View Poll Results: Which of these comments from non-vegans have you heard most often?

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  • Everybody should eat whatever they want to - each to their own

    125 23.15%
  • Humans have always been eating animals - eating meat is natural. You can't change the world - it will always be the way it is today anyway

    298 55.19%
  • The life of a human is more precious than the life of an animal - the animals I eat aren’t important for me!

    149 27.59%
  • I eat animal products because I know too little about diet and reasons to drop meat & dairy

    33 6.11%
  • Some living creatures, like fish, can’t feel physical pain

    138 25.56%
  • So why are you vegan? Give me just one good reason to switch...

    89 16.48%
  • Vegan food isn't a natural choice in cold climates

    50 9.26%
  • Animals kill each other too

    253 46.85%
  • I eat animal products, and I'm healthy...

    143 26.48%
  • I'm against killing animals, but what's wrong with milk? It's natural to use dairy products!

    180 33.33%
  • It's unfair to force kids to eat vegan food

    137 25.37%
  • I don't trust that eating animal products may cause increased cancer risk or other health problems

    34 6.30%
  • My decision to eat meat is based on my free will, I’m not influenced by anyone

    77 14.26%
  • I would never eat a dog, but I enjoy eating lamb

    135 25.00%
  • I know a vegan who was unhealthy

    171 31.67%
  • When being a vegan, or raising vegan kids, you need to know what you do

    46 8.52%
  • Good arguments aren't important to me, I follow my feelings

    10 1.85%
  • You'll die or go blind if you don’t eat animal products

    75 13.89%
  • It’s not natural to eat a diet that means that you need B12 supplements

    109 20.19%
  • My religious belief tells me that it is right to eat meat - it’s not my own decision

    73 13.52%
  • Some cultures are killing the animals they eat 'with respect'

    78 14.44%
  • But where do you get your nutrients from?

    307 56.85%
  • I eat animal products to be on the safe side

    35 6.48%
  • Its hard to decide to go vegan. I still haven't made a decision to do it

    43 7.96%
  • Meat harmful??? I think spending a lot of time with PC’s and cell phones is harmful!

    37 6.85%
  • I believe in the middle way – no extreme choices, please

    87 16.11%
  • I wouldn’t enjoy having to eat something so different from what I eat now

    69 12.78%
  • The animals will get killed anyway...

    234 43.33%
  • What about animals killed in a car accident - would you eat it?

    97 17.96%
  • I eat meat because I need physical strength

    133 24.63%
  • Insects are killed in modern agriculture, so you are responsible for killing living beings anyway. Just by taking a walk you might unintentionally kill an insect

    122 22.59%
  • You kill plants, but plants have feelings too

    256 47.41%
  • Humans have the same physiology as meat eating animals

    103 19.07%
  • What's wrong with eating unfertilized eggs from free-range hens?

    149 27.59%
  • Don’t you think producing millions of synthetic shoes etc. is a bad idea, and will cause pollution?

    50 9.26%
  • If you were stuck on a desert island, and there was a rabbit there – wouldn’t you eat it?

    188 34.81%
  • I tried being a veg'n once, but was hungry all the time

    88 16.30%
  • Fish must be OK to eat – they haven't had a life on factory farms?

    78 14.44%
  • We need animal products for protein, iron, cholesterol, Omega-3, sinc, calcium etc.

    243 45.00%
  • I'm OK with eating meat from an animal if I know the meat is organic

    124 22.96%
  • Humans are at the top of the food chain

    250 46.30%
  • I like variation

    50 9.26%
  • Foods with animal ingredients are more tasty - I like meat! Come on, taste this ******, it’s so good

    251 46.48%
  • So what do you eat? Plants? Isn't that boring?

    295 54.63%
  • Eating vegan feels right and makes sense, but old habits die hard...

    24 4.44%
  • Oh.

    172 31.85%
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Thread: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

  1. #151

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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Great list!
    For number 8) Animals kill each other too. I will say: These animals don't have a choice, they are carnivore so they need meat to survive. We can chose and we don't need meat. And the animals who die from these carnivores usually die very fast without too much pain, but the animals humans eat are all their life (2-3 years for cows for example) suffering day after day, every single minute of their life.

    By the way, I'm new in this great forum! (From Spain)

  2. #152
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    I need a good reply about the "not saving anything" comment. Its so stupid it makes me freeze up.
    it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble

  3. #153
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Quote august View Post
    I heard a new one yesterday. I was leafleting at an Earth Day event and a lady walked by. I held a leaflet out for her and asked if she would like to learn about veganism. She asked why- like why would she want to learn about veganism- and I said to save the lives of animals and to reduce our impact on the earth. I started to explain the environmental impact of eating animals and she interrupted me, looked at the leaflet and said she would rather save the paper- referring to the leaflet. She frowned at me and walked away. I noticed as she was walking away that she had a canvas bag that said 'Save the Environment-Recycle'. I wonder how someone who obviously cares for the environment could seemingly care less to hear about the environmental implications of eating animals.
    This is utterly revolting, August! I detest those so-called environmentalists laden with specieism, who don´t care a hoot about ethics, who just strive to save endangered species but well trodden by the human grip. Sickening!

