Most of us grow up conditioned to believe that it's okay to use animals. We even go to great lengths to forget that as members of the Mammalia group, we too ARE animals. Many (although too few) identify with some animals enough to want to prevent at least certain types of cruelty and implement certain measures to improve animal welfare. Others believe this minimal effort isn't good enough and label them welfarists or new welfarists. A very few of us break free from the dominant thinking that animal use is fine and call ourselves vegan. Some vegans label themselves true abolitionists and believe that vegan education is the only way to animal liberation. Other abolitionists believe this effort isn't good enough and scoff at all the theorizing, semantics and ideological correctness. They believe that only direct action (and sometimes others will label that action violent) is the key to setting animals free.
All groups along the animal welfare/rights spectrum however feel that they are right. That their approach will work. That it's the other groups who are being divisive, cultish even, and are censoring and stifling others. If only the other groups would listen, see reason and stop being the ones responsible for the infighting. Sadly, all groups tend to see things through the lens or filter of their own ideology (not surprising, as veganism is a filter as well) and discard whatever doesn't already fit within their framework. Even more sadly, this doesn't change the minds of at least 95% of the population who view members of all of these groups as any of the following: crazy, misguided, extreme, weird, dangerous, judgmental, radical, annoying, self-righteous, fanatical, stupid or delusional.
But I bet all the animals still stuck in cages, farms, zoos, circuses and other domiciles not of their own choosing couldn't give a rat's ass (I think rats are lovely by the way) what we call ourselves, what words we use to justify our ideological/theoretical positions and our infighting, and wish we would just stop USING them in our debates. Because really, isn't that what we're doing? We, as vegans who should know better?
(For the record, I consider myself a human animal, a vegan, an abolitionist, and an abolitionist who isn't opposed to welfare measures to reduce current suffering.)