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?

I think people's choices re: choosing to be vegan or vegetarian are no one else's business.
I will say 90% of vegans that I've met have made it their entire personality. And it's utterly tedious.

Another good example of how aggressive some non-vegans are towards vegans, totally unnecessary.

🤣🤣

This… this is why people hate vegans

I don’t need to make excuses for my choice to eat meat and diary, I just want to.
And no, I don’t feel guilty

I've been a vegetarian since my teens (now in my fifties) and I found that soen years ago at work, I'd get a lot of hassle from meat eaters who would criticise my food choice - it usually only came up at work lunches though when vegetarians were woefully under catered for by whoever ordered the food not realising that some meat eaters might also enjoy sandwiches that don't contain meat.
More recently though, I've been criticised by a vegan colleague also, for not being vegan. I don't want to be vegan. I like dairy foods and I'm happy with my choice.
It is only that one colleague I felt annoyed with though. I've had another vegan colleague who is lovely and very respectful of everyone else's choices and so everyone also respects hers.

They can be wherever they want, I just do not want to be preached on. Which I think is why people mostly dislike them. To be fair is uncomfortable to be a meat eater in from of a vegetarian or vegans. So I would also prefer that we have separate options for vegetarians and vegans at restaurants. However, now restaurants only offer vegan options so if I want something vegetarian I only get vegan options. Crap!

I don’t know any vegans, but if I did, I’d think ‘good for them’.

I think there’s an unfair perception about vegans beating a drum, not helped by all the different memes that say, ‘How do you know someone's a vegan? Don't worry, they'll tell you’.

I think vegans simply by existing make people question the ethics of eating meat, and that makes some people very uncomfortable. Cognitive dissonance is a powerful force. Easier to criticise the vegans for being woke/boring/holier than thou than it is to consider whether they might have a point.

There's a big difference between eating a plant (and its related nervous system) and an animal (and its nervous system)

Why? And how do you know? And why is it better for planets to feel pain?

When I first went veggie - I was 14 I think- in the 90's -very shy and introverted, still am. I remember being round at a friend's family Sunday lunch and her uncle who is quite a high profile journalist interrogating me about not eating meat I was absolutely mortified.
The same happens to me now to some extent ( 30 years later!) , like PP said it's usually slightly aggressive men. I absolutely do not want to talk about my diet choices let alone lecture others I hate the vegan stereotype

why would i feel guilty about eating meat when its natural as it happens in the animal kingdom ?
personally i feel disappointed about all the vandalism that is caused by some vegans wanting to impose their will and views on others

i eat meat because it tastes good and yes i like salads etc but i dont always want rabbit food.

I have a biology A level. Basic biology 101. A bit baffled that you would even ask TBH.

Also, kill an animal - it's dead. Harvest a vegetable, the plant keeps growing back...

Not to mention the carbon footprint, water consumption, environmental impact etc etc. etc. It really is a no brainer...

(You did ask)

And - "but we all need to eat something - are are you suggesting we vegans should all just eat nothing?"

you didn't answer my question?

Because the few vegans I know are intolerant of anyone else’s view and bang on about it

not interested. I am a meat eater

That somewhat proves my point.

"rabbit food" just another example of the inane abuse vegans have to put up with.

@Turophilic those are good points. My son-in-law isn't making me feel guilty (he's very nice, doesn't preach or talk about it unless asked). I do it to myself by not owning my choices.

yet what about all the protests vegans do, the spraying paint the harassment of food restaurant's etc ? at least the meat eaters are innocent of any of those tactics

I think this is well observed.

@MissysMeemaw

your post is exactly why vegans get a bad name. With your pious attitude and your existing making us meat eaters ‘feel guilty’

well shock horror I don’t feel guilty. I think of all the farmers, butchers, transport companies and the rest I am helping create an income to live on

This is why. This sort of insufferable sanctimonious nonsense gets up everybody's nose.

if humans vanished from earth meat eaters would still rule the animal kingdom

Because they can’t just get on with it. My sil posts on Facebook every single day about being vegan, constant pictures of animals, photos from weekly vigils she goes to outside abattoirs. Give it a rest. I’ve never felt the need to mention what I eat, or don’t eat on Facebook ever.

Because lots of them are supercilious, preachy, priggish bores? Maybe?

Not all of course. But enough.

Plus I could never fully trust someone who eats vegan cheese 😉

I have an A-level in biology, too - so what?
Of course plants have a different nervous system to animals. You said plants may feel pain but differently to animals - I am, therefore, asking you why you think the pain plants feel is some how lesser than animals’ pain and so it’s more justifiable to eat them? Until not that long ago some people would say that fish do not have any feelings, which used to baffle me.

And to answer your question: "but we all need to eat something - are are you suggesting we vegans should all just eat nothing?"
-eat whatever you like

That doesn't make them superior.

It just makes you too weak willed to do something that you'd prefer to do.

You want to be like them but you don't feel you can be, so you see them as superior.

I just see them as people preferring to eat different things to me.

Why is it better for a cow to feel pain than a kitten? A chicken than a human being? We all have to eat to survive, and we can't eat without causing harm to some other living organism, so have to settle on a level of harm that feels comfortable to us. Whether that's vegan, vegetarian, only eating meat from ethical sources, or just stopping short of sticking Fido on the bbq.