Why do so many people criticise vegans?

[trunch]

I'm a meat eater!

However, I don't understand why people criticise vegans so much.

They aren't hurting me and are trying to save animals and the environment.

What's wrong with that?

Surely people should be more critical of me because animals are killed for me to eat?

Question to all the people here commenting “I don’t feel guilty”, that’s great but are you the type to comment angrily on vegan adverts on FB for instance?
Some people cannot help but shout and attack vegans at every turn. I cannot understand why? People think it is not guilt, then what do you suppose it is? What’s driving the anger?

This is true. I suppose I'm thinking someone brings you the pig, hands you the knife and explains the process for making it as quick as possible. I'm not saying that omnivores couldn't, but I do think many would not if they were also given the chance of consuming a plant based diet for the rest of their life. It's all hypothetical of course.

Have you met the public?! There are aggressive, thick, knobheads everywhere. I'd just assume they're angry about the world (and not too bright!) and trawl the internet being like that on many different types of post!

I don't see vegan ads (though posting on here may now skew my algorithms!). But if I did I a) wouldn't post and b) would click on the cross to say no more of this type of ad please!

I could kill it if I absolutely had to, but I don't, so it's a moot point.

So, while they do eat some animal matter, it's not a significant component of their diet. Gorillas get most of their nutrition from the abundant vegetation in their habitats.

This is true, but the human digestive system is very different indeed to that of a gorilla. We couldn't eat and digest what they do.

Thanks for entertaining my question. I'm sure every vegan on here will testify to the amount of hypothetical questions we receive when people find out we are vegan, so I know how tiresome it can be.

I was brought up vegetarian but started eating meat as soon as I was old enough to buy my own food. I was shown footage from abattoirs and knew/know exactly what happens to the animals, so I do buy welfare assured meat so that, as far as I can, I'm not funding the mistreatment of animals bred for their meat.
Interestingly, just reading a recent post and I wouldn't have an issue killing an animal myself to eat IF I knew what I was doing. DP is actually quite keen to source our own meat and not waste any part of it (e.g. if it was a rabbit - eating its meat and finding a use for its pelt), but would need some guidance/training in how to do so humanely. The thought of shooting an animal and getting it wrong, leaving it suffering for even a few seconds, is horrific.

ETA: we are both against bloodsports so wouldn't hunt or entertain the thought of killing an animal for its fur, for example. Only for food, and any byproducts would be an attempt at not wasting any part of it.

I wonder if I could ask a question to those who eat meat and are happy with their decision?
Could you kill it?

I've killed chickens and shot deer. Sheep I've not killed myself but they tend to die quite quietly and readily so I'd give that a go as long as I was shown how not to botch it.
Pigs - no. That's a bit harrowing.

I was quoting another poster in order to disagree! I don't think vegans look older or ill. I am vegan so fingers crossed that study was right 😀

I only have an issue with their superior attitude and their preaching, if they want to live that way it’s absolutely fine and none of my business, I’m just not interested in hearing about it but they always find some way of telling you and somehow expect to be admired / praised for it and then look down their noses at other peoples choices as if they are somehow more evolved

Do they though? Or is that just a narrative that comes from the innate aversion to the possibility someone might try to tell us what to do or how to live our lives.

Because I used to say exactly what you said. Despite the fact that I had never spoken to a vegan about veganism ever in my life.

And when I actually opened myself up to learning about why they felt as they did, I found they didn't take anything away from me. Infact - they gave me something back that I had lost. I felt gebuine empathy return to me for these animals. Instead of just this numb, sympathetic 'that's sad but it's part of life' bubble I'd became trapped in.

I realised I'd spent my whole life being brainwashed and told what to do and a bunch of lies by the meat and dairy industries. Because we all are, from childhood.

Also...even though I'm not a vegan- there's actually no getting round the fact that breeding billions of animals every year to enslave, exploit and kill - is immoral. So I'll happily praise vegans for not contributing to it. Good on them.

This discussion is so fucked up and full of bad faith.

Almost any of us can agree that mammals - dogs, cats, cows, sheep, pigs - all display feelings that are observable to us and have parallels with our own emotions. We can believe a cow loves its calf. We don't like it when it kills a human in defence of its calf (cows kill more people than any other mammal in the UK).

