“Ah a vegan. So you’re the pain in the ass.”
“Vegan food isn’t real food. It’s like fake food.”
“Vegan? That’s stupid. I’ve dated a vegan and vegetarian, I’ll tell you just how STUPID it is.”
These words have been spoken out loud and directly to me in the real world. Yes I have a sense of humor but yes, they still hurt my feelings. For some reason, the general public finds it socially acceptable to make fun of and insult people who abide a more plant-based lifestyle. As a vegan, I’m going to tell you why it’s really not okay.
Although the stereotype says that vegans proclaim themselves as vegan to every human they meet, they really don’t unless it’s directly relevant to what’s being asked of them. Being vegan is a personal choice that affects no one else. The impression that vegans annoyingly advertise their lifestyle, isn’t a vegan issue, it’s an annoying people issue. Any person whether it be their race, religion, ethnicity or sexuality, if proclaimed incessantly and with superiority, is annoying.
In this generation, it seems pretty frowned upon to make fun of someone’s personal lifestyles. Make fun of someone’s religion? Yeah that bully would be butchered by the internet in a heartbeat. If you just say it out loud, “I can make fun of your personal choice that affects you, only you that you’ve kept to yourself”, really doesn’t sound right does it? But that’s what’s happening.
Having not been born vegan and was on the other side of the movement not even a year ago, I have pretty objective observations. For some reason, we think it is okay to make fun of vegans and vegetarians, or people who live a more plant-based lifestyle. All other characteristics of a person that used to be tease worthy, have become protected somehow, but not this. Is it for the traditional reasons such as insecurity within the bully and a way for them to feel better about themselves? It is because they’re jealous? Or is it because they genuinely don’t understand and are simply reacting to something of difference. I’m really not sure, but when someone asserts AT me at Christmas dinner in front of 20 family members that my lifestyle, “is stupid, I’ve dated a vegan and vegetarian, I’ll tell you just how STUPID it is”, it doesn’t feel good. Can we imagine for a moment, if this had been said about my spiritual, or political beliefs? How much more wrong that would strike someone? Yet they are all personal beliefs systems that affect our own actions.
People are funny when vegans are accused of holding themselves superior…when the entire belief systems are based on compassion and equality with animals… Vegans are accused of pushing their beliefs onto people, but when you think about it, the opposite belief is being pushed onto them all day long with every room they walk into and every person they meet.
Vegan: “oh yum this veggie dog is good.”
People: “darn vegans. Keep it to yourself.”
Vegan: “oh yeah I’ll cook dinner for you guys. Vegan mac and cheese?”
People: “stop pushing your lifestyle onto us!”
People: “OH MY GOSH THIS STEAK AND CHEESE FRIES ARE SO GOOD I WISH THEY CAME WITH EXTRA BACON BITS AND BACON AND MORE BACON AHHHHH!!”
Vegans: “…”
This double standard has manifested itself to be in favor of omnivores. A vegan says one thing, very often in response to something said or asked of them, and they’re butchered with the vegan stereotype. Having been a militant meat-eater from a traditional all American/Asian family, my observations are not exaggerated when I say that I’ve been attacked for being vegan before ever saying a word. Without a word, I can be ridiculed in front of 20 family members at Christmas dinner or a full classroom in peers by my teacher. I can’t even imagine my funeral if I had said a word in defense of myself.
Also, I’m never included in the norm.
Examples:
Teacher: “okay so say you guys all go to the store to buy your standard eggs, bacon and milk.”
First date: “I’ll treat ya to a nice juicy steak.”
Club president: “alright so cheese pizza for everyone is good.”
Me: *gets coffee, since there’s none by the station where you dress your coffee, and I have to go back up to the counter and*, “hi there, is there any soy milk back there?” Then the barista rolls his or her eyes, sighs, and goes to the back to get me some.
It feels very excluding when the normal way of talking to and regarding people makes it clear than I am “abnormal”.
I’d like to clear up one more thing. I’m not “angry” or an “aggressive vegan” when I talk too much. I’m might be a little passionate when I am finally allowed to talk because someone seems the slightest bit interested in listening. Wouldn’t you get a little excited talking when you are always in an environment that perpetuates a lifestyle you’re against, and you are constantly told to shut up? The vegan stereotype comes from the frustration of being constantly told to sit down and keep quiet; not my incessant need to tell every person I meet what makes me different than 99% of the population.
The point of this article was to help you think in a way you may never have before, but why would you? It’s never been your problem. I am not saying you’ve ever done any of these things, (but let’s be honest, we’ve all thrown a little shade at those tree huggers), what I am saying is that the plant-based vegan and vegetarian community is in need of allies. Currently it is still socially acceptable to verbally abuse our set of beliefs, when it shouldn’t be. The bottom line is that it isn’t okay to make fun of other people for their personal lifestyles and no one but the victim has the right to decide what’s hurtful and what’s a joke. Standing up for unkindness should be an action based on principal, not content.
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