pressure to be an omni...

Hey brothers...


Yea, well, hate to do this, but, I just pretty much was pushed to my limits this weekend... I've been vegetarian for a couple years... I'm cool about it, and about people who are not. I have friends and family that come over for dinners, bbq's etc... I go as far as cook for them, make them burgers, beef and all that other stuff I know other veg's wouldn't cook or clean up after... as I try to be hospitable... Anyhow, I guess none of it means a lot.. as over the weekend I just got railroaded by a few family members about being a vegetarian... check this one out.. I was told I make them "feel bad" - and they believe I feel like I'm better than them since I'm vegetarian... and they are wondering when the whole thing is gonna stop.. (they want me to be normal again).

Anyhow, finally I was being hit with questions such as "well, carrots are living things.. and I'm killing them... " - anything I would say back to them such as "well, they weren't walking around, breathing, thinking a few moments before being cooked up was followed by stupid comments such as "how do you know that? you don't know what its like to be a carrot".


I donno... maybe I'm venting,... but how would you answer such a stupid comment? I don't think there even is an answer.. sometimes people just don't like others who are different... and its easier to make them feel like losers than to just accept differences.



peace

soc

 

Gah. I HATE the carrot (or other vegetable) argument! Drumminmama has it right about what to say back. Stay strong man, and don't be too frustrated--they are just trying to feel better about themselves.


~Nova

 

tell them you maintain a harm reduction policy, and while not perfect, do the best you can.

 

Say you eat for survival/health.
You can live without eating dead animals, you can't live without eating plants. So, you eat what you need.

 

Hey guys.. thanks for the nice words...

Yea, I guess we've all had our share of crap thown our way when it comes to being veg.. sorry for my vent, it was just a bad day all around yesterday. I guess 2 years after going veg, I am starting to get anoyed by the endless comments... I don't try and convert people, but, it seems like others always want you to be more like them. Anywho, today its a better day, so I'm gonna try and put it out of my mind.. but I doubut this kind of thing ever stops...

peace everyone

 

that arguement just blows me away. i cannot imagine that people are really serious about "feeling carrots" but rather they are just trying to justify meat eating to themselves.....even in such a ridiculous way as that. you could always say to them "well humans are not carnivores. we need veggies to live. we do not need meat. therefore i could only eat veggies (thus "killing" carrots and lettuce) or I can eat veggies AND meat and kill both plants AND animals (which anyone with common sense understands that animals are sentient beings like ourselves). which is more ethical? harm reduction, as someone else said.......who wants to kill NEEDLESSLY? not me. the other day this older guy asked me to lunch in joking type way but he was serious. i felt akward and did not know what to say so i said "im sorry but i cannot sit across from somone who eats meat" he say "and why the hell not?" my response "because i find it highly offensive". and then he proceeded to say how he finds it offensive that i dont eat meat and continued to mock me eventually ending with "you must be one of those peta people".

ignorant, ignorant, ignorant.

 

That's an easy argument to beat.

How do I know for sure that plants don't feel?

They don't have a central nervous system! They don't have any of the constructs that constitute an ability to feel. They have no senses, and thus no way to be conscious of anything even if they had a brain to be conscious with.

They grow, reproduce, and die. That's all.

 

Hey Elle:



So was this guy buging you about it before, or was it something that he just started in on when he found out your veg? I myself am not bothered sitting around a bunch of other folks that are eating meat... but what does bother me is (and this has happend so many times) - when someone sees you muching on a hummus wrap and waves thier beef around and says "mmmmmm... woudln't you rather sink your teeth into a nice jusy steak? - I always look at them and say... yea, a hunk of dead animal in a bun... yum...



Its weird, none of it bothered me much before, but lately it started getting on my nerves... I'm kinda thinking its just work and things.. and maybe I'm a bit over stressed and need a vacation or something... Perhaps starting this weekend with the CTMF... ahhh, a bit of RnR.

 

Hey Hikaru Zero:



Yea, I tried that one too... it got weird from there... they started in on the "maybe they think in a different way than we do... (got into that whole "matrix" mentality)....



It normally should be an easy argument to beat, however, I don't think it was an arument... more of an attack...