All female mammals are ipso facto built with the emotions of mothers. And display the same feelings as us. Not over a lifetime like we do. But they can't. They or their children are very soon killed.

You love an elephant but you don't love a cow. Yeah, the elephant is cleverer than the cow, but we specifically bred the cow to be our slave.

This stuff is obvious. It's unarguable. No one can believe that a plant feels that level of joined up feeling. Do you really believe that a carrot knows what it feels like to be a mother? In the way that you do? Or even in the smaller way that a sheep does?

A plant has no central nervous system and no observable location for a brain. How are they processing their pain? How are they loving the millions of children they've seeded?

The cognitive dissonance clanging in your heads when you make your "carrots have feelings" arguments? I can't imagine what that's like.

Please try and think clearly. I don't care whether you eat animals or not (of course, I would sooner you didn't). But just, please, try to think clearly.

Hello! Not a vegan but on Monday, Thursday and Sunday my kids and I go dairy and gluten free to help with gut health. My dietician and pilates teacher recommended this and since then I've seen a huge improvement in my children's attitude to learning. My DH thinks it's ridiculous but he's the one gaining weight and not losing (I've dropped 3 stone and am back to the size I was when was 22). I think what those vegans do are marvellous and really know how to stay healthy and lean!

Who are you referring to, @ThisRoseReader? Barely anyone has mentioned what you refer to. So I assume your 'this discussion' reference is very specific to those people who have and not referencing the discussion on the thread as a whole? Or are you saying we're all posting in bad faith?

I’m veggie too and totally get this! Cafes and restaurants often make the easy choice to just offer vegan dishes which of course can sometimes be delicious. However, I want cheese and cream! Some places will swap it out if you ask but some dishes it is impossible.

Also for some bizarre reason many places seem to think vegetables need to have a curry flavour to be palatable 🙄

These things may happen in other countries but British standards are higher and farms would not be able to sell to major supermarkets if they did these things. I find comments like this tend to come from people who have never actually visited a British farm for any amount of time and have got their information from online sources.

I’m vegetarian BTW.

Ruminants create B12. They need cobalt in their diet to create it.

Game animals do not have supplemental feeding but still contain B12.

All female mammals are ipso facto built with the emotions of mothers. Well I must not be an animal then. Or maybe you are making things up?

@Atina321 But they do happen in this country!!!

Watch LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY - all filmed in the UK, for a reality check. It covers all the standard industry practices. Perfectly legal and very, very cruel.

https://www.landofhopeandglory.org

@Atina321 Major supermarkets don’t have a clue what truly goes on in these farms. It takes years before they’re exposed and a supermarket finally drops them. See vegan campaigns on Hogwood Farm which were only dropped by Tesco after many investigations - carried out by Vegans.

Practices have changed as this was videod in 2010 - 2016

i already knew of the happy egg one as I was campaigning too and I’m not vegan

Ok for the vegans out there

can I have a run down of what you eat in a day or even a recipe of what would be your go too of a meal.

genuinely asking this as most vegans main staple that I’ve noticed is pasta and rice

also someone up thread said everything is flavoured with curry these days I have to agree there as I’ve noticed on the menu boards it’s there a lot.

I'm sorry, but you are wrong.

I'm sure there are plenty of nice little farms with 'high standards' but, as pointed out by the poster above, 'land of hope and glory' is brittish farms. There are still activists reporting back similar do don't believe the 'changes'.

The red tractor approved shit means nothing too as they WARN the farms before they visit. And I could be wrong on this but, I think that's the one ran by a farmers association...would you ask a wolf to inspect how nice other wolves were to the sheep they'd corner? Of course they'll say 'things have inproved'.

Also, we don't only consume meat and dairy from britain in Britain. Lots of it is shipped in from other places.

Uk is awful for welfare. Of course they don't want us to know.

@Sevenwondersofthewoo This was made into a documentary film since which hundreds of hours of further footage have been made. Which practice are you referring to that has changed?

Go back and watch the time line it’s dated from 2010 to 2016

a vet is present at slaughter houses now it’s a bloody boring job but they are there daily over seeing it all.

If you want something more recent.

This guy went into a UK turkey farm this year.