Case in point:
Someone recently wrote on Yahoo answers:
" I have not ridiculed anyone for choosing not to eat meat. However I think alot of vegans take themselves and their eating habits too seriously and project them onto others without warrant. Kinda like gays and christians."
Looks like ridicule to me.
2006-09-25 08:53:56 · 23 answers · asked by raven s 3 in Food & Drink ➔ Vegetarian & Vegan
I've asked this same question. I think that meat-eaters are getting defensive because they know that eating meat is bad for the environment and their own health and in a few years, they are going to be considered the same way that smokers are, that they are responsible for their own problems.
2006-09-25 11:55:13 · answer #1 · answered by moviegirl 6 · 0⤊ 4⤋
I think that the broth will always spoil when people feel like it's the fountain of youth. So if you used to drink and are now sober, if you used to sin and are now christian, if you used to meat but now vege there will always be those who feel like they need to pass it on. Not out of malice but because they feel like they have found the path to enlightenment. I was vegan in 2000. Didn't stick. I was vegetarian from last fall until a few days ago. For me it's about health issues and realizing that I have to eat meat to be healthy but what I found this second time around was that simply talking about my dietary needs, I had to do it in a certain way otherwise it sounded like I was being condescending to people. And along the way I have run into many vegans/veges who won't date people who eat meat or talk to them because their "sweat and breath" smell or who go on tirades about killing animals as akin to human genocide. Meanwhile, they still live in a country that is waging unending war and live off of an economy designed to keep much of the world in poverty and doing our bidding. There are some who will question vegetarians as weirdos, but if you believe in yourself you should know that you are better than that. But honestly, it's rare to find a vegan/vegetarian who isn't a preacher if only because everyone has to cater to their needs when you eat out or use certain pots when cooking or not breath hard near them. It can be kind of annoying.
2006-09-25 20:17:49 · answer #2 · answered by Donovan 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I used to be a vegetarian and pretty much am now, even though I never liked to call myself that. I just said I didn't eat meat. Anyway, I recently spent a week on vacation with a girl who is a vegetarian and just plain annoying anyway, and she acted very "holier-than-thou" about it, which is probably what a lot of non-vegetarians encounter. She threw it in our faces the whole week and judged us for what we ate and whined constantly about how she "COULD NOT" eat anything anywhere. You have to admit it, not everybody becomes a vegetarian for the "right" reasons. As silly as it sounds, I've known people who became vegans just because they think the lifestyle is cool. Not all vegetarians are judgemental and whiny, but those who are really ruin it for the whole lot. Many people didn't even know I was a vegetarian for four years of my life because I never imposed my beliefs on anybody else or threw a big fit about my food choices.
2006-09-25 18:23:09 · answer #3 · answered by M 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
You can't blame a group of people. Not all "non-vegetarians" are critical of our lifestyle. People can be closed minded, but it is their choice to choose ignorance. Simply look at the quote you have, "kinda like gays and Christians." I've never met a homosexual who tried to project anyhting onto me, but I have met Christians that do. It's all on an individual basis. Some people just don't care to learn about anything other than what they grew up knowing to be true.
2006-09-25 16:02:45 · answer #4 · answered by Mr. Gray 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
upon reading most of these answers, your point is well proven. I am a vegetarian and have been one for 15 years...i am NOT a vegan - i am a lacto - ovo vegetarian and i NEVER make a big deal about it...i have very few friends who don't eat meat in one form or another and i don't ever tell them what to eat or not eat. It almost NEVER fails that i will be eating out w/someone new and it ends up coming out that i am a vegetarian (usually bec/i will NOT share the calamari) where i don't have to explain WHY i am or DO i eat fish or BUT chickens have no feelings so why should i care?
I believe everyone should make their own choices and i never ask someone WHY they order that cheeseburger. Omnivores can't seem to deal with the fact that many of us are HAPPY eating low on the food chain and that we truly do believe that what you eat will affect how you feel both physically and emotionally, and if i prefer to eat food that was not tortured and heinously killed right before it was packaged into my lunch, well that is MY choice and i shouldn't have to explain myself.
2006-09-25 18:57:39 · answer #5 · answered by bxmbronc 2 · 2⤊ 3⤋
I've received ridicule over wanting to find a vegan dish to bring to an easter dinner that I knew beforehand wasn't going to cater to veganism (as there were going to be 30 people there, me being the only vegan)...
My best friend jumped down my throat at my attitude!!! I was really lost cuz all I was trying to do was make sure i didn't look like I was anorexic! LOL had nothing to do with not wanting to eat their food, and a lot to do with my personal preference and wanting to share my foods, potluck style, which I find not to be rude at all!!!!!
So rather than complaining, I worried about what my best options were for food to bring...when I heard they would have italian bread (like...20 loaves...lol)...I brought some homemade hummus as well as roasted red pepper bruschetta...
everyone thought my horsdeuvres were INCREDIBLE! and nobody picked on me for being vegan or for not eating the meat, and the grandma wound up having some plain pasta with meat-free tomato sauce made for both of us ^_^ so we were both very well taken care of and considered!!
So...effectively...I've noticed....It's not that I don't get along with omnivores, it's that aquarius and scorpios apparently don't see eye to eye on much, and I have to be wary of what I say around my aquarius friend lest she jump down my throat over my choice in food....lol
Other than that, I've had no issues with omnivores.
I don't talk about what other people eat, they don't talk about what I eat (or don't eat...lol)
:)
2006-09-25 22:02:32 · answer #6 · answered by silver butterfly 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Read the book "Living Among Meat Eaters: The Vegetarian's Survival Handbook" by Carol J. Adams, ISBN 0609807439. It explains this in a clear and simple way. Meat-eaters think that we are judging them and telling them that we want them to change. (Wow, how far from the truth is that?) But anyway, they act close-mindedly so as to stop the realization that we care about animals. That's why so many are spamming the vegetarian section of Y! Answers. I probably have at least ten thumbs-down by now.
2006-09-25 16:57:21 · answer #7 · answered by Sam the Man 3 · 0⤊ 4⤋
Its not about non-vegetarians being critical abt vegetarians . Only those who lack confidence themselves or want to prove others that they are right will criticize . Its vice-verse & universal , not just applicable to non-vegetarians .
2006-09-28 06:55:10 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they are just like gays, christians and non-smokers, they think their way is the right way and want to push their opinion on others....I couldn't give a flying f-u-c-k what other people eat, sleep with, worship or smoke as long as they leave me alone and let me do the same.
2006-09-25 16:04:11 · answer #9 · answered by Special Ethel 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
because vegetarians are so closed minded to non-vegetarians and i believe he is right about vegans taking their views onto others without warrant.
2006-09-25 16:59:45 · answer #10 · answered by Half-pint 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