  4. #154
    littlewinker
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Quote sugarmouse View Post
    In the end I said this (it was on another discussion forum)

    I am not proposing that that would ever happen all in one go,nothing ever does. It would be a gradual and managable process. There are only so many cows because we breed them intensively,often artificially, at a far FAR faster rate than they wold every be capable of in a natural environment. Continually!


    'Not everyone will (can) go vegan at once. There would be a tapering off.As fewer animals are needed, fewer would be forced into pregnancy and reproduction until there were only a few around kept as pets or companians . If the world went vegan all at once, there could be some problems. At first there would be far too many cows and chickens and pigs and so on, but eventually since the demand was gone, they over breeding would not happen and they would naturally be lesser. . depending on the rate of which the world went vegan it may or may not cause small scale problems. , but problems we could handle (as we handle the many that the meat industry produces now!) and a problem that many would gladly accept.'
    Yeah cos it would probably take a few decades and by then the animals would have died anyway

  5. #155
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    day before prom we were discusing dresses and food and so, and one asked if i were a vegetarian ... and after me ansvering "sure, for some years now, and now fresh vegan" she was totally amazed and somehow managed to say "but you look so normal!" .

  6. #156
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    That Is So Funny
    it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble

  7. #157

    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Quote Haniska View Post
    I need a good reply about the "not saving anything" comment. Its so stupid it makes me freeze up.

    Do you mean like when people say "Everyone else does it, why would it make a difference if I stopped eating meat? Im not saving any cows"

    People, I guess, assume that like the same number of animals are killed every year to be used up by people. What they don't realise is that the meat they eat is only there because there was a demand for it.

    So I normally point out that im saving a few cows, sheep, chickens, pigs and that a combined effort can reduce the demand somewhat and make a difference. Stopping dairy consumption makes more of a difference to animals' suffering as they are constantly subjected to pain and extortion, so I point out that I am making a difference, and so are millions of other people just like me, So why not be a vegan?!

    Its a stupid attitude, haven't people realised that we don't live in a culture in which you can be different?!


    Its the legacy of hundreds of years of thought and the enlightenment!

    We aren't lemmings!

  8. #158
    Can't cook. Sarah_'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Quote JC View Post
    when i said that i value all lives equally, she looked at me as if i'd just slapped her or something!
    I unfortunately work in the service deli of a Ralphs, and I once went in the back where they were taking raw chickens and tying their legs up inside their skin and pulling fat out of their butt. On a nother table, they were taking old chicken off the rotisserie and ripping the skin off-deboning the chicken. I said it was like the Holocaust or something and they all looked at me like I was crazy and one guy said "I can't believe you just likened this stupid chicken to the Holocaust", but I really see no difference, except that the Jewish people weren't eaten afterwards.
    Maybe I'm kind of a fanatic, but looking at that stuff made me tear up and get sick.
    Either this wallpaper goes, or I do.

  9. #159
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    my all time fav comment:


    btw, this is the best smiley EVAH!

  10. #160

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    Smile Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    "Actually I've switched to eating dirt now, after harvesting a potatoe once and listening to it scream in pain (pain that was delivered from its wound to its brain via its nervous system) as I ripped it from the comfort of its family. And then there was the time when I chopped up a head of lettuce and blood, that looked an awful lot like MY blood, came gushing out in the rythm of its heartbeat..."
    (Quote )

    That makes me laugh, i am going to use this myself, my boyfriend is mad on the plants are alive and are feeling beings too argument at the moment! last night i told him as he loves plants so much he should become vegan so less will be killed, that actually left him stuck for words, think he might drop that argument for now!

  11. #161
    sugarmouse
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    thats a gud n!Well I usually use the same as what somebody said a while ago on here
    You have to sit thru a slaughter in an abboitoir, I will sit through a strawberry harvest.Obviously, it is as unpleasant to the same level each way!
    BTW I am in Lancs too, emigrated from Leeds though!

  12. #162
    His Sinfulness Linus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    To the "plants have feelings too" argument, I usually say something like this: "You go get a lamb and I'll go get a head of cauliflower. We'll go to the walking mall downtown, and each pick a bench to sit on. You clean your food and get it ready to cook, and I'll do the same - let's see who gets arrested..."

    That usually shuts them up for a bit.

  13. #163

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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Quote Linus View Post
    To the "plants have feelings too" argument, I usually say something like this: "You go get a lamb and I'll go get a head of cauliflower. We'll go to the walking mall downtown, and each pick a bench to sit on. You clean your food and get it ready to cook, and I'll do the same - let's see who gets arrested..."

    That usually shuts them up for a bit.
    That is fricking awesome. I'm keeping that.

  14. #164
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Yeah, that is a pretty good one.

  15. #165

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    Talking Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Quote Korn View Post
    Hi, I'm planning to set up a poll soon, to find out what the most common comments vegans get from non-vegans are. I made a list below, but before I make a poll out of it, comments are welcome if you have any. (In the list below I have included the first sentences that pops into my head when I come across these comments, but won't include them in the poll itself.)

    1) Everybody should eat whatever they want to […but if someone eats an animal, that animal can’t eat whatever it wants to!]

    2) Humans have always been eating animals. [There have been cultures that have been avoiding meat for thousands of years too. Plus, even if something has been going on for a long time it isn't necessarily right.]

