Why are people so unaccepting of vegetarians?

Question

I've been a vegetarian for only 5 weeks, and when word got out about it, people were so harsh about it! Like every person I've told they've said something like "Omg how can you be a vegetarian? I couldn't live without meat. That's stupid that your a vegetarian." Why are people like that?

Answer 1

I am not unaccepting of vegetarians, I respect them greatly.  I don't think I could ever be one, but I admire how they stand up for their beliefs.

Answer 2

some people dont understand the life style. dont fret about it.

my best friend thinks in crazy and dumb for being vegetarian, but we moved on and dont talk about it.

dont worry, people will gradually accept it and not be so judgemantal.

in the mean time, dont take it personally. they dont want to be mean, or a jerk, or judgemental. its just beyond their reasioning, and maybe they will become a veggie, you never know!!

keep on truckn. -a supportive fellow vegetarian.

Answer 3

Because they think you look down on them for eating meat, so to let you know that they are right and you are wrong they put you down and get YOU on the defense.

I'm serious.

But get used to it and know you are in the right.

HUGS

Answer 4

Because, they are defensive about their addiction of meat that makes them sick and has additives to keep them addicted.It's their own guilt, they are probably just jealous too,and don't care about their health or animals...

Answer 5

Listen, people are jerks,have always been jerks, and of course are going to always be jerks so all you can do is be you. I would have to tell that I couldn't imagine not eating meat but I respect your decision to become a vegetarian. People have a problem with things that are different and because they can never imagine not eating meat they think you are strange, but if you think about it, if everyone was really themselves all the time, every one of us would be really strange to each other so give yourself some credit for stepping up and facing yourself and this world that will constantly try and convince you your worth less than you actually are.

Answer 6

im not! i look up to vegetarians because i want to be one but i wouldnt get enough nutrition if i didnt eat meat.

Answer 7

I find I only get rudeness from this Forum, not in ''real'' life.

Being a vegetarian is not something to be ridiculed, it's a personal choice.

Be a healthy role model for vegetarianism.

Ignore any haters, some people are simply close minded. :)

[edit] Lily, that's the kind of narrow minded rubbish I'm talking about. All this ''we need meat'' garbage.

Answer 8

I have been vegetarian for almost 15 years, and have heard a lot of negative comments, but also some positive ones. Personally I don't care if someone says they could never live without meat- that's their issue. But when someone makes a remark or gets angry, I dismiss it because I have to assume they must somehow feel threatened by my choice.

Answer 9

The reason I am unaccepting is that I am tired of the criticism on the contrary. I am absolutely repulsed by this sick, twisted, uncultured western vision shared by vegetarians.

I've lived in 3 continents and have been to over 40 countries and until you can experience life as I have, you need to set aside your iPods and get a little cultured perspective.

I don't at all agree with the treatment of animals in our society,  especially the way they are fed with injected hormones. Though nor do I support it as I ONLY buy organic. That applies to my fruits and produce as well. Do you have any idea how much pesticides and preservatives are used on the vegetables you eat?! There is a likelihood that any important vegetables from China and India are laced with DDT, which can be found in your precious imported green teas as well. DDT has been banned in the United States since 1972 but many countries use it, and guess what? You can get a small dose of it whenever you eat your "healthy" imported vegetables.

This whole "pain" or slaughtering of innocent animals argument is really getting tiresome. Grow up already! Have you ever seen what happens out on safari? Trust me that animals go throw much more pain suffering then can be inflicted upon by humans and it happens a million times a day everywhere. It's evolution, its nature folks!

But of course I'm sure some of you vegan idiots would sleep easier at night if you could kill the natural animal instinct of flesh eating species by feeding them blocks of tofu instead.

Every Christmas I donate to charity by buying a pig for a family in Africa for the simple reason that is sustains the entire family by generating income or simply by feeding them.  Sorry folks but because of global warming, poor irrigation, inefficiently-run governments and other ecological reasons these families are not going to get bushels of fresh vegetables and fruits to feed their families, only livestock can do that!  Oh but I'm sure since you western vegetarians have the choice not to kill an innocent animal, then perhaps this makes you a little bit more righteous doesn't it??!

As for "Health" reasons, just speak to an immunologist, or an educated nutritionist, or learn a little about science and evolution and you might gain a little insight.  There is the theory that vegetarians are healthier then those who eat meat but that is simply not the case.  This is an illusion as vegetarians are simply more health conscious in contrast to meat-eaters.  

I sat with a Native Indian family who kindly surprised me as they gave thanks literally to their meal, to the duck we were having.  Why do they do this? Out of respect for the animal. You must understand that killing an animal is not done out of hatred.  Native Indians show respect to animals that is simply beyond your understanding and that applies to even animals they eat.

What I experienced in my travels, exposure to new things, being invited to strangers homes is priceless. I can't even fathom putting forth this deviant ideology at the expense of sharing in ones culture and traditions.

To be frank, I really don't care about your personal choice.  I'm simply just ranting a personal view and hoping to light a flame in a few of you.  You are clearly allowed to choose to do as you wish as long as you don't tread on my beliefs.  

I simply choose to live life to its fullest, which would involve many things including sipping a fine glass of Bordeaux while enjoying foie gras in a quaint countryside restaurant in France.  That is the life I wish to lead.

Good luck to you.

Answer 10

People ridicule what they don't understand.  If you notice, when meat-eaters say mean and nasty things to us they then back up why they eat meat.  It's like it's not enough to tell us why they think we are weird, they have to explain why it ok for them to eat meat.  If you ask me, they are just defensive.

Being a vegetarian takes will power, selflessness, and compassion.

