My son has been a vegan for 20 years. Depending on when he and his wife visited I either made a vegan friendly meal or set aside dishes for them before adding animal products. They sometimes brought their own food. The rest of the family eats meat. I also have a 93 year old father who only eats red meat! I highly respect him and, if he is with us, I will definitely serve red meat. My son and his wife tolerated our food choices and we tolerated theirs. Well, his wife recently divorced him and he is now dating an extreme vegan. And he has become an extreme vegan. The first time we met her there were 11 family members present on a weekend vacation. She would not come down to the lobby for breakfast. My son came and got food for her. That evening deciding where to eat was a nightmare and we have 4 grandsons all under 5 who were hungry! The new girlfriend finally said we could go to an individual pizza restaurant, but she and my son would only sit with us if nobody had meat on their pizza. She did allow us to have cheese. They live 300 miles away from us and I don't see my son often. Of course I want to sit with him so we obliged. However, I felt it was very rude to put such parameters on if I could or could not eat at the same table with my son! Needless to say, this girl is not making a very good impression on me. Whatever happened to trying to fit into a family? Or impress a new boyfriend's parents? Or simply show respect to your elders? Now my son and this girl are actually standing on street corners preaching about animal rights! My college educated son, who has a good job,, is considering taking a severe pay cut to work somewhere more vegan friendly. The girlfriend is a waitress in a vegan restaurant. Twice recently, my son has gone on a tirade on my Facebook posts! The first one happened to be on an aunt's post. She had posted a little comic that exemplified how difficult it is to feed a group of people these days because of all the food issues. I simply responded in jest "What happened to eat what's put in front of you!" My son accused me of being amoral and went on an extremely long rant on this elderly aunts Facebook post! I was so embarrassed! Then I posted pictures of a grandson's field trip to a farm. He went on a long tirade about how these children need to be taught the horrors those animals face! On my cute little Facebook post of children patting animals and milking a cow! I deleted his posts. His last comment was "Why did you delete my posts?" Duh! Now we appear to be running into a problem with Thanksgiving. Although he always made it clear that he didn't appreciate the turkey, he and his wife would bring a tofurkey and our entire family would have a wonderful time. Now my son is refusing to commit to being here for Thanksgiving and I am heart broken. I make the same foods for Thanksgiving that my mother and grandmothers made. All of them are gone and it warms my heart and gives me so much comfort to honor and remember them by making the same foods and to pass on traditions. It also makes my father happy and, at 93, he deserves to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving as he knows it! And my other 3 children want Thanksgiving the way they have always known it. Other than the turkey, most of the foods can and are set aside for the vegans before mixing in nonvegan additives. I am afraid that this cult like behavior of his is going to become more important to him than his family. He has now surrounded himself with a subgroup of people who all espouse the same views and feel they have a mission to rid the world of the evils of meat eating even if it tears families apart. They can believe what they want to believe, but they have no right to shove their beiefs down other people's throats.
I feel that meat eaters can get annoying and preachy. Which I'm sure at first they did that as a joke to mock self righteous vegans, but now many of them actually believe it.
I'm an on and off vegetarian. I got a lot more shit for being a vegetarian. My coworkers would ask "why don't you want the (insert dish with meat)?"
And I'd say "I don't eat meat".
Then they either asked why? Or they threw their hands in the air "ugh. I hate vegans. Humans are omnivores!"
I was like wtf? I didn't even say anything.
And then the many saying "mmmmm. Bacooonnnnnnn". "Steeeeaaaaaakkkkk".
It got to the point that I would just say I was allergic because the meat eaters were very douchey and intolerant. So I'd tell even my own coworkers to shut the hell up and leave me alone.
And then I would be labeled as the bitch vegetarian
-____-
I do think that many vegans can be more uptight though.
I'd say the most chill are vegetarians. Then meat eaters. And then vegans but just barely because meat eaters are becoming what they hate. Preachy and annoying.