    3) The life of a human is more precious than the life of an animal [Is the life of an animal more precious than the life of a plant? If, yes, why not respect the animals and eat plants instead? Plus: Maybe the life of the animal is as important for the animal as a human life is for a human? ]

    4) I like variation [So do vegans. Vegans normally eat more varied food on a vegan diet than they did before going vegan]

    5) Some living creatures, like fish, can’t feel physical pain [To me, it looks like they do, and according to several studies they can feel pain. Besides, what do we know about their non-physical emotions? What do other animals feel when one of them is killed? Would you kill and eat ie. a human in coma, that was unable to feel pain or was not consciously aware of what was happening?]

    6) Give me one good reason to become a vegan! [Here is one: there are no good arguments for eating animal products! We don’t even need to!]

    7) Death is a natural part of life [That doesn't give us the right to kill.]

    8) Animals kill each other too [Some do, some don’t. Why should we copy those who do?]

    9) It’s natural to use dairy products. [Why are there no other animals who drink milk throughout their life then – from another species?]

    10) I like meat [Most people like what they are brought up with. Habits can be changed – and changing them can be fun].

    11) I just feel so good when eating animal products. [What do you compare with - have you ever tried a few weeks without?]

    12) I give meat to my kids now, and when they grow up they can decide. I believe in freedom. It's unfair to force them to eat vegan food. [Nobody is against eating plants – isn’t it better to give them a diet where you won’t run the risk of feeding someone something they might disagree with later in life (when they find out what you have been giving them)? Why give them unhealthy habits that they might find it hard to drop? And, regarding freedom – what about the freedom of the animals? And why do you consider give meat to kids less 'forcing' than feeding them with a vegan diet?]

    13) A number of studies say that eating animal products are associated with increased cancer risk and other serious health problems, but I don’t know - I guess there's only a 50/50 chance that this is correct… [What do you normally recommend when you or your kids have the choice between something that involved a 50% injury risk?]

    14) To decide to go vegan is difficult for me [Did you ever actually decide that you want to eat animal foods?]

    15) My decision to eat meat is based on my free will, I’m not influenced by anyone. [People normally end up with the diet they’re brought up with from their parents/society, but nobody will admit that they have been influenced by their past…]

    16) I would never eat a dog, but I enjoy eating lamb [What’s the difference between a dog and a lamb, really?]

    17) I know and love my pets, but not the lamb I eat [Is killing ethical if you don’t know or love the ones you kill? Did a judge or a lawyer ever say that it's OK to kill someone if you don't know them personally?]

    18) When being a vegan, or raising vegan kids, you need to know what you do [Is there anything that indicates that this isn’t also the case (or even more of an issue) with meat eaters and the food they give their kids?]

    19) I don’t care about good arguments, I follow my feelings [Since most people who have tried both say that they feel much better on a vegan diet – why not try before you decide?]

    20) You’ll die or go blind if you don’t eat animal products [Donald Watson, who invented the term vegan in 1944, is still well alive after 60+ years on that diet (he's 94 now), and he is not blind!]

    21) It’s not natural to eat a diet that means that you need supplements [1)Many vegans have been living for many years without supplements with no sign of deficiency 2) The animals you eat normally get supplements too - and a lot of them 3) People above 50 are adviced to take B12 as well, is it unnatural to live longer than 50 years? 4) We wouldn’t need those supplements in a natural world 5) You are wearing clothes – is that natural? 6) Eating cultivated vitamins (like vegan B12) that are made without harming anyone or anything isn’t that bad if you really need it, is it? 7) Meat eaters are deficient in at least as many nutrients as vegans!!!!]

    22) Just by taking a walk you might unintentionally kill an insect [Unintentional killing doesn’t justify intentionally killing]

    23) My religious belief tells me that I should eat meat - it’s not my own decision [If you have decided which religion to follow, it's your decision anyway?]

    24) Some cultures are killing the animals they eat with respect If you think that you can respect someone and kill him at the same time, we simply have really different definitions of ’respect’. If someone killed someone you cared for, would it help if he said that he respected her?]

    25) Where do you get your nutrients from? [From the same kind of sources that the animals you eat get them from - plants!]

    26) I eat animal products to be on the safe side [Please read something about all the health problems associated with consuming animal products – an average meat eater is sick 10 years of his life.]

    27) The studies that show that vegan food is healthy are made by vegans [No - these studies are normally made by meat eaters]

    28) Meat harmful??? I think spending too much time with PC’s and cell phones is harmful! [You're probably right, but that doesn’t make eating animal products more healty!]

    29) I believe in the middle way – no extreme choices, please. [What you define as extreme is based on what you are brought up with. A diet should be based on many different elements, but why combine healthy and unhealty ingredients? Ethical and unethical? If you are against murder, you don’t kill now and than – you ’fanatically’ avoid it.]

    30) I wouldn’t enjoy having to eat something so different from what I eat now [But you do do enjoy vacations in countries where you try new foods every day, don't you?]

    31) If we were meant to eat vegan food, it would have enough B12 in it. [Spend some time on veganforum.com reading about B12!]

    32) The animals will get killed anyway! [No. In the long run, each animal you don’t eat, will result inone less animal being killed tomorrow].

