"Why don't you just be vegetarian?"

[gooberboggle]

Just having a bit of a rant here.

Whenever I go to my Dad's place he ALWAYS says that.

It's usually during meal times where he gets annoyed at me because he doesn't have anything I can eat.

It's SO hard to talk to my Dad, he NEVER listens to anything you have to say, he just keeps interrupting. I've tried to explain to him why I'm vegan and not vegetarian, he just doesn't get it.

Once we were in the car and he was talking about getting pizza for dinner, he said I'll get you a vegetarian pizza and I'm like make sure it has no cheese and he goes "Pizza with no cheese?! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE VEGETARIAN?"

So I say "Why, because it's SO inconvenient for you?"
and he says "Yes, exactly!"

ARGGGH.
I really need to start bringing my own food to his house. I really shouldn't have to though. Whenever I go to see my Mum she always insists on giving me money and sending me up to the shops to buy things for us to eat, which are vegan obviously.

It really annoys me with my Dad too.. once I tried showing him 'Earthlings' and he's like "No, I don't want to know what goes on, it will ruin eating meat for me, I don't want to ruin something i enjoy so much" or something like that.

UGHHHHH

[harpy]

That sounds very trying - he asks you that question but won't listen to the answer? Maybe you could come up with some very short, (perhaps) attention-grabbing answers, like "making cheese involves killing animals", and see if you can get those in before he interrupts!

Probably taking your own food is the simplest solution for now, and then when he sees how determined you are he will come round. Have you been vegan for long? If not perhaps he thinks it's just a phase :rolleyes:

[Tish]

Hi Gooberboggle,
sorry to hear you're getting grief. I agree with Harpy- taking meals along for both you and your dad. Then he'll see how easy and tasty it is to eat vegan and he'll not have cause for complaint as he doesn't need to provide a meal.

I think people get a bit scared of the unknown and want you to change- rather than change themselves (i.e. for your dad to change his idea of meal making). He'll soon see the variety you can have and I'm sure it'll not be a big deal to him after a while. Good luck with it :bigsmile:

[Andy_T]

Give him the 'China study' or the 'Engine 2 diet' for Christmas!

And, tell him - in 4 words - 'because it's more healthy'

Best regards,
Andy

[Clueless Git]

'Lo Goober :)

My mum and dad do that "why can't you just eat 'properly'?" thing to me all the time.

(I'm 50 now, been veg*an for over 30 years, given them 3 veggie from birth grand children and 1 veggie from birth great grandaughter too)

This one always works ...

"Because some idiot(s) bought me up well enough that when I know a thing is simply wrong it becomes a thing I simply will not do"

[Back-Space]

My dad gives me crap about that too. Although me and him disagree on many levels... According to him, peaceful protestors should be arrested. And they deserve what they've got coming to them when the police do their jobs improperly. No getting through to him, so I'll just leave it. I love my parents, we just have completely different views. My mom still thinks they're going to get a phone call that I'm in the hospital because I'm malnourished. I use some of you guys as examples :) "Some of the people I talk to online have been doing this for 20 years or more. Wouldn't you think after 5-10 years with not a single glass of milk your bones would have just turned to mush?" :p

[harpy]

That's a good comeback CS - now can we boil it down to 4 words so goober can get it all in before the dad interrupts? :D

[RubyDuby]

haha, I love it. Just say,"it's your fault" and then maybe he'll give you time to explain.

[cxmnz]

This one always works ...

"Because some idiot(s) bought me up well enough that when I know a thing is simply wrong it becomes a thing I simply will not do"

That one's great, it's got me out of many awkward circular conversations I didn't want to have, and not just on veganism.

[Ⓥeganist]

It seems like your Dad knows or has an idea of what's going on in factory farms. He might of watched a little bit of Earthlings...so he has a grasp on it. He know deep down it's wrong, but knowing that and accepting that means acting on it and that a thing I don't think hes prepared to do. Doing something like that involves stepping out of your comfort zone and sometimes even standing alone. He doesn't want to take the leap to do what's right yet he has a daughter here that has. Sometimes when you have someone that does something that you wish you could, and you can but don't want to work at it or make the change, it's easier to just bring that other person down to your level. It's easier to get someone to step down, rather having yourself step up. It seems like the more upset someone gets over Veganism, the more likely they will become Vegan themselves in the future. When people defend their right to eat meat, they have a passion for it, and that passion can easily be switched and used towards something better. When people display no passion, care, defense or even a basic belief system to their actions like eating for example, I find it's less likely they will become Vegans because they don't display passion. So you have a great opportunity here. You have someone with a lot of opinion, a lot of passion and a strict belief system. You don't have to change him, all you have to do is make him think. If he ask "why don't you eat cheese?" Just reply with "I don't eat cruelty." That will get him asking questions, so when he's asking questions he in an underlying way whether it's negative or positive is seeking out this information, so when that happens, use it to your advantage as much as possible. If he claims "Well they don't kill the cow for milk so why not?" Just reply with "Well not the female cows at least." Then he will start thinking about the information your not telling him, but the information his conscious is telling him. Try to back off a bit with displaying all the problems factory farming has with him and just work on getting him thinking from saying stuff like this! Good Luck!

[Cacique]

Sorry that you have to deal with that.

I wanted to add on to Veganist's comment, that the milk cow will eventually run dry up and go join the line up. Ontop of the added cruelty of taking it's baby away.