Right now, I eat meat. I don't care what people eat, though I should seeing as I want to be a Registered Dietitian lol
I ended up here because of one rude vegan man. Yes, today. First of all, people need to chill and respect each other's views, not get on their throats. I grew up part in the city, part on the small family farm and not afraid to take apart animal from scratch. I also eat plenty of vegan food, on alternate days per week. I know exactly where my food comes from, which is why I eat limited amount of meat and if someone wants to be vegan/vegetarain, I support them in it. All my vegan roommates ate a fair share of food I cooked for them, since in my part of the woods cooked vegan food is not available. I did my best to help them out. One of them I think starved for at least two days before I realized and got involved. That being said, nothing gives you to be a righteous asshole and sit on your high horse. Whatever other people choices are, you are out to respect another human being for the very fact that they can think for themselves. Otherwise you simply transfer one type of abuse of said animals to human beings. Done.
I've definitely noticed more vegans / vegetarians being uppity about their lifestyle choice and thinking it's superior vs meat eaters being like "lol whatever I eat meat, you're not gonna change my mind"
And then when the vegans / vegetarians hear that they won't sway a meat eater they get pissed at the meat eater like yo, what?
There are definitely negative people on both sides of the spectrum, but I generally view meat eaters as more chill and whatever about it than the vegans / vegetarians I've come across who get their panties all knotted over it.
Bingo, girl! No offense to your dad intended but It's so funny how retarded and Illogical some of these vegans are. Anybody who does not eat animals out of morality has absolutely NO CLUE how the real world works. The real truth is that life is'nt fair and that's always how it's gonna be no matter how hard you try. Some plants and animals are born as nothing but food for others. And modern science has proven that plants DO feel pain. A Humans have canines SO THAT they can eat meat. Size of the canines does not matter as they are freaking CANINES. Humans also have the capability to digest meat. If we were not meant to eat meat, they why do we have this ability in the first place? The only problem with eating meat is that you have to exercise a lot , just as early humans did. According to modern science all the essential proteins are not present in even a SINGLE vegetarian source , yet all are present in meat. Furthermore, only a few vegetarian foods (Nuts specifically like Almonds and Walnuts) contain sufficient zinc and a LOT of vegetarians suffer from zinc deficiency. I remember a ridiculous Buddhist story (no hate for buddhism though) where a famous monk goes to a terrifying tiger and teaches it to be Vegan ! Vegans are deluded. I praise them for trying to do the right thing and i actually ADMIRE them for that but they lack wisdom unfortunately. To all those vegans who love animals too much , Please put this much care and concern into the MILLIONS OF PEOPLE THAT DIE EACH DAY FROM HUNGER! We humans share characteristics with both herbivores and carnivores but we have more in common with carnivores. For example animals that hunt like lions , bears , humans etc. have eyes in the front of the face for better hunting and to focus on prey whereas prey animals have eyes on the side to keep a cautious watch over a larger field of vision for potential predators. Humans have predatory features in more ways than one !! Believers in God believe that God created animals , so of whom are meant to be the stuff we make hamburgers out of (atleast in most faiths) while evolutionary theory points 100% to humans being omnivores !
How many times have people gone against nature only to then realize "wow , we were SOO stupid !" and we can clearly see the damage to the environment and our health. The same can be said about vegetarianism. If you want to live an unhealthy and unfulfilled life then go ahead, be vegan but DON'T go pushing your beliefs up other people's butth*les.
I hesitate to respond to this question, as based on your responses to other opinions given thus far, I'm not certain if you're actually looking for answers that address the issue, or simply answers that match your current world view. In the case of the former, I offer the following:
vegans/vegetarians = v*
There is no equivalence between the views of ethical v* and meat-eaters. The difference between these two positions are not simply based on lifestyle, they're not analogous to I like vanilla and you like chocolate. They are in many respects divergent worldviews.
The ethical v* position is in essence that the unnecessary infliction of suffering and death on innocent creatures is cruel and unjust. The meat eater perspective by comparison is in effect that said suffering and death doesn't matter (at least not when compared to the supposed primacy of the meat-eaters ability to choose).
