• recklessengagement@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    123
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    21 days ago

    Until I joined Lemmy I had no idea how militant vegans could be. I sorta just assumed they were a different brand of vegetarian.

    I’m not opposed to their ideaology in any way, but after reading the comments on a few posts that found their way into my feed… I had to block their communities. It didn’t seem likely that I’d be reading any productive discourse there.

    • Mediocre_Bard@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      54
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      21 days ago

      I was vegan for 8 years and during that time I didn’t talk to anyone about it other than to say, “I don’t eat that.”

      I say that to say this - vegans are insufferable and a large reason why I quit the community and went back to omnivore. Even after 8 years, other vegans were still ‘more vegan’ and would nitpick the dumbest stuff.

      “Bro, did you eat a date? That killed a bee or something. Not cool.”

      Shut up with that. Let me eat my damn fruit.

      I was healthier though. But, to be fair, I was younger.

      • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        20 days ago

        You know what, it’s so much easier to say you’re an omnivore and end up eating meat once a year than to say you are a vegan who makes an exception about once a year. The first label would earn you a “wait so you’re basically vegan?!” vs “you’re not vegan then and you’re a dirty cheater”.

      • Teppichbrand@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        36
        ·
        edit-2
        20 days ago

        As you might have experienced, it’s pretty hard to be vegan in a carnist world. People talk about animal abuse all the time, they confront you all the time, make fun of you. Most don’t want to talk about it, they want to shut you up. The hate and ignorance is strong and different people react diffrently to that situation. Some stay quiet, like yourself, some get vocal. Some debate, some get angry. Calling vegans insufferable is like calling gays insufferable, or feminists. Some might be. We have recognized a major injustice and we want to change it.

        “Bro, did you eat a date? That killed a bee or something. Not cool.”

        That’s rage bait and you made it up. Why would anyone say that?

        • VelvetStorm@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          22
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          20 days ago

          Hey bud you really need to get off the cross. You just compared your eating preferences which are 100% a choice to someone being born homosexual and not wanting to be killed for it or being born/transitioning to a woman and wanting the same basic human rights as the other half of our species. Honestly you need to just shut up and think about that for a hot second.

          • Teppichbrand@feddit.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            arrow-down
            15
            ·
            edit-2
            20 days ago

            I oppose racism, sexism, trans- and homophobia. And I oppose speciesism as well. It’s the same system: One group considers another group as less valuable and exploits, abuses or fights them.
            You just draw the line at you own species.
            Animals are innocent, vulnerable and easy to abuse because they don’t have a voice and don’t understand the situation we put them in. If they were human children or mentally disabled humans, we would protect them from harm because of who they are. Instead, we do the most horrible things to them, we take their freedom, their babies, their lifes. In factories, on an industrial scale. Because a pig is just a pig, right?

            EDIT: Please reply, don’t just silently downvote. What’s your refutation?

            • LaVacaMariposa@mander.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              6
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              20 days ago

              What are you talking about? Don’t you also draw a line when you choose to eat plants? I don’t think they would agree to that. Untill humans develop the ability to photosynthesize, we are going to have to eat other species, there’s no way around it.

              • DarthFrodo@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                edit-2
                20 days ago

                Don’t you also draw a line when you choose to eat plants?

                I think there’s a reasonable distinction here. You would presumably also draw a line between a conscious human and a brain dead human that won’t ever be conscious again. As far as we can reasonably tell, consciousness requires a brain. Dogs and pigs have brains, so maybe we shouldn’t torture and kill them on factory farms. We can also see them suffering and measure their physical reaction to it.

                Of course there’s a possibility that plants have some kind of consciousness too, but 1. that’s speculation and 2. there’s no way around farming them, as you have said yourself:

                Untill humans develop the ability to photosynthesize, we are going to have to eat other species, there’s no way around it.

                Farming animals will always require far more plant deaths than growing plants for human consumption. These animals have to grow for months before being slaughtered and literally eat tons of animal feed in that time.

