No offense but.....SOME vegetarians....&%$#!!!!

[Taverner]

Ok....so my friend's sister is visiting from Burlington. She's fun, but way too judgemental for my tastes. You see, she's a vegetarianist. I say vegetarianist because she feels compelled to share the gospel of vegetarianism with all around her. Mad cow will kill us all. Chicken is given more antibiotics than a man with TB. Lambs are slaughtered in the most inhumane ways. If you ever saw a cows eyes...etc etc and etc.

So wifey and I listen, and put in small comments as she eats her chicken breast and I my sirloin. She eats a salad. Granted, there are PLENTY of good non-meat choices, but each one she has *issues* with so she settles on the salad. Yum. Nothing fills you up more than a fricken salad.

Anyway, we get through dinner and head outside, and Ms. Meat-is-murder is right there to light up...A FUCKING SMOKE!!!!!

Excuse me? Weren't you just lecturing me on the evils and perils of meat? SO HOW IS CANCER BY THE INCH ANY BETTER.

OK...thank you for letting me speak my peace.

[EstimatedProphet]

1. I hear ya

I could frankly care less if someone is a vegetarian, I just can't stand it when they wear it in my face, as if they've graduated to the next generation of human being...

[Taverner]

5. Yes and most vegetarians are great

That's why I wanted to differentiate...with the vegetarianist meme...

[nini]

2. I used to work with a guy who wouldn't eat yogurt because of live stuff

.. in it.. :eyes:

but it didn't seem to bother him that he was a major cocaine addict.

I never understood that moran.

[King Of Paperboys]

3. That's a riot!

The vegetarians are OK. The vegans are pushing it. But this type, the ones that have push their own lifestyle on others, they take the prize. The cigarette makes the whole story worthwhile.

[WillParkinson]

8. The vegans are pushing it?

Excuse me?

How am I, as a vegan, "pushing it"?

[King Of Paperboys]

13. The vegans are one step away from what the OP described.

[WillParkinson]

17. That's painting us with a rather broad brush!

I don't tell people what they can/can't or should/shouldn't eat. I work in a hotel doing room service. I never tell guests that they shouldn't eat something they want. My friend, Trish, was the same way.

Most vegans I know make it a rule not to argue about what people do. If someone asks I will tell them what I do but at no time do I ever condemn people for doing it.

[King Of Paperboys]

18. I apologize.

I've about had it with the health & lifestyle Nazis. I regret associating you with them.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. How long has she been a vegetarian

I ask because her attitude sounds like one typical of a newbie-and it doesn't have to be vegetarianism. You can see the same thing in spirituality, for example. Someone finds something that works for them, and they decide it must be right for everyone else.

[Taverner]

7. Not sure....she never told us that part of the story

Nor did she tell us how smoking would enhance her health....but one can always justify :)

Seriously, I have nothing against vegetarians. Just evangelists for vegetarianism.

[wtmusic]

6. It's penance for her smoking sin

and you have to listen to the sermon

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. I know what you mean

Back in graduate school, I was in a singing group with a militant vegan. She was always lecturing us about how dairy products and eggs would kill us and she once went ballistic on a waitress who brought her toast already buttered.

Being in a restaurant with with Ms. Food Police did nothing but inspire all of us to order cheese and bacon omelets for breakfast.

She wasn't a smoker, but she was a huge sugar junkie--as long as the sugary foods contained no milk or eggs. :shrug:

I have vegetarian friends, and I cook veggie for them, eat veggie part of the time myself, and would never think of insisting on going to a steakhouse or any other vegetarian-unfriendly restaurant with them, but the lectures, ugh!

[TheFarseer]

10. militant vegetarians suck

I love meat and besides, do you really think we would keep pigs and cows around if they weren't used for food? They'd be fighting off extinction right now.

[NuttyFluffers]

12. yes, no like militant vegetarianism.

when they get all in my face about it i usually counter with the abuses of monoculture ecosystems fostered by our agrarian techniques. then i rip into them about pesticides and herbicides. then i rip into them about vegetables being alive far too often and not being humanely put to death before preparation. and then i beat them over the head with the UC Davis experiment about the plants in the hothouse turning from the "horror scene" of someone chopping celery in the middle of it minutes on end. and then i remind them all life, in its continuation, must cause death - and there is no escape from this fact. from animals to plants, through competition, we must kill to live. after that i let them try to reply while peppering them with "murderer," "criminal," "vicious abuser," etc. each time they take a breath, killing all those precious microorganisms.

they usually get the hint real fast.

if you want to revel pontificating on your hypocritical high horse be prepared to fall down fast and look like a fool. i love my vegetarian friends like any other, and will accomodate their lifestyle. but get in my face about things and be prepared for war. and after surrounded by family and friends with strong science, medical, and sociological backgrounds i have facts to throw fast and furious.

