How do i stop people resorting to a personal attack on me when debating vegetarianism? (Updated version)?!

When people attack you it means you have won the argument, and their psychology is incapable of allowing them to lose in a civilised manner. It often has nothing to do with how you present your argument nor with the way you communicate, but is how they feel on the day which causes this. Thinking you can influence this by the way you argue is not realistic based on the scenario you have presented - ie you don't initiate an aggressive or invasive conversation, but are merely responding to their questions.

However if you have any kind of bad attitude during the conversation, if you appear arrogant, impatient or sarcastic it may be more likely to drive people to respond negatively. So the way around this is not to consider it a debate, and not to try and win. But there will always be people who resort to personal attacks when you destroy all their arguments no matter how nicely you have done it.

vegan biologist

Easy. Mind your own business and educate by example.

People will usually act the way others around them act. So if you dom't attack, they wouldn't(unless they run out of reasoning). How do they personally attack you?

I'm a vegan 'expert' and agree with Dion. Arguments go nowhere - so don't make it an argument; keep a friendly manner to keep it a discussion of sharing information. It seems you do that. But a lot of people don't care about what's right and don't want to change.

"I don't think we should have to ''respect'' other peoples beliefs be that religion, diet, politics."

That's your problem RIGHT there. They probably resort to personal attacks because disrespect towards your partner's beliefs is an extremely immature way to start off a debate, no matter what the topic.

You cannot even begin to consider your partner's arguments if you have no respect for them. They are no longer attacking your arguments, because there is no longer a debate. They are attacking you personally because you are being a disrespectful jackass about it.

People attack you because you attack them first, as do most vegetarians.
You may claim that you don't attack them, but the attitude reflected by your statement that "I don't think we should have to ''respect'' other peoples beliefs" would suggest that you do.

Arguments are nearly always unwinnable; they end with each party just as firmly convinced of the rightness of their own position.

Unfortunately, many people resort to personal attacks when they disagree with a viewpoint but have no valid points themselves. It's a form of self-defence. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot you can do except to remain calm and try to bring the debate back on track. You could try calmly pointing out that personal attacks neither help nor bring anything new to the debate and if the other person has nothing pertinent to say, there is no point in continuing the discussion. As a vegan, I've had to endure this many a time and can say from experience, there is no point in allowing yourself to get angry. Some people don't want to debate they just want to argue and it's a waste of your time doing so. Save your energy for people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say.

I will give you the same answer I gave your last question/rant: unless you learn to respect other peoples' beliefs be they religion, diet or politics, you cannot expect and demand to be treated in the same manner. Therefore the people who refuse to debate you on anything actually.are already making their debate positions known (but which you are too self absorbed to realize) and those are 1) their beliefs are not up for debate and 2) you are not someone they feel worthy of discussing their beliefs with and 3) you are not worthy of respect yourself and is best ignored.

"All of this however be it politics, religion, diet should be questioned in the right time & place.." True but you don't get to pick the time and place. People don't have to talk to you or debate with you just because you say "let's deal with this, right here, right now". I bet you get "oh for goodness sake, can't w just eat ?!?!!?" a lot don't you?
I say again, the only reason why you are acting so frustrated is that you don't get a chance to "win" because the other person stopped playing your game. Like a kid who is all excited because he has a new toy only to find out the other kids aren't really all that interested at all.

as i said before, if you make soemone feel backed intoa corner, they dont respond well
you may not even realise you have doneit, but they will automatically back off and start being on the defensive

so you have to listen to what your saying and how your saying
usually its best to workout what it is you are trying to say before you say it, not easy in a conversation i know, but it does help

trulthfully, if someone personally attacks you for your views, you CANT stop them, its their life, their attitude and character
its only for you to make sure its not you who pushes them to do that, ie make them feel attacked/backed intoa corner

if you can be sure you dont/didnt do that, then it doesnt matter what you do or dont say
if a person is gonna act that way, then they will , you should just let them, its themselves they stress
dont let them stress you as well

im not sure if you mean to, but even here you do come across as slightly agressive in your views and as if your trying to argue
you said yourself in your other q, your not really wording it well, maybe you do the same in person?

its ok to not be a great public speaker, most of us arent, but you have to be aware of it to change it
;-)