                Therefore, plant-based food minimizes both animal suffering and deaths as well as plant deaths.

                I’m not convinced that plant deaths are an ethical issue in of themselves, but farming has environmental implications so it makes sense to minimize the food that needs to be grown and make the farming as environmentally friendly as reasonably possible.

                • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  4
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  20 days ago

                  the vast majority of plant matter fed to animals is waste product. they eat parts of plants that people can’t or won’t eat. so those plants are killed first for us, then the animals. and the point of the plant objection is not the amount of suffering, but the fact that no one cares if plants are killed, and only vegetarians and vegans care if animals are killed

                  • Teppichbrand@feddit.org
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    2
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    19 days ago

                    This is wrong. Nearly all (source) of the soy the Amazonas gets destroyed for is animal feed. We give about one third of the global grain we produce to animals, we could end global hunger if we’d give it to humans. Plus we could reforest vast regions, so we don’t die, as a species. Go vegan please.

              • Teppichbrand@feddit.org
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                3
                arrow-down
                4
                ·
                edit-2
                19 days ago

                PLANTS HAVE FEELINGS TOO
                is #22 on the Vegan Bullshit Bingo:

                No, they do not. There is no serious study to suggest that they do. Plants do not have a brain or central nervous system. At most, they respond to stimuli. If you really care that much about the welfare of plants, you should go vegan, since many more plants “die” for animal feeding. Do you feel bad while mowing your lawn? And would you rather rescue a potted plant than a dog from a burning house? Is docking pig tails the same as branch trimming to you? Question upon question…

                • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  19 days ago

                  If you really care that much about the welfare of plants, you should go vegan, since many more plants “die” for animal feeding.

                  the point is that they don’t care about the welfare of plants and you don’t either. tehy also eat animals. i think you can put it together.

            • Smoogs@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              19 days ago

              You are not the animals.

              At best you’re a shitty white knight for the animals. You’re not even an ally if this is how you conduct yourself.

          • DarthFrodo@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            arrow-down
            17
            ·
            20 days ago

            You just compared your eating preferences which are 100% a choice to someone being born homosexual and not wanting to be killed for it

            All the animals on factory farms didn’t choose to be born there and don’t want to be killed either.

            It’s not about the sensitivities of humans, but the insane suffering of animals in this system of oppression.

            • VelvetStorm@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              14
              arrow-down
              5
              ·
              20 days ago

              If all yall got off the crosses we could donate all the wood and nails to Habitat for Humanity.

            • Smoogs@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              19 days ago

              You’re not the animals. You’re not even a good spokesperson for the animals.

              You don’t give a shit about the animals. You’re just a pathetic histrionic giving into your tendencies here to tank a conversation for a hit.

              • DarthFrodo@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                19 days ago

                You’re not the animals.

                I literally wrote that this isn’t about me/humans, so yes, obviously.

                There are many groups that are suffering and that I’m not part of, and I still care about what’s happening to them and want the suffering to end. It seems like most lemmy users share that sentiment when it comes to oppressed humans, so I really don’t get what’s so hard to understand about that when I extend it to animals.

                You might have the opinion that factory farming isn’t a social justice issue, fine. Me having a different opinion doesn’t negatively affect you in any way. Why are you so pissed at me just because I see it differently?

                • Smoogs@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  19 days ago

                  You jumped in on a conversation where a person compared veganism as if it’s a persecution comparable to the LBGTQ.

                  Veganism is A diet choice. That’s all it is. That is all you’re doing here.

                  This is not you living as a member of the LBGTQ.

                  You are not a suffragette.

                  There will be no pivoting off of it here today and play shitty white knight for the animals.

        • davepleasebehave@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          14
          ·
          20 days ago

          he is confused with figs. which are pollinated by wasps. and some vegans choose to eat them and some don’t. it’s really not that controversial.

        • Smoogs@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          19 days ago

          What in the actual fuck. You are comparing yourself to LBGTQ and what they’ve had to endure???

