Why do vegans/vegetarians have to promote/preach their diet restrictions to everyone else? Can't they just be happy with their lifestyle and shut up about it? I have nothing against vegans/vegetarian, they can eat whatever they like, but I can't stand those that have to impose their diet onto the rest of the world.
> I can't stand those that have to impose their diet onto the rest of the world
I hear this complaint a lot about "imposing" beliefs, but mainly when it comes to diet. Why does diet get singled out?
It's usually considered a good thing to campaign for changes in politics (e.g. for/against drug legalisation, for/against vote reform, for/against higher taxes). You may not agree with a particular argument, but I think most people agree that being allowed to persuade people towards a point of view is part of a healthy society.
Why does politics when it comes to diet get such a visceral reaction?
> It's usually considered a good thing to campaign for changes in politics
Not true in many contexts, and comes across as preachy and holier-than-thou, especially when using guilt. Campaigning upwards is fine, even for diet, but not downwards.
Australia is burning. Animal is not only reason for climate change and species extinction but one of the big ones that we need to eliminate if we want to have a chance at stopping this madness. I'd stand up for the future of my children and grand children, so why do you value your taste pleasure more?
If climate change is your worry, then you probably shouldn't have children and grand children, as overpopulation is the single greatest cause of climate change.
Well a company offers a food you’re not forced to eat and that was enough for you to state your discomfort of people simply showing you the result of your actions. Not much more to say really
And why is that? Is it because it's more people born.. that will consume meat?
What a nonsense argument. "I won't inconvenience myself because it's not the BEST way to help the environment and the human race." In that case, I can't afford a Tesla, so I'll keep driving my F-350.
You know absolutely nothing about how I do or do not inconvenience myself, it's your comparison that is nonsense. But if you can't understand why overpopulation is a huge problem, then there is no reason to continue this discussion.
i'd say more like you're give the choice between switching to the Tesla or stopping using plastic straws, and you're picking the plastic straws option. (and you're able to afford said Tesla. it's not like either option of eating different food or not having kids is unaffordable)
That's kind of like saying that the majority of people who get cancer are old people, so we can reduce cancer rates by dying young.
The issue isn't strictly overpopulation. Its overpopulation combined with the amount of consumption. You can solve this either by reducing the population, or reducing consumption, or both. For a lot of people, there are compelling ethical, economical, and personal reasons for wanting to have children or at least avoiding restricting other people's desire for children. So in that case it makes more sense to reduce consumption.
As with any diet, it's good to spread the diet if you want more dining options. If there are more vegetarians, then businesses will have more incentive to offer vegetarian options/products. So there is a component of self-interest involved.
However, many vegetarians believe there are societal or ethical benefits to promoting vegetarianism that don't necessarily apply to other diets. It might be because they believe they have an ethical responsibility to limit the suffering of animals raised for slaughter, for example. Or they may believe that the spread of vegetarianism will curb the number of livestock and growth of pasture, which will be good for the environment.
> It might be because they believe they have an ethical responsibility to limit the suffering of animals raised for slaughter, for example.
That sounds more like a religious argument. At the extreme, some people don't believe that it matters ethically how animals are treated, and there are certainly many people who adopt an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude, or try to only eat meat from animals raised and slaughtered as humanely as possible. People are of course free to make a value judgment on these attitudes, but preaching vegetarianism/veganism on those grounds sounds too much like religious proselytizing for my taste.
I think it's fine and useful to promote non-meat diets by arguing that meat production (as we currently do it) is devastating to the environment, but religious/emotional preaching is IMO what gives a lot of vegetarians/vegans a bad name.
I can't say I experience any preaching by vegetarians/vegans. Perhaps I see the odd advert on a website or TV, or occasional news articles but the vegan/vegetarian friends/associates I have, never have them preaching at me.
Where is everyone hanging out that vegans and vegetarians are constantly pestering them? And, if you're being honest to yourself, is it really an issue in your life?
I never claimed it was an issue in my life. I've definitely had the odd veg acquaintance who has been preachy, but those tend to be people who never make the acquaintance-to-friend transition for me. My veg friends don't care what I eat, or at least have the social graces to not pester me about it.
I don't think that applies here; I don't feel particularly guilty about my meat consumption. I would prefer that animals be treated humanely, but I don't lose sleep over it. I'm far more concerned with the environmental affects of livestock farms.
Is there nothing you believe in that you believe so strongly about that you'd like it if everyone else has the same belief?
Nothing? Or as simple as "I loved watching X tv program, you should check it out too"? Surely there is something you promote in your life? If so, same thing. Why should you impose your tv watching habits on other people?
So you have never imposed your view, like or dislike of something - be it a TV program, a video game, a piece of music, a political party/piece of legislation?
Here's the thing - you may not realize it, but your lifestyle of eating meat promotes _your_ diet on to hundreds of animals every year, and literally every human being on the earth via the environmental destruction it causes. When there are victims directly and indirectly involved, it's not just a personal choice. Your diet directly destroys the world and promotes the unnecessary suffering and torture of animals.
The tone of the post, makes you sound exactly like the run of the mill militant vegans, that I have been talking to many times before, so no reason to continue.
But I will let you know that I respect your choice of not eating meat, even though you won't accept that I will continue, like the majority of people, eating meat. Have a nice day.
>Why do vegans/vegetarians have to promote/preach their diet restrictions to everyone else?
This is fundamentally the way we talk about morality - not as a matter of attitude or personal preference, but as objective facts we believe are true. Whether any particular moral statement is true or false is what most people would question, not whether moral statements are in themselves motivating. In this way, most people seem to be (1) moral realists, (2) moral internalists.
Assuming you're a moral realist, it's easy to understand why someone would "promote/preach" their diet restrictions on moral grounds - because morality, to the realist, is a matter of fact (either an "objective" morality, or a "relative" (to a culture, time, or place) one). The assumption, also, is that unlike other facts, moral facts are inherently motivating.
To the moral realist, a statement like "eating meat is morally wrong" has a truth value, in the same way "the earth is spherical" or "the earth is flat" has a truth value. The moral internalist further states that this fact is enough to provide some motivation for action, so the statement "eating meat is morally wrong" necessarily implies and states to us that "one should not eat meat" - assuming there is no failure to motivate (as may the case with depressed people or people who face extreme exhaustion, or have some other mental malady).
