There are some very militant vegans out here on Lemmy, equating eating meat with rape and murder and generally being annoying without actually contributing to the discussions.

They are actively harming their cause. So much so, I suspect them of actually being trolls trying to make vegans look bad.

Or they are just dumb as a brick and don’t understand common discourse. That’s possible too.

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.

Lookup the vegan teacher on YouTube or TikTok you’ll see why.

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.

What they really hate is being guilt tripped into changing their dietary habits.

The meat and dairy industries have been pumping out propaganda for years, mostly aimed at right-wing dudes. It’s just kind of part of right-wing culture at this point to kneejerk react to veganism with tired old tropes and stereotypes.

It was worse back in the 90s and early 2000s.

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

Defensiveness

We’re not against rap Veganism, We’re not against rappers Vegans. But we are against those thugs.

I can only speak for myself, but not eating meat is not something that’s offensive. Nothing about veganism as a diet is offensive or in need of being critical of.

It’s the reputation of them being insufferable and obnoxious. It’s their need to inject their diet into discussions that aren’t about them, or their diets. It’s the way they lord over everyone with a ‘holier than thou’ attitude.

And I have experienced all these things first hand- MANY times.

In short, the problem with vegans is that there aren’t enough positive and down-to-earth vegans to counter the bad ones.

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

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.

This is so frustrating. People saying “Oh I just don’t like those self-righteous vegans”. Thing is, it doesn’t really matter what vegans say or how reasonable/logically sound it is, the knee-jerk reaction is always the same.

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.