    33) Come on, taste this ******, it’s so good. [Most vegans have lived on the diet you’re on for many years. It’s you who haven’t tried our diet – not the other way round!]

    34) But I need physical strength! [Have you noticed what elephants and horses and many athletes eat?]

    35) Insects are killed in modern agriculture, so you are responsible for killing living beings anyway! [Try that one in court: ‘I’m already a killer, so what’s wrong with some more killing? Plus: 50% of all agriculture is used to produce food for animals living in factory farms, waiting to become your dinner!]

    36) Plants have feelings too. [While fish, birds and animals do whatever they can not to be killed, and look like they suffer when they are killed, I haven’t seen any plants yet that try to escape - or heard them scream].

    37) Humans have the same physiology as meat eating animals [Try Google, or read this thread: http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1194 ].

    38) Why don't you eat meat? [Asking why people don’t do something is a bit upside down, isn’t it? Why don’t you give me a good argument pro eating animal products instead (besides that you obviously like the taste)?]

    39) Don’t you think producing millions of synthetic shoes etc. is a bad idea, and will cause pollution? [Agree, and there are better solutions.]

    40) If you were really hungry, on a desert island, and there was a rabbit there – wouldn’t you eat it? If there was a rabbit there, there would be plants there as well. Like any child on this planet who were given the choice between trying to kill than animal with their bare hands and eat it afterwards, and eating ie. a carrot, I’d instinctively go for the carrot. Wouldn't you too? Anyway, do we agree that avoiding eating animals is the best solutions when not stranded on a desert island?

    41) Honestly, what did you feel when you had the first meal after you decided to let go of dairy products? [I enjoyed it. But what do you think went through the mind of the first man who found himself sucking on a cow’s udder?]

    42) I tried being a veg’n once, but was hungry all the time [You might need to learn a little more about how to get/make food that satisfies you. The transition time isn’t that long. But you can’t just remove the animal products from your old diet – the result would be both boring and unsatisfying.]

    43) Plant eaters’ babies are born smaller [That all depends on the diet of the mother. If you are pregnant and really want the baby to be huge when it’s born, we know what nutrients that are needed to promote fetus growth and result in big babies. Let us know if you are pregnant and interested...]

    People who make these comments do nothing but show their ignorance. Maybe they ought to get their facts right before verbalising their ridiculous prejudices.

    44) Fish must be OK to eat – they haven’t had a life on factory farms? [Neither you or your cat are raised on a factory farm… but does that give me the desire - or right - to kill and eat you?]

    45) We need animal products for protein, iron, cholesterol, Omega-3, sinc, calcium etc. [No, we don’t. Try a book! ]

    46) I'm OK with eating meat from an animal if I know the meat is organic. [It might be OK with you, but is it OK with the animal?]

    47) But the animals I eat aren’t important for me! [Maybe you’re not important for them either? They are important for them!]

    48) Humans are at the top of the food chain [Why did you choose to believe in that theory?]

    49) Each to their own. [This one obviously doesn't include taking the freedom of the ones they choose to eat into consideration]

    50) But the animal won't become alive again even if I don't eat this piece of meat! [Maybe you need some sleep? ]

    I have to say that my favourite is the old 'plant killer' jibe. Don't carnivores/omnivores realise that by eating meat and fuelling an unnatural population explosion of animals reared solely for slaughter, they are 'killing' far more plants that we ever could even if as individuals we lived for a thousand years? Unlike animals, plants do not have a nervous system and thus cannot feel pain (from an evolutionary perspective, pain is of no utility to plants. In animals, pain is an unpleasant stimulus that hopefully motivates the animal to move away from its source. A plant cannot do this as it is rooted to the earth). Additionally, plants have far less individuality than animals and in many cases, eating part of a plant, i.e. fruits, seeds, even leaves, does not 'kill' the plant and it readily regenerates.

  16. #166

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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    These posts are great, dont think il be stuck for what to say again on plants, just need to learn all the others now lol. yesterday i got "eh? whats one them?! " to which someone else said-"something off star trek!" . my mum had decided to tell family members that i am a vegan as nothing on the buffet was vegan, except for an apple and some salad, i wasnt bothered but she likes to tell everyone as she thinks im weird!! my auntie said, oh so now youve gone even worse! as i was vegetarian until last may. "no its an improvement!" i said, thats all i say, not wasting my breath, all my family think im just weird! sorry gone off topic a bit there

  17. #167
    Moot Darky_'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Oh heres a dumb comment I got from my dad recently!...

    We had just been to get out own shopping then on the way out before he dropped me off, he wanted some take away (Prefrebly McDonalds, Burger King or KFC - as he said exactly), so I said nooo don't any of them. But then he insisted he wanted KFC, so we almost start arguing and then I mumble 'they get abused!'....but then he says "Things YOU buy get abused!".... I was so irratated by that I honestly didn't want to start arguing with him when his mind is clearly not in reality. I was gonna start saying things back about that but I had a million things at once I could of said and he still won't ever see what I mean and will never even listen and probably wouldn't even stand there and watch a Video of an animal being slaughtered (I don't know).