[DeaconBlues]

21. Yes, how kind of us

to keep them alive for a few years feeding off their own waste and each other so we can eat them. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

[TheFarseer]

28. that brings up another point

Corporate farms are totally evil for more reasons than bad treatment of the animals. Not saying family farms were club med for pigs, but I lived on one and we had pigs. They got to run around outside, eat weeds, roll around in the mud, sometimes they escaped and dug up the yard - they had some fun before they took a trip in the nice truck. packing pigs in a tiny room with nothing to do but chew on each other and lay in their own feces is...............well you fill in the blank.

[Ready4Change]

11. Replace vegitarianist (great term) with lifestylist and I totally agree.

Mention once what your "thing" is, ok. Mention it should something directly affect you (Oh, thanks for offering carrots, but my religion says orange food items are sentient.)

But constantly harp on it, or harp on it complaining about what I'm doing to myself, especially if you aren't my mother and your aren't my spouse? You've just given up any right to complain about ANY opinion I care to express.

[quinnox]

14. That is sad

She lectures people about health and is a smoker, oh boy.

[Doctor Smith]

15. Speaking of smoking and meat...

Smoked meat is delicious.

[Hippo_Tron]

42. MMM Smoked Sausage...

That's good stuff.

[SarahB]

16. I hope she doesn't wear or own leather.

That's killing an animal too. I think with this stuff- you either go all one way or all the other. Ethically, I'm pro-hunting (we don't, but it's a concept for carnivores to strive for). (I spent a lot of time on a farm as a kid and I know what it's like. I think for animals, hunting is a much gentler choice than commercialized agriculture, but I still eat meat.

[Radical Activist]

19. I don't run into those types much

I guess I'm lucky. I eat vegetarian most of the time, but not always. I have meat a two or three times a week. I've dated vegetarians and vegans and worked with many more, but none have been pushy or preachy about it. I've heard about vegetarians that get pushy about it but I've never met one myself.

Wasn't there a Simpsons episode about that with Paul McCartney?

[Taverner]

22. It's funny

Out here in California, most vegetarians and vegans I've met are really cool about it and only tell you about it when you ask.

I guess in Burlington she just felt threatened?

[aquaman]

20. I have been a vegetarian for five years........

and could care less what anyone else eats. I choose to eat this way and would not dream of preaching to anyone about it in an attempt to convert them. What I have noticed is that those who eat a regular diet often make snide remarks regarding my eating habits which is just as offensive. So, I agree that there are many vegetarians who should eat their food and stop the preaching. However, many meat eaters should also stop with the stupid remarks. With that I must go smoke, just kidding.

[DeaconBlues]

25. Amen

My wife and I have been vegetarians over ten years and we barely ever mention it to anyone. People who know me for months are surprised when they finally find out I'm a vegetarian. But once people do find out, then I have to hear all the jokes and snide remarks.

The only time I become preachy about my vegetarianism is when I become defensive about other people's stupid comments. Hey, like 90% of the comments in this thread!

[Taverner]

27. Hey I resemble that remark :)

Honestly - I have nothing wrong with vegetarians....they'll be avoiding heart disease and outliving us all....

BUT this one specific Vegetarianist - she was much like a fundamentalist Christian, except that she preached the GLORY and the POWAH of VEGETABLES!!! Oh and she was a hypocrite.

[Missy Vixen]

36. Thanks, DeaconBlues

>My wife and I have been vegetarians over ten years and we barely ever mention it to anyone.<

We have some friends who decided to become vegetarians several years ago. We had them over for a cookout, not knowing that they'd changed their eating habits.

They are (and continue to be,) some of the most gracious people we know. Instead of making a fuss, they ate the non-meat entrees we provided and complimented the food. I asked if they'd like a burger or chicken, and the wife told me that they weren't eating meat, but thank you anyway. Of course, I apologized and offered to make something they might enjoy eating; they said that there was plenty of great food already.

Nice people. I'll bet you and your wife are just as gracious as they are.

Julie

[TufNeck]

23. The lady work with

She is vegetarian but the thing is...She always makes it a point to let everyone know what she will be eating when she gets home. The foods she talks about are always "fake." That's the word she uses. Fake meatballs, fake chicken nuggets, fake blah blah blah! I told her I'm going to have a cheeseburger with fake lettuce and tomato when I get home!

[TufNeck]

24. The lady work with

She is vegetarian but the thing is...She always makes it a point to let everyone know what she will be eating when she gets home. The foods she talks about are always "fake." That's the word she uses. Fake meatballs, fake chicken nuggets, fake blah blah blah! I told her I'm going to have a cheeseburger with fake lettuce and tomato when I get home!

[jobycom]

26. I have the same problem with many meat eaters

Maybe it's just Texas. I've never tried to convert anyone to vegetarianism, but I run into carnivores all the time who try to convert me. They look at me in deep confusion when I say I don't eat meat. They ask "Can you eat chicken? Pork? Shrimp?" Somehow, their minds can't adjust.

