Why are so many vegans militant about veganism?

I suspect the “so many” amount is probably due to confirmation bias (you tend to remember the vegans who support your hypothesis, and forget about the ones who contradict it). I think the way you’ve framed your question is likely inverting the cause/effect of the relationship as well. In reality, people who feel very strongly about animal rights will typically be vegan while the inverse isn’t necessarily true (e.g. some people are vegan because they think it’s healthier , or don’t like the taste of animal products).

I think if one truly believes that an easily preventable moral atrocity is being committed on a large scale, it is only reasonable to try spread the word.

To many vegans, the choice not to eat meat is not simply a matter of taste or preference.

Food is one of the most emotional and primal subjects for human beans. It’s the source of all sorts of taboos and stereotypes that we usually don’t even think about. I suppose that many people who grew up in meat-eating societies and decide to become vegetarian or vegan would feel defensive about it, since they are constantly confronted with how “weird” or “abnormal” their dietary practices are.

For the record, I’m vegetarian and sympathize with veganism for sure, but militant vegans kind of put me off.

Being Vegan isn’t a dietary choice, it is a cause.

My daughter, who recently began eating vegan, (but not embracing the entire vegan life) likes the joke: “How can you tell someone is vegan?” “Don’t worry, they’ll tell you!”, and that is so true.
Vegans always say they are in the first 5 minutes of your first meeting them.

Ok like what gorilla paws had to say.

Not a vegan. But I understand what they have to go through. Eating out or gatherings involving food…

If you have never thought about how many gathering involve food just consider dates, birthday parties, holidays, special occasions, work functions, you get the point.

Where people not only don’t support your life choice and belief. But they criticize it, or are completely ignorant about it. Offering chicken as a vegan alternative, or butter for example.

I can understand some militant or hostileness. Not saying I support it. It just makes sense that some would be.

@rosehips But I have special dietary requirements too. I feel it is my responsibility to make sure there is something to eat where I am going. I don’t expect others to know or understand my dietary needs.

@all Would you be as tolerant of a proselytizing religious person? I think shoving your views about food on others is the same thing.

@marinelife That is so true!

I wonder if you would ask the same question about anti-cannibalists if cannibalism were common and accepted in western society.

I agree with you, @ragingloli, it’s very much a question of relativism and subjectivity.

@rosehips: If I had a dime for every time someone has said “Oh! You’re vegetarian…. So you eat salad?” I would never have to grade papers for money again. :-p

Vegans are pissed because they are hungry. A Margaret Cho joke.

I’ve recently reverted back to my vegetarianism and am slowly going vegan. It’s fuckin’ hard. The reasons I’m doing it is to stop the discontent that comes with my hypocrisy when it comes to my feelings and ideas about animals. I have decided to try to live up to my own expectations.

I think many vegans see what they perceive as hypocrisy everywhere they go. It’s hard not to challenge hypocrisy when you see it.

In reality, you can never really judge the conscience of another.

I think some people just have personalities that lock in easily with radical viewpoints e.g. some people I know are very strong pentecostal Christians but years ago they were heavily involved with The Forum, which appears to involve much “spreading the word”, they came away from one form of radicalism and are now engaged in another.

@ragingloli Yes, I would if they were being militant and rude.

@Adagio Very interesting insight. Both of my very militant vegan friends have in the past embraced other causes.

@marinelife some special diets are easier to accomodate then others. I also have special diet needs and have had to adapt. Which involved reading books on etiquette planning ahead, leaning how to assert myself when people asked questions or were skeptical etc.

@bookish1 If only

For some miltantism is just a step in the process of adaptation.

@tinyfaery Lol. Low bIood sugar does make people cranky. I have had poorly planned moments myself, and still do where I am just hungry but can’t eat anything.

I do also think @Adagio has a good point. People are diverse so even if the product is the same many had different paths they traveled down.

I am with @marinelife here. Some personal decisions should be left personal, not rammed down other people’s throat. Dealing with regular vegans intrigues me about some of their cuisine (some is quite flavorful) while dealing with militant vegans makes we want to eat a bacon cheeseburger and wash it down with lambs blood.

Ego, plain and simple.
Ego is always looking for a way to enhance itself and bask in a “superior” status.
Truly “enlightened” people just go about their own way and do not feel the need to shove their convictions down everyone elses throats.
Gentle persuasion yes, militant ” I am BETTER than you because….” no.

I think it’s interesting to hear people talk about vegans as if their reasons are all the same. I’ve known a few vegans, and not only were they not all militant about it, they had different reasons for wanting to be vegan. And yes, one of them was for health reasons, @filmfann.

