Arrogance

Having done lots of reading of veg forums and posts, I've discovered that there are A LOT of arrogant vegans out there. There is also a lot of arrogant non-vegans too!

I'm not a preachy person. I'm not going to push my beliefs and values onto others, and I'm not going to judge someone for what they eat, wear, believe etc (unless you don’t eat chocolate, and then you are simply just WHACK!).

I think the thing with vegans is that, I've discovered, we're a passionate bunch. We're passionate about animals, and are disgusted and disturbed by the way they are treated for mass human consumption (whether through their meat or by-products). We want people to know the truth about what goes on, and that unfortunately there is a lot of cruelty that goes on. So maybe passion gets confused with preaching?

There is a point when it goes too far though. I read a few posts from people on a forum (for vegetarians, vegans and animal lovers alike) and while most of these post I look at relate to veg food, someone had slipped in a post about the recent Coles supermarket campaign "Because we all buy..." and this campaign focussed on animal products - chicken, beef and milk to be exact.

Oh my, some people REALLY got worked up. Many vegans were boycotting Coles, and cutting up their flybuy cards etc.

Um hello people, it’s an ad campaign. A marketing tool to make you buy stuff. And yes, the majority of people in Australia buy meat and animal products.

I know when I first saw that campaign I was a little surprised, and my response was - 'well, not me!' But I am not going to boycott a supermarket, and throw a tantrum because of it. We’re a minority, we cop a lot of flak for our beliefs and way of life, and a lot of people do not understand and/or are afraid by it.

However, when vegos start talking about eggs being a dead baby chicken or eating meat is just eating rotten animal carcass – that’s just not on. It gives the majority of us vegans/vegetarians a bad reputation, and disrespects a meat-eater (remember, it’s their choice to eat that).

I do wish people were more aware of the truth behind factory farms – bobby calves, ‘free range’ chickens, abattoirs etc – and I do forward on petitions, Facebook posts or emails that contain this information if I think it’s informative, but I will not preach veganism or get in their face about it.

I love animals, I’m passionate about them. I wish there was more education out there about what really goes on, but everyone has a choice – and as a vegan, I respect that.