    He said a while ago too: Years ago he went in a Abatoir, and only most animals get slaughtered alive! And I thought WHAT and that makes you think you can buy all this cheap crappy meat and think you never buy the animals that suffered the worst!??!! I just think he can be so stubborn and ignorant about this. No matter what I tell him, it won't be clear and I don't think he cares enough, he is greedy!

    But things I buy are abused? I DON'T BUY ANIMAL PRODUCTS, so it doesn't even matter if they are....get it??!

  18. #168
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    one comment i got from my dad last weekend. we were going to the restaurant, and as i've had french fries for lunch, i said i might like a restaurant with a vegetable dish.

    "if you want vegetables you need a vegetarian restaurant !!" (said my dad implying we don't go to the restaurant to eat veggies).

    okay... i must admit i never saw that one coming. i prefered to shut up and say nothing, i had already a migraine and didn't want it to get worse. turns out we did find a restaurant with vegetables in their menus, so we were all able to enjoy it.

  19. #169
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Someone was looking at something about a job to test drugs on yourself, for men... and then he said, no I wouldn't do that, let them test it on chimps!! and I thought that was annoying and stupid. I quickly shook my head and said NO! Then I said, why should another animal have to die for that? No one said anything else.

  20. #170

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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Quote Darky_ View Post
    [I]"Things YOU buy get abused!"
    Oh yeah those avocado abbatiors are notorious for abuse...

  21. #171
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm avacadoe!!!"

  22. #172
    Pilaf
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    I constantly get asked if I'm "allowed" to eat this or that.

    It's all about reasons, not rules, people.

  23. #173
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    I get that all the time. "Can you eat this?" "Yep, but I won't."
    it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble

  24. #174
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    I asked someone yesterday if they were vegetarian (I actually shown them a little pic of a veggie joke and some text...) and i asked him: do you get that? (And I handed it to him as a random thing, I never had a clue whether he ever was veggie now or in the past), so he said: yeah I get it actually.... then i asked, are you Vegetarian? and he said I used to be, then I replied why did u give up? then he said because he lost too much weight....then it felt too much and i wanted to start babbling on about having loads of good fats in so many oils, fruits and vegatables....right?? hehehe But I didn't! Ugh! How dissapointing and naive.

  25. #175
    nomad Orange-powered's Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Quote Darky_ View Post
    Oh heres a dumb comment I got from my dad recently!...

    We had just been to get out own shopping then on the way out before he dropped me off, he wanted some take away (Prefrebly McDonalds, Burger King or KFC - as he said exactly), so I said nooo don't any of them. But then he insisted he wanted KFC, so we almost start arguing and then I mumble 'they get abused!'....but then he says "Things YOU buy get abused!".... I was so irratated by that I honestly didn't want to start arguing with him when his mind is clearly not in reality. I was gonna start saying things back about that but I had a million things at once I could of said and he still won't ever see what I mean and will never even listen and probably wouldn't even stand there and watch a Video of an animal being slaughtered (I don't know).

    He said a while ago too: Years ago he went in a Abatoir, and only most animals get slaughtered alive! And I thought WHAT and that makes you think you can buy all this cheap crappy meat and think you never buy the animals that suffered the worst!??!! I just think he can be so stubborn and ignorant about this. No matter what I tell him, it won't be clear and I don't think he cares enough, he is greedy!

    But things I buy are abused? I DON'T BUY ANIMAL PRODUCTS, so it doesn't even matter if they are....get it??!

    your dad sounds exactly like MY dad - except I doubt he's ever been in an abbatoir, he probably has seen animals slaughtered though, in Kashmir, they make a 'sacrifice' at religious festivals...nevertheless he still thinks its ok, and he really disocciates the meat he buys from the amount of suffering that went on to obtain it. The thing your dad said about only some of the animals getting slaughtered alive, sounds like the sort of thing my dad would say.

    I'm glad I don't see my dad enough to have to have those discussions regularly anymore - I remember how infuriating it was though, and I usually still get a reminder on the rare instances I actually see him/the rest of my family.
    "On the dance-floor I am a world class freak... Its the beat"

  26. #176
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    Quote Pilaf View Post
    I constantly get asked if I'm "allowed" to eat this or that.
    I can... physically. I can eat anything I want, but I won't. It's because I don't WANT to!!
    “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” ~ Alcott

  27. #177
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Quote ellaminnowpea View Post
    I can... physically. I can eat anything I want, but I won't. It's because I don't WANT to!!
    I get that allt time aswell lol
    'Can you eat this?!'
    I usually say 'Yes, I can eat owt I put in me gob and swallow'

  28. #178
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Quote bryzee86 View Post
    Oh yeah those avocado abbatiors are notorious for abuse...
    Seriously....they're doing halal avacado now:smile:
    Silent but deadly :p

  29. #179
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    hello! i'm new here and i love this forum!
    i have to laugh at comments in this topic every time i look at them=P but people really say these things... haha =D

  30. #180
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    'People wont stop eating animals just 'cause you dont' that ones graced my presence couple tmes recently

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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    i was sort of dating a boy for about three weeks there who told me (in a nicer turn of phrase) veganism was pointless cos i alone couldn't change the world. pffffff. well that didn't last long! bloody omnivores!

    and today i had a conversation with a colleague who is *convinced* vegans aren't allowed to breastfeed. what??? where do thee myths come from?! where is the LOGIC in that idea? huh!

