Why do people have it in for vegetarians/vegans?

Question

I want to know why the general public always feels the urge to debate, question and argue veggies' choices?

Is it because they feel guilty for not being able to do the same? Or just plain ignorance?

People need to understand that its more than just a diet. It's a way of life and identity.

Answer 1

I don't think that most people do have an issue with veg*ns.  I've been veg*n for over two decades and I've experienced very little hostility in my time.

Here, on the other hand, there's plenty.  But you have to figure that trolls are trolls.  It may not even be that they have it in for veg*ns, just that they are sad and bored and they use the anonymity of the internet to stick it to anyone they think is an easy target.  Not all of the debate, question and argument is trolling; some people are curious and some people have an urge I really don't understand to try to poke holes in other people's ethics.

Answer 2

I agree with you.  The public needs to feel the urge to debate about other things and leave the vegetarians alone.  They probably do feel guilty and jealous about that way of life.

Answer 3

Because most cannot handle change. If someone does something different (which in this case, would be choosing a different diet), people feel like they have the right to change what they do;their beliefs. I do not know why, but this pretty common with ANY situation. People who can actually take the time and think about situations as this one, are very rare.

Answer 4

I think it's because of ignorance. They like to asume things with out even knowing anything.

Answer 5

I think it is ignorance and not having a heart, many people say they know that animals are hurt, tortured, and killed and they don't care. That is just heartless. They try and justify their choices and act as if we are liars and we make things up. When really we are aware, educated, and informed. They choose to ignore vegetarians and vegans because they don't want to believe the truth. They need a reality check and a sensitivity chip.

Answer 6

I have no problem with people not eating meat; it is a personal desicion. What I do have a problem with is vegetarians trying to shove their beliefs down other peoples' throats in the same way Christians do.

Answer 7

Are we talking about the general public or the trolls that hang out on YA? I've had very little trouble with real life people, most who know I've a vegetarian admire me for it.

Answer 8

It's not just vegetarians that are picked on!  It's Herbalists, Naturopaths, Astrology, Religious beliefs or the lack of them!  People just don't know any better.  They like to assume things with out really knowing anything!

Answer 9

I feel that both side vegetarians/vegans and meat eaters both feel the urge to debate about what is right and what is wrong. There is no right or wrong just difference of opinion on how to live.  It seems to me that your question is a little debating which is what you are saying meat eaters are always doing.

Answer 10

There are a lot of reasons, I suppose.

A lot of it is based on how someone was raised/socio-cultural differences. Vegetarian diets, except where it has been around for a long time and accepted due to religious beliefs, typically, and when some thing is accepted for a long period it just becomes "this is normal". People are often afraid of what is new, different, or goes against well-founded beliefs. After all, people had been eating meat for a long time (although life styles were often different). I think of how people thought that not bathing was a good idea until the plague hit and then, wow, lightbulb went off- people should use more sanitary methods. Until they were forced to though, bathing was often looked at in a bad way. Go figure.

Another reason I think a lot of people are against vegetarianism is because it is too hard or creates too much guilt and heaven forbid they have to do some thing hard. Instead, people like to live a blissfully ignorant life. I have heard it so many times I just shake my head "I'd rather just not think about what I am eating because it tastes good" or some thing along those lines. To me that is a pathetic excuse for not being a good person.

Our lifestyles have changed and we have gained a lot more knowledge in the health industry- and yet we should NOT change anything about our lifestyles or diets? To me that sounds backwards.

Well, there's my opinion.

Answer 11

Tell them to go, "beat their meat"!

Answer 12

It isn't natural, nor is it healthy. That is why.

Answer 13

There are just some mean people in the world who get their kicks picking on those of us who are different.  Do your best to ignore the little creeps and just live your life.

Answer 14

People have a fascination with things that are "different". Whether it's being a Vegan, Homosexual, Etc.. They want to pick it apart, examine it under a microscope,  prove or disprove it.  I don't think they mean intentional harm, I just believe it's human nature. Just like when you were a kid and you saw a strange colorful bug on the ground, and you oohed and ahhed over it and poked with a stick and sometimes eventually smashed it. We as human beings are fascinated with that which we do not understand.

Hence the old saying, "We mock that which we do not understand."

Just my two cents.

Answer 15

You seem to have done some stereotyping yourself by giving only two possibilities to your "dilemma". Such an attitude would be one answer to your own question as to why.  

To somehow classify yourself as not only different but somehow better than the "general public" surely invites debate from at least some who would be offended by your general opinion about them. Surely you don't think that just because people disagree with you, they are ignorant or less informed do you? You are not seriously implying that only those who choose to be vegetarians have the ability and mental capacity to think, are you? I will concede that at some point, you are correct. Ignorance is a factor. But you also have to look inward and to your fellow vegetarians attitudes to answer your question. .We sometimes tend to pass the blame on others when the image on the mirror is just as guilty..

When people become vegetarians by choice because of some information they have come across, they are in reality not only questioning the choice made by omnis, but totally rejecting any argument or opinion  expressed by that that particular lifestyle. Follow it up with statements which are occasionally stereotyping and sometimes outright false, then you are tacitly behaving in the same manner in which you accuse the "general public" of behaving towards your own choices.

Asking a vegetarian why and debating with them is no different from somebody asking you why you like a certain genre of music or movie or book or a host of other things. People talk and debate about such choices too. Why the extra sensitivity about food choices?  

Perhaps you are not guilty of this, but the smugness and sometimes arrogant manner  practically begs and screams for a counter response. Having said this, I must concede that many omnis are just as guilty. So the debate will go on, the arguments will take place.  People have been debating and arguing about things since anyone can remember. This should be of no surprise to you.

Answer 16

I can care less what you eat.

Answer 17

I don't. People never can deal with what is different from what they experience in their own lives. I'm a meat eater by the way. :)

Answer 18

I've been veg*n for decades, and I've never met anyone who has it in for veg*ns.

The only place I've encountered such hostility is on this board, and I doubt if the trolls who express that hostility - and there are only a few of them, after all - behave like that in real life. They do it all from the safety and anonymity of ther computer and their assumed name(s), and probably troll other YA sections too.

As for debate, questioning and argument - I think all three are very healthy, whatever the topic. I'm a political animal and  couldn't live without them

Answer 19

I say live and let live and I am not vegetarian.  Brush the chip off of your shoulder and live your life.

Answer 20

im an ominivore and i have no problem with vegetarians thats your own choice same thing with g*y ppl i'm straight what ever makes you happy and to h**l what other ppl think