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Comment by duncangh | Hacker News Reader

Veganism is so polarizing because on some level I think most if not all people understand that they are philosophically correct and that veganism is thus the morally right thing to do and those (like me) who still refuse to do it must live with themselves and their immoral choices every time they are confronted by a vegan or reminded of the feasibility of veganism

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Perhaps. I suspect it may have more to do with the idea that many non-vegans think (whether or not it is true) that vegans believe themselves superior. It isn't unlike how learning that someone is an atheist angers many religious people -- they think the atheists think that they are superior (whether or not they really do).

> many non-vegans think (whether or not it is true) that vegans believe themselves superior.

It's hard to imagine a reason why someone is vegan, that wouldn't logically entail such a self-image.

> they think the atheists think that they are superior (whether or not they really do).

Atheists do not present atheism as an abstention from religion, and generally describe religion as irrational or illogical, not immoral.

Of course everyone who consciously makes a socially difficult choice has a well thought-out reason for it (although atheism is not particularly socially difficult in my environment). But they aren't all directly comparable.

> > many non-vegans think (whether or not it is true) that vegans believe themselves superior.

> It's hard to imagine a reason why someone is vegan, that wouldn't logically entail such a self-image.

I know a guy that’s vegan because he shit himself after going to an Outback Steakhouse

The pigs that my family eats have a short but happy life. I'm not so sure that no life at all is objectively better.

This sort of rhetoric is exactly where the moral stereotyping of vegans comes from.

As for "feasibility", that is clearly not the same experience for everyone.

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