To get annoyed about Vegan friend putting slaughtered animals on Facebook?

[Faerie87]

I have been a vegetarian for going on 18 years now, started when I was in high school due to my own personal feelings about eating meat.

I would never call anyone out if they were to eat meat, my DP and family also eat meat and I have never had a problem with that.

I would have liked to go Vegan however I have never had the will power to do it, but I’m happy with my choice of diet and have never felt the need to judge anyone else for theirs.

I have a couple of Facebook friends who are vegan, who have been for a couple of years now, pretty sure they were meat eaters before that. They are constantly putting pictures up dipicting animal cruelty with captions such as cows milk is for baby cows not humans!

Is it unreasonable for me to want to stop following these people because it’s annoying and I don’t like seeing pictures like that? I am friends in RL with them and they are nice people but I have never been a fan of preaching.

Thanks

God, tedious vegans and their social media posts. Their eating choices are so restrictive they have to motivate themselves to keep it up and far too many of them succumb to the feelings of moral superiority they get from posting this kind of stuff on Facebook etc. for this purpose. I wonder how many of them realise they are mostly just posting to other vegans, as everyone else they know has unfollowed them?

I’ve suggested to people in the past that graphic images can hinder rather than help a cause (people are more likely to hide a post or quickly scroll past if they can’t bear to see the images, rather than stopping to read and find out more), then unfollow people who share this sort of stuff. It’s only social media, they don’t know I’ve hidden their posts from my feed, unfollowing isn’t a big deal at all!

I can't stand this and would unfollow, how dare people post things that really do upset me for their own preachy conscience salving? What I've discovered, and posted about this on my fb without pointing fingers at the offending friends is, the really vile animal cruelty pictures and accompanying 'petitions' are actually from click farms. So they get 0.01p per click on the 'petition' site, which is a tiny amount, but soon adds up to a lot of money because the more people who share it, the more money they get. So in fact all those people who share those posts are actually perpetuating animal abuse because the more they share those things, the more some unscrupulous people abroad will torture an animal, take pictures and set up the click farm pages to bring the money rolling in and so it goes on. I'm not joking, this is what those posts are about, nothing to do with actually stopping anything. People don't respond when I post that information, I think they are quite embarrassed, though they weren't to know, I didn't until a very savvy and trusted friend posted about this. And I always think it's sheer naivety to think a stupid petition in the UK will stop anything happening abroad, whether it concerns people or animals. If they care that much, they should join Amnesty or a charity that actually works on the ground to help animals. And stop preaching to the rest of us!

There is always another step you can take to be more true to your own values, more "pure", more thoughtful in your lifestyle. It can be annoying when people proselytise about their beliefs.

What is even more annoying to me, though, is when people use the fact that some vegans or some environmental activists are irritating to feel self righteous about doing nothing.

I hate the attitude of: "Well my vegan friend, who recycles and composts, still uses palm oil, has 3 kids, and commutes to work. If vegans aren't growing all their own food and powering their house on geothermal energy then I am justified in not bothering to recycle or think about where my food and clothes are coming from."

Life is about compromise and trying to do the best we can, realising that we will always be a bit hypocritical or a bit of an arsehole (or both).

Just unfollow, they won't know unless they ask you what you thought of such and suchs video. I've unfollowed so many people for their preachy shit whether it be religion, food, etc that I think I only see Lego builds in my news feed
I had a friend who did this, before that he was the biggest carnivore known to man. Didn't last long, just another shouty cause before he moved on to the next thing. Sometimes those who shout the loudest are trying to convince themselves iyswim? I can see why it might annoy you if you've been a genuine supporter of animal welfare all this time.

I hate when people do this. I'm also a vegetarian and I actually find it quite traumatic when people share these images - same when it's things like that Chinese dog meat festival. I just unfollow anyone who posts stuff like that.

The only problem with the vegan ones is they ask you to give up part of your diet in order to stop the cruelty.

The dairy and egg industry are legitimate targets for cruel practices against animals. It’s not ridiculous to suggest people who care about that might want to consider stopping buying their products.

I agree that sharing images of animal cruelty aren’t helpful and I’d unfollow someone who regularly did that.

I just want to say that these in your face vegans tend to have digs at other vegans too if they think they aren't eating raw/healthy enough etc. There are normally vegans out there who don't shove their view in people's faces

Their eating choices are so restrictive they have to motivate themselves to keep it up and far too many of them succumb to the feelings of moral superiority they get from posting this kind of stuff on Facebook etc

Honestly, this says more about your understanding of food than it does about vegans’.

I’ve never felt the need to share posts about animal cruelty as I don’t think it’s the best way to promote veganism, but I can honestly say that I eat a much more interesting diet now than I did when I was omnivore or vegetarian.

