Why do so many people criticise vegans?

Oh we got a phones aren’t vegan comment! ✅
Is that the full bingo card now?!

They do object, though. I've been told that they hoped I would die because I can't physically be vegan. I've been abused, mocked and hated by vegans, for arguing that not all disabled people can be vegan.

Funnily enough, all of these supposed vegans were happy to sit on their phones on social media, knowing their phones contain animal products.

Can you give us a run down of what you eat?

I know what you mean, a colleague of mine is vegan and another colleague stated they wouldn't know what to get for her if they got her for secret Santa but they'd probably buy her salad..... I mean why?!

The thing is, @Hunglikeapolevaulter what do you hope you’ll
achieve by calling vegans hypocrites?

If you’re trying to stop people from being vegan by proving them “wrong” then you’re actually working against harm reduction.

If you’re trying to be spiteful and offensive then you’re no better than the mythical preachy vegans that everyone knows.

Even if vegans are hypocrites, they’re still not eating animal products, not paying for animal cruelty, not contributing to the funding of practices that are bad for the environment.

So why, as per the thread title, are you so critical of vegans?

Meat eaters don't cause any "harm reduction" vs vegans though?

You can easily do that for a burger where we are talking about a cheese slice. But not where the dairy products are made into sauces or mixed in the dish. So perhaps a curry sauce which might be nicer as a creamy sauce. Or where they have substituted real milk for coconut milk.
Or cote ruining their vegetarian fried breakfast for an egg free vegan one. Which they did for a short while.

Animal farming is responsible for 60% of the emissions from agriculture.
Where’s the harm reduction there?

Yet again, that poster never said that.

She said the act of killing animals for food is cruel.

It is.

She says it plays on the conscience of meat eaters.

Sometimes it does.

Why is this getting up your nose? She's absolutely right.

At no point did she say 'meat eaters are evil savages' though. You're imagining that up all on your own, either because of your own cognitive dissonance. Or because you hate the idea someone might be 'telling you what to do'. Even when they aren't.

Oh yes don’t forget the “you must be perfect then” defence.
You’ll be complaining that vegans all have iPhones next. It’s just so banal .

Ah okay, so you're okay with "harm reduction" rather than perfection (which btw is fair enough), but don't extend the same grace to omnivores. Got it. Not hypocritical at all.

This is exactly what I came to say from the same perspective.

I have absolutely no issue with anyone following a vegan diet. I do have an issue with it becoming someone's whole personality.

I don't limit this to vegans though. I feel the same about people who want to plaster their social media feeds to tell me they are now pansexual, or have completed a quiz and have diagnosed themselves with ADHD. And now every post must be about that, every inspirational quote shared etc.

I did have a couple of friends who went very deep into the vegan but a few years in it seems to have calmed down and become normal humans again. Perhaps it is a bit all encompassing to start with but as someone who never really liked meat it wouldn't be a massive change (though I would miss cheese!)

And it has ruined a lot of eating out but have noticed a bit of a return in the separating out vegan and veggie options again so hoping that continues.

Possibly because it's seen as a healthier lifestyle, a bit like fat people hating thin people, maybe it shows up their inability to self discipline?

Lol because of this superiority complex demonstrated so beautifully above.

'We show those savage meat eaters that they are selfish and awful'

I don't care how people live their lives, people do the best they can. But I don't want to be lectured about it endlessly. I get it, they're fighting the good fight, you make your choices and let others make theirs.

Do they though?

Because lots of us here have said the industry is evil. But no one has said 'you are evil for eating meat'. That's just something people who struggle with their conscience INFER from it.

EVERYBODY contributes to evil in some way. Our job as humans is to minimise it.

Being told 'this thing you pay towards is evil' is not the same thing as calling a person evil.

And if something is evil, why wouldn't you want to know? Surely its at least something you'd want to be aware of. And it seems like the vegan activists are the only people going undercover behind the scenes in these places and finding out.

Oh, so, one person.
One horrible person.
Is she also blonde? By your logic if that one vegan is horrible then so are all vegans, are all blonde people horrible too?
Is being vegan what made her horrible or is that just her personality?

edited as laptop was being glitchy

Oh yes don’t forget the “you must be perfect then” defence.
You’ll be complaining that vegans all have iPhones next. It’s just so banal .

Sorry to hear it - I can imagine - and I am really empathetic! Sorry to hear this but hopefully this thread will educate some people a bit.

Out of interest in real life who is doing any of these things to you, directly and personally?

A dear friend got prostate cancer and a vegan acquaintence of mine told me it was his own fault because of hormones in dairy.
So that was nice.
She has also cut out family members for not agreeing to go vegan.

It is an absolute lie and fallacy that eating veg and grains is somehow worse for the environment than eating meat.

And it is entirely possible to use vegan fertilisers that are safe for the soil and add minerals without causing an environmental impact (seaweed, for example).

Plant-based compost, seaweed, alfalfa meal, and green manure crops are generally considered environmentally sound and unlikely to cause pollution when used responsibly and sustainably.

And lets not forget that raising animals causes way more damage overall as it wastes epic amounts of water, requires overall more insecticides (for crop production for animal feed) and deforestation, waste products etc than people alone eating vegetables and grains.

So it’s just the name calling you’re worried about and none of the actual important issues you mentioned? Ok then.

By existing we do harm, sp the logical thing to do is to work on minimising it. Not go 'fuck it, I'll just kill everything'

Hopefully, if you acknowledge that your existence is causing harm, you aren't having children. That would be hypocritical of you.

God gives me strength, I cannot with this ridiculous argument xD

So if I accidently run someone over with my car, I might as well go join the Talaban and murder a bunch of people deliberately?

By existing we do harm, sp the logical thing to do is to work on minimising it. Not go 'fuck it, I'll just kill everything'

So what’s the alternative, we all just starve?

No, we just don't call each other "evil" for our food choices.

Out of interest in real life who is doing any of these things to you, directly and personally?

(Aside from the vegans in this thread which is dedicated to the topic)

It feels like this comes up a lot but I don’t know anyone who would approach a stranger in real life and tell them what to do, nor do I have any friends I’ve mentioned it to who haven’t asked first (see my original comment pages back about being asked at client lunches, new friends’ houses, etc)

How many vegans do you know in order to claim that “most vegans” do this sort of thing?

I am not Vegan but have two Vegan DIL's. Cooking for them has opened my eyes to the choices out there, and DH and I now eat much less meat/dairy than before. They don't preach and are delighted that we cater for them when they come here. Why wouldn't we? Everyone is entitled to make their own choices and be accommodated. We have found some tasty food as a by product.

That said, I worked with a Vegan/Veggie who preached at every opportunity and also fell out with so many people due to her attitude. Every time we ate out she would make a comment, which was tiresome.

So, IMO it is not the choices made re food, but the person's personality that causes issues.