Veg and Vegans only please....What answer do you give when people say "Vegetables are living too?'?

Question

I get that response a lot when I tell people that I don't each Fleash (I do not just say meat, because then they will offer me fish). Generally, I don't make a big deal about my vegetarian beliefs. However, I do answer the questios honestly when asked. But, there is always a "smart A**" that makes the above comment. I have ways of dealing with it, but I am curious to know how other Veg and Vegans respond. Maybe some of your methods are better than mine.

Answer 1

People that try to irk vegetarians/vegans with this comment usually believe that they are sounding intelligent with their comments on biology and life, yet they usually end up sounding like simpletons. I usually enjoy giving them a jaw-dropper by showing them that they are the ones that are ignorant to biology. I usually respond with a simple fact: "You are correct in that plants are living, however, you must have forgotton that plants cannot undergo thinking processes and cannot feel emotions or physical pain."

I once had a person that was honestly doubting the fact that plants cannot think or feel, which completely blew my mind. I am not trying to sound rude, but this is information that I knew at a very young age. A person at his age should have known the difference between broccoli and birds. For the people that are either completely lost about why plants cannot think or feel, or for the people that enjoy stirring up a rise in me, I continue my explaination by describing the nervous system and its parts.

Answer 2

Easy: just look at the life cycle. When an apple tree grows apples it's purpose is to provide us with apples, if we don't pick the apples from the tree, it will fall of, naturally, very quickly and die. Then it will produce another apple again, in it;s place, to provide us with food.Like all vegetables and fruits, it's easy to see that this is their purpose. They are living, but consists of around 90% water and grows from a tree or whatever. Their consciousness is extremely low..It does not get born, does not have a heart beat, does not have intelligence, does not have a life, does not have feeling, or emotions..It's about the essence of life, animals DO have feelings and intelligence, we ALL know this. Some just choose to look the other way. What is the difference between your dogs life and a pig, if you brought a pig into your house, kept it clean and taught it some things, you would have noticed that a pig is, by fact actually smarter than a dog. You can't compare an apple to a cow...it's illogical

Answer 3

I tell them taht they have neither a nervous system nor a brain so cannot feel anything. Most of the time I roll my eyes and walk away though - everyone knows this and they're just trying to wind you up. If found that if you don't rise to it then they shut up.

I also quite often point out that I never try to make everyone vegetarian so they really shouldn't waste their efforts trying to make me eat meat.

What I find worse is if I have any leather about my person - shoes or a bag. I do admit that seems hypocritical, but quite frankly they don't make nice ones that aren't. I do have lots of non-leather bags and some shoes and I tend to tell people that not only is it a by product of all their meat eating (nothing is slaughtered for leather as far as I know, it's not like wearing fur) and also that the moment they come up with a good alternative I will give up any leather goods forever.

Answer 4

I'm a veg and I try and steer clear of giving the response that I don't eat flesh, for this exact reason. Try telling people that you personally do not want to eat animals or that you do not agree with how these animals are treated (which is horrific). The main point I always try and get across quickly is that it is a personal choice and I don't care what other people do, it's just how I feel. People tend to back off pretty quickly if they realize you're not going to preach at them about how horrible it is to eat meat.

Answer 5

not a vegitarian or vegan but dont vegetables dies off each year but an animal can live for several years i think that that distinction would be good enough. but your dealing with someone who is ignorant so it really doesnt matter what you say truth be told. just say that you have a family history of arthritis and you cant eat red meat because of the lactic acid and fish is gross. haha that should be good enough for most morons who will fight you on it.

Answer 6

They do not have a central nervous system and say that they really are living then we'd still be doing the least amount of harm because it takes a whole sack of grain to cycle through feeding cattle and get I think it's a pound or half pound of cow meat.

Answer 7

I find the statement too silly to discuss. Remember you are dealing with uneducated(about this subject) so polite tolerance is about all you can do for most of them.
The are so many types of "Veggies" those that do eat fish those that will do dairy & eggs, those that will do veggies & renntless cheese on & on etc.. no wonder they are confused.
I try not to get insulted, & if they truely seem interested I do a little education.

Answer 8

1) Vegetables aren't sentient creatures and do not feel pain.
2) Plant foods are not cultivated or harvested under the sort of torturous conditions that livestock are subjected to.
3) I am also a living creature and Nature designed me to require food to fuel myself; I simply choose to do so in a way that minimizes the suffering of my fellow creatures.

Answer 9

Well, veggies aren't sentinent; they don't feel pain, and as long as they have enough sunlight to grow, they don't care about their living conditions. Veggies are far less harmful to the earth than raising meat, and with the amount of soy or grain that you feed one cow with, you could feed quite a few people with (far more people from the grain than from the meat of the cow).
Does this help?

Answer 10

first of all, I think it`s not polite to discuss someone`s eating habits-each one of us has right to eat whatever we think it`s good for us, for our health, or to eat food we enjoy in. for some people that food is meat, for other it is not-I don`t see the point in making big deal of it. and, to conclude, i`m sure that commentaries like that are most likely to be given by people who eat every animal that has four legs, so i would`t be paying much attention on them if were you!