Why Are Vegetarians So Much Nicer Than Vegans?
Clare Mann
Vegan Psychologist | Vystopia Transformation Coach | Author of Vystopia |Communications Trainer Animal Protection
Why are vegans so difficult, especially when other people go out of their way to cater to their dietary choices?
When someone has made a lot of effort to accommodate the vegan, why are so many vegans unhappy and won’t just get on with their meal and leave others to theirs?
Why can’t they just leave people to their own choices?
Most vegetarians and those on a plant-based diet seem perfectly at ease around others without having to convert them.
Vegans, on the other hand just can’t keep quiet about what other people are doing.
I was vegetarian for thirty years before I looked into what happens to cows and chickens for the production of dairy and eggs. Suddenly I was no longer comfortable being around people eating any animal products and then it got worse, with a strong visceral reaction to any situation where I encountered animal use.
Did I become an intolerant, opinionated individual wanting the world to follow or did something else happen to me?
If you are a vegan reading this, you probably understand.
Vegans are typically reduced to tears at the arrival of the family roast dinner and called selfish and difficult because they spoil the meal for everyone else.
Do all these vegans, including myself, want to scream out, “But, it’s not about me!”
So, if it’s not about the vegan’s choices or desire to control others, what is the problem?
The Vegan’s Dilemma
It’s only possible to understand what seems on the surface an unreasonable response, if we look at what it really means to be vegan.
Veganism is not a lifestyle choice of what you eat but a….
….. philosophical underpinning to a person’s life to not use or exploit animals. It infuses every aspect of the vegan’s life because of the ubiquitous nature of animal abuse in society.
Having now been a vegan for over 16 years, I conclude that it’s.....
... virtually impossible NOT to abuse animals in one’s everyday lifestyle choices, unless...
...one acts specifically to NOT abuse them.
That’s a bold statement and here are some examples to explain what I mean:
I could continue with a list of normal, everyday actions that hide horrendous suffering to animals and the vegan calling it out has nothing to do with being an over-bearing, controlling person trying to get everyone to act like they do.
In the same way that we can’t be ‘half pregnant’, we can't 'not' abuse animals unless we become vegan and act intentionally every day to not be part of the normalised, hidden suffering of animals.
I also believe it's our moral obligation when we discover what's going on, to help not-yet vegans understand that they can’t NOT abuse animals UNLESS they live vegan – and that starts with one of our biggest habits – what we eat!
Because....
There are a lot of things we can't do something about....but what we choose to eat is not one of them!
Holistic Counsellor, Business Mentor, Clairvoyant/Medium, Bird Behaviourist/Rescue,
1 天前i feel because vegans are frustrated that vegetarians still consume eggs, dairy when we should not be consuming and harming hearts & souls
Careers Counsellor
2 天前I am amazed at just how separated consumers are from the source and processing of the foods they choose to eat. The food industry has done a powerful job to maintain this separation. The food industry, particularly, of animal products is so "creative" in perpetuating false ideas about how products actually get from paddock to plate, and many consumers are complicit by accepting those false ideas AND YET, we ALL know that the truth is far different. Vegetarian are just easier for omnivores and carnivores, there is less possibility of "that" conversation. It's that kind of nice. Vegans are an affront to many consumers and strike fear into many a dinner party guest as inevitably, they themselves, or another guest will bring the vegetarian/vegan/omnivore eating habits into the spotlight for discussion. Points get made, conversations get "challenging", and you never know where this will go. Vegans are to some people like a grenade waiting to go off and nobody wants to be in the line of fire. Why? Because on moral grounds vegans have already won and omnivores simply can't argue this truth. Its painful for an omnivore precisely because it raises questions omnivores try so hard not to face, over years and years of eating and of life.
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6 天前Continued from previous post--- abandoning a three year old in Times Square, child-rape….are all just horrible and evil things, and I don’t need to hear cost/benefit or environmental impact analyses on them, or what Hegel or Dawkins has to say about them.?Yes, I’m a backwards person who believes in Good and Evil.?Hurting and killing, mental or physical---unnecessarily, willfully, negligently---is EVIL.?At some point you’ve got to set philosophy and science aside and take a stand.?But do it with skill, tact and patience.?Do it with vegan potlucks. I fear militant vegan activism has created and is continuing to feed an ever growing equally militant anti-vegan backlash movement. I really think we need to re-think our strategies. Homo sapiens has been killing, eating, and wearing animals for over 100,000 years. We're not going to end that with a lot of screaming and shaming. We've got to take the long game. That's why I've started the VLBS.
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6 天前Continued from previous post--- The clever, sociopathic, mensa-member, philosophy pedants in the comments section are probably unreachable, and it’s probably an egotistical waste of time trying to “preach” or argue with them at all.?I think the tried-and-true method of reaching people, little by little, is the friendly potluck method.?Invite people to vegan and/or vegetarian potlucks, enjoy the good food, and answer the questions of the vegan-curious in a relaxed, non-threatening and non-judgmental way.??Admit veganism can raise important questions and it doesn’t have all the answers. Back to philosophy---consequentialism, de-ontology, etc.---Reducing the horrible suffering and wrongful deaths, however “humane”, to some sort of hoity-toity debating exercise, or scientific analysis of evolutionary biology, or economic or ecological cost/benefit calculation, is a grotesque abuse of?otherwise respectable and noble traditions.?Nazi death camps,
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6 天前I admit I only half-skimmed the original post. I was on my glacially slow, fluctuating lap top, and I don't read screens well even when they're stable. I've since printed it out and read it carefully, and I'll recycle a post I made to Michael Heumer's Preachy Vegans post, on his Fake Nous substack blog: I’m a vegan for the animals.?I do think there are a lot of preachy vegans and their tactics close hearts and minds to veganism.?Earthling Ed, Joey Carbstrong and Vegan Gains are just three of the worst examples, but they’re not alone. ?What they do is intellectual and moral domination. ?The ethics of?veganism is both simple and complex.?Like any ethical position there are many lifeboat situations, moral dilemmas and gray areas in it.?I’d say I was 99% de-ontological and 1% consequentialist, but that’s a rough description.