@glacial My daughter has been eating vegan for 2½ months. The reason has nothing to do with the food. My daughter is trying to lose weight before a wedding, and she is also trying to quit smoking. The difficulty eating is taking her mind off not smoking.

@filmfann Then your own daughter is showing you that it isn’t necessarily a cause! :)

Also, if I may, that is a very inventive strategy. I hope it works.

This may have something to do with it. ABC ran a piece on the number of states that have instituted laws criminalizing whistle blowing tonight. After seeing the horrific abuse on factory farms, and the appalling filth of caged animals stacked floor to ceiling, defecating and urinating on one another, unable to really move for their entire lives, I think it’s short cited to judge all Vegans as egomaniacs simply concerned with forcing their dietary tastes on others. Some are genuinely caring people who are horrified about what farming has become in America.

Yes.^^

I don’t really care whether people eat meat or not, I don’t think it makes anyone superior to avoid it. There is a food chain and humans are at the top of it. But I wish all people would boycott factory farmed products or any product produced by the suffering of animals. If all would insist on free range, grass fed meat, eggs, etc., factory farming would wither and die.
The same goes for HRT premarin which is obtained from the urine of pregnant mares who live in horrible conditions also. This is a horrible world when it comes to the way we treat animals. My grandfather was a farmer and he loved his animals, he cared for them like his children until the day came for them to be quickly and humanely dispatched. I am now living in an area where everyday I see trucks loaded, 4 levels high with sheep. They are packed so tightly they can’t fall down. They are bleating and sometimes you will catch the eye of one as you pass them and the look of horror and terror ruins my day. In Darwin they truck cattle the same way, then load them on boats to ship off to muslim countries. If they don’t die in transit from heat or dehydration they are tortured in the name of some strange god.

And theoretically, we are the ones with highly developed brains and sense of right and wrong.

I am vegetarian. My reasoning is a moral one. I have, for some time, been considering going vegan.

I do not preach my vegetarianism. I also do not tell others they should not eat meat. I will talk about it if asked or if someone decides they should challenge me because they feel insulted or insecure about my life style. Because, clearly, all vegetarians/vegans are in it to make everyone else feel inferior (sarcasm).

I don’t tell people I’m vegetarian right off the bat, of first meeting them (in person…on line profiles are different). It’s not something I share unless I know the person better. An exception to that rule is if the person, them self, brings it up. I will then tell them (but only if I feel they will not be reactive about it). I have had people dislike me for the very simple fact that I’m vegetarian. I have never disliked someone for being a meat-eater. That is just silly.

I agree with others who posted about vegetarianism/veganism being a lifestyle and/or cause. Regarding social networking, if I am comfortable enough (as on Fluther) I will mention my vegetarianism on my profile. It is a large part of who I am as a person. Not simply a dietary preference.

I really dislike the image in which many people see vegans/vegetarians. I believe this has a lot to do with organizations such as Peta. We aren’t all out there throwing red paint on people sporting fur coats. I think that is the wrong way to go about bringing change. Angering and insulting people is going to do nothing but turn them away from anything you have to say.

I will, however, occasionally post certain things on my Facebook. I never post anything graphic or aggressive. These things never have to do with vegetarianism. They are always about animal welfare/injustices. I also post humanitarian efforts. It is not a daily occurrence. But if I read/see something that I believe warrants some attention, and/or calls for action, I’ll post it. I have never gotten any complaints.

Many people out there will complain about vegetarians/vegans being outspoken in their cause or lifestyle (even when they are not Peta oriented ones). What they seem to forget is that our media is saturated with the meat-eater lifestyle. I know here, in Alberta, our beef is taken very seriously (almost sacred-like). Imagine those Alberta beef lovers finding out you are vegetarian… get out the pitch forks! My point is, I see the animal product industry everywhere. It is on my TV, radio, internet, city transit, billboards, magazines, newspapers…..everywhere. So, yeah, I get a bit frustrated. A lot of it goes against some of my deepest, unchanging, beliefs/values. Yet, no one seems question this advertising. But, hell hath no greater fury than when a vegetarian/vegan ad appears on their meat-saturated TV programming. Go figure.

My biggest wish, at this point, is for meat-eaters to know where their meat comes from…and how it was obtained. If animal products must be consumed/used, can’t we at least do so humanely? As intelligent beings, we should know better by now. Ok, I’ll quit now before I start to sound preachy :P

@Plucky I was raised around farms and grew up around hunters. Both seek to kill food animals as quickly as possible to reduce suffering; they’re after meat, not sadistic pleasure. Factory farms are an abomination, but not in the same league as a family farm that treats their animals well and then kills them too quickly to suffer.
Some of us meat-eaters respect our food, yet realize our place in the food chain as natural predators. We have better vision than any herbivore for a reason; we are omnivorous by nature and need that vision to get prey.