  32. #182
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    Quote Agatha View Post
    i was sort of dating a boy for about three weeks there who told me (in a nicer turn of phrase) veganism was pointless cos i alone couldn't change the world. pffffff. well that didn't last long! bloody omnivores!

    and today i had a conversation with a colleague who is *convinced* vegans aren't allowed to breastfeed. what??? where do thee myths come from?! where is the LOGIC in that idea? huh!
    ...they are just stupid, selfish and live in their world in which nothing else is important... there is no other explanation.

  33. #183
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    The life of a human is more precious than the life of an animal - the animals I eat aren’t important for me!

    A conversation me and my partner (MrW) had last night:

    MrW: I'm cooking some chicken. Do you want some?
    Me: No, I'm a vegan now, remember? I don't eat chicken.
    MrW: Don't be so stupid. Why won't you eat chicken?
    Me: Because it's an animal, and I don't want to contribute to another creature's suffering.
    MrW: For goodness sake, it's a chicken! Who cares if it suffered?! It's just an animal!

    What do you say to something like that? I mean, how can you argue for the vegan cause when the person that you are arguing with knows the facts about animal abuse, about the pain and suffering that goes into every portion of meat that he eats, but simply doesn't care???

  34. #184
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    Quote Edeline View Post
    [I]like that? I mean, how can you argue for the vegan cause when the person that you are arguing with knows the facts about animal abuse, about the pain and suffering that goes into every portion of meat that he eats, but simply doesn't care???
    Most folk think like that IMO
    It helsp me to think badly of them. But obviously when this person is soclose to you it is so much more difficult.
    I would try to talk to him about it..express and try to understand why he feels such aw ay and get a proper conversation going.Either he will see your point of view, or he wont care.

  35. #185
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    Quote Edeline View Post
    MrW: For goodness sake, it's a chicken! Who cares if it suffered?! It's just an animal!

    What do you say to something like that? I mean, how can you argue for the vegan cause when the person that you are arguing with knows the facts about animal abuse, about the pain and suffering that goes into every portion of meat that he eats, but simply doesn't care???
    Would he care if it was a cat or a dog suffering? If so then you could ask why he regards a hen so differently.

    Of course, you don't have to argue the point at all. He doesn't sound much like a potential convert at the moment, but he may come around later.

  36. #186
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    I wonder what cases qualify for his sympathy. English speaking?
    it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble

  37. #187
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Quote sugarmouse View Post
    Most folk think like that IMO
    It helsp me to think badly of them. But obviously when this person is soclose to you it is so much more difficult.

    I have to agree, i have heard this so many times, most people couldn't give a crap or pretend to and then dont do anything about it. It must be difficult being with someone with that kind of attitude but if you were a omni when you met then it is a lot harder to say anything.

  38. #188
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    okay dunno the answer about plants and feeling...I checked it out google, and some say plants feel some say they dont...they just feel in a different way than human.

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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Nevermind.
    Last edited by Maître; May 1st, 2010 at 06:19 PM. Reason: didn't notice the date, 'necro' comes to mind.

  40. #190
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    My boyfriend seems to have a number of these comments on the go at any time!! He's painfully contradictory, "I'd love to become vegan but it's too hard because theres too much to have to watch out for, I love animals and I hate the way they are treated for us but I just love the taste of meat, I wouldn't be able to stop eating it! I feel that eating meat is wrong but it raises too many ethical issues for me. Don't you just miss eating this?" (While eating kfc chicken off the bone with his fingers dripping with grease).
    How on earth do you respond to that?! Lol

  41. #191
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    Quote Bunger View Post
    "How do you expect to ever get married?" This struck me as a rather odd question, so I asked her exactly what she meant. Apparently, she saw my lifestyle as so extreme that there would be no way that I could find a girl that would ever put up with it.
    Yes there are people who think like that, including a bunch of my boyfriend's colleagues (whom I've never met) who told him to dump me after he told them I'd gone vegan. Apparently they were experts on me and our relationship, despite having never met me and only knowing my bf a few months, and were able to see that my veganism made me so weird and difficult that I was clearly an unsuitable girlfriend for anyone. This actually made me upset which is stupid, my bf told me this as if it was a joke and is clearly not planning to take their advice, but having people I have never even met being so against me based on the fact that I try to live my life with compassion really makes everything feel a bit hopeless. Even though he said it was just a joke, I hate that he works with the kind of people who find that funny.

  42. #192

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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    My friend actually told me that I'm killing innocent plants. Well i understand why'd she say that... she just wants to tease me again.
    Carrot!

  43. #193
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    I recently visited my aunt in NYC and she started getting rather impatient and frustrated that I couldn't find vegan bread in the tiny corner shop. She eventually just said, "what would happen if you had a little bit of dairy? Would you shrivel up and die?" I was very disappointed in her for saying that. Especially since that whole side of the family is very into animal rights, etc. She had even just told me that she was pretty much vegetarian because she didn't eat much meat. But in the five days we were there, she ate meat at least two or three times.

