hello, i am a vegetarian. well, truthfully, i’m a pescetarian because i can’t quite bring myself to give up salmon. in light of all the vegan discourse that’s been kicking off recently, i wanted to share some THOUGHTS and OPINIONS. if you think i’m being preachy, go off, but i can’t hear you over the thousands of people who’ve spent a lifetime chanting in horrific unison ‘BUt whERE dO u GET uR ProTEIn FRoM?!’, and miming being sick when i’m just sat there enjoying my quorn
(i get my protein from soy, eggs, buckwheat, quinoa, and spinach. not that you actually care)
the main thing that pisses me off about the entire discourse is willful ignorance from the vast majority of people. i remember watching one of those cbbc shows where they take a bunch of kids and make them climb a mountain (remember those? fuckin weird if you think about it) and there was an episode where the kids had to kill their dinner before they ate it. it was these little rodent things. and the kids CRIED. these 10 year olds were screaming, sobbing, throwing tantrums, and refusing to kill the animal. the guide guy had to go off-screen, boff the beast over the head with a rock, and serve it up to them. and then, like magic, they ate their dinner and loved every second of it. this kind of cognitive dissonance is just bizarre to me.
the ethics around meat-eating/veganism isn’t black and white. i respect different groups for different reasons. i think that cultures where the animal is thanked and shown gratitude and respect before it is eaten are far more decent than, for example, american processed meats that come out in this thick, play-dough pink sausage and is eaten without a second thought. i think farmers who have raised these animals, spent everyday with them, have taken care of them, and understand EXACTLY what gets food to their tables are far more worthy of my respect than someone who eats meat because because it’s easier than not eating it
i am not a vegan, but i would like to be eventually. i would like to work on myself until i am in a position where i can go completely without dairy, eggs, and fish. that is because i personally believe that aligns with MY system of ethics. at the moment, i eat fish because i would kill a fish. i would go fishing and eat a fish, i admit that. i wouldn’t kill a cow, so i won’t eat a cow. this is how i choose to live my life, and the utterly baffling thing to me is that when i share this with people, they take offence. they assume that i’m ‘preaching’, because i am certain about what i want. i think the people preaching are the ones who make me go stand in the meat fridge at a butchery when i’m 7 to try and show me where ‘real food is kept’ (thanks grandma). i think that oftentimes, people who feel a little bit guilty about eating meat are going to take offence more than those who know exactly how they feel
i respect people who can back up their opinions, their beliefs, and their ethics without attacking mine! i respect people who can deal with someone questioning their stance, and come back with a reasoned explanation for why they do what they do. i think it’s easy to assume eating meat is default and right because the majority of people do it, but i think that’s not quite how it works.
all in all, i’m not expecting the whole world to go vegan. all i could possibly hope and expect is for everyone to be mindful of how they eat and how they live, have a code of ethics they can stand by, and not froth at the mouth if i’m a little bit hyped over a greggs sausage roll
know where ur food comes from, know if you’re using animal-tested products, know how you feel about these issues. i am always going to appreciate your viewpoint if you actually know what you’re talking about (and that doesn’t equal churning out some absolute clickbait headline about peta wanting to change the name of the town of wool. that’s just bullshit and i’ll fight you)