*please note i deeply value and respect the vegan movement. i am just critical of how humorously it precipitates in online spaces, particularly this one. :)
Not a vegan, but you're an asshole. People recognize a genuine problem with an industry that contributes massively to climate change, antibiotic resistance, and environmental destruction, and you're mocking them? That's some South Park level shittyness/stupidity. Maybe one day you'll realize vegans have a point, but you probably won't own up to how much harm your attitude caused.
GTFO. You aren't welcome here.
Edit: thank you for editing the post. It really wasn't clear that it was meant to mock a shitty subset of vegans when you first posted it rather than the entire movement. I 100% agree that those people can be snobbish dicks.
when on earth did i say i wasn’t vegan or disagreed with them :) i simply think the words are objectively very funny
edit: but taking your criticism to heart, ive just now edited the meme to be less acerbic and to better reflect my intention. thank you for sharing your thoughts. i don’t mean to be hurtful, just shining a light on the silly stuff in the world.
You're right. They can be oh so holier-than-thou about an individual choice that can't practically solve the problem. I saw your comment about vegans not harming anyone(even though those vegans harm by being mean), and assumed you were a chud. It's really important for all of us to be more clear about our intentions. If we aren't, it invites reactionaries to feel comfortable here.
Nah, I love meat. I just eat it without any illusions that it's not fucked up. Ultimately, many people can't afford to not eat animal products. Being a vegan is expensive in time and money, which is why lower income people aren't as commonly vegan. It's possible for them, but it does take a ton of time and effort.
Things are this way because the full cost of the meat industry get passed off to the public as negative externalities. It's the same way with the fossil fuel industry. Chevron doesn't pay for the harm caused by greenhouse gasses in the same way that the meat industry doesn't pay for the diseases their industry spawns, the increased agricultural production to feed livestock that cuts down forests, or the fucking cow farts spewing methane.
Mocking vegans has the same energy as mocking renewable energy. It's not as bad, but only because we aren't as totally reliant on meat. Our current society cannot function on renewable energy. We'd need to effectively degrow to reach net zero, and markets will never do that. Average people cannot solve this problem by going vegan or getting solar, but that doesn't mean it's bad to do those things.
I don't think the second half is true. Despite being subsidized like crazy, meat is still relatively expensive.
It's definitely more time-consuming if you wouldn't be cooking otherwise. At least in my experience if you want to eat something vegan you gotta make it yourself (at least in my home country).
i really think it's just more nuanced.
vegan meals can be both cheaper or more expensive, easier or more complex, depending on the specific meal/where you live/time of year/etc etc
like you can totally just eat whatever plant bits and mushrooms you can get your hands on along with a multivitamin, that will probably be cheap and healthy as hell and the most effort involved is peeling things and spending a few minutes frying or an hour of unattended time stewing it. That is however probably really fucking unappealing for most people, so you have to either spend more effort on making the meals interesting, or spend more money on premade actually appealing vegan products.
As an autistic person who was viewed as "picky" growing up, and having been raised with the culture of a "meal" consisting of starch/protein/some veggies/TONS of sauce; it's taken a fair bit of effort to even accept the idea of not having any meat in my food, and i still regularly use stuff like ground pork or chicken breasts in my cooking because it's just such a simple way to produce food that makes me happy.
What i really wish would change is the proliferation of more good, simple, tasty, and cheap vegan or at least low-meat frozen food. One of my absolute favourite food products is Felix vegetarian hash, which is just diced potato, onions, soy-based protein chunks, and some seasoning; which you toss in a frying pan with some fat and fry for like 10-15 minutes and it's done. Costs 7 EUR per kg and tastes really good, it's human kibble in the best way possible especially if you just add some frozen peas.
Absolutely! Despite making a short straightforward comment about my own experiences with the time commitment and cost of veganism, I fully understand that it's more nuanced in my own life, let alone across the breadth of differing human experiences and cultures worldwide.
One of my absolute favourite food products is Felix vegetarian hash
I am genuinely glad you managed to find a cheap and tasty food which can at least help you reduce slightly your meat purchases.
Being a vegan is expensive in time and money, which is why lower income people aren’t as commonly vegan.
This is complicated; both yes and no.
In the west, where time is often at a premium, the least expensive meals--in combination of time and monetary cost--are rarely vegan. On a calorie-per-calorie cost basis, it's far less expensive to eat a hamburger at McDonalds than it is a cheap salad from anywhere. Yes, you could cook your own vegan meals, but that takes more time (and bluntly ability) than most people currently have. Fresh ingredients can easily cost more--per calorie--than garbage fast food.
In other parts of the world, notably India, it's far less expensive to be vegan, in part because they don't have the cheap calories of mass-produced fast food as readily available. It's closer to being a cultural norm. OTOH, chronic malnourishment is also pretty common, so...
I really dislike non-vegan leftists and environmemtalists, the bullshit, the endless excuses as soon as YOU have to change, not others. Stop eating meat and save 3/4 of landuse, water pollution and co2 emissions.
Going vegan is such a money-where-your-mouth-is move. If you're left enough to know the damage meat eating causes, yet you still eat meat, how are you better than the industries you call out?
So much right wing bullshit is based on greed, yet left wing meat eaters can't make the single most significant consumer change because "bacon too yummy lol".
All these great left wing youtubers, as soon as I see they're not vegan my respect drops in half.
Your response isn't any better, to be honest.
Yes, there is a certain risk of a negative impact on cognitive performance related to a large and long-time B12 or iron deficiency. But there is a large difference between "you have to take supplements to be healthy" and a blanket claim of "veganism does cause intellectual deficiencies", especially considering most vegans supplement.
Side note: the B12 in factory farmed meat is also supplemented to those animals, otherwise their meat wouldn't contain it, being produced under those conditions. One can only hope all farmers actually do this
No, since the claim "veganism does cause intellectual deficiencies" is still wrong, because veganism doesn't cause this, a lack of supplementation does. And most vegans supplement adequately. So saying that veganism "per default" causes this would be dishonest, because it implies that not properly supplementing is the default/intrinsic to veganism, which is not the case.
It's like saying "drinking alcohol kills you" just because you have to be mindful of limiting your consumption and it can kill you if you don't.
An extreme statement that contains a kernel of truth, but is simply not correct.
How does this follow in any way?
You know that the distinction of "supplement" and "regular part of the diet" is completely arbitrary, right? What's the difference between regular supplementation and the requirement of "having to hydrate" or "eat your greens for your vitamins" to be healthy?
It's even less logical/relevant considering many replacement products add B12 etc on their own by now.
Also factory farmed animals are getting B12 fed as a supplement, which makes this argument even weirder. "Pills bad/not part of the diet", but feeding the same pills to pigs and then eating their meat to get the same nutrients is suddenly "ok and natural/good diet"? Doesn't make sense to me.