Why does being a veggie piss some people off?

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

The one thing I can't stand about being a veggie, has nothing to do with me, but to do with other peoples reactions to my choice. I cannot stand how some people are SO DISPARAGING and RUDE because I choice to opt out of a meat-eating lifestyle. I especially cant stand the Immortal Technique song that just bashes veggies.

Just thought I'd vent a bit...

[MoonRiver]

1. They're mad cause we remind them of how unhealthy

their lifestyles are. Eating meat is bad for the body. I became vegetarian for ethical reasons, but a bonus is my statistically proven longer and healthier life! Eat your hearts out carnivores!!
:bounce:

[Piperay]

2. I agree

just by the fact of being a vegetarian they take that as implied criticism, they can get very defensive. I have never ever been critical or self-righteous toward people who eat meat but they have sometimes been downright rude to me. :-(

[MoonRiver]

3. You still have your Wes icon!

He was my candidate during the primary too. Oh, what might have been. :cry:

[Piperay]

4. Yeah

I'll always be a Clarkie. :-)

[theoceansnerves]

5. i don't even bring it up.

because i know it will just end up with a barrage of lame comments, people getting angry, or people trying to "catch" me doing something un-vegan. i think a lot of it has to do with people not wanting to think about what they eat, and a little bit of people that know what goes into what they eat who choose to ignore it. the rest are probably just jerks who hate anything different.

[JackieO]

6. Deep-rooted insecurities?

Latent vegan tendencies?

:shrug:

[Gothic Sponge]

7. I learned that the issuse is not with the diet per se.

Hell, you could tell people you don't eat licorice and nobody would care.... It's the action of being a vegetarian that bug some people.

Tell a group of people at a party you don't eat meat because you have a severe allergic reaction to it, and they will pity you. Tell that same group you don't eat meat for animal rights, now watch them become uncomfortable.

Being a vegetarian is one of the most passive-aggressive actions you can make. (as long as you're not militant) You're not infringing on other people, but your belief challenges their views. It makes them have to do some introspection, and they don't want to. They see you as someone trying to be morally superior.....The problem is, like it, or not... we are being morally superior!

We have taken a stand against murder. IMO, it's good to feel a sense of pride about being a vegetarian, just don't be too self righteous!

Keep your feet on the ground.

[LeftyMom]

8. I think you're right.

When I tell people I am a vegan because animal products aggravate my IBS they accept that and are very sympathetic and curious about what I eat. When I tell people I'm vegan to maintain my weight they just shrug. When I tell people I'm vegan for religious or moral reasons they soemtimes flip out on me and either attack my lifestyle or tell me all the wierd and nonsensical reasons they absolutely have to eat meat and dairy.

PS People tend to go straight to door number three no matter what when they find out my son is vegan, too. Apparently he'll waste away without cow's milk, you know. (Why don't people believe thier eyes? My son is tall for his age and built like a football player. If he's wasting away for lack of cow's milk, I'll eat a cheeseburger. Hmph.)

[theoceansnerves]

9. remind them

cow's milk is for baby cows.

[LeftyMom]

10. I do

But common sense doesn't trump years of advertising and propaganda in the schools and on the teevee. *shrug*

[LisaLynne]

34. A slight side note ...

Have you ever noticed that the people who can't stand it if you don't give children cow's milk usually don't breast feed/support breast feeding (if they're a guy) their own children? Just something I noticed recently. So, cow's milk is okay, but human milk isn't? I don't get it.

[Wallflower_Liberal]

32. Absolutely

I don't have so much of a problem when I tell people I'm vegetarian. But once they find out I'm raising all three of my children veggie, then they get all fired up. "What do they eat?" "What do the other kids say?" "What will you do when they get picked on in school?" "Are they healthy?" blah blah blah.

[Hun Joro]

12. You nailed it right on the head.

[SiouxJ]

14. Very good post

When I tell them it's because I don't like the way the animals are treated and also it's for environmental reasons, they do get all quiet and uncomfortable. They'd just rather not think about where their food comes from.

