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 just think eat whatever the feck you like…

I don’t announce any food likes or dislikes.

But you eat plants and they are living things, you just decide to eat some living things and not others, some people eat all

Do-gooder derogation is a powerful thing. It’s easier to mock or attack someone that (deep down) you think is making a better moral choice than you are. Teetotallers suffer the same treatment, people often perceive their peer’s behaviour as a brutal mirror reflecting on their own behaviour.

Thanks @trunch

I found that when I first became vegan, people would always want to know why. I had just found out all this information I wasn't previously aware of, and so I was passionate and given the chance, wanted to explain.

There were many occasions when people would end up becoming frustrated and argumentative because I was giving them facts and the mere mention of animal cruelty, which is why I'm vegan, was met with ridicule. They'd started the conversation, and didn't like what I was saying.

I've never told anyone I'm vegan unless it has been necessary. Unfortunately, due to eating and drinking being a big part of daily life, it does crop up from time to time. I have also never said to anyone that they shouldn't be eating animals, although I obviously do wish people wouldn't.

I'm also sorry to all the vegetarians who have seen a decrease in the vegetarian options, but that isn't the fault of vegans.

@noworklifebalance I answered you - 1) as a human I can't tell how they feel pain but because their nervous system is completely different then the assumption is they feel pain differently (no brainer)

2. because they grow back when you eat a vegetable or pluck a leaf (unlike an animal you kill)

3. because the environmental impact is way less to eat vegan for many reasons

4. and this is a really big one - because if you want to raise animals to eat - you have to feed them plants - way more plants than you would need to sustain yourself on your own without the animals as part of the food chain. Way more plants are consumed as part of the food chain when we eat animals, (as well as water etc) vs when we just eat plants on their own. That includes the habitats destroyed to make room for the animals to live on, to the plants they have to eat in order to grow and so on in order to make relatively few calories for us to eat.

It really isn't rocket science.

I havent got any issue with vegans but the reason i wouldnt want to be one is because I'd find it difficult to eat the right nutrition to stay healthy. It would take a lot of re learning.

I think processed vegan foods aren't particularly healthy as its all disguised and flavoured mould! (Don't they grow a type of mushroom that can be flavoured?). I also think producers are lazy and just make vegan rather than vegetarian these days.

After centuries of horrendous racial, sexual, religious, homophobic discrimination, it is now illegal to discriminate on the above. But sadly, nasty, angry people, who seem to lack empathy, understanding or common decency are finding other areas of of people’s life to find fault with, not least a person’s choice of food, owning a pet, using a bicycle on public roads, what car is driven. The sense of outrage and nastiness around the choices of others has become the new stick to beat people with.

So you got a lot of ‘hassle from meat eaters’ who would criticise your food choice as a vegetarian but say that one vegan criticised your food choice and yet it is only that one vegan you feel annoyed with. Hmm interesting, you should examine why you feel that way.

Yes @Bollocksmorelike but that's only if you think that they are making a better moral choice than you. Many omnivores don't think there is anything wrong with eating meat, fish or dairy, and their views are just as valid surely.

Ultimately we all do what is right for us and that could be due to our morals, upbringing, religion, wealth, health, ability and just what we enjoy eating.

i would hardly say those vegans that have to result to vandalism, harassment, violence, law breaking to make their points rather than debating are hardly morally superior

Because they are nuts.
😆

Blame the pubs, restaurants etc, not vegans for that.

but then thats down to the food industry to create new foods, pubs etc can only sell whats available

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

To be fair, some criticise meat eaters either directly or smugly trying to hammer home "cruelty" etc. It's tedious.

I don't care what diet people follow and wouldn't comment on it and I expect them to do the same about the dietary choices of others.

Like a lot of previous posts no problem with vegans or other dietary requirements. Have family members who are dairy free and coeliac (medical, not choice) and also vegetarian. Therefore eat a lot of vegetarian food but fed up with choices being limited to vegan because it covers all bases and is therefore the easy option.

I was aiming for humour, because the poster was being so sanctimonious as to be laughable.

I like all of the vegans I know - but they don’t spout shite about, ‘Leading by example’.

I think David Mitchell summed it up perfectly: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/09/my-beef-with-vegans-says-more-about-me-than-them-david-mitchell

Its way easier to ignore that what your doing is maybe not great when everyone else is like you. It also why people get annoyed when people lose weight, quit drinking etc....

I have no problem with vegans..apart from ones who try to force their beliefs down your throat. My stepson was vegan for a year and was intolerable! You couldn't talk to him without trying to convert you, the self righteous nob

I have no problem with meat eaters..apart from ones who try to force their beliefs down your throat. My uncle was a meat eater and was intolerable! You couldn't talk to him without trying to convert you, the self righteous nob

(sorry, couldn't resist!)

I often read criticism of vegans on here, a lot based on them apparently being preachy. I don’t see much preachy veganism here though, but a fair few meat eaters saying vegans are preachy on threads where none of the vegans have been preachy.

There are a few posters that are clearly anti vegan and often post on the vegan board to randomly tell us that lentils are rubbish and they like bacon sandwiches etc. Just why? We’re not bothering you but they invade the board to be an arse.

I’ve received negativity for being vegetarian, and now vegan, just for ordering a meal in a restaurant. I got the ‘how do you know someone is a vegan ‘joke’ for simply asking the waiter something about the vegan starter. They had also asked questions about the menu but that was ‘different’.

I am genuinely confused how some "vegan" food are so overly processed that I can't help thinking that it can't be vegan anymore purely because of the process to make it in big, fuel emitting factories.

I get not wanting to eat meat etc but natural products such as cows milk is frowned upon but producing "milk" from nuts by using masses of water is OK? Surely that goes against the whole point?
Squishing beans with food colourings and preservatives to make it look and taste like bacon just seems odd to me.

Just have a Quick Look on any vegan recipe page on say facebooknand see what we have to contend with.

Thanks OP! Most people find it hard to be honest with themselves, especially when their behaviour might be morally questionable. Instead of saying "I'm not perfect, and animals really suffer as a result of my choices", they get angry at us for pointing out the truth.

I can’t even remember the number of times I’ve had to sit and listen to meat eaters telling me that I need to eat meat, that vegetarians/vegans are all unhealthy, look ill, that I’m missing out on bacon sandwiches etc. This is without being mentioning being vegetarian/vegan. If I answer back in any way, it’s ‘here we go, preachy vegan’. Nope, just shut the fuck up.

It is very, very difficult to get sufficient calcium and iron from a vegan diet and impossible to get B12

This is simply not true @theeyeofdoe