Seen a lot of posts on Lemmy with vegan-adjacent sentiments but the comments are typically very critical of vegan ideas, even when they don’t come from vegans themselves. Why is this topic in particular so polarising on the internet? Especially since unlike politics for example, it seems like people don’t really get upset by it IRL

  • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    The meat and dairy industries have been pumping out propaganda for years, mostly aimed at right-wing dudes. It’s just kind of part of right-wing culture at this point to kneejerk react to veganism with tired old tropes and stereotypes.

    It was worse back in the 90s and early 2000s.

    • paf0@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Interesting take. I definitely see it more with the MAGA crowd. Their idea of it is so absurd too. It’s always some half-witted meme where they take a photo of the most frail person they can find and label them a vegan. It’s silly, because there are plenty of jacked vegans out there, and there are also frail omnivores.

      I understand people’s perspectives when it comes to the “meat is murder” vegans but otherwise it’s just a diet. I personally switched to eating meat just once a week late last year and I eat vegan most other days. I feel great, but I don’t make it anyone else’s problem.

      • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Eating meat is murder though. Just of a different species, and a normal thing in nature, hence not objectionable per se. But killing for meat is still taking a life of a living and feeling being. If people choose to avoid that, and alternatives are available, that is great. For those who wish to continue eating meat, it must be transparent where it came from to make an informed decision, and we would need regulation / legislation that forbidsalll those livestock factories that cause suffering for more profit.

        • paf0@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          No, sorry, eating meat is not the same as murder, it’s just nature.

          I’m not a fan of factory farms either, but mostly for the antibiotics. The animals do suffer and people who can afford it should probably buy more certified “free range” options, but I’m not about to shame people for their dietary choices or incomes.

          • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            No, sorry, eating meat is not the same as murder, it’s just nature.

            You can acknowledge it’s murder while accepting it’s also a part of nature (at least in the original hunting context). Breeding defenseless livestock in captivity, in order to slaughter them for food, that’s murdering a social creature.

            I occasionally eat meat, but at least I am not lying to myself about what it means for the creature whose meat I eat.

            If you tell yourself that animals have no capability to enjoy life, to be happy and play, and therefore have a right to live, then you need a reality check,

            Eating any kind of animal is not wrong in terms of our nature and how our planet works, but if we have options without suffering from malnutrition (and by now we do), I applaud every person who chooses to go meat-free out of empathy.