Vegans: Do you think meat eaters feel threatened by veganism?!
Answers:
Let me be clear when I say that this does not apply to ALL omnivores.
I do think some omnivores feel somehow threatened by veganism. If you asked them for their exact emotions on it, they most likely wouldn't use the word threatened though. That's admitting some vulnerability, which some people won't even do with close family.
Again, this doesn't reflect every omnivores feelings, but...so many things go back to religion. I just read another Yahoo! Answer's question on this board a few hours ago and someone mentioned being an atheist. And that kind of hit me. If you're an omnivore and you believe in God, and that God put animals here FOR HUMANS then veganism isn't just a diet. It's like defying God and religion. Some people might not make that connection right away though.
Another reason might be...say you grew up in a great family, and your family happens to be hunters. If someone has pictures of themselves with their father next to a dead deer once every year...now you get into the family and childhood memories side of things. Veganism is calling your childhood one of monstrosity, in their eyes. Then the defensive mechanism goes up. No one wants to think the life they live and love is WRONG. No one wants your judgment.
It could be threatening for so many other reasons too. You're a girl and you LOVE Coach purses and don't care to have some vegan activist tell you that your designer bag is murder, for example.
I totally get the feeling of having a finger pointed at you saying how a basic thing you do and have always done is wrong. It's not pleasant. That's why I don't talk about veganism to friends, family, or strangers unless asked. Even then, I try to be careful with my words. I am not always successful, unfortunately.
In nutrition, again, the idea of veganism changes everything they've ever been taught. "Milk grows strong bones", "you need protein to gain muscle", "eggs are a great breakfast", "beef, it's what's for dinner"...That's when you get called stupid because so many things have always said animal products help feed us and give us nutrients.
I think the people who TRULY do not care about your lifestyle choice to be vegan wouldn't even question it, or do things like come on these boards and try to disprove veganism. They simply would have other things going on in their day that would be of more concern. A conversation in which someone showed me they really didn't care whether I was vegan or not would go like this:
"No thanks, I'm vegan."
"Oh ok. That's cool".
"So how did that thing go that you were talking about earlier?"
That's my opinion.
Vegan
No, not in general, I think there's a few different stances meat eaters may take about it.
Most people think if a supermarket will sell meat etc, and they've always eaten it since their parents fed it to them as babies, it can't be that bad. Even if they've heard about the cruelty involved (and been temporarily affected by it), they quickly forget the connection when they see the benign looking meat, milk, eggs etc arranged in rows in a clean, brightly-lit supermarket. (Except "Earthlings", that movie seems to stick with people, and more people seem to be moved to veganism after watching it than anything else.) I think there's a phenomonon of 'popular morality' in this group, where people's ideas of what's 'good' and 'bad' are based on soap operas, talk shows, the evening news, advertisements, their neighbours and friends etc. Hence if something is not portrayed as bad in the media, they are not going to think badly of it either. They allow the media etc to make the important thought connections for them about how to live rather than thinking for themselves. These people won't usually think about veganism unless the topic is put before them - even when it's in the media it's portrayed as a curiosity, and vegans often protrayed as anti-social extremists, so that's the way they think of it. They don't feel threatened - except in the sense of physical threat if they've just seen on a silly soap opera a vegan character attacking a meat eater or something. They just think veganism is abnormal and probably unhealthy.
Then there's the many, many people who don't give a *** about anything beyond themselves. I can't say much about them as I don't understand how their minds work, but know the difference must be quite fundamental, and that they exist in huge numbers. They also don't feel threatened - perhaps amused at how idiotic anyone must be to care about animals.
Some people perhaps do feel a bit threatened by veganism, i.e. those who have a little feeling at the back of their minds that they are uncomfortable with eating animals - with a bit more thought, these people will probably eventually become vegetarians and vegans themselves - but I'm pretty sure they're not representative of all meat eaters.
I have known a lot of meat eaters to actually admire vegans for taking such a strong ethical stance, but claim to be too weak-willed themselves to avoid animal products - these people don't feel threatened, but interested.
speculations of a vegan of 6.5 years who has tried continuously to understand how people can 'know' and not change, without much luck.
I don't think meat eaters are threatened...why would they be. Should women who color their hair blonde feel threatened by women who color their hair red? Maybe on a level some meat eaters might feel threatened because veganism exposes their ignorance. But what they really should be threatened by is the way the cattle is handled in this country---it is not cool on many levels. I am all for the circle of life but you cannot get around the saying you are what you eat. And I'm also not to concerned about that fact that we have to kill them to eat them. We as humans would not have survived on this planet without eating meat. But there is a way to do things and a way not to. Both the bible and the quran speak of this so maybe there is something to it. We don't need to eat meat to survive today but for some of us it is the other way around. The bad side effects of eating meat far out way the few benefits. It would be different if you could not get these benefits elsewhere but you can. Maybe on a level some meat eaters might feel threatened because veganism exposes their ignorance.
http://www.meat.org/
um is this queston supposed to give any vegans a sort of pride or something?
i am a meat eater and i frankly dont care what vegans eat or want
i dont endorse animal cruelty at all.. but wy would i find veganism threatening?
are you going to chase me with your fake protein sandwiches?
I don't think so but I guess they don't understand it. Lots of people can't understand why or how people can't or won't eat meat. I get the question often -'What do you eat then?' as if meat is the be all and end all of nutrition.
I don't feel threatened by vegans. Why would I? I could care less what someone eats. If you don't want to eat animals or animal products go right ahead. Just don't drag me into it. I'm a big boy and can make my own decisions.
No, I do not think that. I think that it is a ridiculous concept, conceived by vegans in order to make them feel better about themselves.
Meet Eaters fear Vegans because Vegans are manipulated easily and are close minded, so the government can use them to carry out evil deeds. so,yes, we fear vegans
nope, most meat eaters i know dont give a damn, and actually find it amusing that people choose eat meat.
vegetarian 25 years
I would say they more often feel uncomfortable, inconvenienced or judged than threatened.
In order to be threatened by something you have to care about it.
No. Not at all actually. I think most of them just think it's odd that we chose to give up a food they think is delicious!
X
Vegan
they don't feel threatened, if anything they feel like we're inferior
Why would anyone feel threatened by veganism?
I don't think so.
Most say "oh, that's awesome you're vegan! I could never do that."
when I tell them I'm vegan.
Can you elaborate??..
I'm vegetarian, and am becoming vegan in a few weeks =).. not sure what you mean..
I'm a meat eater and this is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about in the question I literally posted a few seconds ago. What makes you better than us just because you don't eat meat? No, I don't feel threatened by it, I just feel uncomfortable when people try and force it on me and guilt trip me into not eating meat or dairy. :/
no cause the meat gives us protein so we can fight the protein deprived vegetarians