I have good friends that are involved in pet rescue organizations and the like, who go on and on about how they can't stand to see an animal suffer. Then they'll invite you over to their house and serve ribs or something. Some people just refuse to think about where their food comes from. They see it all nicely packaged in plastic and don't think about how it got there. When you call them on it, they get all bent. I've taken to more subtle ways of pointing it out, in order to avoid the typical reaction.

[CrispyQ]

23. You are so right!

Your comment: "They see you as someone trying to be morally superior.....The problem is, like it, or not... we are being morally superior!"

Sometimes, upon finding out I'm veg, people have asked me, "Do you think you're better than other people?" I always answer, "No, just more compassionate."

Now I happen to think that being more compassionate makes anyone a better person, but it goes right over their heads. They just nod & then drop the whole topic. I don't think they equate compassion with morality.

And here's another thing. How many of us have had someone respond, "I could never give up meat." To them, being veggie means sacrifice & sacrifice is something that takes discipline. I think -- especially in today's lazy, complacent, dumbed down society -- that anything that takes discipline is something they are intimidated of. What's funny, is that I don't think of my veg way of life as sacrifice. It is simply a belief that I have. Yes, I have to be aware of what constitutes the food & products I purchase, but I certainly don't consider that sacrifice nor does it take discipline to do it.

[Robeson]

29. You hit the nail on the head.

:thumbsup:

[Catchawave]

11. Meat Industry propaganda?

I think they like painting us all with a broad brush as being whackos, not to mention we're all going to die for lack of B12.

Heaven forbid we support animal rights too, then we're hypocrits, because we cause more animal deaths by our diet (collateral deaths during harvest).

I fall off the meataholic wagon alot, but at least I can admit to cravings and addiction. But always hate myself in the morning, since I'm aware of how unhealthy factory farmed meat is. I think our critics are in serious denial.
x(

[curse10]

13. Insecurity. They know that eating meat is murder

they just can't accept it. How many times have we heard "don't tell me what they do in the slaughterhouses, I still want to eat meat."

They actually have to be ignorant in order to eat that shit on their plate. It's really sad.

[magdalena]

20. I'm really not a militant vegan and

don't antagonize most meat-eaters, but within my immediate family I love to play the "call it what it is" game. I chide them for eating pig chops and cow roast all the time. It really disturbs them, but not enough to keep them from continuing to eat it.

[SiouxJ]

15. A great example of this

is when you post something veggie related in the Lounge. Like, say you ask for veggie recipes or what your favorite meat substitute is. It usually only takes a few minutes for the "antagonistic meat lover's" post to appear. It's usually something they think if really funny, but what I find funnier is that it is sooooo predictable. You can count on it. I just sit and wait and then laugh at how predictable they are. Why not just let us discuss it without feeling the need to antagonize? I would expect this sort of taunting in Freeperville but in a liberal, supposedly open-minded place, it seems very out of place.

Another reason this new group is a great idea.

[Elad]

16. When I tell people I don't eat meat, I often feel the urge to qualify it

"No, my shoes aren't leather. No, plants do not feel pain and even if they did I still kill less plants by being veg. No, PETA does not stand for People Eating Tasty Animals. Does that about cover all your comments about my choice of diet?"

[curse10]

17. I've had people argue with me about plants feeling pain

:eyes: it's amazing.

[Elad]

19. Same here

It's ridiculous. If you need to just get out of it, though, you can always just say, "Fine, plants feel pain. It takes 12 pounds of plants to produce one pound of beef. If you're truly not a vegetarian out of your compassion for the pain-feeling plants, you'll stop eating meat anyway."

[vinessa4freedom]

30. don't forget

how do you get your protein? Gag.

[LisaLynne]

35. I have a shirt that says ...

"No, I don't eat meat. Yes, I get enough protein. No my shoes aren't leather."

Wear it all the time. :)

[jdj]

33. I'll never forget the night that I asked for a good veg. dog food

you'd have thought I asked for one made of babies blood.

