MILK IS MURDER
Mar. 12th, 2008 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gogmagogWARNING: RANT AHEAD WHICH MAY OFFEND SOME
...Where are all the sane vegans?
I'm sure they must be out there, but I have yet to meet them. Maybe they're around and just never mention their dietary preference, I don't know. But it seems that seriously 99.9% of vegans out there are crazy proselytizing psychos who act like PETA members faced with Beyonce in animal fur and who insist on telling those who aren't vegan that we're horrible, ignorant people who probably kick kittens and would eat human flesh if it was covered in enough barbecue sauce.
(What's strange is that I've known plenty of regular vegetarians who were not this psycho...is there some natural antipsychotic in dairy/eggs that these vegans just aren't getting, or what?)
But yes...I don't know what it is about veganism that attracts so many zealots, though a lot of them seem to be affluent suburban white kids who now feel that they must STICK IT TO THE MAN by eating vegan and getting tattoos and piercings and not washing their hair, and if people respond poorly to their attempts at indoctrination then they are being ZOMG OPPRESSED!!!1!
I've had a few run-ins with vegans during my (what seems like a million) years of college, and I've heard all the arguments before - have in fact done some research on the issue, as well as, y'know, thought about it with the common sense that I have - and while I'm perfectly happy to respect other people's decisions (i.e., if I had a friend who was vegan, I would cheerfully ensure that I made vegan-friendly dishes when they came over, and wouldn't be all "NOM NOM TASTY MEATFLESH" around them), I generally find their claims overstated. Yes, I do believe that there's a lot of animal mistreatment that happens in commercial farming - it's one of the reasons I try to buy organic, and nearly always do when buying milk and eggs (and on the rare occasions I buy meat) - but I also recognize that organic food is freaking expensive and that to expect everyone to buy it is unrealistic and quite frankly shows a blatant disregard for other people's lifestyles. Similarly, even though I do try to buy organic, free-range eggs and milk, I find arguments that we shouldn't drink milk EVER completely flawed. Especially because they're frequently stuff like "drinking milk isn't natural!!!1! we're the only species who drinks other animals' milk, or drinks milk after infancy!!!1!"...but then said arguers refuse to accept the fact that we do a lot of things that are "unnatural," - like, say, cooking food, or BEING VEGAN GIVEN THAT WE'VE EVOLVED AS AN OMNIVOROUS SPECIES, DUH. It's fine if folks want to not eat animal products for moral or health reasons or whatever, but to argue that it's "natural" not to do so is both problematic (as is any definition of what's "natural" behavior, really) and also ridiculously fucking disingenuous.
*huff* *puff* ...Okay, rant over.
So, er...if any of y'all are sane vegans, please let me know? I hate generalizing "vegans = psycho," but it's difficult not to when pretty much all of the ones you've met are pushy, preachy fucksticks (and hypocritical at that, because if you were to do the same to them, butting in while they're eating their tempeh and telling them they should eat meat for nutritional reasons, they'd be the first to scream ZOMG OPPRESHUN!!!1!).
This was sparked by discussion on this ONTD post; yes, I know ONTD is the armpit of LJ, and that sanity is SO not a requirement to post there, but it really just brought up some issues that had been irritating me offline for a while.
Edit: Also, I just got a sales call that assumed I only spoke Spanish and asked for a "Jose Rodriguez." STEREOTYPING FOR THE LOSS.
What's even funnier is that my mom sometimes gets this too, despite not being Mexican except in last name (she didn't change it when she divorced my dad). Though to be fair her Spanish is better than mine - i.e., it exists - and because while she was married to my dad they actually spent a lot of time with his family, she probably makes a better Mexican than I do, lol.
...Where are all the sane vegans?
I'm sure they must be out there, but I have yet to meet them. Maybe they're around and just never mention their dietary preference, I don't know. But it seems that seriously 99.9% of vegans out there are crazy proselytizing psychos who act like PETA members faced with Beyonce in animal fur and who insist on telling those who aren't vegan that we're horrible, ignorant people who probably kick kittens and would eat human flesh if it was covered in enough barbecue sauce.
(What's strange is that I've known plenty of regular vegetarians who were not this psycho...is there some natural antipsychotic in dairy/eggs that these vegans just aren't getting, or what?)
But yes...I don't know what it is about veganism that attracts so many zealots, though a lot of them seem to be affluent suburban white kids who now feel that they must STICK IT TO THE MAN by eating vegan and getting tattoos and piercings and not washing their hair, and if people respond poorly to their attempts at indoctrination then they are being ZOMG OPPRESSED!!!1!
I've had a few run-ins with vegans during my (what seems like a million) years of college, and I've heard all the arguments before - have in fact done some research on the issue, as well as, y'know, thought about it with the common sense that I have - and while I'm perfectly happy to respect other people's decisions (i.e., if I had a friend who was vegan, I would cheerfully ensure that I made vegan-friendly dishes when they came over, and wouldn't be all "NOM NOM TASTY MEATFLESH" around them), I generally find their claims overstated. Yes, I do believe that there's a lot of animal mistreatment that happens in commercial farming - it's one of the reasons I try to buy organic, and nearly always do when buying milk and eggs (and on the rare occasions I buy meat) - but I also recognize that organic food is freaking expensive and that to expect everyone to buy it is unrealistic and quite frankly shows a blatant disregard for other people's lifestyles. Similarly, even though I do try to buy organic, free-range eggs and milk, I find arguments that we shouldn't drink milk EVER completely flawed. Especially because they're frequently stuff like "drinking milk isn't natural!!!1! we're the only species who drinks other animals' milk, or drinks milk after infancy!!!1!"...but then said arguers refuse to accept the fact that we do a lot of things that are "unnatural," - like, say, cooking food, or BEING VEGAN GIVEN THAT WE'VE EVOLVED AS AN OMNIVOROUS SPECIES, DUH. It's fine if folks want to not eat animal products for moral or health reasons or whatever, but to argue that it's "natural" not to do so is both problematic (as is any definition of what's "natural" behavior, really) and also ridiculously fucking disingenuous.
*huff* *puff* ...Okay, rant over.
So, er...if any of y'all are sane vegans, please let me know? I hate generalizing "vegans = psycho," but it's difficult not to when pretty much all of the ones you've met are pushy, preachy fucksticks (and hypocritical at that, because if you were to do the same to them, butting in while they're eating their tempeh and telling them they should eat meat for nutritional reasons, they'd be the first to scream ZOMG OPPRESHUN!!!1!).
This was sparked by discussion on this ONTD post; yes, I know ONTD is the armpit of LJ, and that sanity is SO not a requirement to post there, but it really just brought up some issues that had been irritating me offline for a while.
Edit: Also, I just got a sales call that assumed I only spoke Spanish and asked for a "Jose Rodriguez." STEREOTYPING FOR THE LOSS.
What's even funnier is that my mom sometimes gets this too, despite not being Mexican except in last name (she didn't change it when she divorced my dad). Though to be fair her Spanish is better than mine - i.e., it exists - and because while she was married to my dad they actually spent a lot of time with his family, she probably makes a better Mexican than I do, lol.
