• dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    Why not just agree and say “hey yeah, great lifestyle”?

    This is everyone’s gripe from the outside. You do you, live a healthy life. Make a good case and many of us will even agree with you: it’s an admittedly healthier pick and better for the earth. But for some reason we can’t stop there, can we?

    You can’t say, hey I don’t smoke, it’s not good for you, here’s a source. And then I say “Hey thanks!”. Instead, if you want to be on team vegan, we have to all agree that cigarettes are not just bad for the atmosphere and for lung health, but ALSO that smoking is innately capitalist and supports a corrupt economic structure, it’s mean to tobacco leaves, marijuana and tobacco are the same and have equal rights, using hemp is morally outrageous (just as bad as hurting tobacco leaves), and now we have to call all smokers “smokists” as if to imply that the only thing they ever breathe is smoke, that way we can really show our distaste.

    There would be so many more vegans and vegetarians if the communities could just take the win of the lifestyle without requiring the morality and politics at the gate. It’s telling to me that the vegan communities that vegans like the most are on hexbear (defederated by everyone for their assholery) and vegan theory club where the mod/instance admin has a ton of comments signed “death to america” and basically requires political adherence in the comment section lest your comment be deleted.

    • BigAssFan@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Well, it is still affecting my planet, and that of my children and future grandchildren. So no, I will not leave it be, thank you. Also, somebody needs to step up for animals who cannot defend themselves. Therefore it is not over with ‘you do you’, it stretches further than that.

      • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Of course, there’s no shortage of battles to fight. What I’m saying is take those battles to their own battleground. Climate change? Sure let’s get after it. Animal rights? Also yes, no reason for unnecessary cruelty whether you eat them or not. But if I agree to eat less meat for any reason, even if it’s the wrong reason or an incomplete reason, you WON that battle. Same if I decide I won’t drink milk, but I still want to eat fish. Or if I decide I’m not going to wear clothing made from animal products. Just take the W and keep the possibility of future conversation. You get literally nothing by saying “Aha, you agree with me, but not absolutely / for the wrong reasons, you fucking carnist” except whatever warm fuzzies it brings you. You can’t one-shot win the war with most people, so why poison the water for some narcissistic dopamine hit and prevent earnest discussion in the future?

        • BigAssFan@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Telling people things they don’t want to hear will never make you popular of course, but I believe in the power of repetition. I don’t do this for some dopamine fix, I’m just the guy that points at the iceberg while being called a party pooper on the Titanic. I think it is important to say so, even when people plug their ears singing lalala. Hopefully the course will change a little bit, and some people make it out on the life boats.

      • cows_are_underrated@feddit.org
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        3 months ago

        But its possible to do that without being an absolute asshole that goes for all or nothing. You eat meat once a month? Literally the same as Liver King. Its this sort of Attitude that pisses people of.

        • BigAssFan@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          You’ve got some nerve to call me an absolute asshole and think that you’ve got the right attitude. Also, your all or nothing comparison is ridiculous, no clue where you picked that up in the limited comment I made. I dare you to come with arguments against mine instead of preconceived judgement of people who try to make the world a better place by not eating animal products.

          • cows_are_underrated@feddit.org
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            3 months ago

            I wasn’t calling you an absolute asshole. This was never my I tention. This was more of a general statement.statement.goes for the second part, because some vegans do be like that.

            • BigAssFan@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Alright, no harm done. Only the vegans I happen to know are very empathic people who generally care deeply about the wellbeing of animals. Therefore they themselves are hurt quite a bit in the non-vegan world they’re living in. Some of them can’t even bear to sit at the same table where someone else is eating dead animals that have had a miserable life and death. I started changing my diet due to climate and biodiversity reasons (basically out of a responsibility for future generations), but the more I learn about how poorly our massive livestock is treated, the worse it gets. It’s now to the point where this tasty lump of cheese that everyone else is seeing is smeared with blood and tears in my eyes. So I protest when vegans are being portrayed as the bad guys in this day and age.

              • cows_are_underrated@feddit.org
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                3 months ago

                I don’t have a problem with vegans myself. The ones I know in real life are all good persons which are capable of having a conversation that doesn’t escalate in 3 minutes. However, it happens to be that most vegans I encountered online seem to be absolute assholes, that have some sort of an all or nothing attitude. They aren’t interested in changing someone’s beliefs and habits. They want to have the moral highground and mock about everyone else. Of course industriall farming is bad, but you don’t change anyone’s beliefs by being an asshole and insulting others. And you aren’t able to change someone’s habits against their will.

                • BigAssFan@lemmy.world
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                  3 months ago

                  Hard to follow your reasoning, I was the one getting insulted, at no point did I insult anyone. I presented facts, if people are offended by them that’s up to them. Too bad that people don’t really care about facts but are more influenced by image building that matches their preconceived ideas. But still, facts are the only basis we have in intelligent discussions. And I don’t think I am better than anyone else (again, where did you pick that notion up?) but I do see all the problems that we currently have which are caused by ourselves. You know, people and cattle forming 97% of landbased mammal biomass, all the elephants, giraffes, mice, deer etc. come out of the remaining 3%. More than 75% of all agricultural area spent on cattle. This is all because we like to eat meat preferably daily, once only reserved for the wealthy, perhaps once a week for middle class. The way we are eating is just not sustainable and has to change, but people are consiously deaf for this notion. Blaming the people that do see this cause and effect.

              • Zoot@reddthat.com
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                3 months ago

                (Except you’ve already proved their point in other comments, and even jumped to conclusions because you need to feel better than everyone)

                • BigAssFan@lemmy.world
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                  3 months ago

                  You’re not too bad about jumping to conclusions yourself. Perhaps it’s time to postpone judgement until you really get to know someone, instead of forming an opinion about someone based on a post or two.

      • pfm@scribe.disroot.org
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        3 months ago

        You could step up for animals while still being a nice person - it was your decision not to.

        • BigAssFan@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          It was my intention to provide some information on the subject, is that it doesn’t match your perception how you justify your dietary habits that makes it not nice to hear about it? Similar to a smoker who doesn’t want to hear how bad it is to smoke, not only for themselves but also for their environment, including health care later in life? Anyway, we’re in the middle of a worldwide climate crisis that can easily wipe out humankind, hurting innocent animals in the process, and you’re only interested if someone is being nice or not? You’re clearly missing the point here.