Of course I know there are trolls on stand-by just for this purpose. But at the time I did not know, and I was stunned at the viciousness of some of the comments. The fact that I have had three animals (now four) die of cancer on a standard pets diet and was looking to extend my pet's life span meant nothing.

[Rob H.]

18. The people who irritate me...

...are the ones who say things like, "If we're not meant to eat animals, why are they made of meat?" or, "Hey, y'know what PETA stands for? 'People Eating Tasty Animals.' Haw, haw, HAW!" :eyes:

I've been getting irritated with a friend of mine lately, too, even though I've been vegetarian for just over a year now. (I'm ramping up to go vegan.) We went out to eat last week at a Chinese restaurant that serves sushi, which I used to eat pretty frequently. I said, "Hey, look, sushi. Pretty weird that a Chinese restaurant is serving sushi, though."

Then he started in with, "You liked fish, and you said you went vegetarian for health reasons*, but fish is healthy so why don't you still eat fish? I know vegetarians who eat chicken and fish." I had to politely tell him, "Well, maybe you do, but, um...fish and chicken aren't vegetables, and those people are not vegetarians." He just doesn't get it.


*I did it for ethical reasons, too, which he somehow manages to forget every! single! time! he talks to me about it.

[Ladybast]

22. I don't act defensively--

because I know the reason that the meateaters attack me is that they have a conscience,even if it has been lulled to sleep, and my own veganism is like their conscience coming to visible life and confronting them. They don't like to think of themselves as murderers, exploiters, torturers, imprisoners, or self-destroying babies who are clotting their own arteries, stuffing their own fat cells, murdering their own planet, etc. etc., with their meat consumption, and just the fact that I stand there smiling and healthy without doing this things is like a finger of accusation pointing accurately at their own faces.

This is why, BTW, they ALSO scream when media dares to show pictures of the atrocities committed in the Iraq war, or pictures of environmental destruction. Has anyone other than myself noticed that Republicans, on the average, are noticeable heavier than liberals? No such thing as a Republican vegan. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

Meat eaters hate vocal vegetarians, and neocons hate vocal liberals, because our existence and voices puncture their comfy Denial. Therefore we must be attacked and destroyed.

[K8-EEE]

21. I'm Not A Vegatarian But HERE'S MY PET PEEVE!!!

My daughter is one so I cook vegetarian meals all the time, and sometimes meat on the side. Usually we just eat meat on weekend bbqs and stuff, I just try to keep everyone happy, LOL!

But can I chime in here because my daughter made this decision at age 8 and I never for minute had a problem with it and I have these parents who LET THEIR KIDS EAT HOT DOGS and all sorts of junk...who smoke in front of their kids and who buy them fast food several times a week telling ME, have I had her tested for this or that deficiency????

THAT PISSES ME OFF!! She's 14 now and veggie half her life and the picture of health. It's not vegetarian food that's hurting our kids. DUH!!

[sbj405]

26. And of course everyone has their story about so-so who was a veggie

and got so sick. As if meat is somehow required to live.

[K8-EEE]

27. My Dr. Is A Vegetarian

and he always says there's never been a person cut open who the surgeon says, "Nurse! Another senseless vegetarian death. Get the hamburger IV, stat. Oh no! Too late!"

However the opposite IS true, these clogged arteries, they ain't from avocados I don't care what Dr. Atkins said.

[Logansquare]

38. LOL--I like your doctor; he sounds hilarious n/t

[Cornus]

24. Here's a cartoon for you

It's one of my favorites and is on my fridge!

http://www.cartoonbank.com/product_details.asp?mscssid=GW5N05CEKXV48MTK2SRWWS60TGVC3VC4&sitetype=1&did=4&sid=66641&whichpage=1&sortBy=popular&keyword=vegetarian§ion=cartoons

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

25. As a non-vegetarian

I really could give a shit about what other people eat. I dated a vegetarian for three years - an excellent cheap date (salads).

I guess I could see people being put off by preachy vegetarians, but I don't think that's what you are talking about.