@Mollywobbles82 👍🏻

Someone I knew many years ago went on to have a baby that was very very premature. 25 weeks I think.

She then went on to post pictures of babies being aborted at that age, dead babies.
It was fucking awful.
I messaged her and told her it was abohorrent and deleted and blocked her.

Also meant to add, I’ve also done the same with vegan people.
Funnily enough they were always acquaintances and not my good friends.

I'm another vegetarian who'd be vegan if I had the willpower. These images actually wouldn't bother me. Foods which most of us eat every day are produced by putting sentient beings through unimaginable cruelty. That is fact. And if anyone has the willpower to be vegan and wants to dedicate their time to getting the message across then I respect them.

milk is actually quite bad for you

Nope

Maybe expand miggeldy?

Maybe she is sick of everyone else posting close ups of their steaks, burgers, chops, sausage dinners etc.

Facebook is a sump of the inane.

Why? The person claiming it needs to expand.

I am vegan but would have to unfollow. The videos are really upsetting but it is what goes on. Many people blindly eat their meat (and many also make a conscious decision to!) so it is no bad thing to bring the treatment of animals into awareness, but people need to choose wether to look at videos like that. So maybe some text with a link would be better? I don’t know.

Milk is not bad for you.

Humans have evolved as omnivores - it’s one of the reasons we have managed to thrive in such diverse environments. There is no one ‘original diet’ in scientific terms - tribal groups adapt to what’s in their environment.
So when we started dairy farming we adapted to digest milk. That means that some populations have slightly different enzyme variants that allow us to do this more effectively. Some other groups don’t.
Humans survive and thrive in environments/diets as diverse as can be. For example: high arctic populations have a traditional diet that virtually omits vegetable products. Some masai have a strong dairying component in the diet and a blood/milk combo is a staple. Some groups are predominantly small game and plant mix based. Some rely on agriculture heavily.
We can eat all sorts. Meat, fish, plants. What we can’t do is live exclusively on a vegan diet - we need external b12 sources.

Milk is not bad for you. Meat is not bad for you. There are legitimate concerns about animal husbandry practices and I think all of us should be aware of where our food comes from and where we can make more ethical choices (I try to buy local meat veg and milk, I never buy danish pork, never buy battery eggs, try to reduce food miles etc.)

But the science says we are omnivores who can do OK on all meat or mainly plant diets or anything in between - but veganism requires external supplementation.

My 20 year old son is now vegan and has been for almost a year...he doesnt tell anybody and hates discussing it as he doesnt want to preach to others...his diet is not too restrictive...he uses a dairy free spread...eats lots of pasta...chickpeas...veggies etc...and ive just bought him some no bull burgers from Iceland to try.

That’s fascinating bowlof
But I don’t understand how you say no one can survive on just a vegan diet? I have and know many who have, for 10years + . Are we miracles of nature?

But I don’t understand how you say no one can survive on just a vegan diet? I have and know many who have, for 10years + . Are we miracles of nature?

If you read it she says that you need external suppliments, which I imagine you take.

I woukd just unfollow. A lot of newly 'reformed' or converted get preachy and vocal be they vegan vegetarian religious ex smokers ex drinkers or on a mlm scheme. Laughable thing is of the friends i have seen do this, the conversion hasnt lasted long. When they stop broadcasting on fb ask them how its going. I would wonder if they have slipped back.

Most normal people just get on with life. Occasional post but not shaming or preaching.

But I don’t understand how you say no one can survive on just a vegan diet? I have and know many who have, for 10years + . Are we miracles of nature?

You survive because some of the food you eat is supplemented with vitamin b12.

If you were in a pre industrial society you would not be able to survive on a vegan diet.

@mrsjaneausten, that's great that your vegan diet is also a varied one. You can't claim that it's not restrictive though - by definition, it is. There is nothing that I don't or wouldn't eat, beyond personal preferences. Yours is by definition restricted to exclude any product made from or with animal sources. I live in a place where veganism is a very popular lifestyle choice and there's a lot of choice available. I regularly and happily cook, choose and eat vegan food (to me it's just food) and it can be great. It can also be a mediocre substitute (see vegan custard made from chickpeas by my brother to accompany Christmas pudding)

If you're not one of those vegans, then that's also great. It's only logical to recognise that we wouldn't know about those who DON'T proselytise and therefore they may well exist. However, there are a lot who do, and given how it fails to bring about changes in non-vegans (I became a vegan after I saw a provocative video of Chinese dog farmers, said no-one, ever) and alienates even the sympathetic (see this thread) there must be other motivations these vegans for making such posts.

I maintain that the feelings derived from the beliefs behind veganism are strong enough for some to support the restrictions they place upon themselves but others need reinforcement, and that can be gained from sharing those beliefs.