Then they often get violent. "Why don't you eat meat?" I tell them I don't want to. They go off on me. "That's sick. You'll die without protein." Some of the slightly smarter ones get into cell walls and muscle regeneration.

There's a group at work that rags me all the time. They don't care tha I'm atheist and that I think their president is a war criminal (Well, they care, but they leave it alone.) But they are always on me about meat. They threaten to sneak some into my food some day. I don't eat anything they offer anymore, because one or two would think it was a hoot to do it.

I don't much like radical fundamentalists, whether they are Bush supporters, vegetarians, carnivores, or Harley owners. But the problem isn't the diet. The problem is the personality.

[Taverner]

29. Amen!

"I don't much like radical fundamentalists, whether they are Bush supporters, vegetarians, carnivores, or Harley owners. But the problem isn't the diet. The problem is the personality."

I agree 100%!!!!

[aquaman]

30. Well said you damn tofu eating bastard

Just kidding of course, it's kinda funny to listen to people bitch about vegetarians preaching to them and in the next breath make fun of them. I often get called various names at work not because I smell bad, or that I am a bastard, no just because I don't eat animals. I am SOOO ashamed.

[bratcatinok]

43. I'm a native Texan and a meat eater

but I don't think it's Texan's necessarily. I've never made fun of anyone who was vegan or vegetarian or who chose any variation thereof. I've worked in several offices over my 30 year career and there have been 'vegetable' people in a number of them. I've also never heard anyone else make fun of them.

Usually we'd do our best to accomodate them as far as deciding where to have lunch at. If they decided not to eat with us that day, we'd declare it a meat-eaters day and go someplace we normally wouldn't go to like a hamburger only place.

I had to force myself to eat meat when I was growing up because my Dad liked all of his meat very well done. As in crisp on the outside!
I never knew meat could taste good until I started dating and had my first hamburger that wasn't burned outside and dry on the inside.

As a child I made my cat very happy at dinnertime because he always got to eat most of the meat on my plate. I'd sneak it to him under the table. I didn't get 'found out' until the evening he tried to get my Dad's meat by climbing his pant leg.

[Mr. Blonde]

31. In a Cartman voice

Vegetarians piss me off.

[Lestat]

32. I purposely eat a 3/4 pound burger in front of vegetarians.

Hell, if I could, I'd slaughter a cow right in front of them. :evilgrin:

[aquaman]

37. Wow, you are so cool.

[Lestat]

39. I appreciate your sarcasm.

:)

[aquaman]

40. And yours....

:)

[LastKnight]

33. i know a vegetarian who works at a chicken place...

somehow the irony escapes her... everyone else laughs thier asses off.

-LK

[Missy Vixen]

34. Did you have dinner with my SIL?

>Anyway, we get through dinner and head outside, and Ms. Meat-is-murder is right there to light up...A FUCKING SMOKE!!!!!<

We have suffered through many a family gathering with the meat-is-murder-but-I've-smoked-for-twenty-years crowd. (One sister-in-law proclaimed three years ago that they would not come over for Thanksgiving dinner unless we bought and served a free range turkey. I told them to have a nice time somewhere else.)

Normally, I always ask if guests have food allergies, are vegetarian, and inquire about something I can serve that everyone can eat. I'm tired of being dictated to by two women who can't be bothered to even bring a dish or bottle of wine to share at any dinner, but are going to tell me exactly what should be served, how politically incorrect we are, bla bla bla.

We don't celebrate holidays with them anymore.

It's a lot more peaceful.

Julie

[aquaman]

38. Hell, I don't blame you.......

I don't eat meat but sounds like you make some effort to respect your guests' preferences. Whether one eats meat or not should not give anyone a right to be an ass.

[philosophie_en_rose]

35. And fake "vegetarians" are even worse.

I know someone that eats chicken and fish and behaves like a "vegetarianist." She's the kind of person that wants everyone know that she is holier-than-thou - although I have yet to see a chicken grow from a tree.

[theoceansnerves]

41. what you are describing

is indicative of a personality flaw of hers and is in no way indicative of vegetarianism.

[Interrobang]

44. Heh, I know some like that!

When they lived in a communal house, they'd put up snarky signs by their knife block that said something like "Do NOT use these knives for meat!" and yet they ate a *lot* of seafood. (Somehow, I guess fish and shrimp aren't meat...)

On the other hand, I know a lot of non-evangelical vegetarians, and I even cook for them periodically. I made a vegetarian curry last year while camping that had about 50 people (I made *way* too much by accident, so I had to share with the surrounding campsites) asking me for the recipe!

The part that cracks me up the most about the parent post (besides the smoking) is the line about "if you'd seen a cow's eyes..." Yeah? I grew up around farm animals. I do *not* think cows are cute. I look at cows and I think, "Mm, meat and leather!"

[Catherine Vincent]

45. Now that woman is definitely a hypocrite.