The underlying assumptions on which these beliefs are based are of course open to debate, but based upon the differences in these beliefs, it should not be a surprise that many v* do not respect those who choose to support a system that denies animals life and liberty, and inflicts upon them suffering and death.
Without more information with regards to how specifically the v* you've previously met have acted rude in your view, it's hard to make truly informed comment. But it could well be that they don't like or respect you, because of your actions. You might not agree with the basis of their views, but it might be worth asking, would you respect someone who you felt was cruel and unjust?
For instance, would you respect slavers? Prior to the civil war, the south believed it was their right to own slaves. They seemingly felt they deserved the ability to be able to choose to own people. That was their lifestyle. And they were willing to fight a war to defend it.
Should northerners have been nicer? More tolerant of the south's world view perhaps? That sounds absurd at this point in history. But it's worth appreciating that to many v*, it's likely the idea of respecting meat eaters choice over the lives of the animals sounds equally absurd.
At the end of the day though, you can't prevent people from having a bad opinion of you. You can only prevent them from being right about it. So the question would seem to be, are they right about it?
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Sadly because I think a lot of them think they are better.
I have no issues with veggies or vegans. But my experience is that because they don't eat meat, they are single handedly saving the unicorn and I'm killing them. Especially vegans - I saw one retard on my facebook post that we shouldn't drink milk because we are forcing cows to be pregnant 364 days a year.
Let that sink in. We are forcing cows to be constantly pregnant with no miscarriage space so we can have milk. Let's forget that milk is produced for when the calf arrives, but we are stealing unborn calf's milk.
Think it through vegans... if you are going to preach, at least learn the facts...
I've been a vegetarian for five years and I have no problems around people who eat meat, in fact the rest of my family eat it. I think depending on why the person decided to be a vegetarian can have a lot to do with their attitude towards people who do eat it. Animal lovers definitely want to kick your ass for eating innocent animals. I do it for health purposes so to me it doesn't matter what others do. I chose to be one so others can choose to eat meat. I admit sometimes certain meat makes me sick when i look at it but i have no problem with anyone eating it around me. But im use to it because of my family so the ones being rude to you might think that their way is the only way because they only are focused on their lifestyle. Does that make sense? I don't know.
So what's weird is that there's actually a physiological basis for this.
"Rudeness" is a complex phenomenon, but it's most directly related to behaviors that correlate with low serotonin.
(Ecstasy/MDMA boosts serotonin levels into the stratosphere. Whatever you might call people that are high on it, they sure as heck are not rude.)
Most natural serotonin comes from meat and animal products.
Vegans don't get as much of it, unless they eat large-ish amounts of certain high-serotonin foods that are rare in the North American diet (such as flaxseed and buckwheat).
So, if a former meat-eater BECOMES a veg (etari) an and you notice this sort of personality change, that's the most likely explanation.
My first roommate ever was a vegan and loved animals, but she was never ever rude about it. One of my most recent roommates was vegetarian and very arrogant about it. She even judged other vegetarians about whether they were legit or not. I don't think I've noticed any trend about vegans/vegetarians and rudeness overall, but my guess is sometimes when you know only a small group of people who openly fit as part of a group, if any of them are "bad," it seems like a high proportion when in reality it's just a small sample size.
I am just going to do a in fairness opinion - In my personal experience meat eaters and vegetarians/vegans have a high tolerance of each other maybe I am just lucky to know reasonable people. In the broader sense, I think the internet brings this more to the surface where you have forums like this for public discussion and lets face it 8/10 times it disintegrates into argument/abuse. These are the things we notice - If an alien came to GaG and only had an hour they would come away thinking the genders hate each other, the races hate each other , the right hate the left and vice versa, the liberals hate the conservatives and vice versa etc.
Because they get so much trash talk from people who dont eat veggies. Now on the other hand when the vegan/vegitarian movement took off you started getting stuck up snobs acting like theyre better than everyone cause they eat clean foods. Now look I've seen the conversations lol tell a person whos a meat eater they should eat vegetables and watch them turn into a cave man saying they love steak raw and bloody! Tell a vegetarian they should eat meat theyll turn into a high class snob saying oh i dont put that stuff in my body its a temple blah blah blah!
