"Plants are alive"

[MissKat]

Last night at work I was preparing my dinner in the break area. A fellow worker walks in and says some random meat eater stuff to me and I told him, "I don't eat anything that use to be alive.". His response, "Yes you do. Plants are alive.". I turned around, looked him right in the eyes and said, "I'm not going there w/ you." and left it at that. It must have been my tone, or the look on my face, but surprisingly he didn't berate me and walked away. But still ... UGH! It really irritated me! It's been a loooooong time since someone said that to me and give me grief that I'm killing plants and I'm no different than a meat eater. But this was the first time I did not partake in the ignorant senseless banter. I learned a valuable lesson last night. I don't need to justify myself to anyone that is small minded, ignorant, sarcastic or just plain rude about me being Vegan. Call me crazy, but I love my Vegan life and wouldn't have it any other way

[Mymblesdaughter]

I definitely agree this is the way to go with some people. I used to do stalls for The League Against Cruel Sports and people would come up and argue with us. I learnt from experience that they were the sort who were never going to change their mind. So if people came up and wanted to start arguing I just say 'could you move along please, there are people who are interested in what we are doing and you are stopping them accessing information'. I think after a while you learn who is really interested in why you are vegan and people who are just trying to start an argument.

[MissKat]

I think after a while you learn who is really interested in why you are vegan and people who are just trying to start an argument.

Agreed. For me it's totally obvious who is wanting to debate/argue vs. someone who is genuinely curious about the vegan lifestyle (love when this happens). I've been naive thinking I could enlighten the small/closed minded individuals ... turns out I never could ... and last night was the turning point for me.

[Peabrain]

What's so silly is that non-vegans ALSO eat plants... LOL...

As for leaving arguments... I had a conversation online recently which started with a stupid non-vegan meme, and I gave a jovial but witty response. So when the ensuing conversation started (non-vegan stereotypical comments aplenty), I just calmly and sensibly rebutted the reasons this person was giving, before finishing off with "it seems to me that by starting this conversation you may actually be interested in why we do what we do, if so, you can go here [then I linked the vegan society] but if not, don't worry, I'm sure we'll live. Right now, I'm off to enjoy a nice vegan indian curry with my family, have a good night"...

Not a single word of argument from him (or his friends who had been chiming in) since then.

[MissKat]

Not a single word of argument from him (or his friends who had been chiming in) since then.

Oh the joy of silence ... Nice!

[Risker]

His response, "Yes you do. Plants are alive."

That probably would have been my response too to be honest.

[harpy]

Yes, he was right about plants being alive, but if his tone was confrontational you were right not to get sucked in, I'd say.

[Peabrain]

That probably would have been my response too to be honest.

The point is though Risker, the non-vegan chap probably knew what she meant to say... But to be on the clear side, I guess a good alternative would have been for MissKat to say "I don't eat animal products" instead.

[harpy]

If someone doesn't know what "vegan" means, these days I tend to say something like "I'll eat anything made of plants" on the basis that (a) it's easy to understand and (b) it makes me sound less picky than most people, rather than more picky. (Although it's not strictly true of course as I don't usually eat things like newspaper or sacking ).

[Peabrain]

Hehe... I like that harpy.

[MissKat]

Yes, he was right about plants being alive, but if his tone was confrontational you were right not to get sucked in, I'd say.

True he is right plants are alive, but it was definitely his tone. He's totally a carni body builder and I was definitely not going to play his game.

The point is though Risker, the non-vegan chap probably knew what she meant to say... But to be on the clear side, I guess a good alternative would have been for MissKat to say "I don't eat animal products" instead.

Of course he knew what I meant ... carnis or omnis always do ... but I still get grief. Good suggestion Peabrain what I should say and will definitely have to use "I don't eat animal products" instead. Thanks!

[Andy_T]

I like two possible responses to that ...

# 1 to ask the person "Well, if you truly are concerned about so many plants getting killed ... then the best way to avoid that is by going vegan - if you eat a cow that has to eat plants, then about 10x as many plants need to be killed in order to feed you than if you were directly eating the plants"

#2 is the approach that I think I recall Bob Torres gave on the "Vegan Freak" podcast ... what he used when he was questioned at the university about his choices of studying animal husbandry and ethics ... that he looked the person asking him straight in the eye and asked him "Do you honestly want to tell me that you want to make that argument? That killing plants and animals is identical?" According to him, no further arguments were normally needed, and the persons asking the question looked away ashamed, but of course that was in a university environment.

Best regards,
Andy

[Peabrain]

# 1 to ask the person "Well, if you truly are concerned about so many plants getting killed ... then the best way to avoid that is by going vegan - if you eat a cow that has to eat plants, then about 10x as many plants need to be killed in order to feed you than if you were directly eating the plants"

Oh snap! So simple!