This issue is as contentious as the theist vs atheist!

@jerv I did not mention hunters or sport hunters. I feel that’s for a different question/topic. I am speaking of the animal product industry. I grew up on a farm too… and there are oodles of hunters in my province. Some decent…some complete a-holes. As for the eye-sight in regards to omnivores vs herbivores vs whatever…, that is not what this question is about. Respectfully, I’d rather not get into that.

I think most of us have an issue that we feel strongly about and feel the need to spread the word about. Anyone who is friends with me on Facebook has to put up with my posts against breed specific legislation so I can hardly complain about my vegan friends posting about their cause or my anti abortion friends posting about theirs. I have one friend who feels very strongly against boys being circumsized and is constantly posting facts and pictures supporting her opinion. Whilst I agree with her to a certain extent, I don’t feel as strongly about it as she does and yet, I respect her for getting behind a cause. If you want to change people’s views then you need to spread the word and that’s all the Vegans are doing. I do have a vegan friend who is constantly spouting about her “healthier” lifestyle and acting superior about that and yet she has a number of illnesses and looks incredibly unhealthy, very skinny, pale and fragile. She’s not a great advert for the vegan lifestyle I must say!!!

Well…as I always say, pick your poison, there is plenty of it.
I was a vegan for years back in the 70’s and early 80’s but have consumed some animal products over the years. I have kept chickens for eggs only and amusement, they are very personable little things and I boycott all goose down products and pate because of my love for waterfowl. I do enjoy a burger now and then and am a cheese-a-holic, but I make up for it in many other ways.

I have kept pesticide and herbicide free rural properties for decades, living on acreage for the last 22 years, and have a passion for nature and wildlife.
I do not agree with factory farming practices at all, but, we all do what we can and I see no reason for militant anything. Middle age mellows you out, no doubt. It is what it is and we can only focus on doing our own small parts in whatever areas we are passionate about.

@Leanne1986 There is a difference between having a strong opinion on something and being an utter douche. It is even possible to proselytize without being a total dick about it. I don’t mind somebody nicely informing me of the inhumane conditions at factory farms, but if you scream, “Meat is murder!” in my face, I’m going to object in my own way.

@Plucky I have heard the whole, “We don’t have claws so we must be herbivores!”, and, ‘We are the only species that drinks the milk of other species, and that is wrong!”, arguments before, but the simple truth is that I have no desire to change the eating habits of others, nor much interest in defending my views from others, so I think it’s best we just agree to disagree. Just know that we don’t disagree quite as much as you might think; being carnivorous is no justification for cruelty.

@jerv I’m not sure exactly what you are saying we disagree about. I never said anything about disagreeing with you…about anything. Lol, you have me lost here. The claw statement is new to me. The milk thing I’ve heard before, but is quite different than your statement. I am not trying to change the eating habits of others as well. I don’t know where that came from. If asked, I will give them information. I am fine with people being omnivorous. I just think the the animal product industry needs to evolve. I am talking mainly about the large factory ones (where most of our domestic animal products come from). I really don’t see where you think we are disagreeing….other than me being a vegetarian and you a meat-eater. Or maybe my reasons for being a vegetarian don’t sit well with you? I don’t see that as a disagreement…just a different lifestyle. Like I stated before, the only causes I post on social networking are ones that deal with animal cruelty/injustice, human rights and environmental stuff. Could you please explain where you think we are disagreeing?

@Plucky You got it right; the disagreement is that you are a vegetarian and I am an omnivore who supports the consumption of animals that have been treated and killed in a humane manner. Nothing more.
And I’m sorry if you got the impression that I thought you were trying to change anybody’s eating habits. All I said was that I had no interest in changing anybody’s eating habits.

@jerv Ahh ok, thank you very much for clearing that up. It’s always nice to find decent omnivores. :)

That’s always a side-effect with having radical “one truth only” views, whether it’s veganism, politics or religion. Most vegetarians and meat-eaters think in “my way, your way” terms, but most vegans don’t. They found a “truth” and won’t rest until everyone accepts the one “truth”. They often assume that grocery stores and trucks are a worldwide phenomenon.

@mattbrowne Seems to me meat eaters can be pretty set in their ways as well. Ever tried to talk a well armed group of hunters out of shooting game? How about having a heart-to-heart talk with a polar bear about giving up predation?

@ETpro – I’m against one-truth meat-eaters as well.