What really annoys me - diet wise - are the people who feel they have to comment on the carb count (DEMON Rice!) of what I am eating. Or fat content.

[K8-EEE]

28. Amen!!

I did have to tell my daughter to not talk about the meat people are eating at meals with her, as if it's roadkill or "dead" or "decomposing" or whatever! LOL! However, she was 12 though, they can be obnoxious whatever they eat.

Or they go, "oh, that looks so good...of course I NEVER would eat that because I don't eat this and that, I only eat blah blah blah" People can be a bore with the food lectures for sure.

[Nadienne]

31. From a different perspective,

I am a hunter. And every time a vegetarian I know finds out about this, I mentally brace myself for a lecture...

I remind myself that if this vegetarian is so adamantly anti-hunting, it's not because of me but because of the knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, trophy-chasing, beligerent hunters that are featured on TV shows and in magazines.

So far, I haven't been lectured.

But I'll admit, I'm tempted to quit buying meat, eggs, milk, etc, and eat only the meat that I know was respected... I'm well aware of the ecological cost of raising animals for slaughter, compared to raising vegetables for market...

[Logansquare]

39. There's some ethical validity to your argument

If you kill a deer quickly and use the meat, it would be more ethical than consuming products from a tortured factory animal. My grandfather slaughtered his own animals and also hunted for food during the Depression; I can't imagine him gloating and acting joyous about the act of killing. To him it was a grim fact of farm life.

[Nadienne]

40. It's pretty neat,

to be sitting in the woods or a patch of trees, just sitting there, thinking about life, and to see a deer or other wild animals... I suppose I could sit there with a camera instead of a bow and arrows. But there's something else, and I think different hunters take it differently. Some hunters take the killing of wild game as a conquest, man versus nature. But me, when I shot a deer this year... I did feel grim. I guess, in my opinion, it's not something that should ever be done casually, like the way it's done in slaughter houses...

[LisaLynne]

36. Great thread!

I cannot even COUNT the times I've been attacked by others because I don't eat meat. Yeah, just verbally attacked, but sometimes it's been so vicious that I've started to wonder if I should start carrying mace to dinner parties. :)

I think all of you who have suggested that those who react so violently to it are doing so because it tugs at their conscious are really on to something. I remember when I was younger (high school) and my younger sister became a vegetarian. It did really bug me. I think it was because I knew I should be doing the same thing, since I was already an animal rights activist. Cats, dogs -- how can I stop there? What about pigs and cows and everything else?

I have had some success with certain people pointing out to them that people react really angrily to a choice that I've made about my life and eating habits. It seems to bring them out of it and they realize they're doing the same thing and it doesn't make a lot of sense.

But, it doesn't change the fact that I often skip office parties and things because I don't want to make a huge deal out of it, knowing somebody will start saying something stupid. Sigh.

[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[H3Dakota]

41. The rudeness of some is amazing...

The final killer for one of my relationships was my going veggie. He actually told me that I had no right to make that decision ~by myself~!!!

Think about it. If someone is Baptist & make a passing comment about it, does he/she get to hear arguments from everyone around about how WRONG it is? Does that person have to constantly defend their beliefs? Of course not!!

Yet tell anyone that you are a vegetarian (or vegan) and you hear horror stories (I've had people tell me, in graphic detail, about hunting trips, etc).. stupid jokes (how come animals are made of meat, etc).. ridiculous arguments (yeah, the old standby about plants & pain).. a list of reasons why humans are meat eaters (after all, we have canine teeth, for heaven's sake!).. the whole "we are supposed to eat meat, the BIBLE tells us so.. and let's not forget, the how do you get enough protein/iron/B vitamins... baloney.

One of my favorites: "Oh, I was a vegetarian once. But then I started working out and I just HAD to eat meat." Uh-yeah. Because the only way that I can possibly be lifting weights, running every day & have gotten very close to getting my black belt is from loading up on some dead carcass? I don't think so!!!

