Why do people hate vegans? | Hacker News Reader

Why do people hate vegans?

theguardian.com

11 pointsbrkumar21 comments

It’s possible that people feel judged when faced with a lifestyle that might be about ethical choice. Being judged feels threatening, and the rest of the mind finds ways to justify it intellectually.

The choices I am making in my own life (I’m vegan) are obviously about what’s best for me rather than some moral superiority, but it doesn’t alleviate the reaction.

We don't hate vegans. Homo Sapiens are omnivores, and we are predators. I would say most people do Not understand why some would choose to abstain from meat, imo most would consider that quirky.

Personally I have no problem if some people wish to follow that type of diet, but it is not for me. Quirky on the other hand--that's definitely in my wheelhouse.

Key point here, perhaps: People who don't eat x for religious reasons don't get this hate, at least not so that I've heard it. Jains may be weird but not hated, right?

The hate is (at least that's my impression) for the people who eat this https://src.discounto.de/pics/Angebote/2015-10/1394308/17710... instead of this https://supermarkt24h.de/media/image/product/5991/md/lebensm... and talk as if there's a moral difference.

As long as you think there is a moral difference between eating and not eating animals, why would a religious vs. non-religious choice matter?

I suppose what I'm saying is that lots people accept religious choice without thinking closely. If your choice isn't religiously motivated, they may take a look at the factory-made gloop you eat, notice that it doesn't look all that different from the factory-made gloop on the other shelf in the supermarket, and conclude (rightly or not) that your moral choice is a shallow one and despise you for your shallowness.

It doesn't matter whether you're actually shallow or thoughtful. IMO it doesn't even matter whether you eat factory-made gloop, so long as the supermarkets stock shelves full of plastic-wrapped stuff labelled "vegan" and you might be assumed to buy and eat it.

"This makes it a rejection of a lifestyle and a rebuke to the majority’s values"

That's the core of it, as I see it. No matter how discreet you are about it, when your choices implicitly condemn the majority's values, they won't let it go.

Take it from a teetotaller. Like most kids I didn't drink and avoided drunk people whenever I could. Unlike most kids I kept doing that. Strangely enough, I've never had as many invitations to parties - sincere ones, too - as after my peers found out I thought there was nothing for me in those parties and wouldn't go.

Even though I was easy to ignore, it was apparently preferable to get me there and get some reassurance that I didn't object THAT much to their habits.

I try to keep that it mind and not be that way with vegans. It should take more than the implicit condemnation of non-participation to make us uneasy; if it does, maybe we need to confront some things in ourselves.

> No matter how discreet you are about it, when your choices implicitly condemn the majority's values, they won't let it go.

Weird. I've lived vegan for more than a decade and I've never had anyone say more than "oh okay" when I tell them in response to something like "you should try the steak, it's really good". Important to say that I didn't care if they ate the steak, I didn't argue with them, tell them what to do or ask for praise of my superior lifestyle.

Well, are you a vegan for purely health or environmental reasons, or ethical ones?

If you follow a vegan diet/lifestyle but have no problems with anyone else's animal killing, I guess people will catch on and be relieved. But I'm also sure that if you do mind, people will catch on to that too and may give you unpleasantness over it.

I did it for spiritual/ethical reasons, but I never tried to make anybody else adopt my views. I'm sure I would have had unpleasant exchanges if I did, but it's not like I'd be pleasant to be around in that case, so that wouldn't surprise me.

My point is that I doubt it's about the "I'm vegan" part that people react annoyed to. I'm pretty sure it's the "and you should be too" part that some vegans adopt, and they are the ones that people are annoyed by.

For the same reason people hate mimes. Which is to say, no one hates thoughtful vegans, or anyone with any dietary restriction; they hate people who are smug and difficult. (Just as no one hates brilliant physical actors on stage; they hate obnoxious, in-your-face street performers).

I have friends who are vegan, and we can comfortably go out to eat together because we all order what we prefer and there's no judgement on either side. I can't imagine doing that with someone who actively disrespected my choices or voiced the opinion that meat is murder.

I used to hold the same opinion as you but I realized it was out of a strong desire to be an affable peacemaker for something that is essentially concentration camps for animals. I have resisted any attempt to be vegan for years and years despite mounting evidence of the mind-boggling level of cruelty that goes on at factory farms. I just don't think we can afford to blissfully ignore it at this point. If a meat-eater can sit through the film Dominion and not change their mind... Man, I just don't know what to say. I feel like I can only afford to be affable to those meat-eaters truly ignorant at this point.

Do you also avoid any product manufactured in China, which runs child sweatshops and concentration camps for people? Or did you type the above message on a Mac?

This is a false equivalence. Buying factory-farmed meat directly supports its producers. The manufacturer of my laptop does not run the concentration camp for Uighers.

You really don't know how Chinese business operate, do you? The government owns stakes in virtually all business. Buying anything built in China directly supports the government.

I'm sorry, it's really not the same thing. At all.

I don't agree. The hate happens without provocation. Especially with older generations and with people who are not from the most urban cities.

They find out that you are the vegetarian in a group of people who are not used to seeing many vegetarians the whole discussion turns into vegetarianism with unpleasant skeptical tone. They spend whole time eating talking about my eating habits. Closer they are to you in informal settings more irritating they are.

As others have said in this thread, they seem to feel that I'm accusing them for something just because I'm vegetarian and they are in defensive.

No problem with vegans. Big problems with people who talks all day about being vegan or a gluten free diet.

There's no need to say "I'm vegan" everywhere everyday.

I find it an annoying religion, because its dogmatic and arbitrary. Just like a lot of others. And one dogma is, it presume to be logical and reasonable. Most religious don't bother with that.

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