Should Vegans HATE Non-Vegans?

[Bite Size Vegan]

are vegans elitist exclusionists who hate everyone who isn’t vegan? does not being vegan make you an awful person worthy of a swift kick in the groin? i share my personal position on this matter whether i hate non-vegans. i’d love to hear what you think about this matter!

 

[ledboots]

Hatred doesn't help anyone.

 

[beancounter]

Well, I'm pretty sure that in a previous video, you said that Vegetarians were worse than Omnis....

But I don't have the time to dig through the other forum to find the comments by Joan Kennedy.

 

[Dedalus]

It is difficult not to despair and lash out at humanity's ignorance and apathy but it yields little. Everyone has their own path - how we as vegans interact with non-vegan and vegan individuals alike may either positively or negatively affect the course they take. It's a challenging conflict of the head and the heart. One that I struggle with daily.

 

[Bite Size Vegan]

Well, I'm pretty sure that in a previous video, you said that Vegetarians were worse than Omnis....

But I don't have the time to dig through the other forum to find the comments by Joan Kennedy.

i never said vegetarians were worse than omnis. i said that eating ONLY eggs and dairy and NO meat was ethically worse than eating ONLY meat and NO eggs and dairy.

 

[Bite Size Vegan]

It is difficult not to despair and lash out at humanity's ignorance and apathy but it yields little. Everyone has their own path - how we as vegans interact with non-vegan and vegan individuals alike may either positively or negatively affect the course they take. It's a challenging conflict of the head and the heart. One that I struggle with daily.

i so agree. i struggle with it every day. my ultimate goal is to help the animals and at times alienating potential vegans does not achieve that.

 

[RascalsMom]

I don't hate vegetarians or omnis, though I kinda see them all on the same level. They just annoy me, and I am saddened by their actions.

 

[Bite Size Vegan]

I don't hate vegetarians or omnis, though I kinda see them all on the same level. They just annoy me, and I am saddened by their actions.

it is very sad, that is true. i think sometimes that's under all the anger...

 

[Clueless Git]

are vegans elitist exclusionists who hate everyone who isn’t vegan?

Vegans are not an elite who exclude others. No.

Vegans are an elite, obviously. It's an elite that others choose to exclude themselves from though.

Usualy the invitations to join the vegan elite go something like this ...

Vegan; Spends an hour on fact delivery, explaining benefits, Q&A, etc ...

Omni; Wow! I didn't know hardly any of that .. can I have a bacon sandwich?

 

[Clueless Git]

Hatred doesn't help anyone.

Go see if you can fly that one on the we hate Bill Cosby topic.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I try not to come across as the angry vegan (but I fail at times!) because I think people only see the anger and don't really get the message. I do feel much more affinity with vegetarians than omni people though as I think they are more likely to come over the vegan side.

I think back to when I was vegetarian and I know that a vegan ranting at me or putting me down for being veggie would not have made me transition to veganism. I only changed when I went online and read an informative, factual account of why people chose veganism. I believe many non vegans are just misinformed rather than deliberately cruel, the meat and dairy industries spend a lot of money keeping people in the dark.

It is difficult not to despair and lash out at humanity's ignorance and apathy but it yields little. Everyone has their own path - how we as vegans interact with non-vegan and vegan individuals alike may either positively or negatively affect the course they take. It's a challenging conflict of the head and the heart. One that I struggle with daily.

I agree.

 

[Bite Size Vegan]

Vegans are not an elite who exclude others. No.

Vegans are an elite, obviously. It's an elite that others choose to exclude themselves from though.

Usualy the invitations to join the vegan elite go something like this ...

Vegan; Spends an hour on fact delivery, explaining benefits, Q&A, etc ...

Omni; Wow! I didn't know hardly any of that .. can I have a bacon sandwich?

ha! perfect exchange. ;P

 

[Diana]

Well, I think vegatarians are worse than omnis.

Because there is no logic behind their reasoning and they are hypocritical to the extreme. They just get all upset about seeing a dead animal on their plate. It's a gut reaction and has no basis in reality as they refuse to recognise the terrible suffering and exploitation implicit in the dairy industry. And because they just CAN'T live without cheese.

An omni is at least coherent. I think they're sad, but at least they are coherent which vegetarians are not.

But that doesn't mean that one needs to hate vegetarians. I don't respect their decision. But one doesn't really hate everyone whose decisions one doesn't respect, does one ? Hate is a strong strong word.

Responding to Moll Flander's post which said "to know that a vegan ranting at me or putting me down for being veggie would not have made me transition to veganism." Well, when I became vegetarian (I had never even HEARD of veganism before - thank god for the internet which opened my eyes), I became a vegan within a very short time because someone on VB told me I was being a f***ing hypocrite. That really make me think and the next day I was vegan. So that's just to say that some people prefer being told that a spade is spade. I will always be grateful to the person who had the honesty to tell me what they thought of me.

 

[Moll Flanders]

Responding to Moll Flander's post which said "to know that a vegan ranting at me or putting me down for being veggie would not have made me transition to veganism." Well, when I became vegetarian (I had never even HEARD of veganism before - thank god for the internet which opened my eyes), I became a vegan within a very short time because someone on VB told me I was being a f***ing hypocrite. That really make me think and the next day I was vegan. So that's just to say that some people prefer being told that a spade is spade. I will always be grateful to the person who had the honesty to tell me what they thought of me.