    When we found a vegan restaurant, she kept saying how she didn't like vegan food because it was gray/colorless. Then when we were waiting for my take-home box of leftovers, she kept calling it "slop." All in all, I felt like she was rather insensitive. I can understand that *she* might think that I went a little far in becoming vegan, or that she might not personally like the food, but she didn't have to verbalize it every time I ate something. I'm sure she was trying to be funny, but it wasn't, and it was unnecessary.

    When people find out about my eating habits, they usually say, "I could never give up meat, it's too tasty!" That response annoys me, but it's not something I feel the need to defend myself against. It's the responses like, "if you want to ride your bike everywhere, you need protein, so you should eat meat." I don't want to sound preachy, so I usually just politely disagree and change the subject. (Or I'm not confident enough if my ability to remember facts and figures to back me up.) Then later I regret not throwing out some facts to correct some of their misconceptions. Eh. The people closest to me generally let me be, so that's good. I'm sure some vegetarians/vegans have it worse.

    I'm thankful that my parents are understanding (or just don't care) and that my boyfriend is vegetarian (90% vegan). It's also useful that I attend a college with a vegetarian co-op (with vegan options) so I get a variety of food. If I had to rely on the dining hall, I'd be eating white rice and pasta every day. I never eat there, but I still have to pay for the meal plan.

    I like coming to this forum for reassurance that there are healthy, proud, and intelligent people who feel the same way I do. Sorry for the lengthy post...
    "I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants." ~A. Whitney Brown

  44. #194
    Kimberlily1983
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Quote Cricket24 View Post
    I recently visited my aunt in NYC and she started getting rather impatient and frustrated that I couldn't find vegan bread in the tiny corner shop. She eventually just said, "what would happen if you had a little bit of dairy? Would you shrivel up and die?" I was very disappointed in her for saying that. Especially since that whole side of the family is very into animal rights, etc. She had even just told me that she was pretty much vegetarian because she didn't eat much meat. But in the five days we were there, she ate meat at least two or three times.

    When we found a vegan restaurant, she kept saying how she didn't like vegan food because it was gray/colorless. Then when we were waiting for my take-home box of leftovers, she kept calling it "slop." All in all, I felt like she was rather insensitive. I can understand that *she* might think that I went a little far in becoming vegan, or that she might not personally like the food, but she didn't have to verbalize it every time I ate something. I'm sure she was trying to be funny, but it wasn't, and it was unnecessary.

    When people find out about my eating habits, they usually say, "I could never give up meat, it's too tasty!" That response annoys me, but it's not something I feel the need to defend myself against. It's the responses like, "if you want to ride your bike everywhere, you need protein, so you should eat meat." I don't want to sound preachy, so I usually just politely disagree and change the subject. (Or I'm not confident enough if my ability to remember facts and figures to back me up.) Then later I regret not throwing out some facts to correct some of their misconceptions. Eh. The people closest to me generally let me be, so that's good. I'm sure some vegetarians/vegans have it worse.

    I'm thankful that my parents are understanding (or just don't care) and that my boyfriend is vegetarian (90% vegan). It's also useful that I attend a college with a vegetarian co-op (with vegan options) so I get a variety of food. If I had to rely on the dining hall, I'd be eating white rice and pasta every day. I never eat there, but I still have to pay for the meal plan.

    I like coming to this forum for reassurance that there are healthy, proud, and intelligent people who feel the same way I do. Sorry for the lengthy post...
    Yes, it's frustrating. In my experience, most people have not been too bad. There does seem to be increasing awareness that people are getting less ignorant on these matters, are catching up to the nutritional science behind plant-based diets. It's a slow process, though, unfortunately...

    It's so strange that she thinks your food is gray. I would have said it's closer to the opposite: meat is red or brownish or beige, and boring until you put vegetables, fruits, etc. (in other words, vegan food!) on top, beside it. I'm in a Facebook recipe group with some family members, and all of their food pictures and recipes are pretty close to useless for me, as they're all meat-centered. I'm pretty much only in it to post my own recipes and hopefully inspire them to try new things. I mention this because a lot of their meals are relatively blah looking next to mine (hope I'm not sounding TOO arrogant here, haha): lots of muted colors: no greens, yellows, reds, oranges, etc. Most of my meals tend to be very colorful, which is of course because it's all plant-based.

    It sucks that your aunt was so insensitive... I hope she learns from your example, sees how much healthier this change makes you, etc. And ugh, I hear you, I do wish people would call themselves what they are: it would be okay if she called herself a semi-vegetarian, I think. And people who eat fish are not vegetarian! But oh, well, I suppose it shows that people want to associate themselves with plant-based diets more, as opposed to rejecting them outright.

    I've found that all the reading I've been doing has helped me a bit in remembering things I can say when people make claims about protein, etc. I've been rereading my book Becoming Vegetarian by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis, which covers - and emphasizes, actually - vegan nutrition. Not saying I can handle these perfectly, either (and who says we should have to? We're not dietitians, just regular people educating ourselves!), but I do find it helps.

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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    One of the most common responses that i get is "i would go Veggie/Vegan but i dont have the will power" which is pretty sad, But its fun to reverse it and ask them questions about their diet, like do they know whats in their medicines/cosmetics/wines ans sweets etc?

