Does anyone get incredibly peed off with omni's who tell you, "meat has more nutrients and is alot healthier than living off vegetables"/"you're going to die next year from malnutrition", seriously: it's driving me nuts, if I give a scientific answer with links to back it up they immeadiately call the site pro-vegetarian ^_^ /rant-off What do you usuaully say to stupid answers etc? Giving factual evidence doesn't usually work -.-
If people won't accept reasonable evidence then there is little you can do. You might as well just ignore them.
Now you see that's what a rational person would do but my stubborness is fairly high On other forums if people try and "disprove me" I'll give them facts/evidence to back it up, if they just ignore that then I'll ignore them, problem lies when it's friends or familly, such as my grandad- he's like a good mate to me as well as a grandad- he's a medical miracle- he eats stupid amounts of meat/smokes etc but constantly nags me about vegetarianism, same as my cousin who is an ex-vegge, telling me she got incredibly sick when being veggie. *goes to bang head on wall*
Oh, I think the majority of us have had frustration in dealing with this. If the basis of a person's argument is "I love the taste of meat, so I do not care about anything else," then I simply let the conversation drop. Some people choose to accept and ignore certain facts to their liking, and there is not much one can do about it. I was shopping at a local health store a few months ago, and I got into a conversation with an ex vegan (he was the owner of the store). He told me he felt too weak, tired, and malnurished during his vegan days, and when I suggested that perhaps he was not watching his nutritional intake and needed to make adjustments, he became instantly offended and went on a rant about how people cannot live without meat. I listened to all of his points and made it very clear I was not trying to shove my views on him, but he seemed to feel very threatened by the fact that I am a vegan and kept suggesting I change my diet. I was a little annoyed, but I remained friendly about it.
Oh I know what you mean all too well! All I say is, this vegetarian's body fought off cancer without chemicals and only an organic vegetarian diet. Also, I ask them how often they are sick. I always win because they walk away.
my dad was like "ewww how can you eat a whole thing of vegetables" and I'm like "Cuz it's fuckin good. I crave veggies like fat people crave hagen daz" Since I've been eating extra healthy lately (getting into shape) I can't eat mosts pizza's (delivery anyways), dorrito's (only chips I've ever liked) or any fat food. It just tastes gross to me now.
there is a great passage in Walden about a farmer saying one needs meat t build muscle (or bone, I've not read this in a while) and Thoreau observes that he says this while being yanked around by vegetable fed oxen.
Wow, big big big props for you fighting off that terrible thing ! And yeap, although I've got chronic fatigue syndrome/m.e, I rarely ever get actual flus/colds=basically stuff that bodges your immunity, only had one flu this year (which I must say was awful) but still! And Drummi, that made me laugh= ignorance is bliss hm? I'm craving veggie burgers BAD at the moment, it's unbelievable And yeap, I can still eat pizzas fortunately though! (God's own delectable dish) but chips from the shop/oven chips etc, I just can't eat without feeling sick- only chips I can eat are home-made chips.
I can eat organic amy's pizza's, da-zorn-no (sp?), and brother's pizza. Just no more domino's, papa john's (which was my favorite!!!) or pizza hut. ewwww I want to try the subway pizza. but I always get distracted by all the good veggies and make myself a sub! I'm sure I'm not missing anything though..
I've dealt with people like that before. More than you can imagine, I live in the beef belt! Anywho, when people tell me I'm going to die if I don't eat meat, I just tell them we'll see and how long I've gone without eating it. For those omni's that are sure that meat is the only way you can live, I like to "politely" remind them that I haven't died yet until they apologize for the stupidity of you'll die. Somebody told me, I'm going to die, a year 1/2 later I reminded them of the conversation, then "well, I haven't died yet". Then tell them how I have lost weight, got in better shape, etc. and they usually don't know what to say, it's baffling for huge oklahoman carnivores!
cody, I went veg in texas, and lived in Okla for 10 years, so I know that mentality. And I was in NORMAN. (you know the one place with a clue)
Must be hard for you yanks as apparently the American meat consumption over there is pretty ridiculous, something like 2x/3x the recommended amount. Bit easier over here although we have a lot of greedy beggars still.
I've read in some of your previous posts that you use to live in oklahoma, drumminmama. I can't imagine how hard it was for you being a vegan to eat or even dine out in the beef belt! It's hard enough for me to steer clear of eggs. You give me courage! Thanks! I know a few veggies in oklahoma, but very very few compared to everyone. Most think vegetarians eat fish, and when I tell them they are not veggies or I don't eat fish they ask me why. I say because it is a living animal too, and I (vegetarians) don't eat animals, land or aquatic.
Oh yeah the pescos-in-denial thing is a universal experience. I've never had anyone say meat was better for you than vegetables, they seem to have more sense than that. If anything they claim I'm doing something wrong because I don't eat huge amounts of vegetables* ... but it's my four year veg-anniversary next month, and I'm still on good form, so it can't be that bad. The comments that really make me 'head desk', aside from 'do you eat fish?', is when people insist they could never live without meat. Because yeah they've obviously tried it. My personal favourite though was from my grandmother, having finally realised I don't eat meat, said 'oh you don't know what you're missing'**... what my own guilt at financially endorsing animal abuse, and the shame of not following through my moral convictions? Yeah Grandma I miss it like you'd miss a cold sore. Anyway some people are just morons, and I've given up trying to fight that. Karma will catch up with them in the end. * Or at least not in the way most omnis define 'vegetables', i.e. boiled to within an inch of their existance and dumped on the side of a plate. I spent years convinced I hated carrots; but it turns out I just can't eat them prepared that way. ** Note this was about two years after I'd gone vegetarian, of my own free will, having been raised omni.