Socratez

 

no, i'd actually just met that guy so he never knew a thing about me before that. i have sat around a table of meat eaters many times, most recenty when my boss took all of us out to lunch for professional's day and we went to a fancy steakhouse of all places. but if i can avoid seeing someone eat an animal then i will since i do find it offensive and i cannot help but be bothered by it. im bothered by it quite often actually.......the fact that people dont think about the issue and then when it is brought to their attention someway (like when someone asks me why im not ordering a hamburger) they look at me like i'm some weirdo and they dont even give the issue another thought.......that bother's me.....for the animals' sake.

 

Yea, I find that happens quite often. The way I see it is that the world is changing, but, its gonna take a very long time to break the way the world thinks... See Elle, its not as simple of an issue as you may think. You probably think its just that people are simply un-aware, or not educated in animal welfare... but the sad truth is its bigger than that. The farming industry works very hard at conditioning people not only to believe that eating meet is good for them.. but they try and make it look like a very "normal... perhaps a macho" thing to do.. they try and condition people to see beef and associate it with good times such as... bbqs... parties... all that stuff. What really pisses me off is I've been hearing this beer commercial lately... (can't recall what beer... but at one time the guy says: If you love animals... especially medium rare, than this is your beer. Every time I hear that one I say.. that’s why I smoke bud.. and leave the beer and wings for the extra XXX large, diabetic, medium rare folks...



peace

soc

 

No i totally understand how people are affected by the meat industry. that is why the majority of us were raised by our parents as meat eaters and our parents were raised as meat eaters. its seen as normal and OK and the meat industry is going to everything they can to continue to perpetuate it as such. it's no wonder phillip morris is on such a crusade against peta. its no wonder that its very hard for any member of the public to get into a factory farming facility. but i feel that we as people.....the human soul.....is above all that greedy bullshit and sometimes it does take someone else to bring an issue to our attention and get us thinking about something in a different perspective. conditioning is not just turned off like a switch. but once it is brought to someone's attention i just do not understand how they are able to even get a good nights sleep without the issue bothering them. and if it bothers you then that would command change. people just ignore it. i see the meat and dairy industry as something too BIG and too serious and too important for anyone to ignore. of course there will always be those people that say "well i've thought about it and i just do not care at all about the animals and i'm going to do what i want to do". you see, i do not expect everyone to LIKE animals or care all that much about them. but i do expect everyone to respect them. i dont like children (cant stand them infact) but i would still always respect their lives and feelings no matter what because its just the right thing to do. simple stuff.

commercials get to me too. like the hardees comercial that says "chickens are stupid. they are only good for one thing.......eating!" or the chick fil a advertising with the cows holding signs saying "eat more chicken". or how about those trademarks where you see a happy chicken with a hat and a smile holding up a plate of fried chicken.......pfft.

 

see when I cook for people I cook non-meat types of food. If people don't like it, then they can cook for themselves. I hate when people try to convert vegs to eating meat!

 

This might be slightly OT, but it popped into my head reading this thread - have any of you heard the Tom Paxton song "Please don't slay that potato"? Funny shit. At least it was when I was a kid...

I'm with Bumble on this one - I don't eat meat and don't want to contaminate any of my cookware with it. I won't even eat at most any restaurants, because even if there's a veg option, it's still ultimately going to end up cooked in meat juice. So I don't even understand why your friends would be complaining... It sounds to me like their own guilt over eating meat is just getting to them!

 

You could always say, "I prefer the taste of vegetarian food." Let them figure out a reasoned argument for why you should like one taste over an other.

 

Sorry I guess I should have been more specific..? What I was trying to communicate was that it is ultimately OUR OWN decision, what we choose to eat and not to eat. If someone else feels guilty for eating what I will not, then it's THEIR OWN issue, and realistically has nothing to do with me. The point of my message was not nessesarily what I do and do not eat.
My comment about not wanting to cook "meat" is still valid. I don't want to make anything in my own cookware that is not something I would put into my own body.
Does this make sense to anyone besides me? I wasn't trying to lie or mislead anyone, just throwing in my own two cents...

 

Hummblebee, It makes great sense to me. You want to do what you want to do without having to justify it. Your desire to keep your cookware free from land-meat is similar to the kosher rules about meat and milk bowls and dishes.