self defence!

mayisuggest

hi guys,
Ive been a veggie for a couple of years now. I find myself hiding this from people as the majority jump down my neck and ask about 20 questions (understandably their just curious). Anyway... when people find out this information , I tend to get the same thing "why are you veggie?" "do you actually think its cruelty to animals?" following with the statements "we are MEANT to eat them..." and "that is very hippyish..."
so..any good comebacks instead of trying to brush it off??, Im sick of being embarrassed!
thanks!

cocoa

It depends how strongly you feel about it, whether you want to argue against their (ridiculous IMO) comments, or simply end that topic of conversation. Really, there's a difference between honest curiosity and judging someone. In most other situations it'd be considered pretty rude or mean to instantly try and convince to change the way they live their life after finding out something about them. For some reason, some people seem to think that's ok with vegetarians.

If you want to argue, go for it, but if you don't, just say you don't want to argue and aren't trying to convince anyone else to be vegetarian, it's just your choice and you'd appreciate it if people accepted it, the same way you accept their choices.

That sounds a little long-winded and awkward, but hopefully the jist (gist?) makes sense.

If you're looking for something snappier I'm sure people will be along with those soon. Tar's has always been a favourite of mine, though I'll let him deliver it =P

anothernight

Well, do you normally feel compelled to actually 'fight back'? Or would you be happy with just shrugging it off?
I find it much easier to simply let people know that I'm not going to make them change their diet/lifestyle, so they don't need to try and change mine. Or if the person seems genuinely interested, just be politely informative.
Obviously it also depends on how strongly you feel about your vegetarianism (veganism?).
If you're the type of person who likes snappy comebacks, I think there was a thread around here somewhere... Or simply ask Tar =P

Mark Hamill

mayisuggest wrote: »

"why are you veggie?"

No snapy comeback to this, just explain why.

mayisuggest wrote: »

"do you actually think its cruelty to animals?"

"Is it cruelty to children if you shoot one in the head with a bolt gun/cut ones throat while reciting religious mantra and then cook and eat it?"

mayisuggest wrote: »

"we are MEANT to eat them..."

"Says who?" And then depending on how they respond you can reply with
1) (if response is based on biology/evolution) "What you mean is we are CAPABLE of eating meat, but why should that mean we are meant to eat meat? We are capable of every crime there is a law against, does this mean we are meant to commit them? "
2) (if response is religious) "Why do animals feel pain? Why does it take so much time and effort to prepare meat for consumption (time and effort that could be spent on worship"
3) (if response is "Says me") "Fcuk off" (someone who repsonds with "says me" is just sh*t stirrer and isn't interested/capable of having a intelligent conversation)

mayisuggest wrote: »

"that is very hippyish..."

No one has ever said this to me, I would imagine I would keep asking "why?" or "what do you mean "hippyish"?" until they made an actual point or shut up.

taram

I've ended up in an agricultural college this year and I actually have had people gasp in horror when they realise I'm veggie. The easiest response I give is 'It's my choice, why are you eating that meal? That's your choice.' Anything they then say makes them sound like crazy people trying to pick a fight. :P

Either way, don't get embarrassed, you've chosen a cruelty free lifestyle that is out of a lot of people's comfort zones, simply because they either don't know better, or don't care. You're not to blame for their silly dietary habits

Tar.Aldarion

Because you touch yourself at night.


You get so used to the questions it's like second nature to get people to regret asking.

SomeFool

I just tell people that my family could never afford meat when i was a child, that we lived on potatoes and veggies and i never developed the ability to digest meat, gets a variety of reactions