Same can be said about meat eaters.
I can't tell you how many times I've been made fun of because I'm a vegetarian, not to mention people even trying to force meat in my mouth.
Obviously the meat eaters won't acknowledge that meat eaters can be rude too...
He's also your dad though, and vegans often won't talk about veganism with close friends and family because it does cause friction. At least that's why I don't mention it too much around close friends and family. It's a controversial topic and you'd be surprised how angry meat eaters get, and I wouldn't want that to come in between the relationships that are important to me. I don't necessarily feel that way about people I don't know or people I don't really care about though.
from my experience, it's more likely that vegans would display an attitude of superiority over their dietary choices. i don't come across it so much with vegetarians.
maybe you just ran into the wrong kinds of vegans/vegetarians
i'm not rude to anyone., i don't talk about being a vegetarian the way people talk about me being one. I have been one since i was a baby i'm completely used to it but every time someone finds out they forget i'm used to it and feel like they have to school me on my life.
The fact is meat eaters are supporting animal torture factories and most don't care or don't want to know. i think if you're going to eat meat you should take responsibility for how your food gets treated before it becomes food. ... I think the way humans and animals are treated is often abysmal. thats my issue with 'meat eaters',. and its a valid one. still i'm not 'rude' about it.
The only vegan and vegetarian I've met in my life have been kind. Though the others could just dislike others because they assume all who aren't vegetarians/vegans are bad people and treat them accordingly.
I eat meat and I'm really not a fan of most vegetables... and the majority of my friends are vegetarians or vegans. One of them likes to do sometimes stupid comments (as joke), but apart from that they are all very tolerant and respect the other peoples opinion to eat meat. one of them is even in a relationship with someone who eats meat. So I personally have really no problem with them.
I don't know. I am a vegetarian, but at this point it's mostly because I have never actually had meat and I don't see a reason to start eating meat now. I will never even try to convince someone to become a vegetarian, and especially not a vegan, because I understand that it's really hard to become a vegetarian if you've eaten meat for a long time.
It's the mindset of today's youth...
Ad least that's how I see it. They think they have to 'spread the word' of their moral values and try to convert others of judge them into converting - sort of like shaming them into submission.
Ridiculous.
Shaming for anything never works the way shamers think it does. They mostly sound bitter, for whatever reason, to me.
The ones being rude probably think they are superior/better than those that don't follow that diet. Thankfully not all are, but even I encountered some annoyingly rude vegetarians and vegans (I am a vegan most of the time).
I'm vegan and I'm just like any other person... only difference is that I don't eat meat, dairy, or eggs, or support those industries. I'm not judgmental of others who don't share my beliefs, nor do I make any comments whatsoever when people are eating things that I don't. if people want to eat animals and their byproducts that's their choice, and while I don't support it, I won't look down upon them as a person either. I've seen omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans all make their fair share of comments on each other's diets and belief, I don't think it's right to categorize people like that. So I understand it's the ones you have encountered but I just want to make sure you know that that's not how everyone feels and that those people in particular might just feel superior for some way. But I'm like any other person and I'm vegan, but that doesn't change my personality :)
Two general reasons.
1. They most times feel superior to other non vegans.
2. Legitimate dislike for people they view as "murdering" or senselessly killing other animals.
Because in our society, we technically don't NEED meat anymore. To get by, but that's not true for all people nor is it optimal for people that it is possible to meet that lifestyle. Your diet choices is a moral decision for them. When everyone else doesn't view it as a moral decision at all.
Maybe it's because they crave Steak so bad hahaha
jk
There's countless amazing vegan/vegetarian people!! Places I've lived (SLC and SF) have tons of vegetarians. They are crazy for giving up meat! But I still love um!
Huh. How haave they been rude? Im vegan. I encounter meat eaters that criticise my dietary choices all the time.
Because they feel superior based on their mindset and belief-system revoling around their food-intake.
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