In this thread: a log of confused vegans refusing to acknowledge the behaviour of other vegans and explaining why non-vegans’ experiences with them are wrong.

I think it’s guilt actually. Most people deep down kind of know that eating meat is wrong, but if the whole world does it, you can’t be blamed cause you have no choice.

And then there comes someone who is not participating. Their existence breaks the logic above and implies that it’s a personal responsibility.

I have nothing against veganism as a dietary decision, I’m actually seriously considering it for health reasons and for easier food preparation.

I am sick of veganism as a moral high horse, especially with hypocrisy in the background. I have a friend constantly ordering stuff, including vegan ingredients, from Amazon of all places. If he’s going to low-key admonish me for hurting animals, I’d expect him to care about the Amazon warehouse employees to a similar degree. Unless it’s all just posturing.

Defensiveness

Because I sat at a table for an hour with a work colleague lecturing me on veganism. I couldn’t care less if you don’t lecture me.

I’ve never once in the last decade seen a single vegan post other than recipes. What I do see is constant posts about how “vegans are always throwing it my face/holier than thou”, “I’m gonna eat extra meat because vegans make me feel bad”. I really don’t think vegans are the problem, I think these fools fall for every single piece of beef industry propaganda that comes across their screens.

Right. I see what you mean but I think what you’re asking for is impossible to ascertain

For me it’s the high-horse holier than thou attitude most of them seem to carry in online conversations. I know a fee vegans and they are mostly fine in person after the first few months of radicalization, but I imagine they just suppress it in person to maintain the acquaintanceship and then bitch in their vegan echo chambers about how “my co-worker who knows I’m vegan had the audacity to order a hamburger and eat it in front of me knowing I’m vegan, does he know he’s destroying the world with that Burger… AITA?”

If you’re looking for scientific answers, good luck they, Inrhjnjbmost people stop worrying about micromanaging people after a few years of academia.

I think a lot of people also have a hard time seeing it as a priority for themselves compared to their personal problems and other ongoings. It’s subjective, sure. But it also takes a ton of personal responsibility and self control/denial to change habits.

Bottom line, there is a lot of things out there to care about right now, and being vegan is a big change for a lot of people. That, mixed with the extreme (understandable) feelings about mistreatment of animals by vegans, often leads to a feeling of repulsion from investing personal bandwidth into changing the behavior.

That’s my opinion based on growing up with religiously vegan parents.

Because it requires them to admit that what they’re choosing to do is damaging the planet more significantly than they need to in order to survive.

For me, it’s this subset of vegans:

Me: want a burger? V: No thanks, I’m vegan. Me: Oh, cool. Well there’s egg and cheese in the salad dressing so you’ll want to avoid that too, but I have some black bean patties in the freezer if you want. V: Do you know how bad meat is for your body? Me: Yeah I actually do, but we all make our own decisions about self-harm, don’t we? V: Factory farms are cruel and sadistic! Me: Agreed. That’s why I buy from a local butcher. V: RAISING MEAT IS DESTROYING THE PLANET! Me: Corporations are destroying the planet. Now fuck off and let me enjoy my burger in peace.

Vegans simply existing make people feel uncomfortable, so defense mechanisms in the brain trigger.

Since it’s an ethical stance, and people at least deep down know that killing innocent animals for 5 minutes of taste pleasure is wrong, but they don’t want to change themselves.

So the brain tries to rationalize how it’s definitely not wrong and really the vegan is wrong, and/or demonize the position to shield itself from the discomfort of knowing.

Basically psychological defenses kick in to defend unethical behavior that someone highlights by simply existing.

Some of the movement’s ideas seem difficult to accept. The more vocal aherents of the movement can be abrasive and very zealous. It can be seen as like vegetarianism taken to an unreasonable extreme for ethical reasons many do not understand or agree with.

People don’t like to be made to feel uncomfortable (via knowledge) about something that they enjoy

I’m not vegan, but I wish I could be vegetarian. I do know a lot of vegans, most of them are super nice people, that never made me feel bad about not being vegan, and who usually bring the best dishes at potluck. The truth is being vegan would be the most sustainable way of living for humanity, but people feel attacked whenever this is mentioned.