Why Are Omnis So Frustrating? or Why are vegans so angry?

hey all,

this is p_m back after a long war with my ineffective computer to talk about why vegans are so angry. to start off let me tell you about a couple of my very omniverous classmates.
The two of them are the most considerate omnivores one might ever hope to meet. they apologies when they mention meat around me, ask me frequently if it will bother me if they should happen to show a picture of someone eating meat or eggs or dairy in a class project, and one even makes a point of saying that she "would" go vegan if not for x then apologizing for both consuming said non-vegan x and for mentioning the vile thing in my presence.

the two of them annoy the crap out of me. they do their best to avoid offending and in the process tend to make me feel as if my very presence is making them feel like murderers(which it should and if it lead to them going vegan i'd cope but anyway). while they over compensate and i reluctantley console them i'm left with two more people that are nice and intelligent that i cant stand to be around.

dont get me wrong people being too considerate isn't the only anger causing obstacle vegans have to face.

SOCIETY AT LARGE IS SUPPORTING MURDER / DEATH/ TORTURE / THE MAKING OF SENTIENT BEINGS INTO NOTHING MORE THAN THINGS OR COMMODITYS!!!!!!

that is fucked up. really fucked up. and they ( if your vegan) or you ( if your not) seem to get it even though its in their/ your faces at nearly every moment of life.

it's like being the first one of your friends to stop believing in santa claus. it's so obvious you want to shake them all, hell sometimes you want to straight up slap the sight from their eyes and the sense into their heads. it's a pain, literally.

vegans are "so angry", because omnivores are so oblivious.

finally let me tell you about my family. at thanks giving my uncle greeted me with "your looking vegan today" and the food that my mother and i made enough of for everyone, which took hours of time and effort and planning, was set in a dark corner next to the bones of some poor turkey and proptly labled "vay-gun" food and therefore distasteful.

ask me again why vegans are so angry...i dare you.

yours till the grand return to Vega ( which i know is not a planet for who ever didnt get the joke),
Plant_murderer

ps. go vegan, the hardest parts have little to do with the lifestyle and much more to do with omnis.

On dealing with other people...

Also known as the freak out.

I think most vegans have had at least one, if not more.

I remember my first one vividly. I was grocery shopping. (This might be a good time to insert that I hate grocery shopping, or shopping in general.) I usually stock up on things like soy milk because they have a fairly long self life. I had some tofu, some soy yogurt, soy milk and some other veggies. The woman in front of me in the check out line asked if I was lactose intolerant. The exchange went something like this.

Annoying Lady (AL): So you must be lactose intolerant. It's too bad you have to buy all that expensive stuff.

Me: No, I am vegan.

AL: So you don't eat meat? Do you eat sea food?

Me: No.

AL: Why?

Me: (sounding like Satan) Because I don't think that animals or anyone else should be forced into slavery.

Could I have handled this better? Yes. This woman, who really was not that rude, most likely thinks that all vegans are psycho. Oops.

I have had a couple more and I try not to beat myself up over them. I mean really, I can only take so much poking and prodding before I lose it. What if I asked omnivores to justify their meat consumption to me at every turn? What if I would have asked AL what it felt like use murder to get her food? This is what it is like for a vegan every day. We are constantly asked to justify why we eat the way we do.

I have another example. My husband is an omnivore (I don't want to hear it, that's for another post) and we went to a vegan restaurant in Chicago. He is really trying very hard, but had noooooo idea what to eat. I asked him how that felt. I then let him know that's how I feel every other time that we eat out.

How Do I Stay Committed?

How do I keep the fire burning in me, etc? It's too hard, I'm all alone...

If the above has ever entered your subconscious, then rest assured you are not alone. If say you are the only one in your household/family having a vegan lifestyle, or worse, if people are questioning its very core, hold tight. Everything will be alright.

There are forums out there for support, be they the online kind, or you can find resources in your local market, or library: there usually are postings that lead to them.

And always at the core, is to alleviate suffering, leave a smaller "energy footprint" behind, for the earth's conservation. Don't believe that by just being one person you cannot make a difference. Every step counts. Remember that. You CAN make a difference.

On dealing with hostility

Fortunately this is something that, until yesterday, I had yet to encounter, but I understand that it happens fairly frequently in some circles.

First, we must understand that someone else's anger (I suppose towards veganism?) is not directed at us and we can't take it personally. I have no idea what would move someone to say ugly things to strangers, whether it be directed at a vegan, a homosexual, a minority...whomever, but I do know that the object for the game is to elicit a reaction.

Forget the notion that good manners are antiquated and ask yourself this question:

What would Miss Manners do?

No. Seriously. Stop laughing.

It's never appropriate to meet rudeness with more rudeness, and getting down in the mud with the sort of people who would lash out at someone for choosing to live peacefully isn't going to help your cause in the slightest. Our only reasonable option in this situation is blissful indifference, the same thing your mother taught you when you were young, dealing with the same ignorant bullies.

Ignore them, and I promise you, they will, in fact, go away.