Friday, August 16, 2013

I'm better than you.

I'm better than you. This is unfortunately the vibe that I get from many vegetarians/vegans/raw vegans etc. I'm not here to bash on anyone. I'm a vegetarian, mostly vegan. Now by "mostly vegan" this is what it means in my case: I do not buy any dairy or eggs. I eat honey. However if I am out to eat and the restaurant has a veggie sandwich but the bread isn't vegan, I'll still get it. I can feel all you raw vegans judging me. And you shouldn't. That is my one problem with this community. This whole vegetarian/vegan community should be all about love and acceptance. Just as you want your family and friends to accept your decision to not eat meat. We all have friends and family who may not understand or agree with this lifestyle. They may judge you for it. They may think it's so crazy to not eat meat. So I'd say its pretty safe for me to say we all get judged for our decision. That's why I find it so crazy how some people judge other vegetarians choices. It seems to me the meat eaters judge the vegetarians for not eating meat, the vegetarians judge the meat eaters. Then we have the vegans judging the vegetarians and the raw vegans judging the vegans and the 80/10/10ers judging everyone. I have seen it. NO ONE IS BETTER THAN ANYONE. YOU ARE NOT BETTER THAN SOMEONE BECAUSE YOU DON'T EAT MEAT. Everyone has a different lifestyle and right to decide what is right for their body. Judgement should never be cast onto anyone.

I understand that a lot of the judgment is because we are so passionate about this lifestyle. We have the passion for animal rights or health or both. I don't know how anyone can watch the movie "Earthlings" and still want to eat meat again. It's horrifying how the animals are treated. But we have to face the facts the some people just don't care. It tastes good and that's what matters to them. While that can enrage us, it's important to not judge them. Everyone has their own journey.

Years ago before I was vegetarian I had a group of friends and one of them decided to go vegan. This person was a full on meat eater and then watched a documentary about animal cruelty and decided to go vegan. A couple weeks into his veganism a bunch of friends were hanging out and having dinner at one of their apartments. They were eating cheeseburgers or something like that. The whole time they were eating the "new vegan" was sitting there with a disgusted look on his face and saying how gross they were for eating meat and how disgusting it was. Meanwhile 2 weeks prior that same person was in that same apartment eating a steak. Literally. This is the kind of judgment I cannot stand. People think that the moment they become vegetarian or vegan they are better than those who eat meat. We all know these are the same people who will go back to eating meat in 2 months.

My whole point is that no matter what you eat or don't eat you are not better than anyone. We are all in this together.

4 comments:

  1. Great post! I soooo agree with you. No one should judge anyone when eating habits are involved and no one is better than anyone.

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  2. Fantastic post! I agree 100% and I am Vegan. The vegan/vegetarian community can be a bit pretentious and I see it all the time living in San Francisco; the largest Vegan community. I'm so glad you touched on this!

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  4. So true! I have an IG account helping to raise awareness and collect petition signatures for dogs in the Asian dog meat trade. It happens to be that overtime I have become vegetarian and most of my meals are now vegan.. However, I do not post about that because my account is focused on the dog meat trade and petition signatures. I am constantly asked by vegans- if so realize the cruelty other animals face and why love dogs and eat pigs and "speciesism"... And so on. It happens to be that I don't eat those animals and I sign petitions for many animal rights and protection. However, why can't they just be happy that more people are caring about any animals. I'm glad to see people start making better choices and standing up for any animal rights. <3 @help_dogs_in_meat_trade Instagram

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