks, turning them into tools for individual status-seeking rather than collective progress. The irony is that this behavior creates new forms of oppression while claiming to fight against it. What we witnessed wasn't progressivism at all, but rather emotional projection masked in progressive language - a pattern that actively undermines genuine movements for...

the food is absolutely delicious - super delicious and fresh - unique vegan - vegetarian recipes - original recipes - once you get past the hard to discover door that's so obvious - ❌⭕️❌⭕️❌ you bang a copper libra scale thing - gong gong gong - it's weird / yes the cats are present - so get used to them - sometimes a kitchen witch 🧙‍♀️ puppet - really good music 🎶 from the past eras / memories some funky art - it's all about the great foods and deserts / each made in their own kitchen enjoy this piece...

I discovered this place right after frustratingly leaving another one in the same street (because it was way overpriced). The pricing in this place was actually okay, so I proceeded with ordering. They are offering quite a niche menu, in my opinion, as most other places have similar offerings nowadays. I tried 4 different items from the menu and all were amazing. I especially recommend Vegan Galette. It was so tasty! The staff is really kind, there are some cute little kittens too. Will definitely...