[livinginphotographs]

42. My brother went through the same thing

That I'm going through now. I was commenting to someone the other day about how it's almost like coming out of the closet as gay.

They either berate you for it, feel the need to make snide comments about, "mmmm, I love eating meat," or sit there and say things like, "Well, I don't eat THAT much meat."

As a straight man, that would be like me talking to a gay man and saying, "Well, I don't have sex with women all THAT much."

Of course, I was raised atheist AND with a twin brother, so I'm very used to stupid questions and comments by now.

[Catchawave]

43. Yep...

...just order a meat free meal *anywhere* and "you're one of those"...I think a Seinfeld episode addressed this? Silly, isn't it?

[livinginphotographs]

44. Funny. That episode was on tonight.

Jerry had to keep pretending to like mutton chops to please Elaine's cousin, but he'd spit it into a napkin to avoid having to eat it.

Hijinks ensued....

[livinginphotographs]

45. Cruise on over to the lounge...

Someone posted a thread about....wait for it....wait for it....PETA!!!!!!!....and it turned into someone posting pictures of meat and other people saying that "Of course people are more valuable than animals! I can't defend it but I know it's true!" and "huh huh huh i like steak huh huh huh" kind of shit.

I managed to get two threads locked. :evilgrin:

[flvegan]

46. Ha! That's nothing!!

I called Placebo out for statements made in that thread after it got locked. Not only was my post locked, but completely deleted. It never existed.

Hey, I know DU isn't my personal forum, and it was pretty juvenile for me to post such a thing, but damn...I feel pretty good about getting a post completely eliminated from the board.

[curse10]

47. Not cool guys.

Not cool at all.

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Elad]

49. You all are welcome to use this group to discuss

other topics on DU, but please do not use this group to organize disruption, brag about getting threads locked (that is disruption), or otherwise break DU's rules.

[livinginphotographs]

50. Sorry about that.

I didn't mean any disrespect. I was just feeling grumpy today, and decided to take the typical anti-PETA threads on.

[Catchawave]

51. I read those threads and really have to bite the bullet

not to respond to them, otherwise I know I'm committing DU Larceny:crazy: Some of those anti-veg and anti-animal replies, and from respected DUers too, make me postal !

Not because they're anti, but they're posting propaganda, and it makes me think of the Swift Boat Veterans.

I worked really hard during the campaign to make my Green and Kucinich friends support Kerry and the Democrats as the environment couldn't take another 4 years of BushCo. We all agreed on that, until Kerry's goose killing photo op, then he was regarded as "just another politician"....and alot stayed home, as they saw no difference between Bush and Kerry after that.

In my perfect world, we need respectful dialogue between all the liberals, no matter what their causes, and only then will we be the stronger party.

I noticed there's a DU Group called Outdoor Life where the hunters are welcomed to brag about their "baggin' a 12 pointer", and I respect that forum for them to do just that. However if they come to GD and the Lounge, I know it's to start a flame war.

They do look bored in their safe little forum :)

[curse10]

52. it's hard- I finally learned to just stay away from those threads

there is no arguing with them. Just like there is no arguing with me. Nothing will make me start eating meat again.

I have one deleted post and it was because of a fur thread. I was fucking pissed. I still am! LoL This is the issue that gets my blood boiling! But, in the hopes of being a kinder, gentler, less stressed curse10, I vowed to not participate in those threads ever again.

It's for the best. Let them make their stupid "people eating tasty animals" jokes. We know who's right. :evilgrin:

[flvegan]

53. Elad is right, as usual

I shouldn't have posted what I did, and I certainly shouldn't have "bragged" about my post deletion. My apologies to DU, but especially to my fellow veg* folks that I might have maligned, I am sorry.

In my defense, I will say this: Any time someone calls a veg diet "stupid" and regards those living a compassionate lifestyle as idiots, and any time someone regards animals as worthless outside of something to eat or wear, I'm going to jump in the middle of it, as I did in this instance. I'll certainly be less confrontational, as DU isn't my soapbox, and I will respect the rules. But, flvegan will show up in the thread, for better or worse.