Why Do Vegetarians Get Laughed At And Mocked So Much?

[honeydip]

I am human. I will breed you and indescriminantly kill you for my food. I will also select the ones that feel nice, kill you and make you into my clothes. When I feel lonely or need to seek solace in my terrible life I will use you for your companionship and convince myself you love me.

Now I get laughed at a lot by turning to vegetarianism more and more but does the above not sound just pathetic?

[ummmm]

I don't laugh at vegetarians and I don't know anyone else that does.

I didn't eat meat for years and I don't remember anyone laughing at me.

[bibblebub]

you're not going to breed me but i might just let you kill me for food

[888sally888]

I never get laughed at neither does my daughter.

[Maydup]

I'm a vegetarian honeydip (spoken to you before about meal suggestions), but i can say I'm rarely laughed at.

Maybe I'm lucky. My husband is vegetarian and we had both given up meat before we met some 25 years ago now. We find there is a reasonable choice when we go out now but we do avoid paricularly heavy meat based menus for fear of upsetting the chef !

Perhaps its your family who are laughing at you? If so be strong, change the subject and let them get used to it. They'll give up in the end but only if you don't let it get to you.

[mrs_overall]

Mr O is veggie and has never been laughed at

[daffy654]

I like meat and nobody will convince me to be a vegetarian. Why do vegetarians feel it is ok to sl@g off meat eaters?

[yogasun]

A few of my circle of friends/students are vegetarians and I can't remember anyone ever laughing at them.

[ummmm]

Good point, Daffy.

[Maydup]

"some vegetarians" Daffy.

I've never sl@gged off meat eaters nor laughed a them.

[yogasun]

Some people claim to be vegetarians but say
'Well, I eat a bit of fish sometimes'
I've only ever known one 100% vegetarian. She wouldn't eat anything at all if it had any animal derivative. She used to send her child to parties with their own jelly to make sure he didn't eat any gelatin, etc.

[ummmm]

Isn't that Vegan?

[888sally888]

Daffy - I have never sl@gged off meat eaters - it's a personal choice. My partner eats meat as does one of my daughters so I cook both. Never been a problem at all :)

[Maydup]

Pescetarians eat fish but no meat
Vegetarians eat dairy products (milk, cheese etc) but nothing that involves the death of an animal such as its meat or meat products such as gelatin.
Vegans eat no animal products

[yogasun]

Yes Maydup I think she did eat cheese (rennet free) etc. Don't think she was vegan

[RATTER15]

My daughter is a vegitarian, she doesn't get laughed at, if you are being laughed at maybe you need to look a little closer to find out why.

It may also come as a shock to you but humans have been killing animals for food and clothing since time began and due to humans being the more intelligent species we have learned to harvest animals in confined spaces to make life easier, you wouldn't want us chasing bulls down the high street to kill for dinner now would you!

I accept that from the animal point of view it is harsh but that goes with the progression of human life I'm afraid, I don't agree with all that happens to these animals by any stretch. I think that getting sanctimonious over meat eater will just put you on a rough road and yes you will then get laughed at.

[mrs_overall]

I know 2 vegans, both of whom are totally anal on the subject.

One of them adopted a five year old girl and promptly made her eat only vegan food. The child was miserable. I think this was cruel and she should have been allowed to make up her own mind.

The other vegan came very close to having his head kicked in by me. We were on a diving trip and I caught a lobster I intended to have for my tea. The bloody vegan threw it over the side of the boat when my back was turned.

[LazyGun]

Not sure about the indiscriminately killing part. And nowadays the animals and clothing link tends to be a somewhat secondary item to food production.

As to the companionship/ love thing - For most animals,its probably true to say that their love for their human companion is true only for the human, except in the case of dogs.

Do Vegetarians get laughed at for their vegetarianism much nowadays? I do not think so. There is more and more evidence to suggest that in a western diet, we eat too much meat, too little fresh vegetables and fruit, and it is killing us. Evidence builds up about the Mediterranean diet, for instance.

A useful shorthand for dieting and eating more healthily would be to eat less, mostly plants, and exercise more.

Who do you feel is laughing at you for your vegetarianism? I would suggest that you should be less sensitive to what others feel and take strength from your own decisions.

[emmie]

i wouldn't laugh at anyone who decides eating meat is not for them, why would you.

[IggyB]

I eats meat and love my pets so i presume you post was aimed at insulting me (and others like me).

If you find you are bring mocked i think that may be for the feverish / born-again attitude. Your personal choices are just that, you should feel confident yourself but there is no need to attack others - it will rarely convince anyone of your opinions.

Now for some fun discussion points:
If we were all vegetarian and stopped keeping pets thus would result in mass extinction, is this what you want?
Milk is only available because cakes are killed, does this fit into your ethics?
hundreds of male chicks are killed to source the female chicks needed to keep egg production going, how do you feel about this?
Animal products are used in plastics, tires, shampoo, even probably in the computer you are using. Do you feel the need to stop using these?

Is you use these products, or in fact live a normal modern life, you are benefitting from the death of animals.

I would suggest that improving animal welfare would be the best first step to follow

[ummmm]

LazyGun - My cat loves me :-)