Do some of you vegans/vegetarians really hear how you talk about us?
I see questions regularly asking why people are so hostile towards vegetarians or vegans. And in the same question they ask why omnivores haven't "seen the light" or say we're just too stupid or bitter to understand eating meat is wrong.
Can't you see that those kinds of attitudes are exactly why people are hostile. Your beliefs are not universal, and I'm not obliged to agree with you. So please don't act all superior just because of your personal dietary choices.
2009-06-20T07:35:51Z
SammiChan, you are exactly the kind of person I'm talking about. You compare eating meat to rape and murder and tell me how guilty I am. That's exactly the arrogant attitude I don't understand. Your beliefs on your "life of compassion" are your own. I don't share them, and am not obliged to. You act like you have some moral superiority. It's almost like a religious belief to you. But while every major religion abhors murder or rape, I can't think of a single one that states: Thou shalt not eat meat. I'm not asking you to change your eating habits for me, just respect my right to a different choice.
To others, I'm sorry if I made it sound like all or even most vegetarians are like this. It's just the fanatics that confuse me. How can you in the same breath attack someone, and wonder why they don't like you?
prettysmartideas2009-06-20T18:55:19Z
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I personally feel that lifestyle choice, be it diet, religion, music identification, or whatever, should be a personal choice.
Unfortunately, many people seem to think that their choices should be the choices of all (shades of dictatorship, according to me). Do we want people to tell us what religion to have? I don't think so. Do we want people to tell us what gender to prefer, or what position to use? I hope not. Do we like people blasting music we don't like at us? I doubt it.
So, why should any of us criticise what anyone else wants to eat? If vegetarians, vegans, or raw vegans choose to eat the way they eat, it should be their right, and people who do not adhere to those kinds of diets should leave them alone.
At the same time, new converts to vegetarianism, veganism, or raw veganism should make every effort to avoid missionizing (as should people who have been sucked into MLM schemes)
Unfortunately, we are dealing with humans. Humans tend to like to feel superiority, and many get the idea that showing others the superior thing they have found makes them superior.
We are all blessed with our ability to make choices. We can find polite ways to fend off missionary approaches. "Thank you, but I'm not interested" is a bit blunt. "That's interesting, but let's talk about something else" is another option, still blunt. You can also listen to the missionary and then say "thank you" and go on about your business.
Many vegetarians/vegans/raw vegans get tired of meat eaters telling them that they are missing this or that. Some meat-eaters are mean to vegetarians, vegans, and/or raw vegans.
Speaking out against meat-eaters can be a defense mechanism.
Regardless, we should all strive to avoid missionizing other people who are not interested in our passion.
I'm a vegetarian. You want to make certain animals such as cows, chickens, & pigs become endangered, possibly extinct? Just have everyone become a vegetarian/vegan. The chickens & cows MAY survive (if everyone was vegetarian, not vegan), but there would be no purpose for the pigs. Almost everywhere every single cattle & chicken has been domesticated for the sole purpose of providing us nourishment. When was the last time you saw a wild cow or chicken? Look at what happened to the horse when the automobile became the mainstream form of transportation. Look what happened to the draft horse!
It just happens we have a vast majority of people who happen to stress their opinions to others, and sometimes without even realizing it's irritating the other person.
Think about it this way... if you were in a world where something was natural to everyone else, but you and very few other people, you'd most likely feel and act strongly against it. And it's hard, and it's sad for us that think this way, because it's incredibly unlikely that things will ever change. People are going to carry on hurting animals and torturing children, and with all the laws and all the police, there isn't anything we can do. I personally feel stressed every now and then when I think about it because I know an animal I feel softly about is in pain and is scared and it hurts me. So maybe every now and then, when someone cracks a vegan joke, I'll get pissy with them and it gives us all a bad image. My bad. :( But I believe in being as kind as possible to all animals... and that includes humans, doesn't it?
I'll admit there are some very passionate vegetarians/vegans spreading their message around the world and over the net.
It's really just a matter of preference, consciousness and a lack of will to be ignorant to the merciless disgusting demand for meat from animals who are slaughtered and exploited daily for the masses consumption.
If someone came up to me and said they were proud to be a meat eater of course I'd feel obliged to express how ignorant I thought they were. We're just trying to inform other people, we don't want to make them feel degraded but enlightened rather or conscious to what it is they are actually consuming. A majority of meat eaters really don't give their meals any second thought, there was lately an expose on the cruel treatment of Sow Pigs here in NZ and the nation was outraged by one mere example. If people are conscious to injustice they feel as if they must act out upon it. Ignorance is not blissfulness.
I'm with the others here... I'm perfectly polite and respectful towards non-veggies who are polite and respectful towards me. I haven't heard anyone use the phrase "seen the light" on here, and the vast majority of vegetarians that I know don't consider others as lesser human beings because they eat meat.
Furthermore, you are incorrect to assume that vegetarianism is simply a dietary choice. For many vegetarians, it is a religious or ethical decision. Going low-fat or limiting your calories is a dietary/health choice. Not eating meat, for many people, is about ethics.
Also, there's no call for being hostile by referring to an entire population as "you people".
Many people are genuinely baffled, though, as to why some people think eating meat is acceptable. Look at other practices that are debated... some people think it is essential to circumcise (both males and females) and others honestly can't understand how they don't see cutting off part of an infant's genitals as wrong. The same goes for capital punishment, slavery, abortion, contraception, and a whole list of other issues. When you have very definite ideas about things, especially if you feel that life and well-being are at stake, it's difficult to understand how anyone could see it any other way.