Haha. Yes, I suppose that some people become vegan because they respond to shock tactics and some prefer intelligent debate. I think if you asked a lot of vegans if they could pinpoint what it was that made them transition they would all have different answers. For me it was reading online about the female cows crying for their calves when they were stolen from them.

 

[Clueless Git]

.. I became a vegan within a very short time because someone on VB told me I was being a f***ing hypocrite.

Absolute rubbish!

It's a well known 'fact' that pointing out the hypocrisy of vegetarianism never achieves anything at all.

Oh, wait ..

ha! perfect exchange. ;P

That one actualy occurs on GY's 'best ever' speech.

He does a Q&A at the end on that and the first (only, I think) question asked is "does fake bacon taste like the real thing?".

For an epic fail on the 'my tummy rules my brain' front this one will never be bettered though ...

 

[Scorpius]

I'm always afraid to 'push' veganism onto people because some see it as 'too extreme' (as we've discussed here . . . not too extreme for many of us, obviously). I'd rather see someone at least be an ovo-lacto then try veganism, fail horribly (and cry like a child about missing cheese), and never try again.
I guess I don't give most people the benefit of the doubt that they'll stick with it, even though I did. The support of online communities as well as (reliable) information/propaganda found on the internet helped me immensely. That being said, whenever someone is looking to try out the veggie lifestyle, I always nudge them in the direction of vegan food blogs and websites.

 

[Bite Size Vegan]

Well, I think vegatarians are worse than omnis.

Because there is no logic behind their reasoning and they are hypocritical to the extreme. They just get all upset about seeing a dead animal on their plate. It's a gut reaction and has no basis in reality as they refuse to recognise the terrible suffering and exploitation implicit in the dairy industry. And because they just CAN'T live without cheese.

An omni is at least coherent. I think they're sad, but at least they are coherent which vegetarians are not.

But that doesn't mean that one needs to hate vegetarians. I don't respect their decision. But one doesn't really hate everyone whose decisions one doesn't respect, does one ? Hate is a strong strong word.

Responding to Moll Flander's post which said "to know that a vegan ranting at me or putting me down for being veggie would not have made me transition to veganism." Well, when I became vegetarian (I had never even HEARD of veganism before - thank god for the internet which opened my eyes), I became a vegan within a very short time because someone on VB told me I was being a f***ing hypocrite. That really make me think and the next day I was vegan. So that's just to say that some people prefer being told that a spade is spade. I will always be grateful to the person who had the honesty to tell me what they thought of me.

great points Diana thank you!

 

[Pirate]

Diana! Blast from the past.

Anyway, I agree. I used to be a vegetarian, having not really even thought about eggs/dairy. I didn't spend much time on the internet looking up veggie things, I just didn't like the idea of eating dead animals and thought it was wrong. It was only when I joind Veggie Boards I "saw the light" and went Vegan quickly. Noone shouted at me though, and I'm not convinced that shouting is the answer. I'm happy to educate if asked though.

If someone eats meat, at least they acknowledge that they don't give a toss about killing animals for food. Its not an opinion I favour, but at least they stick to it. But to say that you're against the idea of animals suffering for food and then eating eggs/dairy anyway... makes no sense to me, especially if you KNOW. But cheese is more important!!!!

disclaimer: I haven't watched the video. No offense, just got no headphones

 

[rainforests1]

Well, I think vegatarians are worse than omnis.

Because there is no logic behind their reasoning and they are hypocritical to the extreme. They just get all upset about seeing a dead animal on their plate. It's a gut reaction and has no basis in reality as they refuse to recognise the terrible suffering and exploitation implicit in the dairy industry. And because they just CAN'T live without cheese.

An omni is at least coherent. I think they're sad, but at least they are coherent which vegetarians are not.

But that doesn't mean that one needs to hate vegetarians. I don't respect their decision. But one doesn't really hate everyone whose decisions one doesn't respect, does one ? Hate is a strong strong word.

Responding to Moll Flander's post which said "to know that a vegan ranting at me or putting me down for being veggie would not have made me transition to veganism." Well, when I became vegetarian (I had never even HEARD of veganism before - thank god for the internet which opened my eyes), I became a vegan within a very short time because someone on VB told me I was being a f***ing hypocrite. That really make me think and the next day I was vegan. So that's just to say that some people prefer being told that a spade is spade. I will always be grateful to the person who had the honesty to tell me what they thought of me.

Because omnivores with their claims about being an "animal lover" or respect for dogs and cats but not other animals can't be hypocritical. There's so much more to judge a human on than their diet.

 

[Calliegirl]

I hate to admit it, but it took 25 years for me to transition from vegetarian to vegan. But, to be fair, I hadn't heard of veganism for the majority of that time. Vegetarians were still very rare when I became one, and I hadn't even talked to another one until I joined the forum that shall not be named. My only contact with a vegan before that lasted about 30 seconds, and in that short time, they came across as arrogant, elitist and condescending. Not a good way to promote veganism, and actually has the opposite effect. Had that person talked to me about it in a friendly way (instead of showing his obvious distaste) and explained exactly what it was ( I had a vague idea but knew very little) and the reasons behind it, I might have converted sooner.

And the really sad part about that chance meeting is that I was so excited at the thought of finally meeting another vegetarian for the first time. Such a wasted opportunity because he felt the need to show he was superior because he was a vegan.