  46. #196
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    I've heard many of those responses, and in particular have had the following:

    "Isn't being a vegan really hard work?" (accompanied by pitying look)
    "I don't eat much meat." (usually a lie)
    "I couldn't live without cheese/[insert animal product here]!" (so, if production of this product stopped for any reason, you'd kill yourself? Really?)
    "Animal rights? But whatever next? Where do you draw the line?!" (as though I was advocating for giving rocks the right to vote)
    "But plants feel pain! Bet you hadn't thought of that had you?" (actually people have been saying this to me since I was ten years old)
    "I really love vegan food" (good, good) "but I just like having the choice to eat meat." (d'oh - because vegans hate choice apparently)
    "I think humans are more important than animals." (humans ARE animals)
    "If there was a human being and a dog trapped in a burning building, who would you save first?" (sigh)
    "Not everyone can go vegan." (that's as maybe but CAN YOU?)
    "I can't cook." (umm, tried learning?)
    "But I don't like beans/nuts/[insert vegan food of choice here]." (as though this particular food is the only thing that vegans eat)
    "Vegan food is so expensive." (no it isn't!)
    "Vegans are elitist." (as opposed to people who think other species of beings exist purely for their pleasure?)
    "Meat is tasty!" (so?)
    "Why do you hate humans so much?" (I don't, but I'm starting to hate YOU... )
    "But I eat vegetables as well as meat." (oh I'm sorry, pardon me, that's wonderfully balanced and reasonable of you...)
    "The meat I eat has come from happy animals who were killed humanely." (orly? How would YOU like to be humanely killed?)
    "Animals are resources for us to use." (no smart answer for this one, it's just... maddening)
    "How dare you lower humans to the status of animals!" (I'm not, I'm *raising* the status of... oh never mind)

    I could go on...

  47. #197
    Cakeaholic rainbow's Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    The psychology of all this fascinates me. Although most of these comments seem like an attack on vegans, they are actually a form of self-defence, designed to rationalise one's own behaviour and defend choices which, if scrutinised, might be deemed unacceptable. We all need to believe that we are good, reasonable people in order to maintain self-esteem and live with ourselves every day. The reality behind animal products is so sickeningly cruel that many people simply cannot cope with the knowledge that they are in any way responsible for such atrocities. Denial, irrational justification, logical fallacies and, in some cases, aggressive rejection of the alternatives (as if to present meat consumption as a necessary evil) are all just expressions of cognitive dissonance, and the need to believe that their behaviour is acceptable, even in the face of contradictory evidence.
    So one of the main differences between a meat eater and a vegan is the ability to use information as a driver for change, rather than retreating into the more psychologically comforting world of denial. If only meat-eaters realised how liberating it is to accept the truth, use it as a force for good and then live life with a clean conscience! But perhaps they think it is easier just to block it out of their minds. I just wish that the consequences of their denial were not so devastating.
    Live and let live

  48. #198
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    I think you're right rainbow, and of course the meat eater has the comfort of knowing that he/she is 'normal' by our society's current standards, and that most other people think/behave as they do. In fact I think that most people simply don't question the values they were brought up with, so if veganism were the norm, those same people who are so hostile to us right now would probably be arguing *for* it.

    Stanley Millgram, a psychologist, did a famous experiment in the 50s or 60s where he had his subjects give other people electric shocks on command. The shocks weren't real, of course, but the subjects didn't know this, and for authenticity there were actors on the other end screaming in 'pain', which the subjects could hear. Millgram found that astonishingly, most people gave more and more painful shocks to their 'victims', even up to near fatal level, even when they could hear the screaming, simply because they had been told to do so by an authority figure. This is somewhat chilling but shows the extent to which human beings do as they're told even when the thing they're doing is clearly cruel. No doubt Millgram's subjects saw themselves as nice people.

    Add to this the fact that our society continually gives the message to people that eating meat is fine, natural and okay... and it's no wonder most people eat it, and see nothing wrong with it. The angry responses I think partly come from fear of having someone question 'normal' society and practices.

  49. #199
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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    I was talking to an acquaintance and I found that he had developed a (hereditary?) heart condition that can be brought about by/worsened by a lot of caffeine. Since this guy lives on Mountain Dew, it was no surprise. When I as trying to gently suggest that he alter his eating habits, and maybe he would feel better, he said that food wouldn't make a difference, that it was only caffeine, and his doctor only told him "no caffeine" until his surgery. (Since when is that a reason to keep doing stupid things? Just because it might not be the cause of your biggest problem at the moment doesn't mean it's not still a problem!)

    Then he made some remark along the lines of, "yeah, well everything is bad for you depending on who you're talking to. Half the things we use every day cause cancer in California!"

    I forgot to mention that this is the same guy who, after reading a behind-the-meat-scenes-type book required for his college class, stopped eating meat because he felt bad for the way the animals were treated, but he ate it sometimes, and then he said he only ate organic. I'm pretty sure he just eats whatever now, and washes it down with a 2L of Mountain Dew. It's sad to see the sympathy wasted.

    I used to be friends with him, but his attitude just got too annoying for me to want to deal with.
    "I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants." ~A. Whitney Brown

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    Default Re: Top 50: Comments from non-vegans

    Its hard to have sympathy when its self inflicted.

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