People say "Oh, I could never be a vegetarian because I love meat!".  I can be a vegetarian because no food is going to control me.  I have the will power to say that I can abstain from a certain food or food group.  Meat is like a drug to them.  They are addicted to it like heroin.  It's just sick.

I don't believe that I am mighty man, top of the food chain.  I can live on vegetables, fruit, grain, nuts, legumes, and so on...

I feel that the meat industry tortures animals so bad that it is morally and spiritually wrong.  They raise these animals in awful conditions, feed them so much that they can barely walk and then flip them upside down a cut their throats while they are often still awake.  The blood drips down their head onto a puddle on the floor as the life drains from them.  

Cute little chicks that are all fluffy and bright eyed have their beaks clipped off by a machine.  The girls live the rest of their life in battery cages that are so small they can't flap their wings.  They die and rot to the sides of the cages.  They don't see sunlight and they are coated in the f***s of the birds in the cages above them.  Sometimes the birds in the bottom cages are standing in a foot or more of f***s.  The air is so full of urine that the workers eyes water.  The chickens are starved into laying eggs and then they have their feathers scalded off while they too are often still conscious.  The boys are wiped out when they are babies.  They get killed systematically by machines.

I could go on and on.  These things are legal in the US.  No one does anything about it because meat eaters don't care.  They think that these animals are just food, but vegetarians know otherwise.  Animals feel pain.  They feel terror just as we would if someone were cutting our neck.  They feel love for their babies.  How can anyone deny that animals feel?

In the end people who torture animals and support the torture of animals will have to pay in one way or another.  One way that they already pay is with their health.  They are more likely to have strokes, heart disease, heart attacks, and obesity.  They have a huge rate of food poisoning.

And all this meat that they eat is coated in f***s.  This is common fact and if anyone doesn't believe me, do your research.  Why do you think you have to cook this meat at such high temps.  It's to kill the bacteria from f***s.

So, you meat eaters keep eating your f***s.  We vegetarians will stick to the veggies.  We can sleep with a good concious.  You can sleep with bloody gobs of rotting flesh in your body.  Next time you can't properly go to the bathroom and it takes you an hour, or when you have the trots from food poisoning, think of us.  We are out hugging a tree somewhere, but its better than hugging a toilet because you didn't cook all the bacteria off of your f***s dinner you just fed your kids :)

And for all of your meat eaters who swear that you still don't care...If you really didn't care you wouldn't always be defending yourself.  Prove you are not ashamed.  Leave us alone.

I am here for you fellow veggies :)

Answer 11

It's basically because they know they couldn't do it them self. I used to be a veggie for about one month, two tops. I got alot of criticism because it's different and people know they couldn't do it  their own so they criticize others. Don't worry about what they say. It doesn't matter. I wish you the best of luck with your new lifestyle =]

Hope it works out!

Answer 12

I don't ridicule people. But I myself believe that it's dumb to be a vegetarian. Because man would not be here if it were not for meat. Vegetarians have only been around for the last 75 to 100 years. You don't understand the spirit of the hunt. OK now for all the thumbs down. You can be a vegetarian if you want.

Answer 13

Well it's because you are challenging something they have been spoon fed and taught their entire lives. It doesn't seem like a big deal but this is challenging something fundimental to a family who has meat for dinner every night. When you begin to challegne what they believe it threatens them and puts them on the defence. Or they could be wanting to make a life choice such as vegitarianism but they don't have enought courage to do so and are jealous because you did.

Answer 14

I get that same response! I've been a vegetarian for about six months, and when I let it out to my French class -- they had asked -- and my French teacher had flipped out on me! She started lecturing me about how animals were tied to religion or something.

Ask them why they think it's stupid as to why you're a vegetarian. Check the link I've included for pretty realistic replies to what they could say.

Answer 15

Wow! I've been a vegetarian for 2 weeks and everyone's accepting except the the troll losers on this v/v forum. I live just outside NYC so most the people around here are open minded about things.

Answer 16

I've been vegetarian for about 2 years and I have lost some of my friends because of it. I just think that some people are used to having meat all of their lives so they are just couldn't imagine living without it.

Answer 17

i cant live without meat.but the one thing i like about this world.is Vegetarians..i think that there really great and very healthy people.i really care about Vegetarians.

by the way i eat meat

Answer 18

I think it depends greatly on where you live.  I think the anti-vegetarianism is based on the assumption, as one person said already, that you think you are somehow superior to them.  Of course this is nonsense, but it just takes one bad experience for people to hate a whole group of people.  It is very much the same as why atheists HATE Christians so much.  Probably there was one Christian who said something like "you'll burn in hellfire for eternity" and then suddenly all Christians are considered total nutjobs.  Similarly, when vegetarians get hostile about their choice to not eat meat, it really alienates meat-eaters, and ruins it for everyone.  I've dallied with vegetarianism and dealt with quite a bit of discrimination for it, especially with the whole high protein Atkins mania.  It takes a lot of character to stay a vegetarian while those around you criticize you.  I applaud your efforts and wish you the best of luck.

Answer 19

They're simply jealous. They can't handle it and they want to change you. They try to justify their ridiculous treatment of animals by putting your choice down. They aren't to fond of the idea of "freedom of choice." And I've been vegan for a while and people always give me weird looks when I tell them and then question why we give them weird looks when they eat a burger. Meat eaters, most but deff not all, are hypocrites as are vegans. I can admit that I tend to be a bit hypocrital at times. I think we shouldn't have to justify our choices to anybody and that's that. Meat eaters stop putting your noses in our business and we'll do the same to you.