I thought that this story could serve as a source of entertainment. This actually happened over a year ago...haha. Anyway, at a family gathering my mother's cousin approached me. Upon discovering that I was a vegetarian she verbally assaulted me! "You have an eating disorder." "Why don't you eat dairy?" Why don't you eat fish?" Why don't you put butter on your food?" I just respondeed politely saying that I "didn't eat animal products for health and ethical reasons." I also suggested she might better understand vegetarianism if she researched it. This went on for about twenty minutes! Then later that day she saw me shaking some salt onto my corn salad and said, "Why are you eating salt; salt is unhealthy." "You must need it to replace all of the flavor that your diet is missing." I just wanted to commend myself on NOT responding with this statement, " You're an ignorant, judgemental, close minded piece of white trash ; if anyone's disorder shoud be addressed it's yours. Not only are you rude, but you're clearly in denial about your husband's severe alcohol problem. Oh, and earlier she and her husband criticized my tattoos! The worst part is that my mom made excuses for her. I joke about it, but it was pretty hurtful. Being harassed for who you are and what you believe is unfair! How do all of you other vegetarians handle these situations? You know veggie people really have to put up with alot of ignorance and rude comments! I have always been appreciative of the fact that my parents support my vegetarianism so at least that's two people that don't harass me because of my veggieism!
I get shit from my friends sometimes. Or they try telling me things like 'Chicken and Fish arent meat' I just ignore it. Alot of kids seem to get it worse than I do. My friend was telling me that these kids sometimes throw lunch meat at him.
i used to take a lot of it from my dad but i think he's better about it now. i just tried to get off the subject, its no one elses business what you do or don't eat, and its none of their business what you think is right or wrong. i hate having to feel like i'm defending myself for a personal choice, i know it sucks really badly, but it's the person interrogating you who has the problem!
My grandmother gets upset when I don't eat turkey on Thanksgiving. She's like "Well, can't you just eat meat on one day of the year?" If I did that, I wouldn't be a very good vegetarian now would I? Especially on the one day of the year where we celebrate how we mistreated and killed an entire group of people. Besides, they didn't even eat turkey on the first Thanksgiving. They ate duck! I'm not eating that, either. I also get a lot of shit from my best friend's father, who thinks that despite the fact that I've told him many times that I don't like being teased about being a vegetarian, he does anyway.
*gives you guys big wooden crosses and nails so you can martyr yourselves* Please. First off...that's a hoax..there's no such thing as National Harass a Vegetarian Day. That's complete BS. I'll let you guys in on a secret... 99% of omnivores dont give a flying shit what you eat. They dont care! and those that do make comments are just messing with you to ruffle your feathers...because you walk around THINKING everyone is sneering at your dietary choices. There are millions of vegetarians/vegans/ect worldwide. Millions..you aren't some weird,pagan,eccentric fringe group like neo-gothic-lesbian-christians. No one cares that you dont eat meat..seriously they don't. Your parents mess with you just to watch you twitch and get flustered.They think it's funny. My mom does it to me all the time about political stances. It's what parents do. They truly dont care what you eat...they just want you to be happy and healthy. I was a vegetarian all through high school, and some of college...then I reverted back to meat and now am a raw foodist. I have never encountered any serious dissenters of my diet.Not one! As a matter of fact, I have never heard the amount of melodrama about vegetarianism ever in real life that I read online. which is exactly why I am among the group of people who believes that the wangsty stories about rabid,foaming,meateaters attacking the poor,lonely,and misunderstood vegetarian..are just that...stories. No one bats an eye when I tell them I dont eat cooked foods. The most I get is the ole "well what do you eat?" and "well that's cool..I wish I could live on a chocolate diet myself." and if I dont get shit for a raw diet, I sincerely doubt you get shit just because you dont eat animal flesh. quit whining and worry about how you feel and your choices...not what others may nor may not think of your choices.
I think she was just kidding , being sarcastic with the 'National harass day'. Actually, my parents and everyone I know is pretty cool about it....they really dont care. But going veg didnt happen overnight for me, it took some time to get used to not eating meat and I was slipping up and I would have chicken wings or something and my family would tease me and say things like "look, the big ol' animal rights veggie is eating a chicken!" Every time I ate anything with meat....they would mock me and any previous efforts I made to change my habbits and call me a hypocrite. Im now finally at a point where the thought of meat makes me sick to my stomach. So now if I go to my parents for dinner or something they make sure that whatever they make for me is animal friendly.
Yes it is sarcasm, we have sense of humor. I agree most people don't care. Or at least will comment then drop it. That 1 % or whatever that bitch about do really get to you. You might not have experienced it, lucky you. But others do. Perhaps it's not even common. Doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. It's like telling a child who gets picked on by one classmate; shut up, the other kids don't bully you. So you don't deserve any sympathy or attention. Vegetarianism is becoming more mainstream, but we will probably always be in the minority. And minority's are always the object of ridicule. I've actually not had a lot of trouble myself. Most people tend to just accept it. The only recent issue was my Nan confessing a love of KFC. Really had to bite my tongue then. Fortunatly the rest of my family don't eat there.(although not for ethical reasons)
i agree with you that most people don't care what you eat, but there are a few people who think its pretty sweet to go around trying to make people feel stupid for their personal beliefs. just because you've never experienced it doesn't mean that its the same for everyone else. if someone needs to vent it on a message board to other people who may have been through something similar, let it be!
Where did you get the idea for this? My idea for a National Cattle Day? http://www.hipforums.com/viewarchive.php3?FID=1465&TID=153949&year=2004 (I used to be Alexcran in the old forums)
Hi neckie, just wanted to put in a word of support. In the past, I was treated quite badly for caring about animals. Some of it, yes, was teasing and ignorance, like people saying "Mm! Meat!" Stupid, but hardly harrassment. When I was a teenager, however, there were a few incidents of genuine maliciousness. There was an incident in a classroom, before the teacher entered, in which well over half the classroom were shouting various crude statements about killing and cutting up cats, directed at me. This was all because news had apparently got around that I chose to sit at my desk rather than look at a dissected cat in a science classroom. No confrontations, but apparently this was enough to warrant a verbal assault. There were other incidents, as well, when the intent of people was genuinely cruel, and not teasing and in jest. The last time I had to experience this was as a freshman in college, and a very vocal section of one of my classes launched an all-out attack, complete with personal interrogations, simply because I told the teacher that I, for one, was not amused by a radio host's on-air slaughter of a cow. It probably does not help that I live in an area where animals tend to have little value. However, I believe your feelings are valid because I have also experienced the "verbal barrage from all sides." Not often, but yes, it does happen.
Im lucky, Ive lived all my life in India, where vegetarianism is a majority choice (though over the last few years it has been declining, largely thanks to stupid tv shows form the west that portray vegetarians as freaks and wierdos) Ive never really been harassed for my vegetarianism, though when I went through an year of veganism I attracted attention, though more of it was just curiosity and interest rather than cynicism or harassment.
I wasn't looking for attention I was curious as to how many others were annoyed by the excessive comments often voiced by omnis. The national Vegetarian Harassment Day......was just a little joke. Also, it is bothersome to have people pick apart your choices. P.S. LOOKS LIKE I AND MANY OTHERS ON THIS SITE HAVE MET THE 1% OF NON-VEGETARIANS THAT ARE CRITICAL OF VEGGIE PEOPLE!
Poor chickie! People need to worry about what's on their own plates. I have never harassed an omni for thier choices!