          You think your struggle is anything like feminism???

          Maybe throw in some slavery there. Ya know, get all your basis of inappropriate covered.

          Might as well go whole ass with the bullshit you’re pulling here.

          you are choosing a lifestyle. Not even that. You’re choosing what you consume. That’s it. You are not persecuted for something that is NOT a choice you made. You are NOT being persecute for what appearance you were born into.

          It is a far cry from being watched out for and spotted and then targetted to how vegans target others.

          Stop appropriating an actual minority group that had to defend their rights just to live with the same rights as others.

          You talk like you’re the actual cow getting slaughtered for burgers.

          you’re not that cow either.

          And you’re not even a good spokesperson for that cow. At best you’re just a shitty white knight. You don’t even care about cows that are getting slaughtered cuz you wouldn’t tank a conversation so badly as you had if you actually gave a fuck and wasn’t just stroking off to your own ego for picking dumb fights with shit ideals about your grandeur. Worst ally ever.

    • Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      37
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      21 days ago

      I stick with Margaret Cho’s advice on vegans from her Assassin tour back in 2005:

      And especially, especially, don’t fuck with vegans. Do not look vegans in the eye. If you get into an argument with a vegan, say “I’m wrong” and run away as fast as you can. Do not fuck with vegans because they will fuck you up…BECAUSE THEY’RE HUNGRY.

        • DarthFrodo@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          20 days ago

          Inflammatory prejudices are only bad when others have them. They’re definitely the hateful ones, so lets spread some hate about them.

            • DarthFrodo@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              20 days ago

              I’m sorry to hear that. The thing is, you mainly hear from those who are the most vocal, and those tend to be the most angry and therefore unreasonable. And those probably had their fair share of verbal (and/or physical) abuse from meat eaters, as vegans are hated on by a much, much larger part of society than the other way around. (That doesn’t justify their hate, of course)

              It’s all a self reinforcing dynamic of groups riling each other up, unfortunately.

              • Angry_Autist (he/him)@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                20 days ago

                Look, I really dgaf about all of you ‘no really guise veeegans are nice!’ when my entire life has been episode after episode of the opposite.

    • JaggedRobotPubes@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      16
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      20 days ago

      Vegans being annoying was a thing awhile ago, but they really chilled out. This is a smaller band of die-hards.

      “Chilling out” is of course a terrible metric when animal abuse is on the line but being good to animals would make you vegetarian, not vegan, and yet that was never where the righteousness was coming from.

      • hex@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        20 days ago

        Calling a group of people insane is so cool and good 👍🏻

        I’m not vegan. But I find it very shady to talk shit about people like this.

        • Angry_Autist (he/him)@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          20 days ago

          Some seeming innocent ideals breed significantly more fanaticism across all class and culture lines, we should all have learned that by now.

      • Z3k3@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        20 days ago

        I have met 1 and married her. But yo be fair she is just vegetarian whi developed a dairy allergy knocking out the non veg part of her diet

        Makes a dumb good steak too

        • Angry_Autist (he/him)@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          20 days ago

          I have to admit, diet restriction vegans (and not the ones that just think meat is icky and can get a doctor to sign off on it) do not fall into the general stereotype but then only one of them ever had a chance to speak to me and she would sneak chicken occasionally so I don’t really consider her vegan as such. Also she was a work associate and I normally never bring up the subject in the office.

          There may be reasonable vegans out there, and I have actively sought them on forums and IRL through school clubs and protests. I have never IRL raised my voice, never used a derogatory label harsher than ‘leafeater’ and that only once. Yet I am so ridiculously burned out by the arguments and harsh words I’ve endured that I’m done holding any hope out any longer.

            • Angry_Autist (he/him)@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              20 days ago

              In respect for your wife and those like her, from now on I will try and use ‘ideological vegan’ to describe the specific subgrouping.

              Thanks for being the one sane person in this thread.